Мишель Роуэн - Reign Check

Relax, Nikki , I told myself. Right now.

I really didn’t like the way Rhys was affecting me. I had everything totally under control until he arrived unannounced and messed up my concentration.

“Nikki …,” Melinda began, uneasily eyeing both me and Rhys in turn. Luckily, I didn’t think she noticed my unwelcome demon talons make their first high school appearance. “Why don’t you sit down and have some lunch with us?”

I cleared my throat. “I … I have to do something first. I’ll be right back.”

Sidestepping my fallen egg-salad sandwich, I retreated from the cafeteria to the hallway, cursing myself. I was the one who was supposed to scare him away, not the other way around. So much for me being all in charge of the situation. I couldn’t even stay in charge of myself for more than five minutes.

I touched the bracelet my father had given me. It was a simple gold chain with a clear crystal charm in the shape of a teardrop. He’d told me it was an actual dragon’s tear.

Yes, a fire-breathing dragon. They existed — and, apparently, were quite emotional.

It was supposed to help keep my so-called Darkling powers under control. Since it didn’t come with an instruction manual, I kept my hand on it and just tried to concentrate really hard.

Slowly, with a small twinge of pain, my fingernails receded to their short pink-polished versions. I let out a shaky sigh of relief.

“Hey, Nikki, everything okay with you?” A voice made me turn around. Larissa leaned against the wall by the cafeteria entrance, her long dark hair swept over her right shoulder.

I was surprised to see her. Out of the entire Royal Party, she’d be the last person I’d expect to check on my well-being.

“I’m fine,” I said.

She thrust her chin in the general direction of the lunch table past the closed doors. “I think I know what happened in there.”

That was unlikely. I hoped. “Oh yeah?”

“You and Rhys used to date, right? Maybe at your last school?”

The thought was almost humorous. “No, we didn’t. Me and Rhys, we were … uh, acquaintances only. And it was so long ago that I’d practically forgotten about him.”

Her eyebrows went up. “How could you forget a hot guy like him?”

I shrugged. “I guess his hotness faded substantially in my memory. I barely remember him, actually.”

She didn’t look convinced. She slowly approached me and, without speaking, scanned me from top to bottom.

“What?” I prompted after a moment, concerned that some other demon appendage had appeared without my knowledge.

“Nothing.” She pressed her lips together. “I’m just trying to figure it out, that’s all.”

“Figure what out?”

“Why you feel like you have to lie so much.”

This time my eyebrows went up in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“It’s the only way you could have wedged yourself into Melinda’s life so quickly and easily — by lying about everything. You think you can have whatever you want, whenever you want. But I’ve waited a long time for her and me to be best friends, and just when we were getting closer, boom , you show up and ruin everything.”

I thought I could have anything I wanted? She was so wrong.

“You and Melinda are friends,” I reasoned.

“It’s not the same as best friends.” She shook her head. “I can’t figure out why she even wants to be your friend. I mean, you’re a total nobody.”

“Luckily, I don’t care what you think.” Even though I said it, my throat felt thick and my eyes now stung with gathering tears. It was one thing to get a generic evil glare from Larissa, but another thing to hear exactly how she felt about me. Sharp words cut deep. I wasn’t invulnerable.

“Now Melinda’s always with you. Or she’s going to her stupid ballet lessons. She never has time to hang out with me.”

I wasn’t going to let her see she had any effect on me. “Sorry to hear you’re so needy, Larissa. But that doesn’t have anything to do with me.”

“And now with this Rhys thing—”

“What Rhys thing?”

“Melinda really likes him. I’ve never seen her like any guy so fast. You told her that you didn’t know him, but you lied. You do know him. It’s obvious you want to steal him away.”

Oh, this was just getting better and better. But now I was more angry than hurt. “You don’t know how wrong you are. And frankly, I think Melinda could do a lot better.”

Yeah. Human would be good for starters. No faery kings need apply.

I wasn’t winning Larissa over. She thought I was a big liar who believed I could get whatever I wanted. Then again, she wasn’t the smartest girl at school.

Her expression soured further. “Good thing Melinda has me around to watch her back. It won’t be long before she realizes once and for all who her true friends are and who’s just trying to weasel themselves in.”

“Weasel?” I repeated.

“Yeah. Weasel .” Her eyes narrowed into little eye-shadowed slits.

So did mine. I tried very hard not to let the annoyance prickling at my skin spread any further. “Gee, Larissa. I think you have a way higher opinion of yourself than you should have. Normally your opinion would mean nothing to me, but since I’m having a bad day already, it means less than nothing. If that’s even mathematically possible.”

“You don’t fit in here and you never will. It’s only a matter of time before Melinda figures that out.”

Okay, that one stung. I winced, as if she’d slapped me.

“Why don’t you go back to Melinda and keep kissing her butt?” I suggested. “Maybe you can date her next ex-boyfriend if you’re lucky.”

“Go to hell.”

“I’ll send you a postcard.” Irritation swelled inside me, pushing through my hurt feelings. “You said that I always get what I want. You know what I want right now?”

“What?”

“For you to get out of my face.”

“Gladly.” She turned and went back into the cafeteria.

I was now seething — my anger had built gradually until it was nearly overwhelming. My temples started to itch, a warning that my demon horns were planning to appear. That would be bad. It would be harder to hide a set of horns at the moment than a handful of talons.

“I’m seriously going to lose it,” I said to myself. “Right here, right now.”

::No, you’re not. Don’t let her get to you, Princess. Just breathe.::

Yeah, breathe . I’d breathe fire out of my nostrils, just like the dragon who sobbed out the tear on my bracelet. And then I’d sneeze all over Larissa and her stupid opinions about friendship and loyalty and Rhys and …

Wait a minute . I stopped thinking about revenge for a moment.

Did I just hear what I thought I did?

A breath caught in my throat.

I scanned the hallway until I stopped on a tall, very good-looking guy watching me intently while leaning against the lockers about twenty feet away. He had dark hair that was a bit too long and shaggy — it nearly touched his shoulders and partially covered his vivid green eyes and high cheekbones. A dark blue hooded sweatshirt and baggy faded jeans hid the fact he had a leanly muscled athletic frame that any jock at school would envy.

Michael.

My heart leaped. All anger forgotten, including any potential fire-breathing directed at stupid girls named Larissa, I made a beeline toward him.

I couldn’t believe it had been less than a week since Michael had first been sent here with the instruction to bring me back to the Shadowlands so I could meet my father for the first time. To say I’d resisted everything Michael told me would be putting it mildly. At the time, how was I supposed to know he was telling the truth?