by T. A. White
Tate stepped in front of Dewdrop, not wanting Night to cause an incident. She noticed three others, two men and a tall woman, slip silently up behind the man. All had the same shocking amber eyes and possessed a similar lethal grace, as if every movement was both a dance and a potential for violence.
They smell dangerous.
None of the strangers reacted to Night’s words. Tate realized he’d directed the message only to her, and perhaps Dewdrop.
“Check your pockets, Olav,” the woman said, eyeing Dewdrop with disdain. “I’ve heard the pick pockets are as thick as fleas on a cur in Aurelia.”
Tate fought the urge to look back at Dewdrop, not wanting to imply guilt. She sure hoped he’d managed to resist the urge. The man was exactly the kind of target Dewdrop liked. Convenient and, from the looks of it, rich.
“Are bullies as thick as fleas on a cur where you come from?” Tate asked as Olav felt along his pockets.
He shook his head at the woman. Tate released a breath. At least she didn’t have to worry about how to distract them now.
The woman curled her lip, showing a very sharp incisor.
Tate’s eyebrow rose. That half wild look Tate had attributed to living on the edge of the empire might come from something else. Something a little less human.
There were claws on the woman’s hands. Not nails. Claws. Tate recognized them for what they were because she sometimes had a set herself when Ilith got a little too close to the surface. Only hers were black.
They’re not human. Night opened his mouth in a sort of grimace that Tate had learned was really a way for him to take a deeper whiff of something. He, like a cat, had a Jacobson’s organ at the roof of his mouth that could be used to parse information from the scents around him. It was called flehmen behavior. Their scent is similar to that of an animal’s. I smell wolf and bear and something else. Something I don’t know how to name.
One of the three behind Olav noticed Night, his amber gaze sharpening with interest. He was older than the others with silver just beginning to thread through the hair at his temples. His face was still smooth and unlined but had an authoritative cast to it.
“You’re rather bold for a human. They usually start stammering and pissing themselves right about now,” the man with golden hair the color of sunshine said. He didn’t sound like he disliked that trait, more like he found it a surprising amusement. Like that of a rabbit you just learned had razor sharp teeth. Oddly cute, but not an immediate threat.
“I’m so glad I could surprise you,” Tate returned.
The woman stepped forward.
Tate fought a grimace. She really hadn’t planned to antagonize them. Only distract them from Dewdrop. It seemed some things couldn’t be helped.
She glanced at the guard, hoping he’d step in. Maybe imply they were on official empire business, which they kind of were, since Ryu actually answered to the emperor. The wide eyes and mild panic in his face didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in Tate of help from that quarter.
“Gabriella,” the older man said.
“I won’t break her,” Gabriella said. “Just bend her a couple of different ways. Maybe see if her instinct for survival still works.”
“As fun as that sounds, I’m going to have to pass. We’ve got important business so I don’t have time to find out.” Tate shot them a charming smile.
It didn’t seem to have the intended effect on Gabriela and Olav though Sunshine seemed to find it mildly amusing. Perhaps her smile needed work. It was possible it had lost its charm, if it ever had any to begin with, which Tate was beginning to doubt. It never seemed to get her out of tough spots. That didn’t stop her from trying though.
Gabriela’s eyes went to the crowd amassing next to the gazebo. "Or perhaps she's brave because she thinks the human puppets who preach about the Creators' Spawn will help her."
Gabriela inched forward, the movements of her body mirroring that of a wolf’s right before it pounced. Her head lowered, her hands curving into claws as she smiled, showing every tooth in her mouth. Well, it was more a snarl than a smile.
Tate sighed and pushed her sleeves up higher, uncovering Ilith. The little dragon was awake and perched on Tate’s forearm, her legs drawn under her, head up and tail whipping like a cat’s when it was contemplating its prey. She looked like a tattoo given movement on the canvas of Tate’s skin. Tate got an itchy feeling beneath her skin when she saw it. Especially since she could feel the dragon’s movements.
“You know, it would have been nice if you’d apologized. It was your friend who ran into the child.” Dewdrop snorted behind her, knowing full well she only ever referred to him as a child when she was trying to make someone feel guilty of something. “Instead you accuse him of thievery. Why is it that everyone we run into in this city wants to pick a fight with us?”
Night didn’t answer, remaining focused on the potential enemies.
“I think it’s your lack of charming personality,” Dewdrop told Tate seriously. “You’re like sandpaper. You just rub people the wrong way.”
“I take offense to that. I am very charming.”
“Umi.”
“She was a deluded, love sick fool intent on betraying her people and destroying a peace treaty. It would have been more worrisome if she had found me charming, because it would mean I was the kind of charming that appealed to traitors and cowards.”
“The Red Lady.”
“Psychotic doesn’t count.”
“Lucius.”
“Hey,” Tate said with outrage. “Lucius found me very charming.”
Dewdrop gave her a get real look. “He knocked you unconscious and threw you in a cell.”
“But he didn’t kill me.”
“I’m sure if you’d given it time he would have.”
Tate scoffed. Internally, she conceded Dewdrop might have had a small point. She still wasn’t sure if Lucius would have kept her alive once he’d gotten what he wanted from her.
