Don’t you? said a small voice in her head.
No, she thought sadly. I don’t.
Eli poked his head into her bedroom and dropped his eyes when he saw her tears.
“We’re going to stay at Pryce’s hotel. He has some protection up, and we’ll take turns guarding the perimeter while you sleep.”
Nina shook her head mournfully. “How can I sleep with all these questions I need answered?”
Eli took a step into the room but appeared hesitant to go any further. “Maybe I can help?”
Nina smiled and looked at him curiously. “What do you mean?”
Eli smiled back, blushing slightly. “I thought we could... do some reading.”
Nina froze, taken aback by his sudden change of heart. He saw the confusion on her face and chuckled.
“I want to put you at ease,” he said. “I don’t have time for relationships or dates, but I have time to take care of you. And this is one of the best ways I’ve found to relieve stress, even if it’s just temporarily.” He paused, gauging her reaction. “What do you say?”
“Yes,” Nina said immediately. “I say yes.”
Eli closed the door behind him. He took another hesitant step, then crossed the room swiftly and took her in his arms, holding her with a strength his slim body belied. Nina was so shocked that she didn’t react at first, but when he bent to press his lips to hers, all of the desire she’d tucked away earlier blossomed and took over her actions. She slipped her arms around his strong shoulders and held the back of his head as his tongue gently separated her lips and hungrily sought hers. Eli’s hands were on the small of her back, but they seemed to be struggling to stay there; after a moment, Nina took them and slid them downward, cupping his fingers around the firmness of her ass as she pressed her body closer to his. She ground her hips against his; a rush of moisture graced her panties as she felt how hard he was beneath his neatly pressed slacks.
He broke away for a moment, dark green eyes smoldering with need. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” Nina breathed, and fell backward on the bed as she pulled him on top of her.
She didn’t remember undressing, but his mouth was on her bare breast a moment later. They were moving quickly but with exquisite care; neither wanted Pryce to hear them, but they also didn’t want to arouse his suspicion by taking too long in the bedroom.
Eli teased her nipple with several long, slow strokes of his tongue, and Nina gasped and arched her back, bringing her breasts closer to his tender touch. He gazed up at her as he sucked her right nipple into his mouth, keeping her gaze while one hand separated her legs and the other took hold of the base of his rigid cock. He pressed the head of himself on the slippery opening of her warmest place and pulled back from her nipple. One of his hands slid beneath her waist, the other moved up to brush some of her wavy black hair away from her eyes. His gaze was saturated with affection and lust, and it melted her self-control; the weight of it snapped apart her need to prolong the moment between them, and now all she wanted was to have him inside of her.
Nina wrapped her thighs around his hips and pulled him inside of her with one sharp movement. They both cried out as Eli slid inside her to his hilt, pushing into her tight, wet entrance; their eyes were so close that Nina could count every lash surrounding his emerald gaze. His body was slender, but he was well-muscled, and as he began to stroke, his hips moved so emphatically that Nina’s body was pushed upward on her bed.
This is unreal, she thought; his movements were blissfully skilled, but that wasn’t surprising to her. What was surprising to her was that her own dragon essence stirred as he thrusted, her energy rushing beneath the surface of her skin like a hidden river. Everywhere their skin touched, her nerves vibrated with joy, and he planted warm kisses on her skin that felt like tiny brush fires as he lifted his mouth away. His head crashed against her g-spot, bringing ecstatic moans from her each time he rushed inside her. Nina tugged on his caramel-colored locks as he slid out, trying as hard as she could to translate her pleasure to movement instead of sound.
“You feel incredible,” Eli whispered as his hips slammed into hers. “God, I don’t think I can stand it much longer!”
Nina didn’t reply—she couldn’t. His strokes were quickening and growing harder, and her walls were tightening around him as she neared her peak. The weight of his body collided with her clit each time he buried himself inside her, and little shocks of ecstasy rolled through her as he pressed against the sensitive nub. Eli kissed her roughly, and a wave of his firm, velvety energy collided with a wave of hers, pushing her to climax so quickly that she couldn’t have drawn breath in time to scream if she wanted to.
