by Ella Summers
Alex sighed. “Yeah, well people don’t always make sense. As far as I know, they don’t have magic themselves, but they do use magical objects and weapons. Your best bet in a fight is to disarm them.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“They’re devious,” Alex added. “They will stay out of sight, keeping to the shadows.”
“I’ll have my dragon step on them.”
“Your…dragon?” Alex’s voice trailed off. “Ah, you mean your new boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. Why does everyone keep saying that?”
Chuckles buzzed through the phone.
“He’s just my coach for the Magic Games.”
“Sure thing, Sera.” Alex didn’t sound convinced. Sera…” Her voice grew serious. “Do you ever…well, have this voice…in your head?”
“Yeah.” Apparently, Sera wasn’t the only one hearing voices. That was oddly comforting.
“You should listen to that voice,” Alex told her.
“Listen to the voice in my head?”
“Yes.” Alex paused. “I have a lot I want to tell you, Sera, but not over the phone. It’s so impersonal.”
Translation: someone could be listening, so it wasn’t safe for Alex to say more.
“We have to get together soon,” Sera agreed. “How long will you be in Zurich?”
“At least until this mess with the Blood Orb is sorted. And then there are all these hybrids springing up. Things are busy here.”
“Busy with that assassin?”
“Logan? He’s my partner. Work partner,” she tacked on quickly.
“I don’t remember any of your other work partners ever having access to your underwear drawer,” Sera teased her.
“He doesn’t have access. He only wishes he did.”
Something in Alex’s tone made Sera think her sister wished it too, so she decided more teasing was in order.
“Are assassins good kissers?”
“That one is,” Alex said in a whisper. Maybe she didn’t want him to hear.
Sera chuckled.
“And are mage shifters good kissers?” Alex asked her.
Sera choked on her own chuckles. “Um, what?”
It was Alex’s turn to laugh. “Oh, come on, Sera. I know you’ve been running around with Kai Drachenburg.”
“You’ve been talking to Riley.”
“Yep,” Alex said brightly.
“By the way, Riley says he likes the pictures you sent him of Madame Meringue’s chocolate factory,” Sera told her.
“The ones I sent him last week? We went on a tour of the inside.”
“You went on a tour of a chocolate factory…with an assassin?” Something about that was just too funny.
“Yes. Yes, I did,” Alex said. “But we were talking about your new man.”
“He’s not my man.”
“Then what is he?”
“Kai is…complicated.”
Alex laughed. “Aren’t they all? Though I do hear he was on the cover of Mages Illustrated.”
“And you’ve been talking to Naomi too.”
“She e-mailed me. Wrote that I should encourage you to ‘let loose every now and again’.”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that,” Sera said.
“Oh?”
“Don’t you think ‘letting loose’ with someone like Kai would be…irresponsible?”
“I’m sure you know how to take the proper precautions.”
“I’m not talking about letting someone into my pants, Alex. I’m talking about letting him into my life.”
“And your heart?”
“Yes.”
“It sounds like he’s already there,” Alex commented.
Sera tried to ignore the sharp twinge in her chest. “Yes. I’ve already let things go too far. And because of that, tomorrow I’ll be neck-deep in trials designed to break me. And it could have turned out far worse. For others.”
“Oh.” Alex seemed to understand the meaning: that she could have been exposed too. “Sera, I really think you’re rewriting history to torture yourself. You’re going to the Magic Games because you used magic to save San Francisco, not because you played footsie with the dragon. You can’t stop living life because you’re afraid of what will happen if you let yourself be happy. I think we’ve both been doing that for far too long. Besides, I’m not going to let you hog all of the blame. I’ve been a bit irresponsible myself.”
“By playing footsie with the assassin?”
“Something like that,” said Alex. “And you know what? It was so worth it.”
“Hmm.”
“Do you like him?” Alex asked.
“Kai? Yes, I really do.”
“Then go for it,” Alex said. “Just make sure you make him work for access to your underwear drawer.”
Sera laughed. “Sure thing.”
“Ok, there’s an assassin standing over me, tapping his egregiously overpriced watch. We have to go.”
“Hot date?”
“I wouldn’t call street-side warfare with a motorcycle gang of mage delinquents a hot date, but the night is still young. Maybe my assassin will woo me with chocolate later. Talk to you soon, Sera. Kick some serious butt in the Magic Games.”
3
Leather & Denim, Blood & Gore
After ending the call, Sera walked back to the table. Kai was still sitting there, but Riley had moved out to the middle of the field. He tossed something up into the air, then hurried back a few steps. Magic exploded overhead, sizzling and sparkling like fireworks. Green and blue and black, the magical lights coalesced into the shape of a dragon that looked an awful lot like Kai. The fiery dragon shot past Riley, looped a few times in the air, then dove for the table.
Kai’s cool blue eyes watched its descent. He didn’t stand—or fidget—even as it hit the tabletop in an explosion of magic and light that rumbled the wooden planks. The aroma of lilacs and redwoods saturated the air, tingling Sera’s tongue.
Kai looked at Riley. “The lilac was a nice touch,” he told him calmly, as though a magic bomb hadn’t just exploded in his face. “It covers the stench of sulfur.”
