Alistair nodded as resigned understanding filled his face. He knew I wasn’t worried because I had ceased caring long ago if I lived or died, as long as I completed my mission. It made me a great agent and a great assassin, but it never sat well with Alistair. As dedicated as we both were to the cause, he had a soft spot for me.

  “You’ll attend the meeting tomorrow with Deacon surveilling nearby. If it were a trap, I doubt Christoff would use such a public place. There’s no reason to believe that your cover won’t hold.”

  “Do you want me to bring the rune with me again?”

  “No, leave it, but take your dagger.” Alistair turned to Deacon. “The Circle’s going to want to know if there are any latent mages at the meeting.”

  “And after the meeting?” I asked. “Will Deacon be flying off to wherever it is he came from?” I didn’t care that I was being rude. I hoped it would encourage Deacon to leave.

  Alistair’s eyes dimmed the way they did when he delivered news I wouldn’t like. “No, the Circle has assigned him as your new partner.”

  I didn’t need a partner. More than that, I didn’t need another person in my life who I’d only end up losing eventually. I’d gone through four partners since coming to Earth, and none of them had been promoted out. Death followed me wherever I went, it was part of the job, but while I didn’t have any qualms about killing the enemy, I was tired of losing compatriots. I could argue that partners were a liability, but Alistair wouldn’t buy it. He knew I didn’t fear death. Any argument I made would devolve to the truth, and I wouldn’t let anyone see how much I feared losing people. But I needed to make my displeasure known.

  “I’d like to lodge an objection,” I said through gritted teeth.

  In Alistair’s defense, he did an admirable job of containing the laughter that was only hinted at by a slight lift of his lips. “Duly noted. I’ll make sure the Circle is well aware of your objection. I’ve already warned them to expect it.”

  Deacon leaned forward in between me and Alistair. “May I ask, what objections do you have? You don’t even know me.”

  I faced him and cocked my head to the side, as if that were an obvious and stupid question. “Do you know why I am in need of a partner, Deacon? Because my last one got killed, because the Circle sent an untrained rookie out into the field and she panicked. Now she’s dead, and I’m lucky to not have joined her. Partners are liabilities.”

  “They can also be an asset. I can do things you can’t. My ability to sniff out magic alone is invaluable, and I can also heal. I’m the only dragon shifter working for the Circle, and they assigned me to you. That says a lot about where they’re wanting to put their most valuable asset.”

  Damn him and his little smirk too. The fact that his arrogance was so inoffensive irritated me. “Do you have any experience whatsoever?”

  Deacon leaned back, as if conceding a point. “Not experience like you have, but I worked for the Circle for a while in Elustria. I know what I’m doing. They put us together because our strengths complement each other.”

  “And how do you know what my strengths are?”

  “You have the best mission success rate in the Circle. You have a reputation for clean kills and smooth extractions. And if that weren’t enough, you’re Nataliana Kyrell, the most wanted person in Elustria, the most hated by the mages, and you’ve been working against them right here under their noses, and they have no idea.” Admiration shone from his eyes and warmed his tone. That didn’t provide any comfort given what he’d revealed.

  “You know who I am?” My heart went cold at the mention of my given name. I hadn’t heard it in years. Since that fateful day, I’d gone by Nadiya Solenko. He’d either been informed of my identity by the Circle or my cuff hadn’t fooled him. I had a hard time believing the Circle would betray my identity. It was too much of a security risk, even if the person they were telling could be trusted. There were too many unknown variables to make that a wise decision. “So my cuff isn’t foolproof.”

  Deacon’s eyes flitted to my wrist. The cuff warmed as his magic touched it. The feeling I’d had earlier at the elevator filled me again. Deacon held my gaze, his eyes looking deeper than most. “No, it would be for anyone else. I’m the only person powerful enough to tell. Trust me, there won’t be any dragon shifters working for the mages.”