“I’m coming,” she whispered in his ear. “Harder, please!”
Eli was plunging in and out of Nina using every bit of strength he had, causing the bedsprings to sing as their bodies collided. He leaned down to kiss her neck and muffle his soft moans; the next moment, his teeth were gently closing on her skin as his thrusts grew deeper and more frantic. She locked her thighs around his hips and bucked her body against his, reveling in the incredible energy pouring out of him as he exploded inside of her. Her body released its own tidal of wave of ecstasy at the same moment, and Nina threw her head back and closed her eyes, unable to believe an orgasm from a stranger could feel so right.
“Oh my God,” she murmured.
Eli collapsed on top of her, then rolled off, chest heaving. His tightly muscled abdomen was glistening with sweat.
“Oh my God is right,” he said breathlessly.
A comfortable silence settled over them. They smiled sheepishly at each other, and Nina stood and began dressing. Eli followed, sneaking glances at her as she wiggled back into her panties and bra. His gaze was slightly proprietary, and a shiver of pleasure raced down her spine.
I can’t believe that happened, she thought giddily. I just had sex with my Reader. Is that allowed?
When she turned to find him fully dressed, he was smiling faintly, a glint in his eyes. She wondered if he’d read her question in her energy.
“Your ceremony won’t be affected by this,” he said a moment later.
Nina laughed. “I have to learn how to cloak my energy. This is too easy for you.”
Eli smoothed his hair down. “Listen…”
Nina looked over at him and tried to decipher the expression on his handsome face. She felt the uncertain energy coming off him; it felt guilty and fearful at the same time. I get it.
“You already told me,” Nina said softly. “You don’t have time for relationships. I know this was a no-strings, thing. No worries, okay?”
His blue eyes were still concerned. “I do think you’re great, Nina. And I know that sounds strange, since I’ve only known you for a few hours. But... you're different,” he said. “I don’t know how else to put it.”
Yeah, I’ve heard that before, she couldn't help thinking. Why is it that guys try the ‘you’re special’ thing when it’s clear you’re not special enough?
Eli seemed to sense that he’d said something wrong. Instead of leaving, he attempted to salvage it.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Nina—”
“You didn’t,” she interrupted. She smiled to try to soften the harshness of her tone. “Really. I’m just tired and a little scared.” She paused. “And confused, because I still feel the need to ask Pryce a million questions.”
“I know how you feel, at least partially. Everything he’s saying goes against what the Council told me. It doesn’t make sense. He shouldn’t have this power—none of them should. It makes no sense that they’d be able to sense a change in the Reading equipment when the Council couldn’t.”
“But they did,” Nina objected. She looked at Eli’s chiseled features as she shifted his gaze. “You see that, right? Don’t you believe him?”
He paused for a long time before bringing his eyes back to hers. “I believe something is going on that’s put you in danger. That’s all
I need to know.”
Anger uncurled inside of Nina, and she wasn’t sure why. She just knew she didn’t want to look at him or his careful expression anymore.
“Get out. I have to call my sister.”
Eli looked stricken. “Nina, I’m sorry if I—”
“Out!”
Eli spun on his heel and left, closing the door behind him.
In the end, she had to leave a message for Rachel, and she left a note on the coffee table in case she didn’t get the message. Pryce didn’t give any indication that he’d heard what had happened, though she knew that he must have felt their energies if he was as skilled as he claimed. Nina sat in the backseat with her duffel bag and insisted Pryce sit up front with Eli. She was burning with rage and confusion, both infused with a sense of loss.
This was supposed to be a happy day. Instead, it’s the worst day of my life so far. Then, as she thought of the day her parents died, second worst. Close second.
