Chapter 10 Doubt & Disapproval
Chapter ten
Doubt the best I could do was harden my heart, until it was black enough that the bruises wouldn’t show. Any cracks, any weakness, and I wouldn’t survive what came next.
“Yuri? Is something wrong?”
I plastered on a smile that I knew didn’t reach my slitted eyes. “Something’s come up, that I need to take care of tonight. But let me walk you home.”
“Oh.” The hurt on her face nearly stole my breath. My chest tightened, knowing I had caused it. But I couldn’t drag her into this.
I shoved my laptop into my backpack and slipped the USB drive into the pocket of her skirt without her noticing. Precious things belonged together. Hopefully, both would remain safe.
Mei glanced down at the frozen dessert, her brow scrunched in confusion. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine.” She raised an eyebrow at me, noticing that I had answered her in the future tense instead of the present. But she didn’t press me any further.
Mei returned the frozen dish to the fridge—though she had to melt some of the ice to lift it off the table—before flicking off the lights.
I ushered her out of the diner and glanced around guardedly while she locked up. No sign of wing nor tail yet.
He was too much of a coward to attack two dragons. No, he would wait until I was alone. He always did.
And he would only go after me. He knew better than to attack a fire drake in her home territory, when her fleet could be waiting in the wings to protect her.
So I took longer than I should have, walking her home beneath the cold and distant stars. It was quiet and tense, thanks to the distance of things unspoken. I hated that invisible barrier. Hated that I was the one who had put it there.
I knew I was only delaying the inevitable, but if these were the last moments I got to spend with her, I wanted them to last as long as possible.
When we finally stood outside of her door, she turned to me awkwardly. I moved closer, hoping to brush my lips against hers one last time, but she pressed her finger to my lips instead.
With a sad shake of her head, she whispered, “You didn’t say it back.”
“What?” I blinked, confused, half my senses straining to detect the sound of claws on cobblestones.
“You’re keeping things from me. You don’t trust me, not fully.” Her pupils were slitted, guarded.
All of my attention crashed onto her. The worst part was that she was right, and we both knew it. But was it still wrong of me if keeping this secret could keep her safe?
Safe for now, at least.
The only true way to keep her safe was if I moved on. They always found me if I stayed in one place too long. The last couple of times, I had just barely managed to slip away. But there was no crowd to slip into or alley to duck down here.
It looked like my luck had finally run out.
“I wish I could,” I said around the lump in my throat.
She hugged herself, as if she were cold. I had to resist the urge to offer her my coat again. “I wish you could, too.”
I watched as she turned and disappeared inside her house. But I couldn’t let my heart crack now. Not when a sudden blast of icy wind announced the arrival of the ice dragon behind me.
I wished he would have waited just a little longer. I would have to draw him away from her house myself.
Without warning, I bolted to the left, towards the edge of the forest. But before I had made it two houses down, a wall of ice surged up in front of me, blocking my escape.
With a defeated sigh, I gripped the straps of my bag and slowly turned to face the angry man stalking towards me.
His snow-white hair was longer than mine, and his slitted eyes were a deeper blue.
But where I was average height and on the lean side, he was tall and broad, with knuckles as hard as diamond and twice as painful.
“Care to explain yourself,” he growled. “Little brother?”