Mom was at the front door, snapping a picture of us with her phone and beaming as we approached.
“No smiling,” I said.“I’m mad at you.”
She stepped back to let us in, looking from me to Konni as she shut the door.
“What happened?Why is there a handprint on your face?”
“I’ll get to that,” I said.“After we make a promise.No more secrets from this second forward.We come clean about everything.”
Mom’s expression grew more worried.
“What happened?”she repeated, this time looking at Konni.
“I know about the car accident, Mom.How would you feel if I kept that from you?If I was the one using herself as bait?”
She sighed and hugged me.“I’m sorry, Sophie.I wasn’t trying to keep you out, just keep you safe.”
“I’m twenty-three, Mom.I have a degree, can vote, and legally drink myself into oblivion.Women younger than me already have three kids.I don’t need you to hide things from me to protect me anymore.I need a mom I can trust.”
She pulled back to meet my gaze, and I could see her sincerity.
“You’re right.I’m sorry.I promise, from this moment forward, I won’t keep anything from you.”
“And no manipulating my boyfriend into keeping secrets from me either,” I said.
“Boyfriend?You’re making it official?”
“I don’t really have a choice,” I said.Then I launched into an abbreviated recap of the lunch event.
“Press charges, Sophia.You’ve never cared what anyone else thinks before, and why leave him with the opportunity to hurt another woman?”
“He won’t,” Konni said.“My family will take care of it, and Sophia can stay out of the news.”
She eyed him.“How exactly are they taking care of it?”
“Do you know why my kind was once the bane of mankind’s existence and hunted relentlessly?”
“Because you liked burning entire villages?”she guessed.
“Exactly.To save the masses, dragon law precedes human law when it comes to harming a dragon’s mate.What I do to Glibs is within my legal rights.”
She glanced at me, and I could see what she was thinking—that this was what loyalty looked like.
“I’m going to go change and see if I can find a dry cleaner for this dress.”The skirt didn’t look dirty, but I knew I couldn’t let the alcohol sit on the material.
While I was in my room, I listened to Konni ask for ice for my face and Mom tell him where to find everything.
I was in my loungewear with my hair up and my face and neck freshly washed when Mom knocked on the bathroom door with the ice pack.
“Thanks,” I said, accepting it.
“We were going to order some takeout for dinner.What are you hungry for?”she asked as I followed her out to the living room.
Konni sat on the couch, looking at his phone.I thought maybe searching for a restaurant, but I knew he was doing something else when his expression darkened.
A second later, he was calling someone.
“Contact the news outlets and get the article down.Terminate the cooperation if anyone delays.And get Felix involved for defamation.I want to know who sent those pictures by the end of the day, Edi.Get everyone on this.”
