Autumn shot him a sheepish smile. “It’s the most lethal poison in the realm.”
“My blood is poisonous?”
“No,” Autumn said. “Only full-blooded sylphs are poisonous. Remember yesterday when I said sylphs are pure? They don’t fight. Their poisonous blood is their only defense mechanism.”
David thought of the poison frogs in the Amazon. Not a bad security system, honestly.
Then her other words echoed in his head.They don’t fight.
How nice would that be? No bruised knuckles, no nail-studded baseball bats, no blood spilled by his hands.
“And there isn’t an antidote,” Isobel added. “To harm a sylph is considered sacrilege, so you’re thought to deserve the punishment of a slow death.”
He rolled his eyes. “You say that like you expect me to start slaughtering sylphs in my free time.”
“Wouldn’t put it past you,” she muttered.
“Did it occur to you that I’m also a sylph and might prefer peace?”
Isobel’s lips pursed. “Mortality bled the pacifism out of Galadaine’s line long ago.”
“Anyway,” Autumn said pointedly, “Cathaire’s a talented Blademaster. You’ll learn a lot, and working as Sean’s partner will boost your reputation.”
David sized up the pixie training Sean. The guy’s emotions were peaceful, content.
“If he’s willing,” he murmured, fairly certain he wouldn’t be. His gaze drifted back to the girl.
Anna.
The pixie girl.
Heremotions were anything but even. They were a chaotic array of sentiment, spinning in dizzying circles. Even from David’s distance, he sensed her emotional core was more advanced than most, like she’d upgraded her processor. He’d never felt anything like it.
Curiosity had his gaze riveted as the training wore on. Who was this girl? What was her story? Why did she look so familiar?
By the time the session ended, he was convinced she had known Galadaine.
Convinced, that was, until Autumn ushered him forward. The pixie girl raised her head, and eyes blue as the base of a flame caught his attention. He would have remembered those eyes. A color that pretty would be hard to forget.
Anna did the usualhead bow, temple touchto both Bel and Autumn, but as soon as her gaze touched his, the light there turned to shadow. No different than anyone else’s reaction to his presence, but this time, it stung.
After a moment, she gave him his bow, two fingers barely grazing her temple.
He didn’t want people bowing, but other than the brownie whomanned their quarters, she was the first to offer it—a show of respect despite his reputation.
And David was officially intrigued.
Isobel carted Sean off to the side to kiss his boo-boos better, and Autumn was already halfway through her introductions before David returned to the moment.
“—and David, this is Cathaire of Selgovae, one of the southern pixie tribes.”
The pixie offered a hand to David. He grabbed David’s wrist instead of shaking his hand, squeezing once and pecking a kiss on his temple. “’Tis an honor,” he said.
Ignoring the strange kiss, David gave the man a smirk. “Is it?”
“Aye,” he said. “TheDjiantehas his place. Light always comes with shadow. One cannot exist without the other.”
“Insightful,” David said. “I think I saw that on a fortune cookie once.”
