In a quiet voice, she said, “I would like to meet one of mine someday. It is good being dragonkin, but… I would like to know others.”Maybe one of mine would Choose me.
It would be a good thing, if Vael did not want her, so why did the thought make her want to cry again?
Ruby’s expression softened. “Well, of the few elementals I’ve been privileged enough to meet in our research, you are the only one who has chosen to live amongst a large population. The general consensus is that elementals are solitary. It makes sense, frustrating as it can be for us, that your people would not want to sit down and be interviewed by strangers. You might have better luck, though.”
Yes, that was the conclusion Hele had drawn as well. Her reading backed it up, but so did her own instincts. How often had she found herself over stimulated, craving the vastness of before? It was lonely and she had the vague sense that she’d hated it, but it was also… peaceful. Secure. Still.
I felt still again when I was with Vael.Like she was floating, but not so far away as to lose everything she loved. A perfect stillness. Quiet but not lonely. Free but loved.
Perhaps she was meant to be solitary, but she did not think it was a rule. She did notwantto be solitary. She was part of a clan, and that meant she was part of something bigger than herself. It was a privilege very few were offered.
“Most of my people are not dragonkin. They do not know how to adapt. I learned.” Her gaze darted between the two women. She would think on her kind more later, when she was alone.
Changing the subject, she announced, “I want to help my clan. And you. Maybe after I do this, I will help mine, too.”
Atria’s lips curved to form another warm smile. Her eyes were soft. Hele struggled to come up with something to compare them to. The best she could summon was the wood of Taevas’s throne — warm and polished silky smooth, but tough enough to last centuries surrounded by dragonfire.
Her voice was gentle but firm, too, when she said, “We are so, so grateful, Hele. Really, you can’t imagine how excited we are to get this chance to speak with you.”
“My Isand said you are working on the r-siphon project.” She wrinkled her nose. “He said he renamed itProject Lightning Bolt.”
Ruby waved her hand in the air in ahalf this, half thatgesture. “Yes and no. We consulted on it early on, and have used a lot of the research in our work, but we have spent the past ten years on a clean energy project for the United Congress.”
That took her by surprise. After a brief consultation with her internal word filing system, she asked, “Clean energy? What does that have to do with elementals?”
Ruby’s eyes, cunning and beautiful, glittered in the sunlight.“Everything.”
* * *
They emerged from the meeting room two hours later. Ruby was muttering quietly to herself, her phone in her hand and her thumbs flying across the screen in a blur. She walked briskly down the hall without waiting to see if anyone would follow her.
Hele, mentally exhausted but full to the brim with academic excitement, drifted toward the elevator bank that would take her back down to the ground level. Her hair was a trail of sparks behind her. By her side, Atria walked with her hands tucked loosely behind her back, hidden by the folds of her ankle-length skirt. Every step revealed flashes of dark bronze skin behind the slit that ran down from her thigh.
They stopped at the elevator. A moment after Hele pressed the button, Atria quietly cleared her throat. “It was wonderful talking with you today. I look forward to picking your brain some more.”
Hele couldn’t quite suppress a grin. “I liked speaking to you. I want to know everything about your project. About your science.”
Atria made an inquisitive noise in the back of her throat and shifted her stance until she was leaning over slightly, toward Hele. Her warm brown eyes were laser focused when she asked, “Have you passed your basic education assessment yet?”
“Yes.”
She hadn’t known how competitive she was until she learned whatscoresandexamsandgradeswere. When she learned that passing the BEA with high scores was the way to open up more education, she’d thrown every ounce of her being behind acing the tests. Her results had come in just the month previous. When she opened the email, her family had nearly burst her eardrums with their roars of joy.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what were your scores?”
Hele sent her a sharp smile. “All five hundreds except for math. I am not as good with numbers. My sister Paloma had to tutor me, but I still did not do as well as I wanted. I got four-seventy.”
Atria reeled backward, her expression loosened with surprise. “That’sincredible,Hele.”
“Myemacalls me a genius,” she replied, shrugging. “I do not think this is right. I am justverydetermined.” Another smile, sly this time. “And I do not need to stop reading to sleep. Myisacalls that a tactical advantage.”
“Genius or not, you’re damn smart, Hele. I think you would do really well in science. If you’re interested, Ruby and I know a lot of people in the Collective. There are tons of programs that you could look into.”
She turned her head so fast, the ends of her hair slapped against the elevator door. Sparks sailed through the air to burn tiny holes in the thin carpet under their feet. “What?”
Atria shrugged, but her gaze was intent on Hele’s face when she replied, “It’s just a thought. Those kinds of scores, a recommendation, and your natural enthusiasm can get you almost anywhere. I started with a lot less than that, and I still somehow managed it. You could enter just about any university you wanted in the Collective.”
Suddenly overwhelmed, Hele turned to face the chrome elevator doors again. Her mind raced.Leave the ‘Riik? Go to school? Become a scientist? No, I can’t do that. I can’t leave because my mate is—
