Alone. Alone. My skin grows hot. Heat gathers in my chest, then sizzles up my throat. Smoke escapes from my nostrils. I want to scream fire.
“I’m sorry.” Han reaches out to touch my shoulder but quickly jerks his hand back.
The heat of my skin has burned him.
“You should have trusted me,” he growls. “It would have spared you the pain of having to see this.”
I curl up, hugging my knees to my chest, resting my head on my knees. Last of my kind. I can live for five hundred years. I will be alone for a long time.
“Your home is with me now,” Han says. “I will take care of you.”
Is there any point in resisting? My despair runs deep. I might as well give up.
He lies, a voice slips into my head. It is soft, but insistent. He lies.
I lift my head. Is someone speaking to me? Who are you? Where are you?
Movement in the sky catches my attention, and I see a large bird land on the branch of the nearest tree. It is an owl. Queen Nima’s owl!
Where is my mother? I ask the owl. Where are my brother and sister? Are they truly dead?
The queen left before the mountain was destroyed, the owl answers. She took Huo and Chu with her. And the eggs.
I scramble to my feet, my heart beating fast. Where are they?
Far away where they will be safe, the owl tells me. After you were taken, two of the eggs hatched. The vampire woman, Emma, bonded with the babies and took them far away so they would be safe.
I am not alone. Tears run down my face and cool my hot skin.
“I know this must be upsetting for you,” Han grumbles. “Let’s go back now. To your real home.” He reaches out for me, but I step back.
Is Norjee nearby? Or any of the women? I ask the owl. Can you find them for me?
I believe they left with the tiger shifters. The owl cocks his head. If I ask the eagles, they might know where the tigers live.
Find them, I urge the owl. Find Norjee. He can talk to you. I am being held in an underground camp. I know not where it is. I will call the birds that live close by so they can tell you where I am located.
The owl rustles its wings. It has been boring since everyone left. I am proud to be of service again.
Thank you, I tell the bird as it flies away.
“Let’s go home.” Han grabs my arm. “I hope you learned your lesson, that you can trust me.”
I nod my head, my shoulders slumped as if I have surrendered. But inside I am filled with hope. I will escape. I am dragon.
And I am not alone.
Chapter Six
The following day, Jia initiated Plan D. Since she was finding it too difficult to escape the guards, she would convince her cousin to call them off. She spent the day in the palace, playing the role of the delighted bride-to-be. For hours, she worked in the kitchen, helping the cooks, pestering them with questions, and practicing elaborate dishes to impress the prince. Then she brought the red and gold silk, neatly folded, to the court seamstresses and asked for their assistance in making the most beautiful wedding gown ever.
The women twittered with excitement as they discussed different patterns and headpieces. Jia pretended to be enthralled by it all, and soon, the whole of Tiger Town was gossiping about her betrothed’s upcoming visit. When the next gift arrived by courier, everyone gathered around to see what the prince had sent her. A lovely pearl necklace. Jia ended up having to put it on for everyone to see. All the villagers agreed that the prince would fall madly in love with their princess the second he saw her.
Jia endured all the talk with a plastered smile on her face. She could barely eat a bite all day, but the court ladies interpreted that as wedding jitters. In truth, the prospect of marriage to a total stranger was making her stomach churn. And the repercussions if she turned him down were making her head ache.
Back in her room, she took the necklace off. Her mission remained unchanged. Escape, find, and destroy Han. Finding and killing Han would be a challenge, but the escape part would be easy if Rajiv called off the guards.
Unfortunately by that evening, the guards were still there. After dinner, Tenzen and Rinzen taught a martial arts class in the courtyard, so Jia decided to join them. The class was mixed gender now, but when Jia had begun the class at the age of eight, she’d been the only female. Her grandfather had allowed it, thinking the physical activity and focus would help her recover from her grief. He hadn’t realized she’d started formulating her plan for revenge.
Her uncles considered her more of an assistant now than a student, so she helped them. Anything to convince Rajiv that she was so content with her life right now that she no longer planned to escape.
There was one new student whom she enjoyed teaching, a seven-year-old mortal named Norjee. She could relate to the boy, since, like her, he’d witnessed death and destruction at a young age. He’d been adopted by his aunt Neona, one of the warrior women of Beyul-La, and her new husband, Zoltan. The family was living here in Tiger Town, since Beyul-La had been destroyed.
According to Neona, Norjee felt responsible for the kidnapping of his dragon friend, Xiao Fang. Since Norjee had inherited the gift of communicating with winged creatures, he and Xiao Fang had become close, calling each other brother. Norjee’s guilt rested heavily on his young shoulders, making him fiercely determined to master martial arts so he could help rescue his friend. Jia assured him that Xiao Fang had looked healthy when she’d seen him two nights ago. Even though she gave Norjee an encouraging smile, inside she also nursed some guilt. Because of her failure to kill Han, the dragon boy was still captive.