Knight's Curse by Karen Duvall Page B

are?”
    “No!” I folded my arms across my chest and refused to look at him. I wasn’t better. Just different, and not exactly normal. I didn’t like it here because these people made me nervous. They would report me to the Fatherhouse, and to Gavin. And who knew what he’d do to me then? His punishments were harsh. “I don’t trust them not to tell.”
    “They’re not Vyantara. I promise.” He left the table to retrieve our coffees. He returned and placed a steaming cup of espresso in front of me. The tiny cup was old and chipped, but it looked clean. I wondered who, or what, drank from it before me, and if whatever it was had left its magic behind.
    Aydin sat on the stool beside me. “Worried about getting cooties?”
    I scowled at him. “I never said that.”
    “You didn’t have to.” He sipped from his mug and licked the caramel-colored foam from his upper lip. “I can read it in your eyes.”
    Could he also read my attraction to him there? I hoped not. I wasn’t ready to get involved with anyone after what I went through the last time. It was hard to admit my feelings could be hurt, but I was all about feelings, inside and out. If only I could numb my heart.
    Okay, enough of this feelings bullshit. “You said you had information for me. Spill.”
    “Not until I straighten you out on a few things.” He leaned back, but the stool had no backrest and he ended up slouching forward instead. “You have a lot of misconceptions about magic and the species that use it.”
    I shook my head. “No misconceptions. I know who the magic users are. They’re all part of the same whole. You of all people should know that.” I sipped my espresso. Strong, just how I liked it.
    “Do you know what would happen if the Vyantara found out about Elmo’s?”
    “I assumed they knew, probably condoned it. A little diversion for their members.”
    “Far from it.” He waved his hand at the room, where chimeras, a couple of elves, a brownie, three pixies and even a pair of human-looking characters sat with each other, chatting over coffee and what looked like some kind of pastry. “If news of this coffee shop ever got out, there’d be a roundup like cattle on the prairie and Elmo’s would be shut down.”
    “But you…”
    “I’m a thief for the Vyantara, and I do their bidding because I have to. I also have a life of my own. And I spend a lot of it here, as well as a few other clandestine spots in this city, where people of our nature are free to socialize.” He winked at me. “As long as we keep it to ourselves.”
    Free? That word wasn’t even in my vocabulary. The very idea that people like us could exercise free will astounded me. Magic users on the light side? “Okay, I’m listening. Tell me more.”
    He beamed at me. “Happy to.” So he did.
    I was amazed to learn that chimeras like Banku, the lion man who’d been my combat instructor, were not a typically violent race.
    “Depending on the human-animal combination,” Aydin said, “chimeras can be gentle, wise and compassionate. They all have an innate ability for magic, but not all of them use it. Those who do don’t always use it for personal gain.”
    I remembered a deer-girl at the Fatherhouse in Germany. She looked something like a satyr, only more delicate, her four cloven hooves petite and feminine. She painted them with pink nail polish. I had tried very hard not to like her, even though she was a sweet-natured creature with a habit of putting other’s needs before her own. I didn’t believe her sincerity. Perhaps I’d been wrong.
    “Pixies, faeries and elves also have a personal choice in the direction they want their magic to take,” he added. “Just like humans who have a choice between right and wrong, the supernatural races aren’t so different.”
    On the far side of the room, I saw the dirt wall quiver as if made of liquid, and it shimmered a phosphorescent green. Elmo walked over and held up his right hand to lay it flat