Page 220 of Pixie Problems

"By the Mad Queen herself," I said, proving I'd been told that much. "Sounds like she kept him as a little trophy to show off or something." I grumbled to show what I thought of that: puredisgust.

Hawke laughed once. "Yeah, well, that's the Mad Queen for ya. Trust me, it only gets worse when you know the details."

"And you can't talk about them," I teased.

He canted his head a bit and shrugged. "I'm trying to talk around it as much as I can. But yeah. Tor's hurt that the girl got the girl, and the girl got the guy, and the guy got the girl, and he's getting a whole lot of nothing but magical issues."

"Fuck, that means he's pissy again, huh?"

"So fucking pissy," Hawke agreed. "I told Keir to kiss the shit out of him but - " Hawke stopped hard. "Shit. Did I just overstep?"

"You're fine!" I promised. "Geez, I know about the kiss, and you even said Torian's hot. I mean, hello, obvious, right? Wait, are you into Keir too?"

"Wilder," he replied. "Uh, I'm into Wilder. Wilder's into Keir pretty bad, though. That Keir makes him get all shy and shit?"

"A shy duke?" I asked.

"I know!" Hawke said, leaving his chair to come closer. "And it's hard to tell when he blushes because of his skin tone, but he does. I just don't think Wilder would ever go for a guy Tor's messing around with."

"Wait, why?" I asked.

"Uh..." Hawke dropped down to sit on the corner of my bed, the closest place to my desk he could get. "Um..."

"Things you can't talk about?" I offered.

"Well..." He dropped his head and scrubbed at his mouth. "Magical differences?"

"Because Torian's a jevadu?" I asked. "I mean, don't tell me Wilder's racist!"

"No!" Hawke hurried to assure me. "No, not that. I mean. Shit!"

I took a bite of my meal, then turned my chair so I could see him. "Is it because Torian's a prick about things, always acts like he's better than everyone else, and tends to be cruel about it?"

"Kinda, yeah," Hawke agreed. "Although I wouldn't have said it like that, but I can see where you'd think so."

"I mean, I get it," I said. "Before I got here, I was shit on by everyone. Not only was I always the new girl, but I was a loser, didn't have parents, didn't have cool clothes, and all that shit. I got pretty good at lashing out before they could embarrass me, so everyone called me a bitch."

"Yeah," Hawke agreed. "Kinda like that, but add in growing up with the Mad Queen, and you get a better picture."

"Shit," I said, actually thinking about that. "Ok, yeah. No wonder he's a dick."

"So, like, Keir?" Hawke asked. "If he, you know, fell into bed with Wilder..."

"Good for them?" I shook my head, not sure what he wanted.

"So I should push Wilder to make a move?" he asked. "Since Torian isn't, and I think they'd be cute."

"So cute!" I agreed. "Yes! Oh my god, that would be perfect. And then I wouldn't feel so bad about me and Aspen, and me and Keir, and yeah."

"And maybe I can still kinda flirt with you?" Hawke asked.

I giggled. "You know how to flirt?"

"Not really, no," he admitted. "I just..." He shifted a bit on the bed and glanced down at the floor. "You know how before the Hunt showed up, we were all just laughing and having a good time? And how in practice, you and Keir really make me work for it, but I'm getting better with my weapons by fighting both of you at once?"

I wasn't quite sure where he was going, but I knew those things. "Yeah?"

"That's kinda the best I got," Hawke said softly.