The Last Dragon of the East

Chapter 27

27

I pull back, genuinely confused and appalled by my own behavior. This isn’t me. I would never harm a fly, let alone another person—crazed, flesh-eating cannibal aside. I don’t understand what’s happening. It’s true that Feng is an annoyance, but not so much that I would think to harm her for it.

I stumble back, my hands trembling uncontrollably. I can’t catch my breath. Everything is too hot, my skin too tight. The scents of the village grow overpowering, burning in the inside of my nose. When I run my tongue along my top teeth, I am alarmed to find that they are… sharp .

“Sai!”

Jyn’s voice cuts through the air. She runs and throws her arms around me before I have the chance to look at her.

“What’s wrong with ’im?” Feng wheezes, recovering her air.

“Sai,” Jyn whispers against my ear, holding me close. With one hand in my hair, she presses my face down to the crook of her neck. “ Breathe , Sai. Calm down, right now.”

By some miracle, I do manage to draw breath, drinking in the scent of her jasmine-scented skin. Her voice is a balm over my nerves, her touch warm and soothing. It takes a few moments before I am finally able to clear the haze from my mind.

“Jiějie?” one of the nearby village girls says, timidly approaching us. “What’s the matter with gēge ?”

“He’s not feeling well,” Jyn replies quickly, ushering me back toward our tents. “Run along to your parents now.”

“But—”

“ Now , little one.”

“Wait a fuckin’ second—” Feng starts after us. “The fuck’s the matter with ’im?”

“A fever,” Jyn says, and rather convincingly at that. “Step away, lest you catch it.”

“That’s no fever. What’s—”

“Move,” she says urgently against my ear.

Jyn ushers me away, but I can feel the daggers she glares in Feng’s direction. We don’t stop until we find ourselves in the confines of her tent, the entrance to which Jyn immediately ties shut.

“Sit,” she commands.

I do no such thing, too frazzled to listen. Instead, I scramble over to the porcelain washbasin tucked away in the corner and brace my hands on either side of the bowl. I stare at my reflection, the details of my face rippling with the water, but there’s no denying it. I’m aghast to find my dark brown eyes are now a near-glowing crimson.

Panic tears through me.

“What is this?” I ask. “What’s happening?”

Jyn takes my hand and pulls me to her nest of pillows. She has them piled up high, creating a fort of sorts out of the soft silks and blankets. “I’m not sure,” she admits. “It’s never come back before.”

“ What has never come back?”

Before she answers, Jyn pauses and sniffs at the air, her tongue flicking out to the corner of her mouth. Satisfied that no one is too close by, she whispers, “Your magic.”

My mind swirls. The revelation comes as both a shock, and not a shock at all. I think back to our encounter with Emperor Róng’s crows out in the Western Wastelands. I remember not being entirely myself, overpowered by a feral instinct to devour and protect. I think long and hard about the encounter with our unfortunate friend underground—how I lost control, consumed by rage and bloodlust. Is this the magic Jyn is referring to, or perhaps side effects of it?

I think back even further, drawing upon a memory that feels more like a dream. I was a boy, playing by the water despite my mother’s warnings. One moment, I was safely on the riverbank. The next, my head was beneath the water’s surface. Did I slip in? I can’t remember precisely how it happened.

I shake my head, clearing my thoughts. “You’re not making sense. I’m not capable of magic. I can see threads, but that’s it.”

“That’s the Sight. In every life that you have returned, that is the only power you have ever retained. But your ability to transform… I thought you’d long since lost it.”

“Transform,” I echo. “You mean… into a dragon ?” I stare at her in disbelief for several seconds before remembering how to speak again. “So I am the red dragon of old, and those visions were no coincidence. But how—how is this possible?”

Jyn looks me firmly in the eye. “The third tapestry in the Lost Library. What story did it tell?”

“The monks’ tale of reincarnation,” I say, my face surely betraying my bewilderment. “But that… It’s impossible.”

“It’s fact, Sai. The legends are true. You can see red threads of fate, you’ve come face-to-face with a fei beast, your Fated One is the last dragon in all the lands, yet you believe the concept of rebirth is impossible?”

“Forgive me, mooncake,” I mumble weakly. My attempt at a joke to ease my own trepidation falls flat. “This isn’t exactly easy for me to process.”

Jyn sighs. “Please never call me that again.” She throws a cautious glance over her shoulder, no doubt keeping an eye out for Feng-shaped silhouettes keen on eavesdropping on our conversation. The last thing we want is for Feng to overhear this conversation. When she looks back at me, I can sense that something has changed—a part of her wall has crumbled away.

“These visions I keep having,” I say. “They’re my own memories from a previous life?”

“One of many, yes.”

I frown. “You mean to say this isn’t the first time I’ve been reborn? Should I guess how many?”

“No.”

“Is it my third time?”

“Sai—”

“My tenth?”

Jyn mutters impatiently, “Not your tenth.”

“Well, then? How many lives have I lived through? I can keep guessing, should it please you.”

The silence that follows is deafening. A sob bubbles past her lips, her pain overwhelming our bond. She begins to cry in earnest, her shoulders trembling as she struggles to swallow the sound.

I reach out gingerly, afraid she might crumble beneath my touch. I want to bring her comfort, do whatever it takes to soothe her mind. But when she allows me to caress her cheek, to comb my fingers through her long hair, I can’t help but wonder…

“Why is it gray?” I ask.

