Kesia so rarely laughed. Each time was always a treasure, and not one Zephryn wanted to share in that way.
She surveyed the crowd, her eyes turning sharp and careful for a moment. Not enough for anyone else to perceive, but he knew his fleetwing. She was as clever as she was...distracting?
No, not distracting.
Beautiful.
Looking at his fleetwing, his embermate, his Kesia, he finally understood the meaning of the word.
“Aha. Well, that explains everything, now doesn’t it?” Countess Nula murmured next to him. “Not only is she attractive, but she is even more valuable than I. And just as much as you, Count, if not more. How very interesting, for a mere mechanic.”
“Why do you keep speaking of value?” She didn’t have to answer, but Zephryn had to ask, especially considering her level of confidence.
She turned to him and flashed a bright smile. “Oh, everyone has their worth, Count Zephryn. I’m just far more accurate at seeing it than anyone else. It has little to do with what’s in their bank account and a lot more to do with what’s in their heart, their mind, and occasionally,” Countess Nula reached up and gave his chin a pat, “their future. And while the fair lady mechanic is worth enough matched with Shance Windkeeper, the possibility of her with you is exponentially more.”
Zephryn stared at her, too focused on her words to mind the disrespectful gesture. So she had a Talent. “How do you mean?”
“I think I’ll let you figure that out. After all, I have my own affairs to mind. You take care of yours.” She tapped his chest. “Now, let me introduce you to Captain Windkeeper and this charming mystery woman.”
***
“I can’t do this.”
“You’re not doing it. We are. And it looks like we both get to face our fears.” Shance chuckled quietly in her ear, sending a small, pleasant shudder through her veins. It was one of the subtle ways they’d decided to convey their fake intimacy without requiring kissing or other more affectionate gestures. “For that, my dear, is Countess Nula Thredsing, and it looks like she’s latched on to your fleetwing. She has always had a knack for singling out key figures, or so the rumors go.”
Kesia turned to him, raising her eyebrows. “Is she Talented in it?”
“She’s never declared it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Her sense is uncanny.”
They walked down the stairs, their movements smooth and effortless. One thing she was grateful for was the attunement to his body. Having never stayed in skin form this long, there was no way Kesia would have appeared so natural without his training.
In a way, she was grateful for the Countess’s appearance. It was easier to focus on her than to think about Zephryn, standing next to her with the Countess’s hand on his arm. Entirely unwillingly. That was obvious from the rigid way he stood.
She smirked. Good. He didn’t need to enjoy the human woman’s attentions.
Suddenly, the attractions she felt for Shance were like dust and ashes, paling in comparison to the dragon before her. Zephryn walked with the grace of a snow panther. His deep bronze skin set off by the sleek black clothing, his cobalt eyes rich and intent. Kesia’s breath quickened, and her cheeks burned. She couldn’t be thinking this yet. Not while she was still acting as Shance’s betrothed.
She had to ignore the fire building within her for a little longer.
Kesia searched for other thoughts to distract her. Well, the necktie looked foolish on Zephryn. And the suit would hinder close combat. If only she could meet him on the sparring field, like normal. It would be so much easier focusing in sparring clothes than in this dress that stifled her. Shance said she was pretty, but that didn’t help the tightness around her rib cage. Nor did it quell the throbbing in her heels from the shoes.
Shance had already started the conversation. “I’m pleased you could attend, Countess Nula.”
She gave him a bright smile. “How could I miss the opening gala for the Congruency annual war conference? It’s one of the high society events of the year. And my father and I have been such generous supporters of the war effort.”
“Which High Command is quite grateful for.” Shance caught Kesia’s elbow gently and nudged her closer to him. “Have you met my betrothed, First Mechanic Kesia Ironsley?”
Countess Nula smiled even wider. “I haven’t had the pleasure. What a delight to meet the famous woman who has caught the heart of the infamous Captain Windkeeper.”
“The winds carry someone where they will. I just happened to be on their wings.” She smiled back, stifling a giggle. It was one of the lines she had come up with late last night as she tossed and turned after her mission, still feeling the beetle form instead of her own skin.
Zephryn’s eyes bored into hers with the same intensity she’d received walking down the stairs. It was not helping her focus. “Clever, my lady.”
A shiver trickled down her spine. His voice was deep and attractive, even without the resonance.
“Indeed, aren’t they the gem of the gala?” Countess Nula waved toward Zephryn. “May I present Count Zephryn Nighten, a recent member of the economic peerage that, I must confess, I have never met before. Isn’t it lovely, being able to meet new members of your own social class, just like that?”
Kesia shared a brief look with Shance and felt his agreement. Somehow, the Countess knew something was amiss. Kesia needed to meet with Zephryn soon and decide their next move.
“Is that the best you can do, Zephryn?” Finding the tone of amused outrage wasn’t difficult. Countess Nula’s presence already annoyed Kesia sufficiently. She put her hands on her hips, as she had seen human women do. “I would think after all these years you’d at least give me a hug.”
