Page 34 of Rejected By Dragons

I somehow manage not to trip over my own two feet, but that doesn't stop me from tripping over my words. "I--boy--what? No."

It's a bald-faced lie, of course. My boy troubles are so big they practically caused an international incident.

"Right." She rolls her eyes. "So then what sent you running away from the Air Kingdom like a bat out of hell?"

I swallow, my throat grating. "It's...complicated."

"I've got time."

And really, is there any reason to lie? "I never fit in there. I had, like, two friends."

"Uh-huh."

I sigh. "One of whom happened to be a boy."

She bounces and squeezes my hand. "I knew it."

"We were a secret. His family didn't approve." Understatement of the year.

"Assholes."

A laugh escapes me. It's too high and loud, but I can't help myself. I haven't told her that I'm talking about the royal family of one of the last three remaining dragon kingdoms, but it doesn't matter.

"Such assholes," I agree. Have I ever been able to say that out loud before? So flippantly and so freely? "Anyway, we got caught. They told me to get out of town or they'd destroy me." I shrug, like one of the worst in a long series of shitty things that have happened to me was no big deal. "So I ran."

"Wow." Amy whistles. "And I thought my last break-up was bad." She tilts her head side to side. "To be fair, my ex-girlfriend was a wolf shifter who accidentally ate my pet gerbil."

I laugh again, only to stop myself when I realize she's being serious. "Yikes. Sorry for your loss?"

"It's okay. But seriously. Keep small rodents you care about away from shifters who haven't learned to control their inner carnivores yet."

"Noted."

"Not that I broke up with her for the gerbil thing. She also cheated on me and stole my favorite pairs of earrings. Refusing to apologize for eating Squeakers was just the last straw."

"That sounds like a nightmare." It also sounds delightfully normal--aside from the part about her ex eating her pet. I'm honestly envious.

"It was." Wincing, she glances back at me. "I mean, not running-for-your-life-across-a-desert levels of nightmare. But still. Not great."

As we've been talking about romance fails, she's taken me to the opposite corner of the town square and down a little alleyway. My first impression of this place continues to be borne out. Even this tiny side street is clean, the red brick of the backs of the buildings decorated with colorful murals of flowers instead of graffiti.

Seemingly arriving at our destination, she drops my hand and grabs a key out of a hidden pocket of her skirt. She fits it to the lock in a heavy wooden door. The instant she grasps the handle, the key glows blue, and the door opens.

"Enchanted lock," she explains, confirming my suspicion.

I've heard of them before, but the witches and wizards who create them are rare in the Air Kingdom, so I can't remember ever seeing one in action like this. "Neat."

"It's coded just to my family, and to people we invite into the protection spell." She casts her gaze skyward. "My mom's kind of a security nut."

I'm not surprised. It's completely consistent with the appraising look Rhiannon gave me earlier. Considering how open Amy is, I can't help wondering what her mother has to fear--or to hide.

As Amy holds the door for me, I peer past her into the dimly lit space within. There aren't any obvious traps. Then again, they wouldn't be much good as traps if they were labeled with glowing signs. Warily, I step across the threshold. Amy closes the door behind me, blocking the light from outside.

My eyes adjust to the relative darkness quickly enough.

I find myself in a tidy but cluttered kitchen. Pots and pans hang from a rack on the ceiling, and there's a massive, vintage stove in the corner beside a cast iron sink. The cabinets are dark wood, and the walls a pale green. Plants grow in pots on half the available surfaces, some spilling vines down the fronts of drawers while others reach their thick, sturdy leaves toward the window's filtered light.

A cookbook of some sort is open on one of the counters, and there's a mortar and pestle and a few sprigs of green set beside it. "Sorry." Amy waves a hand in that direction. "I'm trying to figure out how to brew up a locator potion. I haven't been able to find my phone charger in days, and my mom's starting to give me crap about borrowing hers."

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