Мишель Роуэн - Reign Check

He didn’t sound angry or upset or even sad about this. He sounded accepting and matter-of-fact, as if he’d been expecting me to break up with him for a while. It made my heart ache.

He turned away.

“Michael …” I grabbed his hands and pulled him closer to me so I could look deeply into his eyes.

His face was tense. It betrayed the major emotions he was trying to hide.

“This is stupid,” I said. “I know it is.”

“I agree completely.” His green eyes were stormy now. “I wish there was another way, but I won’t risk your safety, especially with Kieran poking around in everyone’s business right now.”

I almost laughed at that. He wouldn’t risk my safety? And here I was doing this because I didn’t want him to get hurt.

“Kiss me,” I said.

“One more time before we go back to being only princess and servant?”

I nodded.

He gave me a half smile. “I think I can manage that.”

He put his hands on either side of my face before pressing his lips against mine. I kissed him back this time, feeling an ache in my chest, knowing that this might be the last time. It was too dangerous for him to be my boyfriend — for him —and I didn’t want anyone I cared about to get hurt. Just like my father was protecting my mother, I would protect Michael.

My mind was elsewhere, swept away by the crazy, conflicting emotions I was feeling. I should have remembered why it was a very bad idea to let my mind wander while kissing Michael.

The moment his amulet pressed against me, I felt a bone-jarring zzzaaappp! that nearly knocked me out of my winter boots. As well as giving a Shadow solid form, his green stone amulet worked as a shield, a layer of protection against demons. Or half demons.

“Ouch!” I touched my chest where the shock had made contact and staggered back a few feet. “That really hurt.”

“I’m sorry.” His expression grew pained.

I swallowed hard. “Me, too.”

And I wasn’t just talking about the amulet.

“I’ll contact you the moment your father has more information. I know this is for the best, Princess.” His voice sounded thick. “But I do wish it could be different.”

“So do I.” Tears pricked at my eyelids, but I commanded myself not to cry as I turned toward the gateway.

I liked Michael more than any guy I’d ever known in my life, and he liked me in return — but he couldn’t be my boyfriend, not even a secret one. And that just completely and totally sucked.

“Good-bye, Michael,” I said.

“Good-bye, Princess.”

I walked through the gateway that led me back to my seminormal life.

Michael didn’t follow me.

I stomped against the snow-covered sidewalk, feeling more upset about what happened with every step I took. My winter coat hung open, but I didn’t even feel the cold.

Had I been wrong to break up with Michael? Should I have been braver and continued my — up until now — silent revolution against stupid and ridiculous rules?

I sighed. If I was only risking myself, then maybe . But my decision affected Michael as well. I’d already seen firsthand what the punishment for a Shadow could be. When my aunt Elizabeth took away Michael’s amulet, he’d nearly died, nearly faded away to nothing. I knew it hurt him badly, too. I didn’t want to cause him any pain, now or in the future. Not because of me.

This still hurt. Just in a different way.

Stupid rules.

And I was at the mercy of some demon council I’d never met before. I didn’t ever want to meet them. They sounded horrible.

But they hadn’t met me, either. So how were they supposed to know what to make of this prophecy? They didn’t know I was the kind of girl who read the directions when I microwaved popcorn. I followed the recipe exactly to make chocolate-chip cookies. I didn’t do anything at school to get sent to the principal’s office — not counting the classes I’d skipped today. At my last school I was so well behaved that other students called me a goody-goody.

Now this goody-goody was prophesied to destroy … destroy what, exactly? The prophecy sounded pretty vague to me. Destroy everything? Everyone? And how exactly was I supposed to do that?

I mean, the dark worlds were the Shadowlands, the Underworld, and, hello? Hell itself. I’d seen lots of movies about Hell, and it was full of brimstone and fire andI shuddered.

Destroy that. Me .

The whole thing, including what had happened with Michael, made me feel sick to my stomach.

I needed to buy something, maybe. Possibly something made of chocolate. It might help me feel better. More normal. More human.

From the gateway, by the Starbucks where it had been earlier, I walked fifteen minutes to get to the Erin Heights Town Center, a big shopping mall. By a glance at the big clock tower in the middle of it, I knew school was officially out for the day. I didn’t have much money — only about five dollars — so I window-shopped to try to take my mind off things for a while, although it didn’t really work. I used my money at the convenience store to buy a Diet Coke and a Snickers bar, which sat heavily in my stomach after I ate it.

Then I walked home. It was past seven o’clock by then, and I didn’t feel any better than I had when I’d left the Shadowlands. It wasn’t until I saw my house, though, that I remembered with a sinking feeling that Mom had wanted to celebrate finishing her book. The smell of Chinese food hit me the moment I stepped through the front door.

Several open containers of the delivery food were in the kitchen.

“Mom?” I called.

“In here,” she replied from the family room.

I padded through the kitchen and along the hallway. Mom was curled up on the sofa with a half-eaten plate of fried rice and stir-fried veggies on her lap.

“I started the movie already.” She nodded at the television. “ Sleepless in Seattle. ”

“One of my favorites.”

“That’s why I rented it,” she said pointedly.

I cringed. “I’m sorry I’m later than I thought I’d be.”

There was silence for a moment. “Is there anything you want to tell me, Nikki?”

There was tons, actually. I wanted to tell her that I’d seen my father and he still loved her but couldn’t say anything or he’d be putting her life at risk because of stupid demon-world rules. That I had just had to break up with my boyfriend for pretty much the same reason. Oh, and that, by the way, I was half demon and sometimes sported horns and wings, and had destructive prophecies about me delivered by soothsaying dragons.

“Congrats on finishing the book,” I said instead.

“Thanks.”

“This is the vampire one?”

“Most of my books are about vampires lately. Love and fangs just seem to go together these days.”

“Oh, right.”

Maybe it would be easier if I were a vampire.

She leaned against the sofa cushions. “So how’s Melinda?”

I dug my toe into the carpet. Right, my lie about who I was with after school. Had to keep things like that straight in my head. “She’s … she’s great. Yeah, we went to the mall and looked around for a bit. She needed a new leotard for her dance lessons.”

“Did she find one?”

I continued to force the lie out even though it made me feel increasingly horrible. “She did. Hooray. Mission accomplished.”

Mom nodded. “You know, it’s really funny you say that.”

“What’s funny?”

“About you and Melinda going to the mall after school.”

“Oh?” I tensed.

She placed her plate of food in front of her on the coffee table. “Because Melinda called here two hours ago looking for you. She was concerned because you left school early and she couldn’t reach you on your cell phone. She had to wait until her ballet lesson was over, but she wanted to check on you as soon as she could.”