Page 110 of Reign

But Elena stands barefoot in my living room, wrapped in a blanket I chose for her, and asks as if my destination should’ve been discussed.

“Obsidian.”

Curiosity brightens her face before another emotion presses over it.

“Oh.”

She raises her coffee and studies the trees outside.

“I have a meeting and paperwork to review,” I tell her. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

She turns. “I didn’t ask when you’d be back.”

“No. You only asked where I was going.”

Her mouth presses into a line, but I catch the relief before she buries it beneath sarcasm.

“May your paperwork be thrilling.”

“Try not to miss me.”

“I’ll do my best to survive.”

Her coffee cup fails to hide the smile answering mine.

When I return, it’s later than usual but not late enough for her to have gone upstairs.

She’s already in the dining room, sitting in the chair to the right of mine because we stopped pretending she’d sit anywhere else nights ago.

Her salad is untouched.

The discontent on her face is achingly familiar.

Jealousy.

On her, it’s unfamiliar. She wears it like a new dress, tugging at the seams because she hasn’t decided whether she likes how it fits.

It looks beautiful on her anyway. It tells me she cared that I went to Obsidian and noticed how long I was gone.

She has no idea how generous her annoyance can be.

Marisol serves my dinner and leaves us alone with the low lights, the quiet room, and Elena’s perfume threading through the air.

Elena lifts a forkful of salad, then stops before taking a bite.

She inspects my shirt, lingering on my collar and chest before fixing on one spot near my shoulder.

“You have glitter on you.”

She says it lightly before putting the salad into her mouth, but the accusation beneath the words is anything but casual.

A faint speck of gold catches against the black fabric near my collarbone. It probably came from a bottle-service girl brushing past me in the main room. Maybe one of the performers Rafael introduced before the meeting.

It doesn’t matter.

Elena’s already imagined several possibilities, and judging by the way she’s stabbing another piece of lettuce, she dislikes all of them.

“You noticed.”