Gabriella crept forward, each step a precise movement, as if she was stalking prey in the wild.
Dewdrop shifted, his hand moving to the knife he kept at the small of his back.
“Gabriella. Enough,” Sunshine said, his eyes half lidded with amusement as he took in Tate’s arm. “She’s Dragon-Ridden. The emperor would not be pleased if you damaged one of his pretty lizards.”
Lizard? Ilith thought, her mental voice rife with outrage. Her tail whipped violently.
Tate was happy with the name if it meant there wasn’t going to be a brawl in the middle of the park. Doubly so if it meant she didn’t have to move any more than was necessary with all this sweat dripping off her.
Great Saviors, she thought her sweat was sweating at this point. How could these four summon the energy to discuss anything but hitting the nearest ice house?
“That’s a nice pet you’ve got there,” the older man said, nodding to Night. “How much?”
Tate fought her knee jerk reaction of calling the man’s ancestors into question. She’d learned it was one of the worse insults you could offer. It was a close thing. Night was not a pet, and she did not like people referring to him as such.
“He’s not a pet.”
She cared a lot less about these people taking offense than she had a few minutes ago.
“Are you sure? We’d be willing to compensate you for any expenses you may have incurred while acquiring him.”
Tate had to physically bite her tongue to prevent her from saying what she really thought.
Night’s whiskers relaxed and his ears returned to their normal slightly forward cant. He came out of his semi crouch and padded over to Tate with a loose-limbed saunter.
We should get moving. Ryu really hates it when we’re late.
Tate took a deep breath. “I agree. Wasting any more time here just delays getting out of this sun. They have nothing to say that I need to hear.”
“If you change your mind, call on our main home and ask for Lennart,” the older
man said.
Tate stepped forward, ready to shove her way through if they tried to block her. She figured the guard could run for help if it came down to a fight. She didn’t think it would. Sunshine and the older man had already stepped to the side. Olav joined them reluctantly.
Gabriella was the last to move, using her greater height to glare down at Tate. It might have been intimidating if Tate hadn’t been irate over the implication that her friend was a pet. She met Gabriella’s gaze with flinty eyes and lifted one eyebrow as if to say ‘go on. Test me.’
Gabriella held her eyes for a long second before she snorted, a soft laugh escaping her. “Very well, little lizard. Have it your way.”
Tate passed, the others following after her. That had gone a lot better than she had imagined. She’d half thought she would need to draw on Ilith to get herself and her friends out of that situation. That would have had unappealing consequences since Ryu had expressly forbid her from taking Ilith’s form.
“You realize they were Silva, don’t you?” Dewdrop asked, his voice even and utterly calm.
Tate hadn’t. Her lack of memories meant she was often left clueless about things everybody else treated as common knowledge. Dewdrop knew this, which was why she appreciated how he’d pointed that little tidbit out without making a big deal of it.
“Yup.” The tone of her voice made it clear she hadn’t.
He looked down but not before Tate saw the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He’d never admit it, but she knew he enjoyed being useful. Helping Tate navigate the often-treacherous waters of social situations in Aurelia was a task he’d taken on.
A realization struck Tate. She’d angered the Kairi with that incident concerning the fulcrum a few weeks ago. Now it seemed as if she’d just antagonized the Silva.
She stopped walking, the others stepping around her easily.
“Crap.”
“Now she gets it,” Dewdrop said wryly.
Just what she needed, to piss off another major faction that made up the fabric of Aurelia.
It’s not so bad, Night said, his feline face showing a lot of amusement for someone who shouldn’t be able to mimic human expressions. I think they were impressed that you stood up to them. I got the sense that most don’t. The man liked it that you didn’t try to sell me.
Tate looked at him skeptically. “Really, I didn’t pick up on any of that.”
Now he looked smug. Maybe you should pay more attention.
That said, he followed the guard into the impressive three story brick building they had stopped in front of. The guard held the door with a suitably bland face as Night slunk past him.
“More like I need an increased ability to smell,” Tate muttered.
“Enhanced eyesight and hearing might be useful as well,” Dewdrop chimed in.
She laughed and followed him into the building.
Ryu’s office, for lack of a better word, was on the third floor. Mostly, it was a place he took over when he wanted somewhere to think. There was a desk but he was never behind it. Every time Tate had managed to get called into these scolding sessions, as she liked to call them, he was sprawled on the sofa, taking up the whole thing. Since there were no other chairs in the room except the one behind the desk, she was forced to take the lecture standing up.
Not this time. This time she was going to figure something else out.
She stepped through the doorway and had much of the wind knocked out of her sails. For once, Ryu was seated behind the desk, a stack of papers in front of him. He looked up when she entered. There were even chairs in front of the desk. She fought not to gape at them. Where had those come from, and why hadn’t they been there before?
The room was large and airy with a high ceiling and large windows. If Tate hadn’t associated the room with sharp words and having to bite her tongue from saying what she really thought, she might have called it comfortable. The sort of place that invited you to sit and stare out the window. Maybe read a book.