  The dragons and dragon shifters largely stayed out of Elustrian conflicts to preserve their numbers, though it was well known that their sympathies lay with us. There weren’t many of them left, and dragon shifters had to mate with sorcerers, high fae, or other dragon shifters to reproduce. Deacon was the only dragon shifter I’d met. If I didn’t feel his magic, it’d be easy to dismiss him as a liar. Still, something about Deacon’s explanation didn’t sit right.

  Alistair stood and clapped his hands together, giving me no time to respond to Deacon. “Now that that’s settled, let’s get a bite to eat and then I want you two to spar tonight. The team that works out together survives together.”

  That was one of Alistair’s little sayings that he liked to use to get me more comfortable working with other people. Yet Sasha and I had worked out every day together, and it hadn’t saved her.

  8

  The muscles in my arms and legs ached with a lingering soreness from my workout with Deacon. When I woke up this morning, the tightness in my core made me swear I had developed six-pack abs, but the mirror in my bathroom revealed no joy. The ache didn’t bother me. On the contrary, it felt good. My excess magic burned off and left a serene calmness in its place. Deacon was the first partner I’d ever had who posed any kind of physical challenge. All of my previous partners had been fellow sorcerers. When magic flowed freely in your veins, it was difficult to place value on physical strength. Deacon, on the other hand, was pure physical strength. While he said our sparring had adequately challenged him, I knew he could have beaten me anytime he wished. The result of our night of sparring was the best sleep I’d had in a while. Calm confidence settled around me as I approached conference room C ten minutes before ten o’clock.

  Be your best self! read a poster to the right of the door. I checked twice just to be sure I had the right conference room. The poster pictured a generically happy man in an expensive suit standing next to a red sports car parked outside a mansion. Interesting that this appealed to people. Apparently, being your best self meant being the richest form of yourself, able to buy worthless objects. Those same type of people existed in Elustria, but this would not hold mass appeal in my home world.

  Inside the room, it became clear I had overdressed. Most of the people present wore jeans and T-shirts, but I had on slacks and a blouse with a tailored suit coat concealing my dagger. Ten rows of chairs faced the front of the room where a screen was set up for a presentation. Along the back wall near the door, refreshments were laid out: lemonade, water, and some cookies.

  Deacon remained in the lobby, searching people for magic as they entered the conference room. He sat unobtrusively in a far corner so Christoff wouldn’t get a read on him. While most people couldn’t detect latent mages, dragon shifters were a different matter. Deacon would be able to tell even from his distance if any attendees had a spark of magic in them. Deacon himself radiated magic, but a person would have to get close enough to him to sense it. At the benefit last night, he’d kept well away from Christoff.

  “Oh, a newcomer! My name’s Bob, and you are?” A man who appeared as if he stepped out of a toothpaste commercial accosted me at the chocolate chip cookie tray. I envied Deacon’s position outside.

  Time to perform. That meant plastering a smile on my face to mirror Bob. “My name’s April. I’m just here to listen.”

  “Of course, of course. Let’s get you a name tag.”

  Before I could stop him, he had written my name underneath a big, “Hello, my name is.” When he removed the sticker from the backing, I took it from his fingers before he could attempt to place it on me himself. The things I put up with for my work. I had a feeling that this meeting would rank pretty near the top of crap assignments I’d had.

  “Thank you,” I said as graciously as I could manage. I placed the sticker under my left shoulder and flashed him another smile.

  “You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy the meeting. And if you have any questions afterward, don’t hesitate to come up and ask. We’re like one big family here. We want everyone to succeed.” The smiling man left to greet another arrival with the same pep and enthusiasm. It had been a long time since I’d been around a real family, but I didn’t remember them ever acting like Bob.

  I glanced around the room, looking for Christoff. I found him speaking with a group of three other attendees, two women and one man. He didn’t seem to be taking a leadership role in the conversation. It appeared as if the four of them were simply good friends catching up. I caught his eye, and he nodded to me in greeting and went right back to his conversation. A part of me had hoped that he’d break away to take me to the real meeting. As ten o’clock drew closer, I realized with increasing unease that this was the meeting.

