I couldn’t help but stare. He took a huge gulp of wine, his eyes fixed on the window. Eliza shook her head. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Maybe we should just—”

“Who pays you?”

She sighed. “You do, Jaxon.”

“Correct. I pay, you obey. Now, be the saint you are and run upstairs and get Danica for me. I want her to see the magic.”

With lips pursed tight, Eliza left the room. Zeke shot me a look of exhausted desperation. I forced myself to speak again. “Jax, I’m really not up to it right now. I think we all need some rest.”

“You have a few hours off tomorrow, honeybee.” He sounded absentminded.

“I can’t break into dreamscapes. You know that.”

“Humor me. Try.” Jaxon poured himself some more wine. “I’ve been waiting for this for years. A dreamwalker versus an unreadable. The ultimate ethereal encounter. Never could I conceive of a more dangerous and daring happenstance.”

“Are you still speaking English?”

“No,” Nick said. Every head turned toward him. “He’s speaking like a madman.”

After a short silence, Jaxon raised his glass. “An excellent diagnosis, doctor. Cheers.”

He drank. Nick looked away.

It was in the strained aftermath of that moment that Eliza returned with a clean syringe of adrenaline. With her was Danica Panić, the final member of our septet. She’d grown up in the Scion Citadel of Belgrade, but transferred to London to work as an engineer. Nick had been the one to headhunt her, having spied her aura at a drinks event for new recruits. She took great pride in the fact that none of us could pronounce her name. Or her surname. She was solid as a brick, with crimped reddish hair, worn in a low bun, and arms pitted with scars and burns. Her only soft spot was for waistcoats.

“Danica, my dear.” Jaxon beckoned her. “Come and take a look at this, will you?”

“What am I looking at?” she said.

“My weapon.”

I exchanged a glance with Dani. She’d only been with us for a week, but she already knew what Jax was like.

“Looks like you’re having a séance,” she observed.

“Not today.” He waved a hand. “Begin.”

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself telling him where to stick it. He always buttered up the newcomers. Dani had a bright, hyperactive aura that he hadn’t been able to identify—but as usual, he was convinced she would be something valuable.

I sat down. Nick swabbed my arm and punched in the syringe.

“Do it,” Jax said. “Read the unreadable.”

I gave my blood a minute to absorb the mix of drugs, then closed my eyes and felt for the æther. Zeke braced himself. I couldn’t invade him—only caress his dreamscape, feel the faint nuances of its surface—but his mind was so sensitive, even a nudge could hurt him. I’d have to be careful.