It never occurred to her how invasive dust could be. Nina spent two hours cleaning every inch of the apartment before the Reader was due, scrubbing so voraciously that she was covered in sweat about an hour before he was due to arrive. Rachel shot her an inquisitive look as she headed to the shower for the second time that day, but stopped just short of making any sort of comment; Nina assumed she could see how tense she was. Teasing was going to be counterproductive.
Joey had given her a pamphlet full of information about the Reading process. The pamphlet was now stiff and faded from absorbing the oil on her hands and being baked by the sun as it sat on the passenger side of Nina’s car in between re-reads. She could probably recite each section backwards by now, but she compulsively leafed through it again as she paced around in her sweats, waiting for her hair to dry.
Reading is painless; your Reader will explain the process as it is performed for your benefit. A single drop of blood is all that is needed. Please avoid wearing any opal or agate during your Reading. Your Reading will include a prophecy that was crafted at your birth, which will guide as you enter the folds of Dragon Society and choose how involved you are in the Greater Horde, and which areas you may choose to focus on.
The prophecy, she was told repeatedly, would be far less exciting than it sounded. It was really more of a profile of your strengths and weaknesses, as well as an idea of how powerful you would become after your ceremony. Joey’s prophecy had told him that his compassion and patience were his strongest virtues, and that he’d be able to head his own horde one day after strengthening his skills in leadership.
“That’s why I became a teacher,” he’d explained to them all. “It was the best way to put my strongest skills to use. My mother was told that her nature was in healing, so she became a nurse and eventually was stationed at one of our council-sponsored hospitals. The council has all sorts of businesses and facilities for dragons that fly under the human’s radar, so you can feel safe in the knowledge that whatever you want to do, we can find a place for you.”
What kind of a place would they have for a short-tempered loner?
The Greater Horde had to be better than being alone. Like its name suggested, the Greater Horde was all of dragonkind, linked by ceremony through the giant rose quartz at the Council’s headquarters. Nina used to laugh at how spooky the term sounded, but as she got older she realized that it would likely be the only thing that would rescue her from how detached and alienated she felt from dragon culture. Other kids got to go to boarding schools with other dragons, or summer camps, and even festivals in addition to regular gatherings with their local hordes. Nina didn’t experience being around other dragons for an extended period of time until the year before, partially because she’d failed to make any dragon friends in the neighborhood as a child. The Greater Horde was her last hope, and if she was lucky, she’d even get to immerse herself in dragon culture by working within the High Horde, which was effectively the government for the Greater Horde.
The portable doorbell on the front door sounded, and Nina’s heart leaped to her throat. Pulling her damp hair into a ponytail, she plastered what she hoped was a calm smile on her face and opened the door.
“Hello. Are you Eli?”
The man facing her smiled faintly and nodded as he pulled out a laminated badge. “Eli Nelson, Gold Level Reader, for Nina Henry.” He had a faint accent that hinted of a posh upbringing somewhere in England. His photo ID showed him wearing the same slate gray button-down and rectangular-framed glasses as he was wearing that day, though his caramel colored hair was longer than pictured, curling softly just above his collarbone. “Are any humans present? Any non-dragons?”
“No,” she said, stepping back to let him in.
He was only a few inches taller than her, but his energy was imposing, commanding. He took a brief look around the living room before turning back to her.
“Where should we sit?”
“The couch is fine,” Nina said, and her voice sounded far away to her own ears.
She felt like she was hovering just above her own body, watching the two of them move over to the shabby leather sofa. I should have found some throw pillows or something to class this place up.
Eli was smiling graciously, apparently unbothered by the Spartan decor. “How are you?”
“Fine,” she answered as her stomach tried to twist itself into a knot.
“It’s not going to affect your reading if you’re nervous,” he assured her. Eli’s dark green eyes were friendly, but his tone was a little rehearsed, somewhat detached.
“I’m going to set up the reading platform, and then I’ll start.”
He pulled out a small golden disk about the size of his palm and a slim silver dagger, placing them both on the coffee table before finally producing a quarter-sized chunk of rose quartz. Nina tried to be interested in the arrangement, but her panic was doing strange things to her concentration. She watched as he placed the rose quartz on top of the golden disc, then studied the deep cleft in his chin for a few moments. His teeth were so white. How does he keep them so white? Her gaze bounced to his hands, and suddenly she was wondering how strong he was.
“Do you have any questions before we begin?” he asked politely, causing her to snap back into focus.