Zephryn gave a slow half-smile, and Kesia’s heart beat faster. Fewmets, that smile stirred the deep, blazing part of her that remembered she was a dragon.
Zephryn nodded. “I didn’t know if you would recognize me. It has been a while.”
“Not that long.” She stepped forward and let him enclose her in a hug that she returned fiercely. Perhaps a bit too fiercely, but she didn’t have to worry about breaking his bones. She felt an answering sigh from him, a hint of relief and peace.
Sorrow pinched her heart at the last phrase. Kesia pushed it down as she pulled away from him. Not now. Not yet.
Kesia smiled at Zephryn. “What brings you to the Scepter of Commerce?”
“You.” Zephryn paused, managing to summon a decent expression of consternation. “There is an urgent matter I need to discuss with you. It was too sensitive to convey over clipse-mirrors.”
Shance leaned over, feigning concern. “Is something wrong? Can I be of assistance?”
“No.” Zephryn leveled a stare at him. “I think you’ve done quite enough. Our entire family was upset when Kesia defied her family to travel here and reunite with you. If Kesia chooses to share this knowledge with you, that is her business.”
Countess Nula glanced between the two men, her gray eyes bright and a half-smile on her lips. “Pardon me? The Thredsings are proficient at financial mediation. If this involves such things, I would be happy to—”
&n
bsp; “No.” Her fleetwing did have a way with thorough shutdowns. Kesia fought the urge to smile and caught Shance’s eye, leaning close again to whisper in his ear. “It won’t take long. Distract her. Please.”
Shance sighed and whispered back. “As my lady wishes. I’ll stir something up between her and Count Frenck. They’ve always been competing for...everything.”
“Thank you.”
She paused, then brushed a kiss on his cheek. He tasted fresh, of wind and freedom, that irresistible hint of fermented trees—but then nothing more.
Nothing at all.
Whereas Zephryn suddenly smelled of peak pine and hot coals. Far more tantalizing.
Where was this scent coming from?
She swallowed, placing a hand over her chest and pressing the voicelator beneath the dress fabric. “I need to—excuse me, but the sun is rather hot. Can we meet inside?”
“Yes.”
Kesia released Shance’s arm and turned, the back of her skirt whirling around her as she walked back up the stairs. Zephryn followed—she couldn’t hear his footfalls, but she could feel his heartflame all too clearly.
Shance had mentioned a side room that he sometimes used to spend time with a woman. Hardly bigger than a closet, he had said, but as private as one could find in the Central Market. Fortunately, there was no one passing that way. The Congruency gala was one of the top business functions of the year, and the weather was fine. Everyone would be in the courtyard networking, securing merger contracts, or trying to listen to others doing so and exploiting that knowledge.
Leaving her and Zephryn alone. Another rush of heat filled her.
The mosaics glinted off the claymesh as she strode down the hallway. Zephryn fell into step with her. “Kesia, your throat.”
“My throat?” She pressed her hand to her neck and felt the flames within. “No! No no no no no!”
There was the door. She fumbled for the engraved skeleton key that Shance had slipped to her and shoved it into the lock. A soft click and the door was open, revealing a small room with a waist-high metal cabinet on one side and a few brooms on the other.
“Fewmets, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I lost control like that.” Kesia huffed out a cloud of smoke and turned. Zephryn’s body blocked the door frame, filling the small space. “And here you are. All right. Well and good.”
“Yes, here I am.” His put-upon scowl had been replaced by a look she had rarely seen. Uncertainty and an odd, fierce need glinted in his eyes.
“Well, some things need to be spoken aloud. I like speaking aloud, sometimes. Shance assured me no one would hear us in this room.” She paused, trying to settle the chaos of her thoughts. “And speaking will help me, and you, focus. On what we need to say to each other.”
He shrugged. “Very well. As far as what I have discovered, it appears the rebels might not all be anarchists.”
“You’ve had contact with them?” Focus on his words. Get through this part first.
“The shopkeeper, Zilpath, is a leader in the underground network. She led me to others, including a dragon.”
Alarm lit within her. “A dragon?”
“A kind of dragon.”
“We were told that all deserters were killed on sight. No survivors.”
“She wasn’t a deserter. She was experimented on, like you.” Zephryn stepped closer to her.
Someone like Kesia. Relief and sadness filled her. She wasn’t the only one. But no one should have to endure experimentation. “Can I meet with this dragon sometime?”
“Yes. Although she is quite reserved. And the Lawless refused to tell me much, but they did imply there were some higher figures in league regarding the war.”
“Yes, there are.”
“What do you know?”
She closed her eyes, recalling her reverie on the airship. “When I was repairing Shance’s vessel, I found traces of the green smoke there. Then later that night, I sneaked into a secret laboratory.” Kesia pulled the pouch out of the front of her corset and withdrew the vial. “It’s the same, Zephryn. The same effects.”
He took the vial of green-tinged liquid from her and studied it closely. “How can you be sure?”