“Actually, I got rid of the sulfur by switching fire and lightning ingredients for ice and earth. The natural scents are from the earth. I thought it made the magic more palatable.”
Kai brushed his finger across the tabletop, then licked the tip, tasting the magical residue. His eyebrows lifted. “Good. You’re hired. I need someone with your sense in my labs. Last week, they tried to sell me on a new line of magic-retardant suits.” He crinkled up his nose. “They smelled like burning plastic.”
“No,” Sera said.
Kai looked at her. “Yes, they actually did. I couldn’t believe it either.”
“No, I meant that you can’t hire Riley. He has to finish school.”
“My courses are over,” Riley said. “I graduate in just a few weeks. All I have to do is walk across the stage, give my magic presentation, then claim my diploma.”
“At which point, you and Kai can discuss lilac and sulfur all you want.” She gave Kai a hard look. “But not before then.”
Riley frowned. “You really need to chill, Sera. I won’t drop out of school a few weeks before the finish line. I’m not stupid.”
“Of course you’re not,” she told him. “You’re really smart. And since you’re really smart, you realize how much that diploma will be worth. It’s something no one will be able to take away from you. Unlike a job.”
She made a conscious effort not to look at Kai as she spoke. She couldn’t, however, miss the smoky sizzle electrifying the air—that of his magic flaring up at her last statement. Well, he could huff and puff all he wanted, but he knew she was right. He’d certainly pay Riley a lot of money to come work for him, but without his Magical Sciences degree, Riley would have trouble getting any other job. What if something came between their friendship, and they started hating each other? Would Kai fire him? Or would Rile
y just quit? Sera had a pretty good idea what—or more like who—could come between them. She could never, ever let Kai find out that she was Dragon Born. It wouldn’t just end her life; it would ruin Riley’s.
Suddenly, she felt really tired. “I’m beat,” she told them, stuffing what was left of her sandwich into the bag. “I’m meeting Naomi in a couple of hours. I need to get back to the hotel and shower first.”
Kai rose smoothly to his feet. “I’ll drive you.”
“Thank you.”
Kai walked down the path, shifting gravel crunching beneath his shoes. Sera and Riley followed him out of the park. Only one car was parked on the road—actually, on the sidewalk. Kai had a history of delinquent parking.
A black rental SUV, a perfect replica of his own car, blinked in greeting as they approached. It looked like the sort of car the FBI would drive—or the type the military would use. Sera often teased Kai by referring to his beloved car as ‘the tank’, but she wasn’t in the mood for teasing now. A morning of elemental warfare had left her drained, and worrying about the Magic Games looming on the horizon wasn’t helping either.
She couldn’t help but think about what Alex had said. Her sister was right. She liked Kai. But how could she be with him while lying to his face about who she was? The safe thing—the responsible thing—to do would be to stay away from him. If she could even do that.
Riley made up her mind for her. He cut in front of her, hopping into the back seat of the car. Then, giving her a wink, he shut the door behind him. Sera sighed and climbed up into the front seat. As Kai slid into the driver’s seat, his devastating eyes meeting hers, she quickly looked away to focus on her seatbelt. Then she turned forward and stared straight through the windshield. By then, Kai had started the car and was pulling away from the sidewalk.
They passed the long drive in silence. Well, at least Sera did. A couple minutes after they hopped into the car, Riley and Kai started talking about the shoreside run they’d be taking later. Sera leaned against the window and closed her eyes.
Before she knew it, the slam of the car door rattled her awake. They were in the hotel’s underground garage. Riley passed by her window, his sneakers squeaking across the garage. Sera released her seatbelt and was reaching for the door when Kai caught her hand.
“Wait,” he said.
She turned and gave him a wary look, but he didn’t try anything else. He’d even reeled in his magic, coiling it tightly inside of him. Sera could still feel it—there was no hiding that much raw power—but it wasn’t caressing her magic like it sometimes did, or teasing her with the delectable spicy taste of dragon.
“Yes?” she croaked, then cleared her throat.
“I wanted to talk to you about later today,” he said, his face unreadable. His magic was unreadable too.
“I’m meeting Naomi in a few hours, but we can practice this afternoon.”
“I have work to attend to in the afternoon.”
“Oh,” she said, trying not to sound disappointed.
Of course he had work to do. His whole life wasn’t centered around helping her with the Magic Games. He was managing larger chunks of his family’s company, not sitting on a yacht all day sipping mojitos and listening to banjo music.
“But I need you to meet me tonight at nine,” he continued, then paused, as though he wanted to gauge her response to his next words. “At Trove.”
She suppressed the frown crinkling up her lips. Trove was New York City’s equivalent of Liquid, San Francisco’s high-end mage club. Sera had never been to either—if she went within five feet of the door, the bouncer would turn up his nose at her and shoo her away like a stray dog—but she knew the sort of people who did go to those places. Every single one of them was a member of an elite magic dynasty. People like Kai. Not like her.
“A job?” she asked, her stomach doing a bellyflop. Usually, she just ignored snooty people who looked down on her, but it was awfully hard to ignore a whole club full of people looking down on her.