She shook her head because it was safer than talking.
“All right. Please give me your right hand.”
Nina was suddenly very aware of her own breathing. It seemed to move in and out of her lungs like sludge, weighing heavily in the air before floating down to be absorbed by the carpet. Her hand felt so warm against his; the next second, it felt like it had been plunged in ice as he pressed the tip of the silver blade into her palm and punctured her flesh.
“Just another moment longer.” Eli’s face was tense with concentration. “I’m letting the instrument fill. Then I’ll activate the reading platform, drop your blood onto the quartz, and it will be about fifteen minutes before we have results, a little less or more depending on your power level.”
Nina nodded to show she understood, but his eyes never moved from her hand.
The tip of blade was hollow and had a small window made of some type of glass. Nina watched the ruby liquid fill the triangle shaped-space one drop at a time, still feeling like she was watching herself from the outside. Eli’s hand expertly retracted the dagger after a few seconds and held it over the quartz. He closed his eyes; the room was suddenly hot and charged with energy.
“Expendat hoc sanguine, videlicet in nebula.”
The rose quartz glowed brightly, its soft pink tint turning white. The golden disk started to hum, vibrating against the coffee table with a faint ratatat noise that tapered off after a few moments. The hairs on the back of Nina’s neck stiffened. What did he say?
“Okay,” Eli said cheerfully. He removed his glasses and buffed them on his suit jacket; Nina saw that the lenses had fogged over as he spoke. “Now we wait.”
An awkward silence followed his words. He stared around the apartment, a look of pleasant interest on his face as he took in the few photos Nina and Rachel had chosen. Her mind was turning over itself in an attempt to find something to talk about. His fierce energy still seemed to be pressing at the edges of her senses, forcing her to stay present and—unnervingly—instilling her with the need to impress him.
“How long have you been a Reader?”
His eyebrows rose. “About five years. I was in training for the first year, so I was sort of an apprentice Reader.”
“Was it hard to learn how to read blood energy?”
Eli shook his head. “Not for me; for most people it is, but my parents were always pushing me and my siblings to delve into anything that might be useful to us in the future. It was always understood that being in the High Horde was not only the best option, it was expected. Both my parents were in the High Horde, and many of my ancestors before them.” He smiled, his gaze growing nostalgic. “My father was the first to introduce me to the concept of blood energy, and I was fascinated after that. Becoming a Reader was the only goal I had for a long time. I felt destined for it.”
Eli’s tone was wistful and laced with pride, but Nina was suffused with a mixture of anger and jealousy. Very quickly, though, those emotions gave way to shame; Eli hadn’t chosen his family any more than she’d chosen hers. And you came out okay, didn’t you? Not great, but okay.
She realized that Eli was gazing at her intently, a strange smile on his face. “Did I make you uncomfortable? I shouldn’t have talked so much about my family.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said earnestly. Shit, I forgot he can read my energy, too. “I just get caught up in my thoughts sometimes. I’ve been looking forward to this moment for most of my life, but I’ve never felt like I was destined for anything. And I wanted so badly to be closer to dragon culture, but all I had were a few books and the slivers of information my adoptive parents could give me.”
Eli leaned back, looking thoughtful. “Yes, dragons are rather tight-lipped about ourselves, aren’t we? All those years of being persecuted certainly made us jumpy.” He paused, the strange smile back on his face again. “I think you’ll do just fine, though. I’ve seen dragons who had no contact with the non-human world at all enter into the Greater Horde and thrive. You’re a dragon, and that’s all that counts.”
As his smile broadened and grew warmer, Nina felt a tingle race up her spine. His features were so perfect, from the Old Hollywood cleft in his square chin to the sweep of his soft brown hair to the dazzle of his straight, white teeth. She found herself wondering if his trim silhouette had any definition under the expensive gray suit; the next moment, she was mentally slapping herself as hard as she could. She fought to rein in the spike in energy she felt, hoping Eli wouldn’t notice the difference between nerves and arousal. Keep it in your pants, girl. This is business.
The twinkle in his deep blue eyes told her she hadn’t hidden a thing from a him, but he appeared too gentlemanly to bring it up. “Do you have any idea what you’d like to do after your ceremony? Any positions or offices you’d like to try for?”
Patches of warmth colored her cheeks, and Nina forced herself to meet Eli’s gaze.
