Draven squatted down until he was level with my familiar. “I won’t hurt her, boy,” he said, rubbing the cat’s ears.
That was yet to be seen.
My head was screaming,Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!And my heart was trying to eat all the other organs, like some kind of carnivore heart on steroids.
I rubbed my chest. This crush stuff was painful.
Chapter6
Mia
On Thursday, I finally convinced Rhys to go to The Tea Hobbit with me. I had topromisethat Draven would come to talk to him about his business so that he could increase his customer base.
It didn’t really bother me that I had to bribe my best friend to hang out with me. I would likely do it again in the course of our friendship. I knew it had nothing to do with me, anyway, and everything to do with the wait staff at The Tea Hobbit. Rhys was probably exaggerating how pixies acted around star elves. Though, he didn’t seem prone to exaggeration…
The pixies were gorgeous. I knew pixies had wings, but I couldn’t see them. Maybe they could make them visible/invisible at will? There were two of them working when we stepped in. Both of them were shorter than me. One had platinum blonde, short, spiky hair, ripped jeans, and a black tee shirt that said,No, you’re right. Let’s do this the dumbest way possible to make it easier for you.Her lips were a gorgeous red and pouty. Shedidn’t seem bothered in the least that a star elf had showed up at the tea shop.
But the other one…
Let’s just say I now knew someone that could make such a high-pitched noise that only certain animals could hear it. Well, animals and paranormals. Both Rhys and Draven winced in pain when we stepped into the shop as the other pixie, Falista, we found her name to be later, screeched and dropped a tray, scattering broken shards of what looked like previously beautiful china.
An old hobbit woman came out in a frilly, 50s style of dress and bare feet. “Falista, what’s all the ruckus?” She glowered at Falista while Rhys, Draven, and I seated ourselves, watching the drama unfold. Me with glee, Rhys with a sense of doom, and Draven in politeness. Hopefully, we were in the other pixie’s grouping of tables, and it would be herthat took our order. I wasn’t sure Rhys was ever going to forgive me for this.
When Falista fainted dead to the floor after babbling about Rhys for a solid minute to the hobbit owner, the blonde pixie rolled her eyes and came over to our table with an order tablet and stylus. “What can I get everyone?”
She didn’t appear to be fan-girling over Rhys, and she seemed as calm as a cucumber. I admired this. If a star elf was a species that pixies revered, she was handling meeting Rhys with grace and poise. Either that or she didn’t really care that Rhys was a star elf. As I focused on my empath senses, I could tell it was the latter. She didn’t care what he was; she just wanted to do her job and go home.
I liked her already.
I smiled at her. “First, thank you so much for being chill around my friend here.” I nodded toward Rhys, who was avoiding eye contact with me. Huh. Hurtful. “Second, Ilovethat shirt!”
Draven laughed, and Rhys said something derogatory about me under his breath. I ignored him.
The waitress nodded politely at me and allowed a small smile to grace her ruby lips. “Thank you.”
“What do you recommend?” I asked.
She looked at each of us, studying us for a minute. “For the vampire, I would recommend our sweet Nightingale tea. It’s made from a blend of valerian root, peppermint, and lemon.” She nodded at Rhys. “For the star elf, I’d recommend our Luscious Berries, which has strawberries and cream, black tea, and an extra rosehips shot. And for you, miss, I’d recommend our Candy Cane Lane herbal tea with a shot of hazelnut chocolate.”
“How did you do that?” Rhys demanded, eying her. He was giving off unnerved vibes.
Draven’s attention was occupied with the hobbit woman patting the cheeks of the other pixie to rouse her. When that didn’t work, the hobbit dumped water on the pixie’s face. The pixie shrieked and started babbling again to the woman, who dragged her up to her feet, and gently and kindly pushed her back through the swinging doors to the back area, keeping her away from our table. She had my gratitude. And I’d thought Rhys had been exaggerating. Turned out, he hadn’t been.
Our server never even looked back to check to see what was going on. She was very focused and very professional.
Rhys was looking at her with squinty, suspicious eyes. I kicked him lightly under the table.
She’s being nice! Don’t antagonize the nice pixie!
When he ignored my subtle hints, I cleared my throat until I had his attention and glared at him.
“What? Do you know what she did?”
“She gave the recommendations that I asked her for? Could you not be weird?”
The pixie waited calmly for us. I peeked up at her, and her cheeks were pink, but her expression was both calm and patient.
Wow. I was really impressed with her.