The hotel Pryce was staying at was generically elegant. There were two beds in the room, and Pryce unfolded a bed from the sofa to take while Eli and Nina got into beds of their own. No one spoke, because everything that needed to be said had already been aired. Nina wanted to ask more questions, but she was suddenly too tired to form any.
Somehow, amidst the storm of emotions inside her, she fell asleep. Thankfully, she didn’t dream.
***
“Okay, so the main thing you have to remember is this: be respectful.”
They were zooming toward the American Council’s headquarters in Eli’s car. It turned out to be about thirty miles away from Pryce’s hotel, and Nina wondered if he chose it for that reason.
“Okay.”
Eli looked at her nervously. The tiff they’d gotten into last night was forgotten, and so was the passionate tangle they’d had before leaving her apartment.
“I’m thinking that after we schedule the ceremony... we’ll mention that someone tried to kill you last night.” His casual phrasing was betrayed by the tremulous tone of his voice. “We won’t be able to keep that from them anyway. But the barrier I put around you should stop them from seeing that you know about an Outcast network.”
Nina smiled, even though her stomach felt like it was full of snakes. “You don’t feel bad deceiving the Council?”
“I do,” he admitted. “But it’s not such a big deal. I’m sure they know about the Outcasts.”
Silently, Nina agreed with him. It seemed too big an issue for the powerful dragons of the Council to be unaware of.
“They probably kept it from us because they don’t want us to be afraid of the idea that thousands of dragons are running around outside the Council’s control,” Eli continued thoughtfully. “They can’t track an Outcast, because without a bond, they can’t feel their essence from a distance. In any case, that’s not the most important thing. The important thing is to get protection for you so you can work the rest out on your own time.”
Nina turned toward him. “You’re not going to help?”
He was silent for a long time. “I want to, Nina. I really do. But all of this feels so strange to me.”
“You don’t think it feels strange to me?” she asked, laughing. “My life has changed so much in the last twenty-four hours. Not only did my parents not die in a tragic plane crash, I’m some kind of royalty meant to destroy the authority of the Council.”
“We’ll just keep that under wraps, too,” Eli said tersely.
They were pulling into a half-filled parking structure in front of a huge stretch of smooth, empty blacktop. Nina looked out of the side of the building as they got out of the car. The expanse of pavement stretched on for at least a mile in either direction, but there were no buildings in sight.
“Where’s the headquarters?” she asked, turning to Eli.
He smiled and pointed to a bank of elevators. “This way.”
Nina followed Eli into the elevator with her heart in her throat. There was only a single button besides STOP, EMERGENCY and HOLD DOOR: a bright red button that read DOWN.
It barely felt like they were moving at all. They were dropping for what felt like a full sixty seconds; finally, the elevator touched down with a soft thump and the doors parted smoothly, revealing a gleaming, white-tiled entryway shaped in a half-circle with a dozen silver doors lining its curved walls. A hundred feet ahead of them stood a circular desk manned by a plump, smiling redhead. The ceilings were incredibly high, and as Nina stretched her eyes upward, she saw that they were painted with superbly-detailed scenes of dragon history she recognized from her childhood books: Japanese dragons finding the trove of opal that would build the base of their palatial Council building, international dragons locked in a battle in the midst of the civil war that birthed the first Council, the crafting of the giant Rose Quartz that would become the lynchpin of the Greater Horde, and others Nina didn’t recognize off the top of her head.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Eli said under his breath. Nina saw how fiercely his eyes shone as he gazed at the paintings. “Even after five years, it never fails to take my breath away.”
She felt a surge of affection looking at his striking features and the awe that overtook them. Neither of them had spoken about the tension between them, but the blush that rushed to his cheeks when he caught Nina gazing at him told her he hadn’t forgotten their evening together.
The redheaded woman at the desk saved them from having to address it. “Can I help you dears?”
“Eli Nelson and Nina Henry to see the Council for her Emergence Appointment,” Eli said as the color faded from his cheeks.