  I took a seat in the last row in the farthest right seat. This gave me a full view of the room and easy access to the exit should it be necessary. Christoff sat in the middle of the third row, blending in as if he were one of these humans. The sight of a powerful mage behaving so casually among humans proved unsettling. Nothing about this was right.

  “Good morning, everyone! Are you ready to make today the best day of your life?” Bob stood in front of the room, speaking with such volume and enthusiasm that my instinct was to shush him.

  “Yes!” the room chorused back to him.

  “Aww, that wasn’t convincing. Let’s try it again. Are you ready to make today the best day of your life?” Bob cupped a hand around his ear as he leaned forward.

  “YES!” the entire room shouted in unison.

  What the fuck was this? I thought I had been prepared for anything. An ambush of Directorate operatives? No problem. A meeting of latent mages, trying to learn how to use their newfound powers? I got that covered. An assassin sent to kill me? Don’t make me laugh. But this, this was entirely outside my realm of experience. All around me were bright, shiny smiles. As Bob spoke, everyone nodded along, looking like a sea of bobblehead toys. I could honestly say that I had never been more uncomfortable in my life. Throughout the entire lecture, Christoff joined right in, the only thing setting him apart from the rest of the attendees was his slightly better wardrobe.

  For forty-five minutes, Bob went on and on, his smile never faltering as he exhorted the room to reach for more, to ascend to a higher level of being, to start living on a different plane. I caught myself fantasizing about stabbing him with my dagger just to see if I could get that smile to move.

  “Now, the goal of all of this is to transcend to a higher plane of being. You have inside you the potential to travel to unseen realms, to experience life in a whole new manner. All you have to do is get it right up here”—Bob tapped his head forcefully with his finger—“and everything else will fall into place. I really hope you all will join me here next week, because we’re going to delve even deeper into what it means to transcend existence. Now, I know I had quite a few of you tell me you wanted to share today, so this is your opportunity. If you’re new and would like to introduce yourself or if you’ve been coming for a while and want to share what you got out of today’s session, please come to the front and share.”

  Bob’s eyes sought me out, and I immediately gave him my fiercest glare. I did not consider this to be breaking my cover. In that moment, I decided that April Whitaker was the type of person who hated getting up in front of a room. Luckily, there were plenty of other people who wanted to take Bob up on his offer.

  A middle-aged woman without makeup wearing a stained T-shirt walked to the front of the room. She appeared in need of a vacation, but the smile that lit her face was as brilliant as Bob’s. “My name is Janine.”

  “Hello, Janine,” the room parroted back at her.

  “I’ve been coming to these ‘Best Self’ seminars for a while and I don’t even recognize myself. I mean, things in my life haven’t changed, but just the way I look at them has, you know?” People in the room nodded along to this. “And I really feel strongly that something big is just around the corner for me. And I really hope that all of you will embark on your own journey and we can all reach our next level together, because the friendships I’ve made here are the most meaningful in my life.”

  Four more people got up and shared their stories. They were all along the same lines as Janine’s, and each one was followed by a rousing round of applause. It didn’t take much to excite these people.

  A shy young man in a white dress shirt went to the front. His hand shook as he raised it in greeting. “Hi, my name’s Sam.”

  “Hello, Sam,” the room dutifully echoed back to him.

  “So, this is my first meeting. I was actually coming here with some friends, but I was the only one who showed up. And I just have to say that I’m really glad I did. I’ve been searching for something in my life. I think I finally found it.”

  The round of applause that followed his statement delighted Sam. His face lit up, soaking in the acceptance and approval from his peers.

