Reign Check

“You drew this two weeks ago?” I said, my voice no more than a whisper. It was well before he’d seen me as a Darkling. Well before I’d even known I was a Darkling.

He just nodded. “I didn’t realize it was you at the time. See?” He pointed at the drawing. “The darkness is blocking half your face. It was the darkness that made me wake up from the dream. It … it freaked me out … the way it started to block the light all around you.”

Darkness.

I remembered what Irena had seen in my future. The darkness that surrounded me, that watched me. Was Chris confirming what she’d said? That the second prophecy was definitely true? Fear coursed through my stomach.

I rolled the sketch back up and handed it to Chris, but he didn’t take it. “It’s not me. I don’t know what that is, but you have a vivid imagination. I guess you have a future as an artist ahead of you. Maybe comic books or something.”

His brows drew together. “I don’t know what the darkness is, but it wants you. It’s dangerous.”

“You’re crazy, I think,” I said evenly, trying to ignore the panicky feeling welling in my throat and threatening to choke off my words. “You might want to look into that.”

When I took a step closer to Chris, he staggered back as though I frightened him. Was this fear the reason he’d been avoiding me since the dance? The thought didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it made me feel much worse.

He was quiet for a moment, and then he laughed so suddenly it made me jump. “You might be right about me being crazy.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You think?”

“Maybe that would explain all of this,” he said, shaking his head. “Maybe I should get my mom to prescribe me some meds.”

“Your mom?”

“She deals with insane people on a regular basis. It’s her job.” He shied away from the piece of paper I held out to him. “No, keep it. Please. I don’t want it anywhere near me.”

“But what about—”

He put more distance between us. “Let’s just forget we had this conversation, okay? I’m starting to realize how completely nuts I’m sounding. And I … I’m really sorry about what happened at the dance. I know you won’t believe me, but I’ve never done anything like that before. So whatever happened, I deserved it.”

I thought I’d be the one to walk away first, but it was Chris who left me standing there alone, breathing hard, my heart impersonating a jackhammer. I looked again at the sketch of the Darkling standing in a shadow with the castle behind her. I recalled what he’d said about his mother.

She deals with crazy people.

What did that mean? I knew Chris’s father was a lawyer and his mom was a doctor. They had lots of money, just like Melinda’s parents did.

Wait … Chris’s mother was a doctor? A doctor who dealt with insane people and could prescribe medication?

My eyes widened. Oh my God!

I quickly went back inside and found where I’d hidden my purse in one of Melinda’s kitchen cabinets. I dug into it to grab my wallet and pulled out the business card Rhys had given me when we’d left the dragon oracle’s office yesterday. I hadn’t looked closely at it then, but I did now.

My hands shook, making the card hard to read.

Irena had mentioned her son — the one who didn’t know the truth about his mother yet. She was waiting for him to be mature enough to deal with the knowledge that she was an immortal dragon living in human form. I’d assumed she meant he was just a kid, maybe seven years old, and she hadn’t wanted to scare him at such a young age.

Actually, he was seventeen.

Irena was Chris’s mother.

And, by the looks of the sketch he’d just given me, Chris had more than a little bit of dragon oracle in him as well.

13

I shoved the drawing and business card into my purse and went back to the party, feeling the least festive I’d felt in my entire life. It would take a lot more than fruit punch or finger sandwiches to help me recover from the revelation that Chris Sanders was half dragon and able to glimpse pieces of my life in his dreams.

“Oh, wow!” I heard Melinda exclaim from the dining room to my left, distracting me from my racing thoughts. “I love it. Thank you so much!”

I entered in time to see her throw her arms around the newly arrived Rhys — who I’d convinced myself wouldn’t be at the party at all tonight, given how we’d left things.

“Nikki,” Melinda said when she spotted me lurking nearby. “Look what Rhys got me for the gift exchange.”

She held a small wooden jewelry box in the palm of her hand. It was delicately carved, with flowers on the lid.

So Rhys had just happened to pick her name, had he? What a coincidence. Although, I had a funny feeling Melinda had been in full control of who he ended up with. My best friend was definitely determined when she set her mind to a new goal.

After seeing her basement arsenal, knowing this did not ease my mind.

“Beautiful,” I confirmed. “Looks like it cost a lot more than the ten-dollar limit, though.”

“I’ll never tell,” Rhys said. He had a drink clenched in his right hand. Our eyes met for a moment before he quickly looked away, then downed whatever was in the glass in one big gulp.

He was forcing himself to stay in my presence rather than fleeing the room to get away from me. It was nice to know that was the effect I had on guys now. Really fabulous.

“Want some more?” Larissa asked him.

“No, thank you.”

“Don’t lie. You totally want some more,” she slurred. “It’s sooo yummy.”

It was now painfully and pathetically obvious that Larissa was drunk. Was she feeling a bit uncomfortable and unwanted here at Melinda’s party and had to find some liquid courage?

“Oooh, check it out,” she said, pointing upward at Melinda’s decorations. “Mistletoe!”

She grabbed Rhys and kissed him full on the lips. His eyes widened and he attempted to disengage from her. It took a couple of tries. The girl was strong. He then gave her a look that could only be described as unhappy as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glanced at me.

I was not going to laugh. It was a struggle.

“Larissa.” Melinda glared at her. “Can I talk to you, please? Now?”

Larissa’s cheeks went red. “Uh, okay.”

They left so Melinda could give her BFF-in-waiting the “keep your hands off Rhys” speech. Which meant Rhys and I now were in the dining room alone. Well, if you didn’t count the fifty winter coats piled high behind us. I threw mine on the top of the heap. Everyone else had congregated in Melinda’s massive high-ceilinged living room toward the front end of the mansionlike house. The music was so loud, I could feel it reverberating through the hardwood floors.

“So, I decided to come to the party, after all,” Rhys said.

“I see that.”

He eyed the plastic cup. “I have no idea what I just drank. Wine?”

“Probably.”

“I’ve never tried human wine before.”

“I guess this is your lucky day.”

“It was kind of disgusting.”

“Yeah, well, nobody’s saying Larissa has great taste in anything.”