The woman regarded a slim computer screen for a moment, frowning behind her owlish spectacles. “Nelson and Henry…. Nelson and Henry…. ah! Yes, here it is. You can go right in through door six.”
Eli gave Nina an encouraging smile and led her toward the middlemost door.
I hope the protection charm holds, she thought nervously. There was magic that no dragon could easily get past, even Council dragons, and internal protection charms were one of them. They could be broken, but it took immense strength and time—and you couldn’t do it without the target noticing. Dragons valued their privacy too much to find a simple way around this blockade. Still, Nina was terrified of having her personal quest exposed before it even had a chance to begin.
The door opened to a room that was vastly different from the one they’d just left. It was much smaller, and where the entryway was a palace of bright white light, this room was a fortress made of shadow and flame. As they crossed the threshold, Nina felt a wave of comfort wash over her—it felt like she was walking into a sacred space. Darkened cobblestone lined every inch of the room, and the sudden sensation of peace combined with the hum under Nina’s feet told her the place had been enchanted as well. An enormous fireplace to their left was loaded with logs and crackling merrily, illuminating the room so that you could just barely see the long table ahead where four figures sat.
How on earth am I going to look any of them in the eye?
As soon as the thought finished, the fire roared and stretched to fill every inch of the hearth, throwing more light into the room so that the corners sank into deeper shadow. She wondered if the fire had responded to her musing. The next moment, Nina’s heart nearly stopped as a deep voice sounded, low and sonorous and so commanding it shook her bones.
“Nina Henry of the Blue Valley Horde, I am Eka, head of the Council. Here with me are Lylah, head of discipline; Osrik of international relations; Cedric, second in command; and Imelda, my guard.” A fifth figure, she saw, was lurking in the corner.
Nina froze for a second, her mind blanking on what it was that she was supposed to do. Then she sank to her knees and dropped her head, keeping her voice even. “Mighty Council, I Nina Henry, have come to request an Emergence Ceremony.”
“Rise, Nina,” Eka commanded. “We are well met.”
His voice was firm, but there was an underlying kindness to it that soothed her r
attled nerves; he was the only one of the Council who genuinely looked happy to be there with her, instead of bored or irritated.
Nina got to her feet and blinked slowly, staring at the faces opposite her as her eyes adjusted to the new level of brightness in the room. Eka was on the far left. His skin was the color of cocoa and as wrinkled as a prune; he looked frail, but Nina could feel the power emanating from him all the way across the room. His hands were joined on the table in front of him, the sleeves of his black Council robes hiding his limbs. Despite the wave of energy rolling from him, his golden eyes were warm and inviting, like a pat of butter melting into oatmeal.
The woman next to him evoked no warmth. “You’ve heard your prophecy?” she asked curtly, her beady black eyes probing Nina as though she knew she had a secret. Her white-blonde hair was pulled back in a severe bun, and her face was far younger than her cold voice suggested. “And are satisfied with its message? You may address me as Lylah.”
“I am, Lylah,” Nina said nervously.
The woman smiled, and the gesture was as chilly as her voice.
The man next to Lylah leaned forward and smiled as well. When he spoke, Nina wondered if it was her nerves or if there really was a frisson of hostility running beneath his tone. “I’m Osrik. Your Reader explained everything to you thoroughly? We don’t want any misunderstandings, do we Mr. Nelson?”
Nina looked at Eli, who was blushing deeply for some reason, then back at Osrik, whose hawkish features were shifting in the flickering firelight. “He explained it very well, sir.”
They all regarded the pair of them with unreadable expressions on their faces. The last man didn’t speak at all, just nodded his large, square-ish head and wrote something down on a pad of paper in front of him. He was a few shades lighter than Eka, and Nina deduced he was Cedric.
“If you’re sure, then we’ll set your Emergence Ceremony for one month from now. Agreed?”
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