On one side of the room was a built-in book case with a globe in front of it. The one time she’d been early and Ryu had been away on some task, she’d spent several minutes spinning that globe and tracing the continents and islands it showed. None of them were familiar. None called to her, but she found the thing fascinating regardless.
“You look parched,” Ryu said, his intense eyes on her. “Have a drink.”
Tate eyed the pitcher of water and glasses on one of the side tables. She knew he hadn’t called her here to ensure she was properly hydrated.
“Water!” Dewdrop cried, making a beeline for the pitcher. Given the speed with which he moved, you would think he hadn’t had anything to drink in days.
He poured himself a cup and then got a bowl off the tray and poured some water into it. He set the bowl in front of Night, who was already waiting by his feet. Then he proceeded to gulp the entire glass of water down, not stopping until it was empty. He poured himself another.
“Daniel.” Ryu’s voice was even. “Pour some for Tate as well.”
Tate blinked at the name. It took her a moment to realize that he was referring to Dewdrop. She’d known his name, it was just she almost exclusively referred to him as Dewdrop. She’d called him that since the first time they’d met. His face was so young, as fresh as the morning dew on a flower. It had stuck—to the point that even once he’d given her his name, she had still called him Dewdrop. He seemed to like it. Ryu was the first person she’d heard refer to him as Daniel.
“Yes, Daniel. Pour me a glass.”
Dewdrop paused, eyeing her over his glass, knowing her well enough by now to guess what she was thinking.
“You don’t usually call me Daniel.”
“No, I don’t.”
He set his glass down, picking up another and pouring some water into it, his face pensive.
“I like the name Dewdrop.” He gave her a shy smile while handing her the glass.
Tate took the glass and took a sip. “Good. I don’t think I could remember to call you Daniel after all this time.”
But she would have tried if he wanted her to.
“Naw, it’s like having a street name. Even if it doesn’t inspire fear in the hearts of my enemies.”
Tate hid a grin as she took a sip of her water. He’d been talking to Night. She remembered that exact complaint when she’d given him the name of Night instead of referring to him as 1162, the name his creators had given him.
“It’s an excellent way to disarm your enemy’s defenses. They’ll never expect to be taken down by someone with a name like Dewdrop.”
It’d be better if they never tried anything. Night finished lapping up his water and prowled to the chairs before sprawling on his side. If he had a fierce enough name, they would never mess with him to begin with.
Tate arched an eyebrow at him. “And did you have any suggestions for this fierce name?”
Night started grooming his paws, licking them and then rubbing his face against them.
She took that as a sign that no, he didn’t have any suggestions. Of course, that might be because the last time he’d decided to suggest a name change for himself she’d laughed herself silly.
Tate glanced down at Ryu’s overcrowded desk, puzzled. It was normally uncluttered. The most she’d ever seen on its surface was a journal and a pen. Today, there was a stack of papers piled in front of Ryu. An even bigger pile sat next to his elbow. Other objects lay all over the desk—each more interesting than the last.
Tate felt a tug of recognition and she stepped forward. One in particular drew her attention. It was oblong, black with some type of material on a third of it. The item’s name drifted just at the edge of her subconscious.
Ilith, do you recognize this?
Ilith was busy making eyes at Ryu’s dragon.
Ryu, like Tate, was Dragon-Ridden. Something she’d discovered only after months of him spying on her. The empire tried to control who became Dragon-Ridden and had rules in p
lace to prevent the wrong type of person from bonding with a dragon. He’d had to make sure she really had no memory of how she came to be in possession of a dragon before he revealed himself.
Ilith.
What? Her dragon snapped.
Do you recognize that item?
Ilith pulled her attention from the other dragon reluctantly and looked at the items on the table.
No. She went back to flirting with Ryu’s dragon.
Are you sure? Tate asked again, knowing her dragon could be flighty when Ryu and his dragon were involved.
Ilith used Tate’s eyes to take a closer look.
I’m sure. I don’t know what they are.
Tate fought a sense of disappointment. That didn’t mean anything. Ilith may not have been part of Tate when she had interacted with these.
Tate pointed at the objects. “What are these?”
“Something associated with a task I’m thinking of undertaking.” Ryu frowned.
She picked up the object that fascinated her and almost dropped it as it lengthened to the size of her arm.
“Whoa. That’s not something you see every day,” Dewdrop said behind her.
He took the object from her and frowned when it compressed itself back to its original size.
“How’d you get it to do that?”
Tate shrugged and took the object back, fascinated as it grew. “I have no idea.”
Ryu was staring at her like he had never seen her before. She set the object back down on his desk, thinking he might have been upset she started touching things without permission.
“No one who has touched that has been able to create any sort of reaction from the artifact,” Ryu said, considering her. She didn’t know if he was pleased or pissed-off that she had made it react. “To be truthful, we were considering these either duds or excellent forgeries.”
The word artifact made Tate think that the item may have been recovered from one of the expeditions the Academy funded to uncover the knowledge and artifacts left behind by the Saviors. Most expeditions involved a lot of stumbling around in the tunnels under Aurelia hoping to uncover a previously unknown chamber or passageway.