“By smearing my name.”
“Not that it held much weight to begin with,” Justin said.
“See if I ever braid your hair again.”
“If you’ll recall, I never wanted you to do that to begin with.”
“You’re a liar who lies,” I said. “And I find it troubling that no one besides me has a problem with everyone talking crap about me.”
Silence.
“Ryan,” I said. “That was supposed to be your cue to step in and defend my honor.”
“Okay,” Ryan said. “And I totally would, but hear me out. I
can… kind of see where they’re coming from.”
I gaped at him. “You can what?”
“Look,” he said. “It’s like being on the battlefield, okay? It’s strategic. You need to calculate as many moves as possible beforehand. It takes out the element of surprise, reduces the unknown.”
“You can never get rid of the unknown,” I said. “And if you think you can, then it’s going to bite you in the ass when you least expect it.”
“Which is why I said reduce,” Ryan said. “Think about it, Sam. She thinks she has the upper hand here, right? But she doesn’t know that we’ll be using her as a smoke screen.”
“At the sake of my reputation.”
He looked frustrated. “I know you—”
“Can we focus here?” Letnia said, blowing smoke toward me. “There are more immediate issues than Sam’s ego. I don’t care about that. What I care about is why there’s a threat upon Meridian City.” Her one eye narrowed as she glared at Morgan and Randall. “And how you knew to be here.”
I didn’t think that was as important as my self-esteem right at the moment, but I decided to take the high road. “You know what? I’d like to know that too. I mean, when Myrin came for me—”
“Myrin,” Mama said sharply. I looked over at her. Her face had paled, her nails digging into the wood of the desk. She turned slowly to look at Randall, eyes blazing. “You never said this had anything to do with Myrin.”
I blinked. “You know who that is? How do you know that? Why didn’t I know that you knew that?” I frowned. “Is it possible I don’t know as much as I think I do?”
“Something I’ve been saying for years,” Justin muttered.
Mama ignored the both of us, eyes only on Randall. “Care to explain?” she said coldly.
“You saw him?” Randall asked me. He looked far older than I’d ever seen him. “You physically saw him? It wasn’t just another vision?”
“He… came for me. In Mashallaha. After the desert dragon.”
Randall closed his eyes and took in a shuddering breath. “So he’s here. He’s finally here. Returned from the shadow realm.” He opened his eyes to look at Mama, Feng, and Letnia. “He has returned to Verania. There is a prophecy. Spoken by the star dragon. That a darkness would rise and that a counterpart would follow in opposition.” He jerked his head toward me. “Meet the counterpart.”
Feng, Letnia, and Mama all turned to look at me, eyes narrowed.
“Heeeyyy,” I said, suddenly very uncomfortable. I waved awkwardly at what were undoubtedly three of the most powerful people in Verania. “Fun, right? I know I’m having fun.”
Feng shifted, eyes darting around the room. He seemed to focus on oddly specific things, a book on a side table, a vase, the ceiling fan. I didn’t know him well enough to say what he could possibly be doing, but it struck me as strange.
“But how is that possible?” Mama asked Randall.
“Um, because the star dragon said so?” I retorted. “And also, excuse you. I’ll have you know that it’s very possible that there could be a prophecy about me.”
She rolled her perfectly made-up eyes. “I wasn’t talking about that, precious. And I am well aware of your worth. Now shut up and let me speak.”