The closet romantic inside Aspen’s head had a sudden desire to kiss him.
She hated the way he managed to do that when she was least expecting it. In class the first time they’d met, at the Purple Dragon when he’d walked her to the car, and any other time when she forgot, for a nanosecond, that he looked like Marc.
He sat down next to her. Aspen leaned closer to him, wanting to reach out and touch his lips.
“May I see your tattoo?” he asked, startling her.
“My what?”
“Your tattoo, the one on your ankle.”
“Oh, sure.” Until tonight, she’d been super careful about keeping the tat covered.
Sid was the first person to see it, and she wanted to show it off a bit.
He slid onto the floor and pulled her foot into his lap. Shivers ran up her spine.
He slowly traced the words with his finger and whispered under his breath.
“Obsidian, Nin Meleth, Nin Aran.”
Aspen’s first instinct was to pull her foot away, but she enjoyed it as much as it tortured her.
She bit her lip and waited for him let go. Instead, he adjusted so that he could see her, but he continued to hold her foot in his lap.
“When did you get this?” he asked.
“Um, about a month ago. It’s not really a tattoo.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“It’s gonna sound crazy, but it’s a dragon marking. It appeared when I touched that black dragon, but it didn’t have all those words, only a bunch of loops.
Then today, when I touched that silver dragon in the courtyard, it changed. The only word that makes sense is Obsidian. I think that might be the name of the silver dragon.”
He pursed his lips. “Maybe. But it would make more sense if it was the name of the black one.”
Aspen hadn’t thought of that. “Why?”
“Because Obsidian is a black rock, not a silver one.”
“Oh.” Now she felt silly.
He let go of her foot, moved onto the couch, and pressed the play button on the remote.
About halfway through the movie, her eyes refused to stay open.
After fighting with them for fifteen minutes, she gave in, allowed them to close, and settled her head into a soft warm pillow.....