Even a month later, humans obsessed with wyvern gossip (yes, it’s totally a thing—some people love movie stars, some drool over their favorite baseball heroes, and others latch on to wyverns as their “celebrities” of choice) were still salivating to know details about our family’s fall from grace. There were so many conflicting stories about what had led to our expulsion from the upper echelons of wyvern society. The most persistent rumor was that my mother had stolen millions and then lost it all in an investment scam. And I had to admit it was possible. Whatever had happened was certainly all about gold. Nothing else would have excited our kind so much.
Liam halted in the middle of the sidewalk.
And I saw him. Ryan. My Ryan.
He looked exactly the same as he had the last time I saw him, which intellectually wasn’t a surprise since I last saw him at school less than a week ago before April break began, but still I thought he should be gaunt and withered from lack of me. Instead, he looked…well, he needed to comb his hair. Bits were sticking scarecrow-like in various directions. Also, he had brown socks with black shoes, because he has the fashion sense of a platypus. But it was his eyes that I stared at most of all. Big, brown, with lashes that would put mascara companies out of business. His eyes transform him from doofy-boy-next-door to movie-star-mixed-with-your-favorite-teddy-bear.
“Sky,” he said, or breathed. Or maybe I just imagined him saying my name.
“Hi, Ryan,” I wanted to say. Cool, calm, collected. Instead, I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t get my throat to work. I felt flooded with memories: climbing trees as kids (he’d burned our names into the bark), the first time we held hands (under the table at an otherwise boring brunch), the time he gave me all of his ice cream when I dropped mine (a sign we were destined to be together).
“You look great,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said, and mentally kicked myself. I’d rehearsed what I’d say to him if I saw him about a million times. I would be sophisticated and suave. Make him see that he hadn’t hurt me. Make him remember what he missed. Instead, I said,Thanks.
He stared at me more.
I stared back.
It was awkward. Very awkward. Like, naked-at-school awkward. Except worse. I felt like I was missing both clothes and skin, and my heart was laid bare to the wind and birds, just waiting to bleed out.
He lowered his eyes and quit looking back at me. “Uh, I have to…”
“Run away?” Liam suggested.
At that instant, I wanted to hug my brother.
Ryan flinched. “Sorry?”
“You should be,” Liam said. “You could have stood byher.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Ryan said.
I snorted, loudly. “There’s always a choice.”
“Sky…” He stopped, but he looked as if he wanted to say more. In his eyes were everything I’d wanted to see in them: regret, sorrow, pain. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to break up with me. Maybe he’d had a reason, a good reason.
Maybe I was right to still hope.
And I waited for him to continue, to apologize, to explain, to drop to his knees and beg my forgiveness. But he didn’t. Instead, he said, “You’re wearing my necklace. I mean, the one I gave you. Not mine. But I gave it to you. So it’s yours now.” He winced. I used to love the adorable awkwardness that came out when he was nervous. Still did love it. It made me want to wrap my arms around him.
My hand went to my throat. The gold talon dangled there. I’d put it on again this morning without thinking about it. Touching it, I had the urge to say “finders keepers” and flee. Instead, I said, “It looks good on me.”
“It does,” he agreed.
More staring.
Liam sighed so loudly that I could practically hear his eyes rolling.
I wanted to ask Ryan if he missed me. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to say a million things that I never had the chance to say. Also, I kind of wanted to pummel him for putting me through this without any shred of an explanation. But we were in the middle of the sidewalk, and more and more people were stopping to stare. A few snapped pictures. Grabbing my elbow, Liam propelled me away, toward Maximus’s jewelry store.
“It would have been a bad idea to punch him in public,” Liam told me. Despite our recent communication issues, he still knew me well enough to guess my thoughts.
“My life is full of disappointments.” I kept my voice light, even though I wanted to rage and cry and scream and howl at Ryan to face me, come back, and talk to me!
“Save your revenge for another time,” Liam advised as he guided me to the shop door. “There will be other moments, ones that won’t backfire on us.”
I liked that he said “us,” as if we were still a team. But he was wrong about my wanting revenge. All I wanted was an explanation. Well, notall…