  Bob, still clapping, stood up beside Sam and gave him a hug. “We’re so happy to have you here, Sam. We can’t wait to see you next week.” Sam went back to his seat. “Well, if no one else wants to say anything, we’ll meet back here next week. Please enjoy the refreshments in the back, and remember, people, it’s the relationships that make this work, so make sure you mingle and talk with each other. Being your best self only works if you work at it.”

  The room once again burst into applause. These people must have hands like leather gloves. When everyone stood and started to mingle, Christoff waved me over to his group that included Bob. Time to work, and that meant suppressing the urge to punch Bob. When I joined the small group, Christoff pulled me into a hug without missing a beat. Out of all the human practices I had to grow accustomed to when I came Earthside, hugging made me the most uncomfortable. In Elustria, no sorcerer would ever press their body up against another as a greeting. The entire idea was strange. Between sorcerers, that much physical contact meant our magic would mingle, an experience too intimate to be shared with a mere acquaintance. Being a professional, I buried my own feelings on the subject and reciprocated.

  “April, I’m so glad you could come. Did you get a chance to meet Bob?” Christoff’s eyes prodded me to be similarly enthusiastic.

  “Yes, Bob was nice enough to introduce himself before the meeting started.”

  “Wonderful!” Christoff’s feigned enthusiasm was over the top, but no one else seemed to notice.

  “So how did you like your first meeting, April?” Bob asked. He waited with bated breath for me to gush about how magnificent it all was. If this wasn’t an assignment, I’d consider screwing with him a little bit.

  “It was really amazing. I’ve never heard anything like it before.”

  “Excellent!” I didn’t think anything in Bob’s life wasn’t excellent. “So how long have you known Grant here?”

  I glanced at Christoff and waved my hand. “Oh, we go way back.”

  “I must say, I’m quite jealous. This man changed my life.” Bob slapped Christoff on the back. “All this, everything you see here, it’s all due to him. Before I met him, I would’ve never stood up in front of a group of people, much less put on my own meeting. He’s really empowered me to take control of my life. This man is really the brains behind the operation. I just follow his lead right up the path of ascension.”

  “Aww, you flatter me. I wouldn’t go as far as all that.” I had to suppress the urge to snort at Christoff’s false modesty. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Bob, it’s been a while since April and I have seen each other, and we have some catching up to do.”

  “Of course. It was a pleasure meeting you, April, and I can’t wait to see you here again next week.” It must be tiring being Bob. He approached another group of people with the same enthusiasm he’d had throughout the meeting.

  “Should we go sit in the lobby?” Christoff asked.

  I nodded and followed him to two plush chairs in an out-of-the-way alcove where we wouldn’t be overheard. A quick glance of the lobby showed no sign of Deacon. I didn’t doubt that he was close enough to sense Christoff’s magic, though. The plan was for him to keep his distance then exit out the back and meet me at our rendezvous point once he saw me leave.

  “As you can see, the program’s advancing well. We have more meetings like this occurring throughout the world. I hope you’ll convey to the Directorate that this is still a plan worth pursuing. We’ll be ready for the test run.”

  I hadn’t expected that. This entire time, I’d assumed that the meeting was a front, a cover for something, though I didn’t have any idea what. If a room full of humans smiling at each other and clapping was the biggest threat the Directorate posed, it looked as if I was headed for an early retirement. “Yes, I’ll convey that to the Directorate. Do you have any reservations about the plan?”

  I needed more information from Christoff, and I was unsure how to get it without breaking my cover. Keeping him on the line was the most important thing. We had worked too long and too hard to track him down, and I wasn’t about to lose him.

  “None at all. You saw how that went. Would you have any reservations?”

  I shook my head with confidence. “Not from what I saw, but you’re closer to the project than I am. The Directorate values your input.”

  “Then tell the Directorate to send me my next batch of orders instead of someone to check up on me. It’s time to put this into action. If we wait any longer, we’re going to miss out. And I want to do at least one practice before the big day.”

  “Naturally.” I nodded, sympathizing with his frustrations. “I’ll put in a favorable report for you.”

 

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