“One of the scientists I followed was drunk and broke a bottle. It neutralized everyone’s Talents.”
“I see. That’s inconvenient.”
“Except for mine.”
Zephryn’s eyes narrowed. “You’re immune?”
“Apparently so.”
“How?”
Tell anyone, and they will be dead. Family never reveals secrets.
She and Zephryn had run away. They were already dead.
Kesia shut her eyes, pressing her lips together to focus and get the words out. “My uncle. He...injected and immersed me in the green smoke as part of my treatment for having two Talents. So he said.” She clenched her hands. “The smoke is the same, Zephryn. And it’s the same as… as the night I killed my father.”
Her voice broke. She didn’t know voices could do that—crack along the edges and split with shuddery breaths that left her weak. Dragons weren’t weak. The weak were killed.
She felt his heartflame and knew he was only inches away now, listening so intently her skin prickled. “My father wanted me to do it, Zephryn. He baited me to do it because he’d become a monster. Somehow, the Pinnacle had disrupted his Talent. He had turned into a hideous, unrecognizable monster, and... he had my mother’s blood on him, all over him.”
“He killed her.”
“Yes, at least I think so. And for some reason…” Kesia paused. “They made him into that monster. After he died he spewed green smoke. They were doing something with it beyond taking away his Talent.”
“They were experimenting on him.”
“Just as they were experimenting on me.” Her voice was a whisper. She took deep breaths to calm herself, inhaling more of that irresistible peak pine and hot coal scent.
She should ask about it. Sometime.
“The dragon woman, Pryenil. She was experimented on by the Pinnacle. By a medical division called the SPU.”
Kesia swallowed. “My parents always told me to stay away from them, but they never explained why.”
“Considering what was done to the two of you, I can understand entirely. This is much worse than we anticipated, Kesia.” His fingers tilted her chin up, sending a thrill through her. She opened her eyes, her breathing shallow. Zephryn’s face was inches from hers. “The Lawless continue to pressure me to side with them. To pressure us.”
“Us?”
His fingers traveled down her throat. Carefully. Lightly. “You are my fleetwing. My embermate. I will never abandon you.”
Her heartbeat resounded in her ears. She drew nearer to Zephryn, pressing against him. “Embermate. My parents used that word. My father…I think that hurt him most of all. Killing my mother.” She remembered the haunted look in his eyes. “It was as if part of himself had vanished. I’d never seen him so lost. I couldn’t imagine what that felt like until I walked into the Central Market and—”
“You lost a part of yourself that you didn’t realize how much you needed until it was missing.” Zephryn reached up and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. “And then you understood that you could never truly live without it.”
Flames licked around his throat, and his cobalt eyes were slits lit with red and orange. Kesia felt her fire answer, her attention drawn to his perfect lips. “Zephryn...can we kiss now?”
“Yes.” His breath was warm on her cheek. “You may start, if you wish. Since you have the experience.”
Kesia stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. Soft and careful. She pulled away for a moment, her heart threatening to burst from her chest. Zephryn’s eyes gazed into hers, unfathomable without mindspeak. It was a mistake. It was foolish.
“More.”
He leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers again, harder and more urgent. Kesia clung to his biceps, pulling him close, feeling
the heat of his fire fill her mouth even as his hands traveled farther down her dress.
So much better than Shance.
Perfect.
Heat raged through her body, through her veins, her skin. She needed to breathe.
They parted and she gasped for air, ribs pressing against her corset.
“I… I liked that.”
Zephryn’s hair stuck out wildly, his face flushed darker. “I agree. We should…investigate further.”
Kesia inhaled sharply at the thought—and coughed on the taste of bitter fog.
Not fog.
Green smoke.
She grabbed Zephryn’s jacket. “We need to leave. Someone’s going to set off another—”
The building exploded.
Chapter 17
“All forces mobilize! We’re under attack! They’re inside the building!”
Shance was already halfway up the stairs and down the corridor, using the wind to boost his speed. The explosion had come from the left side of the building. He knew of one particular room in that part of the building: his transformed utility closet with the pillows and blankets in the cabinet. Nothing flammable or explosive in there, which could only mean one thing.
Something had happened with Kesia and Zephryn.
Had soldiers found the room? Had Kesia been attacked?
His steps skated over the ground, flying on the currents like ice. A cloud of green smoke spilled down the hallway.
Green smoke. The Talent-stealer!
Shance came to a sudden stop and flung out his hands, forming a wall of wind around the cloud and forcing it back toward the door. “Kesia! If you’re in there, you need to get somewhere else, fast!”
“Trying!” Flames burst from inside the doorway, sending fingers of red-orange flame flickering through the cloud.
His jaw dropped. The flames were eating up the green smoke as if it were the driest paper. Kesia, in that incredible white dress, emerged from the doorway in her dragon skin form, human shaped but with rosy scales across her arms and face and coiling down her legs.
Lawless Page 16