“I’m not sure, but I’d like to look into what the High Horde has to offer. I’d really like to be at the pulse of everything, even if it’s difficult to adjust to. I’m a fast learner, and I learn best being hands-on.”
She almost expected him to laugh, and was grateful when he nodded approvingly.
“That’s a noble desire. A lot of people are afraid of the High Horde, and the council in general, because of the idea that they’re just a governing body, meant to enforce rules or punish detractors. That’s not the case at all.”
“Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with much knowledge about them,” Nina mused, tugging on her ponytail. “In our ceremony prep class, I’d hear people talking about their parents threatening them with a council visit if they didn’t behave or get their grades up. All I had was the history of the Council and a general description of the current members. My witch parents didn’t know enough to threaten me with a visit.”
Eli laughed. “That’s an unexpected plus to growing up outside of dragon culture, then, isn’t it? And besides, those kids weren’t very knowledgeable to begin with, because everyone knows it’s not the council you have to fear. It’s the council guards.”
Nina laughed. “Why would you—”
A high-pitched whine interrupted her, and both of them turned to look at the reading platform. The stone was vibrating so violently it was threatening to jump off the golden disk. Eli looked from Nina to the stone, utterly bewildered.
“It’s only been four minutes,” he said. “My goodness.”
Is that good or bad? Nina’s palms were sweaty, and she kept wiping them on her jeans as Eli held his right hand over the stone and closed his eyes.
“Aperio.” Eli’s voice was amplified, echoing through the still space of her apartment as though they were in a cave.
The temperature in the room spiked again, and Eli’s eyes flew open—but they were no longer verdant green. Instead, they were a grayish-white color that seemed to be mobile, swirling in his sockets like a supernatural fog. As he spoke again, his words held her and sank into her skin, taking root in her bones like a handful of seeds. The lights dimmed suddenly.
“This dragon’s power knows no bounds. Her birth signals the beginning of the end; her commencement is the end of the beginning. As this new power reaches her peak, the old power will crumble to dust. She is the key and the door; she is the head and the heart. This dragon’s power knows no bounds, and the Greater Horde will know boundless power.”
Eli slumped backward, the blue slowly bleeding back into his eyes. He was gasping as the reading platform lost its glow and started to cool, and he took off his glasses again, his face sweaty and pink. The lights flared back to their original brightness.
“Good lord,” he muttered. “That was certainly unexpected.”
He pulled a bottle of water out of his briefcase and guzzled the entire thing.
Nina hadn’t moved—she was encased in shock. His words barely reached her, because she was stilling trying to make sense of his. This dragon’s power knows no bounds. The old power will crumble to dust.
“Nina?” Eli said gently. “Are you all right?”
She struggled to ground herself as she met his gaze. “I don’t know. I... don’t know.”
Eli put a hand on her shoulder. “I have some grounding stones. Would you like a chunk of smoky quartz?” He fished a taupe crystal from his briefcase and pressed the stone into her hand, closing her fingers around it gently. “Just breathe and draw energy from this. Breathe.”
Breathe. Nina forced herself to inhale, closing her eyes and letting the grounding energy of the quartz soak into her own aura and soothe the agitation. She exhaled heavily, repeating the slow, deep breaths until she felt like she was back in her body again.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m okay.”
“That happens sometimes,” Eli said, mopping his face with a handkerchief. “It’s the energy in the room combined with hearing the prophecy, which carries a lot of energy itself. It took a lot out of me, too. Your power is… incredible. But I’m sure you gathered that from the prophecy, if you hadn’t already noticed it for yourself before this.” He looked at her, his expression urgent, his voice a little excited. “Had you noticed anything out of the ordinary about your power before this?”
Nina looked at him dazedly. “What do you mean?”
“Do you seem more advanced than other dragons your age? Having bursts of energy that intrude on your daily life? Cryptic dreams?”
Nina started to say no, but she realized she couldn’t lie to Eli without it being detected. “Yes,” she admitted. “My teacher asked me the other day...I’ve been having some crazy dreams.” She looked down. “I didn’t tell him, though. I don’t know why.”
Eli shook his head, a look of awe dawning on his handsome face. “It doesn’t matter now. Clearly, you’re special. I had a feeling you were when I walked in, and that prophecy proves it.”
Nina was still turning the words over in her mind. “What did it mean? I’m the key and the door? What power is going to crumble? Isn’t that... a bad thing?”