Jyn cries a little harder, her body shaking against mine. “I made a mistake.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was a mistake. A mistake . You have to understand, I—”

She breaks down completely into tears, no longer able to speak.

I wrap Jyn up in my arms, allowing her to press her face against the crook of my neck. “It’s okay, Jyn. Thank you for telling me.” It’s more than enough for now—I had almost forgotten this is just as difficult for her to navigate.

We remain there for a while longer, with only the sounds of the distant sea waves, the sounds of the villagers going about their usual business, Jyn’s quiet sniffles, and the rapid beat of my heart. An eventual calm blankets us, insulating us both from the world and its madness. I have my Fated One and she has me, and in this moment, that’s all we need. We hold each other tight—maybe too tight, as though a force threatens to tear us apart without notice.

I breathe her in while I allow her words to sink in.

Dragons. Reincarnation. Our fated souls, finding each other once again.

It’s overwhelming, to say the least.

Overwhelming and utterly miraculous.

I expected to run the family teahouse my whole life, perhaps match a few interesting couples in town, but now I’m farther than I have ever been from home, learning I am part of a legacy that may have shaped all of humanity.

I am the red dragon of old, the one from all the stories of my childhood. I was once king of the skies! What other memories of mine are locked away? Why is it that I can only recall fragments, and so few? My mind reels, the sheer magnitude of it leaving my body numb. It would be easy to panic in this moment, to deny everything outright. But I know deep within that Jyn has spoken the truth.

Besides, I promised not to take it poorly.

Every answer has begotten so many more questions. But with time, I’m sure all of them will be addressed.

Eventually, Jyn’s soft sobs taper off. She wipes at her eyes before turning her attention to me. “How are you feeling? Don’t let the huntress get under your skin.”

“You’re right,” I admit, my hands still trembling lightly from the shock of how I behaved. “It was an ugly feeling, Jyn. Terrifying. I couldn’t stop myself. What if… what if I transformed right there and then? I could’ve killed Feng. Gods, I could’ve hurt the children.”

Jyn cups my face and holds my gaze, her emerald-green eyes both tender and determined. “Calm yourself, Sai. Nothing will happen, as long as you maintain control. Deep breaths, my lo—” She stops herself, but leans forward to tap her forehead to mine. “Deep breaths. All is well.”

“The huntress,” I murmur. “She saw my eyes.”

“I told her you were ill.”

“There’s no way she’ll believe that.”

“She’ll have to.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll eat her alive,” she says, deadpan.

I give her a pointed look. “Do you find that funny?”

She shrugs. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

At the very least, I can appreciate her attempt, given how little Jyn jests. She holds me until my breaths come easier, my heart returning to a steady cadence. Her cool fingers graze my cheek, the tip of her nose bumps lightly against mine. My soul finds ease in the tickle of her breath against my lips and the heat of her skin.

“There we go,” she whispers, looking into my eyes to inspect them. “Back to normal.”

“Thank you,” I whisper back.

“We have to be more careful from here on out.”

“You mean I need to temper my temper?”

Jyn huffs in a pretend pout. “Yes, as best you can.”

“Then you’d best stay near, my lady.”

“I’ll stay with you,” she promises.

“Feng has been nothing but suspicious since our arrival.”

“Then we’ll do what we must to avoid her.”

“That won’t work forever.”

“We could tie her up,” Jyn suggests. “Bind and gag her? Allow the villagers to find her a few days from now, when we’re already gone.”

I grimace, not knowing if she’s serious. I couldn’t bring myself to do that, even to Feng—she’s a friend, albeit one with horribly misguided intentions. “I doubt she’ll make her move while there are so many witnesses present. But she’s keen on slaying you herself.”

“But why? I’ve never wronged her.”

I take a deep breath. “She claims you killed her parents.”

Jyn stiffens. “I did what ?”

“Ten years ago,” I explain. “She said her parents were hunting. They apparently crossed your path, and… well.”

Her eyes grow distant as she loses herself in thought. “Ten years, you say?”

“Do you remember something?”

She nods slowly. “Yes. Distinctly, in fact.”

“What happened?”

She frowns as she searches her mind for the exact details. “A pair of hunters stumbled across my home in the jungle. It’s why I moved out to the Wastelands after. To avoid any more run-ins with humans. There was a pack of fei attacking them. It tore them to bits. I tried to scare the beasts away, but they must have mistaken my own actions as hostile or even thought I was in league with the fei somehow. I didn’t harm anyone. I swear it.”

I hear the truth in her voice, nothing but honesty in her words. Jyn may be prickly at times, but she certainly doesn’t strike me as a senseless killer. Time and time again, she’s come to my rescue. And she is certainly no friend to the fei.

“We should tell her,” I reason. “Feng should know what really happened.”

“But is she levelheaded enough to listen?” Jyn sighs, her exhaustion heavy over our bond. “Mortal hearts are so unpredictable.”

I reach out and wrap Jyn in my arms. “For now, will you just… lie with me?”

She nods with the sweetest of smiles. “As you wish.”

A delightful warmth floods my body, a thrill jolting through my veins. In this life, I’ve known her only a couple of weeks, yet a love from past lifetimes surges forth.

It’s enthralling. Pure bliss.

I comb my fingers through her hair, my lips only a whisper away from hers. Her cheeks are flushed, her pupils blown wide within sparkling green. She clings to me as if I’m a lifeline in stormy seas.

“Sai,” she whispers, the expression on her face almost resembling agony. “Please.”

I lean in and kiss my Fated One like my life depends on it.

In some ways, I feel as though it does.