Free Twiceborn by Marina Finlayson Page B

conversation filled the large room. He shouldered his way through the crowd to the open space in front of the orchestra, my hand clasped firmly in his. Luce trailed us at a discreet distance, but I was hardly aware of her any more.
    He twirled me into his arms as another waltz began, the full skirts of my gown flaring out around us in a cloud of deep blue chiffon, the colour chosen to bring out the gold flecks in my brown eyes. My stomach clenched as his leg thrust between mine and we began to move. I’d waltzed many times before, but never with another dragon. Flushed with heat, I was acutely conscious of his body pressed against mine.
    He bent his head close, a small smile playing round those full lips. “Luce is watching like a hen with only one chick. Does she think I’m a threat to you?”
    His breath against my ear ignited a fire deep inside. Perhaps dancing was a mistake. I needed my wits about me, tonight more than ever.
    “ Are you a threat to me? You seemed very friendly with Valeria earlier.”
    He shrugged, as if Valeria were of little importance. “Did you know there used to be quite a lot of interest in the science of auras?”
    He hadn’t answered my question, but I let that pass, curious to see where he was leading. Auras were not something we usually spoke of, since the ability to see them was peculiar to dragons. No need to give away even a hint of the edge it gave us to the lesser shifters.
    “I didn’t.”
    “Well, this was a couple of centuries back. Before your time.”
    Everything was before my time. I was twenty-five, barely mature even by human standards, but considered little more than a hatchling by other dragons, most of whom counted their age by decades, if not centuries. Other dancers whirled by in a riot of colour—both dresses and auras—as I gazed up into his face.
    “The proper reading of an aura can tell us many things.” I watched his lips, fascinated. That husky voice made everything he said sound suggestive. We swayed to the music, our bodies moving as one. “Not just a shifter’s type, but their emotional state, their general health—even something of their character. For instance, I can see that your bodyguard is fiercely loyal to you … and that she doesn’t like me much at all. I wonder what either of us has done to provoke such feelings?”
    As we circled the glittering room Luce came into view over his shoulder. I checked her aura, but it told me nothing I didn’t already know.
    “Don’t take it personally,” I said. “Luce doesn’t like most people.”
    He threw back his head and laughed, exposing the strong tanned column of his throat. Heads turned to look at us, but I was too busy fighting the urge to bite his neck to pay any attention.
    “Do you know what I see when I look at your aura?”
    Hopefully not the height of my arousal. I struggled to focus on the conversation. “What?”
    “Bloody-minded determination.” He smiled down at me. “I think perhaps I am the first dragon to dance with the next Queen of Oceania.”
    “I’m flattered. Does that mean you’d be willing to consider an alliance?” The lights seemed somehow brighter as the violins swelled to a crescendo.
    Before he could answer, Luce appeared out of the eddying crowd.
    “Let’s dance this way, people,” she hissed, shoving us both back toward the terrace.
    I staggered, but Jason held me up, his arm curled protectively around my waist.
    My temper flared. How dared she interrupt? “What’s the matter with you?”
    She looked like a small black crow, shifting anxiously from foot to foot in the middle of the colourful swirl of dancers.
    “Recognise that woman over by the flowers?”
    “Which woman?” There were several in a clump by a huge floral display on the far side of the room.
    “The one in red.”
    The woman in question stood slightly behind the others, not part of their group, and seemed to be doing nothing more sinister than watching the dancers glide past.
    “I