Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1) by Emma Hamm (bill gates book recommendations .TXT) 📕

purist form. I’m far too human for that. Eventually E just took over when I slept, and I’d wake up to new bottles of Juice.”

Burke made a snorting sound. “So you’ve been guided here by your creature.”

“Absolutely. And you?”

“My creature is what brought me to the Five.”

She paused to think about that. His creature had no reason to trust the Five. But neither did she. The opinion of a Dream Walker was not enough for her to give her life over to a group of people that had no right telling her how to live her life.

“And you’re trying to convince me that joining the Five is the best option for me?”

“Of course it is.”

“You don’t think that the Five are exactly like M.O.M.?”

He seemed to be offended that she would even suggest such a thing. “They’re nothing like M.O.M.”

“You’re working for the same kind of thing, Burke. A group of people telling you what is right or wrong. I can’t live like that. I make my own decisions.”

She shifted and wrapped a blanket around her. Wren’s legs weren’t particularly steady underneath her, but she managed to wobble over to a cabinet where she kept odds and ends. She had to think. Had to do something that would put her head on straight.

The only thing that did that was changing something about her environment. Her mind was in a constant state of uncertainty. Changing something meant that she had a little bit of control.

Inside the cabinet were many vials of liquid that seemed to chime as soon as the light hit them. Bubbles burst in bright colors as she lifted one in her hand. Peering at the color, she nodded firmly.

She could feel Burke’s eyes on her as she tossed the liquid back and made a face as she swallowed. Her hair changed from root to end in a slow crawl of color. Pink turned to lavender as the wave slowly devoured the darkness. The lighter color suited her well, in her opinion, although it wasn’t the red he so often spoke of.

Burke slowly stood from the stool and walked towards her. His hand raised to touch the new color. The candy color wasn’t lighter than normal hair or softer, but it was still magic. The curls bounced against his hand and tangled against his callouses.

She swallowed hard. Not because there was a lingering taste in her mouth but because she could feel the heat of his body through the thin blanket wrapped around her. He leaned closer than he had ever been. She could feel his breath brushing against the delicate skin of her lips.

“This is the last time I can ask, Wren. Do you want the job?”

“No, Burke.” She was staring down at the thin slash of his lips rather than meeting his gaze. “I don’t want the job.”

He sighed and tugged on one of her curls. The cool night air danced through the open window as he stared down at her. She could only imagine that they made quite the picture. Long limbs, odd colored hair, all surrounded by gauzy fabric and vines. If this had been a romance novel, he would have leaned down to kiss her.

Was he leaning? He seemed to sway towards her as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. At the very last moment, he stepped away from her. The curl floated from his hand to bounce against her chest.

“My time is up. I don’t know who they’ll send next.”

She shrugged. “I’ll handle them the same way I did you.”

“I don’t know if you’ll have that choice,” he murmured.

He walked towards her open window. Every male in her life seemed to choose the rickety and dangerous fire escape rather than the safety of leaving out her door. Wren wondered why that was. However, just as he was leaving, he paused when her soft voice drifted to his ears.

“It was nice to meet you, Burke.” He turned just in time to catch the smile on her lips. “As weird as it was, it was nice to meet you.”

“Jiminy.”

“What?”

“My full name.” He doffed an imaginary hat towards her. “Jiminy Burke, ma’am. At your service.”

Her laughter was music to his ears, and Jiminy Burke found that he quite liked the sound of it.

He walked down the hall towards the conference room and mentally prepared himself for the torrent of anger that was awaiting him. Burke had failed. This was a word that had never been attached to his name before.

His boots struck against the marble floor and echoed in his ears. The sound was a countdown until the moment when he learned his punishment. The Five weren’t particularly judgemental creatures, but they did not abide by failure. He had not followed their rules, and Burke knew this wasn’t going to end well for him.

Glass globes floated down the hallway and illuminated the long walk. A door at the end of the hall was the only decoration. Every now and then, the prickle of magic would dance down his spine, which had always made Burke suspicious that there were other doors in this hallway. He simply could not see them.

The oak creaked as he opened the sturdy door and entered the simple room with minimal decorations. The Five did not seat themselves on thrones but instead preferred to find comfort in a simple living room. They were seated on two couches and two chairs with wine glasses in their hands.

“Ah. Burke,” a honeyed voice said though none of them had turned to look at him.

Burke knew who had spoken. She was one of three females on the council. She was known to others only as “Aether”. Each of the Five represented some part of the elements that made up the world. Fire, Earth, Air, Water, and Time. Gaia was the mother and represented earth. Her consort, Nurin, represented fire. Aether was the daughter of air. Mesi the water child. And finally Kairos, the lord of time.

Aether was capable of reading minds and projecting thoughts into