Eli waved his hand in the air vaguely. “All prophecies have stilted language like that, so it’s not as dire as it sounds. It’s likely referring to some obstacle that holds power over you, or something in your life that’s been blocking the growth of your power. Doubt, greed, anger, any number of things.” He was elated, completely unbothered by the lack of clarity. “What matters is that you’re definitely powerful enough for the High Horde. You may even sit on the Council yourself someday.”
Nina’s focus swiveled back to Eli, unable to contain her growing excitement. “Really? Are you serious? The real Council?”
He laughed. “Yes, really. I would never joke about such a thing.”
She flung her arms around Eli’s neck and hugged him as tightly as she could. It only occurred to her after the fact that it may be inappropriate, but Eli wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a squeeze back, tentatively at first. Her heart was bursting with joy, and she could feel the vibration of happiness in Eli’s energy, too. It struck her that even though she was hugging a stranger, it didn’t feel like it at all. Eli’s hold felt safe and familiar, warm in a way she hadn’t experienced in a long time. As she pulled back from him, his hands lingered on her waist for a moment—almost too brief to notice.
Their eyes met, and Nina saw a flash of something she couldn’t name in Eli’s gaze; before she could work up the courage to ask about it, he began to talk, shifting his eyes away from her as he did so.
“So, tomorrow we go and schedule your ceremony. We’ll go to the council and take you to the Emergence Chamber, where you’ll meet with the members.”
Nina didn’t want to talk about the Council, but she recognized the finality in Eli’s tone. Her frustration was threatening to take over her focus, but she beat it back, taking a deep breath to center herself.
“Who’s all going to be there?”
“Everyone. There’s Eka, the head of the Council, and the longest-serving member. He was around during the dragon civil wars. There’s Lylah, second chair, and officer of discipline. She’s much younger than Eka, only a few hundred years old, but very bright and teeming with power. Osrik is head of international relations, and also oversees job placement. Cedric is the second oldest, but he’s very quiet, and you may not even speak to him at all. There’ll also be a guard there, mostly for show.”
Nina frowned. “You say the guards are the scary ones, right?”
Eli laughed. “Yes, but only if you’ve done something bad. On ceremony days, there’s no reason to pay them any mind. Besides, I’ll be there, too. I’ll lend you a hand if things get sticky.”
Eli’s smile was different; it seemed warmer and friendlier, but also markedly more curious. His eyes grazed over her appraisingly and Nina felt a shiver run up her spine again; this time, she made no move to conceal her reaction to his probing gaze. There was no use in trying to rein in her flirty energy, either, since he would see it no matter what. There was no hiding from a Reader. Nina indulged it, letting her ardor overtake all else. She felt emboldened by her reading, confident in a way she’d never been before. Eli was here on Council business, but who said she couldn’t see him afterward?
Eli was grinning; his desire to keep things professional seemed to be forgotten for now.
“Miss Henry, what are you thinking about?”
Nina blushed but held his gaze. “Why? What are you reading in my energy?”
His smile turned sultry. “I’m reading a lot of things, actually.”
Nina raised one eyebrow. “Reading anything you like?”
“Quite a lot,” he answered. “Some very engaging material here.”
She bit her lip, trying to stay coy. “Maybe you want read more closely. Really get between the... lines.”
Eli was silent for a moment. “I would like that very much. But it would be remiss of me to do anything but focus on the task at hand. Readers are expected to read... but only the assigned material. Surface reading, you might say.”
Nina started to try and conceal her disappointment, but decided against it, since he’d pick it up anyway. “When would be an appropriate time for a close reading, Mr. Nelson?”
Eli looked torn. “To be frank, there may not be an ideal time. My job takes me on the road a lot. I’m often called away suddenly.”
“That doesn’t leave much room for a personal life,” Nina pointed out.
Eli smiled ruefully. “I know. Believe me, I’ve repeatedly tried to maintain some sort of social life, and it hasn’t ever worked.” His gaze was tinged with sadness. “It gets pretty tiring, only having High Horde grunts for friends.”
He looked so forlorn that Nina leaned forward and kissed his lips—more of a peck than anything, but it shocked him out of his dejection. He looked at her inquisitively.
“Consider it a prologue,” she said softly. “And if you want to check the rest out, just let me know.”
He gave her a look so loaded with meaning that Nina wished she could read energy better; she was sure that desire was there, but so was hesitancy, confusion, and even fear. How much of each? Which emotion was winning? Did she have any hope of pushing him toward her?
Just as she was deciding whether or not to keep flirting, someone began to pound on the door.