“Yes, an important job,” he said.
Over the last three weeks, in addition to training, she’d done more than a few jobs for him. Mostly taking care of monsters annoying one magical dynasty or another. It turned out Kai was a master strategist; he’d collected more favors in three weeks than most people could in a lifetime. Sera tried not to feel like a pawn in his game. It was training. Through it all, he’d fought alongside her, explaining how to use magic—not brute force—to take out their foes.
“What is it this time?” she asked. “Centaurs? Harpies? Jumbo caterpillars?”
She hadn’t heard of any monsters plaguing Trove lately, but she hadn’t known about any of the other attacks either. The elite magic dynasties had centuries of practice hiding their problems from the general public.
“It’s a surprise,” Kai told her.
She cringed. The last time he’d threatened a surprise, she’d found herself caught in the crossfire of a mage duel between two telekinetics. He seemed to think that throwing her into dangerous, unknown situations was good practice. Kai was firmly in the camp of ‘what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger’ folks. He was probably right. Not that she’d ever admit it to him.
“I’ll bring my sword,” she told him, doing her best to put on a cheerful smile.
“No sword.”
Drat. “Knives?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Weapons are not permitted at Trove.”
This was just getting better and better. “Then how am I supposed to fight this unknown evil?”
“Bring your magic,” he said. “This will be good practice, not having your weapons as backup.”
Except Sera felt naked without her weapons. Sure, she’d come a long way with Kai’s help, but she still wasn’t in complete control of her magic. This morning she’d had a good day. Other times, she hadn’t been so lucky. Her magic was unwieldy and temperamental.
Kind of like your hormones, said the voice in her head.
She didn’t tell it to shut up. Not this time. Alex had told her she should listen to the voice in her head. Sera nearly laughed aloud. That there was crazy talk.
“Sera.”
She looked at Kai. Apparently, he’d said something, and she hadn’t heard…because she was listening to the voice in her head.
“Yes?” she asked.
“I was explaining the dress code at Trove. This is very important, so please pay attention. They won’t allow you inside if you don’t follow it to the letter.”
“They won’t let me in either way,” she grumbled.
“I’ve put you on the list,” he said. “Now, the dress code. No torn or dirty clothes.” His gaze slid down to her thigh, where a sliver of skin peeked through the tear in her leggings.
She set her hand over the tear. “Hey, they weren’t torn when I put them on this morning. Fighting you is hazardous to the health of my clothing.”
“No military wear.”
“I don’t own anything of the sort.”
“You have a pair of combat boots,” he pointed out.
“I only wore those boots once, and that was to the pier. At midnight.” She shivered. “Who starts a fight at that hour anyway? It’s indecent.” She shivered again. “And cold.”
“No monster gore or blood.”
“So I take it vampires aren’t allowed at Trove?”
“No leather,” he said.
“I guess I’ll just cancel that order of leather lingerie then.”
One of his dark brows twitched. “No jeans.”
She gave his jeans a pointed look.
“Yes, even for me,” he said.
“I’ve never seen you in anything but jeans and a dark t-shirt. I’ve decided that you have two hundred copies of the same exact outfit in your closet.”
“I do own other clothing.”
“Like suits?” she asked.
“Yes.”
Sera snickered.
“Are you ready to take this serious
ly?” he asked.
“It’s just that you said you found suits to be so stiff and uncomfortable and…” She stopped at the chilling look he was giving her. “Uh, yeah, I’m ready.”
“Do try to wear something nice to Trove, Sera. And keep your smart comments to yourself. Not everyone finds them as endearing as I do. I’d hate to have to break up a fight between you and the bouncer.”
“I bet I could take him,” she muttered.
“Of course you could,” he said with strained patience. “But the owner of Trove is a business partner of mine. Isaac has a sizable ego, one that would suffer a severe blow if his big, scary bouncer were beaten up by a woman. Don’t embarrass him. That would put a strain on my partnership with him.”
“I’ll try to behave myself,” she said.
“Start by following the dress code.”
“Yes, fine. I’ll follow the silly dress code. How hard can it be to find something in my closet that isn’t denim, dirty, leather, torn, bloody, full of monster gore, or designed for military warfare?”
His blue eyes pulsed once. “Do you have time to go shopping before tonight?”
She punched him in the arm. “Not funny.” She shook out her hand.
“Are you all right?” he asked, watching her curiously.
She’d hit him, and he was wondering if she was all right? Punching Kai was like hitting a boulder: it hurt her more than it hurt him.
“Fine,” she said. “I will find something to wear. Even though anything that will get me through the door of Trove is probably impossible to fight in.”
“You have finesse, Sera. I have every confidence in your ability to use magic while maintaining the club’s dress code. And I’ll help you,” Kai added, brushing aside a loose strand of hair from her face. He tucked it behind her ear, but allowed his hand to linger on her cheek. His finger traced her jawline slowly.
Heat flushed her face, spreading from his hand, sliding with liquid ease down her neck, cresting her breasts… Sera fumbled with the door handle. The door opened, and she fell out of his car. She landed—ungracefully, but at least on her feet.
“See you tonight,” she said, not meeting his eyes as she swung the door shut.
