Page 213 of Reign

Her face changes.

Curiosity softens the guarded line of her mouth as she studies the names.

She looks happier.

Of course she does. I did my job too well.

Irritating.

I feed her another bite to keep from taking the notepad back.

She accepts the berries without looking away from the page.

“Zephyr,” she says around a small smile. “That’s a cool name.”

No.

Absolutely not.

“He dated Adriana once.”

Her head jerks up. “What?”

“Yes.”

“Angelo’s Adriana?”

“I wasn’t aware there were multiple in our life.”

Her face twists immediately. “Oh, ew.”

I swallow my smile.

“He can come off the list.”

I freeze.

“Take him off the list?” I ask.

“Yes. I don’t want to be with anyone who’s been with Adriana. That’s weird.”

It’s the first reasonable thing anyone’s said all morning. I set the fork down and pick up the pen.

Slowly. With no indication of the satisfaction moving through my chest.

“Your choice,” I say.

“Obviously.”

I cross out Zephyr Blackwell in one clean line. The relief is immediate.

Excellent.

Six.

At this rate, perhaps I can eliminate the entire list before lunch and still claim I made a good-faith effort.

I hand her the pen.