Chapter 36
RAINE
The things and oddities I’ve picked up on are adding up.
I’ve had a hunch for a long while. “I’m not here because I got the job for your collection.
You don’t want me here for my expertise with art but as a potential mate?
Are you insane?” I stand and thud over to him.
“Well, what do you need to do? If it’s not smell, what is it?
Do you need to check under my hood? Kick my tires?
But that’s already been done, hasn’t it?
” Isn’t it supposed to be instant? Isn’t that what ShifterToday talks about?
Isn’t that what Wren says? She knows a lot about them.
Being a lead crew member, she says a good portion of passengers in first class are always shifters.
“You’re upset.”
“Yes, shouldn’t I be? I was brought here under false pretenses. I signed a contract for a job as the head of collections for Cloud Rift. And now I’m just a vessel.”
His head snaps back like I’ve slapped him. Well, good. He should know how it feels to be disrespected.
I sit down and stand back up. “Well, I’m clearly not your mate, so I can just go, then.
I’ll pack my things.” I think about lugging my mostly hand-me-down clothes back across the world.
“Actually, you can donate them. I’ll get my passport and—” My stomach flips.
My mother was right. Not only am I not wanted for my skills as an art curator, but I’m not their mate.
I want to bolt, get out of here as fast as possible.
“Raine, please.” His arms are wrapped around his waist.
“Please what, Kieren? I’m not your mate—you know that. Your dragon clearly knows that. He wanted to eat me—and not in a good way.” My cheeks flush remembering Roark.
“No, he wanted me to touch you. He was angry that I hadn’t listened to his demands, and he took over.”
I step near him. “So touch me. Go on. Get it over with, then you can let me go home with my non-existent tail between my legs.”
“Raine . . . Raine, Raine,” he says, going from tender to a growl.
“Go away, come again some other day.” I turn to the door. I’m being a child. I hate that nursery rhyme. I was teased and bullied with it as a kid on the playground. And in my own pain, I’ve turned it on myself. Awesome.
“Please let me finish. You’ve come a long way.”
My shoulders slump. I wanted this to be my chance. To prove to my parents and myself that I can take care of myself. That I can make it on my own. Not living in Wren’s crash pad apartment.
I pivot. I push out the hurt of being treated like a child again. “Three questions?”
“I will answer any you have.”
“Go on. Why six months?”
“Because it has taken up to six months for a human to experience the lightning before.”
“Lightning. Is that how you know your mates?”
“Yes.”
“Follow-up question: are there a lot of humans living in your . . . realm?”
“Not a lot but a few.”
“Why me? How did you find me?”
“Leopold’s brother knows a seer who does this sort of thing, making matches a lot. He says she is unstable but good at what she does.”
“Excellent, always great to get a job reference from someone a few acorns short of an oak tree. What makes this seer sure I’m the one?”
“I don’t know.”
“And seers can be wrong?”
“Yes,” he says curtly and remarkably fast.
My stomach flips. That was a fast yes. I recall the way the others on the staff act around me. “Have you had other candidates?” Now my stomach’s twisting. I don’t like the thought of them touching someone else. Not that Kieren has even touched me.
“Yes.” His tone has dropped, and he glances away from me.
“How many others have there been? Wait, I don’t want to know.” I purse my lips and tap my foot. “I just slept with Roark. I slept with Roark, and you’re paying me to be here.” I sink to the sofa. “I’m just what my mother said I would become.”
“What is that?” His brow furrows up.
“A hooker—her word for a sex worker. She said if I got my degree in art, I might as well just go out and sell my body because I’d never be able to feed myself.
Then they cut me off. Stopped payment on my senior year of college.
Stopped paying rent on my apartment. It’s why I’m here.
I was planning on saving all the money from this job.
” I use air quotes when I say job, but I don’t look at him.
I can’t. I’m staring at my sandals. “To finish my degree. Better yet, the work I was going to do here would get me into a good masters or doctorate program. I . . . I . . .” I’ve messed up again.
No. I’m not letting this get to me. I can figure this out.
Kieren’s eyes glow in the smokey room. “You are not a sex worker. We aren’t paying you to have sex with us.
We’re paying you for a job, and I expect you to continue with the high-quality work that you are most certainly qualified to do.
Yes, we created a job for you because we couldn’t just ask you to come and hang out with us.
But in your— We obviously need the job you’re doing for us.
I didn’t realize half the things you’ve talked about: sunlight, acid-free boxes, moisture.
My dragon’s been unsettled thinking about how you said we’ve put our hoard in jeopardy.
Excuse me, collection. Please stay. We need you to stay. ”
“You could hire someone more qualified.” Why in the world did I say that? Of course he knows he could hire someone more qualified. But no, it’s a good question.
“Perhaps someone with a doctorate who has become jaded. Someone who pushes paintings from our realm to the side because they don’t recognize the artist’s name.
Someone who catalogs and assigns a value but doesn’t appreciate what they are holding because they’ve done it for years, decades.
” He steps toward me. “We don’t want that.
I don’t want that. You have a passion for art, and you care.
My dragon likes how excited you are about the collection.
About how careful you’re being with our hoard. Please, Raine, stay.”
I clamp my eyes shut. And when I open them again, some of the smoke has cleared. He wants me to stay, and I need the money. Six months of this salary will pay for the rest of my degree and living expenses while I’m doing it. If I’m careful, it could even pay for part of grad school.
“I should go,” I say, “but I’m not strong enough to. Leaving your collection would hurt, and you’re right, it needs someone, and it might as well be me. I’ll stay.” I put my hand out for him to shake, and he stares at it. Right, he won’t touch me. I pull it back. “I think I have one more question.”
“Like I said, you can ask as many as you like.”
“Why won’t you shake my hand?”
“It’s because of the lightning, the way we find our thunder mates. To speed up the process, we perform a ceremony.”
“What sort of ceremony?” My mind races to some weird movie Wren and I watched one summer when I was in middle school. Knives and robes and blood.
Kieren smiles and points to the tapestry.
“Behind that curtain is the portal to our realm––The Thessari. It’s a conduit that allows us to draw power from our realm.
Next week, the Thessari will be in perfect alignment for drawing the most power.
The four of us will gather in front of the portal.
We’ll say some words, and I’ll cup the side of your face with my palm.
Having one of us touch you for the first time helps with the energy of the ceremony. ”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.” His eyes hold mine.
“And then we wait? Six months?”
“Hopefully it won’t take that long.”
I nod. “Six months doesn’t seem like a lot of time for all I need to do with the collection.”
He laughs. “Well, you better keep working, then.”
“That I can do.”
“Any other questions?”
Waiting all that time to see if I’m struck by lightning? “The lightning? Is it real lightning?”
“No, a mark appears. For some, it knocks them unconscious.”
I quiver inside but nod like it’s no big deal. “What does your mark look like?”
“I have the mark of the spine. I’ll show you later. But first I have a tour to give.”
Do I want to go to town with him? I’m limp like I’ve been crying, which I haven’t done. Thank goodness.
He smiles at me, and I see that same young boy from when he was asleep.
“It will be fun.” His smile broadens, and he raises an eyebrow at me.
“You and fun? Now this I have to see.”