The man got to his feet, moving stiffly. His face was expressionless.
“The purple shades — ” Giels did something to make the opal glow a soft violet. “Are pleasure.”
Pleasure? Sunniva had never heard of — she looked at the man. A dull red flush was spreading up the pale skin of his neck and on to his face. His jaw was rigid.
Her brother chuckled softly.
“Giels, stop!”
“I’d hate for you to not be fully informed. Of course.” He deactivated the stone and picked up her hand, slotting the gem into Sunniva’s own bracelet next to the handful of gems she owned. It glowed briefly as it synched with her dragonmesh and she felt it settle in, a thorny tangle of complexities in comparison to her simpler gems. A raw space in the back of her mind. The man’s flush slowly faded.
“As a safety precaution, if the stone is removed for more than a few minutes, he’ll die.” Giels’ voice was soft. “You have no idea how to handle these creatures, do you?”
Wonderful. She evaded his gaze and tried to sound sincere. “Thank you.”
“Excellent.” He glanced at the man. “I knew you’d like him.”
Sunniva couldn’t suppress her blush. She knew Giels saw it.
“I’ve been calling him Scum, but he’ll answer to whatever you want.” Giels’ smile was edged. “Bring him to dinner.”
“Dinner?” Sunniva knew she sounded off-balance.
“With the Kervilli. The banquet hall, at eight. You can leave the aerie tomorrow morning. And don’t get too caught up in your new acquisition. I do want him back.”
His footsteps echoed away into the distance.
Eventually Sunniva had to look at the human. “Well,” she said, and then couldn’t think of what else to say. The Kervilli. Another candidate to look down his nose at her. And this human, thrown into the mix.
His gaze was fixed on the distance. If it weren’t for the tick of a pulse just visible at one sculpted temple he could have been a statue, truly unattainable.
She did find him attractive. It didn’t matter. She had a job to do.
He’s better off with you than with Giels, her dragon said. He’ll find out.
You just want to fly. Staying under the shield had been tough on her dragon.
Of course. Her dragon sounded surprised. Don’t you?
She did. And now they could. She took a breath.
“What’s your name?” She was hardly going to call him Scum.
For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but finally he opened his mouth.
“Marcus.” It sounded strained. He didn’t offer anything further. The opal stirred, signaling via Sunniva’s dragonmesh that here was an opportunity to punish him for his reticence. She pushed it away, discomfited by the jewel’s eagerness.
“Marcus,” Sunniva repeated. “All right. Follow me.” It was barely mid-morning. At least she could get some work done before preparing for what would likely be another excruciating dinner.
Her workshop was outside of the aerie proper although still under the defensive shield, a squat building perching on a rocky outcrop and blasted by wind from all directions. Marcus trudged along behind her, his feet slipping on the ice, and Sunniva realized guiltily that she should have gotten him more appropriate clothing before leaving the aerie. Her own dragonmesh glowed warm against her skin.
Inside the gusts were muffled, although a loose window rattled intermittently and the whole place shuddered in the stronger blasts. She’d put all the growth vats along the interior wall where they hummed with power, and the developing sensors there sent pulses of recognition to the paired turquoises in her bracelet that she used for energy work. Sunniva’s current working matrix was suspended in a deep tungsten bowl on the center workbench, and for a moment all she wanted to do was dip her hand in and make contact, feeling for the familiar lines of force. Something that made sense. She put the blaster down next to it and turned around.
Marcus stood just inside the door. His shoes had left damp marks in the entranceway, and his skin had a blueish tinge.
“Sorry about the cold.” The workshop was far more primitive than she was used to, but at least it had thermal controls. She boosted the temperature by five degrees. “It should warm up soon.”
Having someone else there felt strange. Sunniva had found the old weather station when exploring the aerie, and although she’d initially requested servants to help with cleaning and bringing up the heavy equipment she’d done most of the work alone. She went on with her explanation.