Page 10 of Under the Dragon's Spell

Usually, he never took an interest.

What he really wanted to know was whether I'd be bringing in money any time soon.

"How did it go?" he asked.

I made a non-committal sound.

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"I don't think it went too well," I said finally.

"What happened?"

"He… tried to pull some weird shit. I can't even describe it."

"What weird shit? Did he come on to you?"

Had he? I thought about it. In reality, he hadn't done much more than put a scarf on me. I could argue that he'd tried to make me kiss him. But had he really? I wasn't too sure about anything that had happened.

"Do you think dragons have magic?" I asked.

"Magic?" My brother raised an eye brow. "I don't know about magic or whatever, but there's all kinds of funny stuff in the legends, isn't there?"

"But they're just legends."

He shrugged. "You never know what's true."

I frowned. There had to be some way I could find out more about this.

"You think he tried to use magic on you?"

"I don't know." I stood, taking my still half-full plate with me. "I'm done eating."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." I excused myself and carried my plate into the kitchen, where I put the leftovers in the fridge. I had to talk to Luca. Maybe she could help me sort the mess in my head. And tell me why I wanted to see Tyrel again so bad when I knew he was trouble.

Back in my room, I picked up the phone and called my friend. She answered after the second ring.

"Adrian?" her voice was almost timid in a way I'd never heard it. Something was going on. But what?

"Yeah, it's me."

"How did your date go?"

"It was… I don't know how it was. I would have called sooner, but I had to make dinner first."

"I see." She took a deep breath, audible even through the phone. "What happened? Do you think you're gonna get the job?"

I cringed. "Uh… probably not." A sigh escaped me. As much as I'd tried to tell myself that I didn't care, the prospect of failure was disappointing. To think I'd never be caught in Tyrel's gaze again… The whole experience had been scary, but also exhilarating.

You're being stupid.

"What happened?" Luca asked again. "Was he an ass? I've heard dragons are mostly asses."

"He wasn't… well, he asked some things about Rory and I… kind of freaked and stormed off." Not my proudest moment.

"I'm sorry, Adrian." Her voice softened. "Maybe you really weren't ready. I pushed you. I shouldn't have pushed you."