6. Storms and Dragons
6
Storms and Dragons
“ H ello, I’m Ryu.”
She watched him introduce himself sweetly, like he had with her before he revealed his true self. What a load of garbage. Hell, Eira was sure she hadn’t seen the real, real Ryu yet, either. She imagined he had only shown her the tip of the iceberg.
“I met Eira at the market and just wanted to be sure she made it home safely in this storm.”
What a double load of garbage.
“Oh.” Grandmother tried to pull herself together but was too enamored at the sight of the tall, beautiful man at the door. “How sweet of you to do that for my granddaughter.”
“Of course,” he said, still getting drenched from the rain as he looked up at the dark sky. “I’m not sure when this is going to let up, but I guess I should start my long journey ho—”
“I’m sorry, where are my manners?” Grandmother laughed, a bit embarrassed at herself. “Come inside; you can’t possibly walk far in this.”
“Thank you.” Ryu stepped into the warm, dry home, which had her tiny grandmother backing up at the sheer height of him.
“Oh, my—”
“Is dinner ready yet?” Grandfather asked, followed by the sound of shuffling into the living room.
“Honey”—his wife moved toward with a big smile—“Eira made it home, and look what she brought with her.”
Grandfather, who must now be as blind as he was deaf, had completely missed the giant. He had to look up a couple feet to see his face.
Again, Ryu immediately switched on the charm with a slight bow. “Hello, sir. I’m Ryu—”
“Husband,” he said with a nod, cutting him off before looking back to his wife and moving on to more important things. “I’m hungry.”
“Shoot!” she yelled and ran off as if remembering something. By the smell of it, it was the thing starting to burn. “Come; stay for dinner, Ryu!” she yelled over her shoulder before she disappeared.
With her grandfather following his wife like a starved puppy into the kitchen, Eira looked at an awfully smug Ryu.
“After you,” he said with a killer smile and a wave of his hand toward the kitchen.
Rolling her eyes, she stomped off in defeat. She already knew he was going to have her grandmother eating out of the palm of his hand, and he was going to go nowhere tonight. Her only hope was if it stopped raining sometime soon. By the sound of the rain hitting the roof, however, that wasn’t likely.
Ryu took up most of the small kitchen when he entered. The fourth chair that usually sat in the corner of the room had been brought up to the table already, and when Ryu took it, he dwarfed the table, taking up that whole side.
Eira began setting the table, and by the time she was finished, her grandmother had served the last dish as well.
“Thank you.” Ryu politely bowed. “It looks delicious.”
“You’re welcome,” her grandmother said, taking the seat in between her husband and Ryu.
Eira did the same on the opposite side. She had to scooch closer to her grandfather when Ryu reached to fill up his plate and his big arm almost hit her.
“Wow, it tastes just as delicious as it looks,” he complimented after taking his first bite.
Grandmother blushed. “Thank you.”
“Suck-up,” Eira mumbled under her breath, knowing only he would hear it. The slight smile that touched his lips told her he did.
“So, where do you live?” Grandmother asked once her flush had disappeared.
“Yeah, Ryu”—Eira smirked, just as curious—“where do you live?”
“In the next village over,” he replied nonchalantly before taking another bite.
“Which one exactly?” she asked, smiling wider, thinking she had him.
Grandfather had just shoveled some rice into his mouth, which had some of it spitting out when he named it.
“Ine?”
Dang it!
“Yep, that’s the one.” Ryu gratefully took the scapegoat approach.
Unfortunately, Eira had lost her appetite, too deep in thought about the strange man she had let follow her home. Pushing the food across her plate, she wondered where the hell Ryu must have come from because he clearly didn’t know the area.
“That is a far journey home. What made you come here?”
Answering her grandmother, he didn’t take a second to complete his lie. “I came to get some things from the market that we don’t have from home, and that’s when I met Eira.”
Hearing her name, she finally looked up from her plate at him. It looked as if he had been studying her burns again now that he had better light.
“How lovely,” Grandmother swooned before remembering something else. “Oh, Eira, did you get the ingredients for your tea?”
“Yes, it’s in my bag on the counter.”
“Good.” After taking one last healthy bite of her meal, Grandmother began preparing the tea. “So, what do you do, Ryu?”
Conveniently, he had just taken a big bite, which gave him time to clearly think. “I teach martial arts.”
“Really?” Grandmother spun around from her concoction to look at him. “Well, I suppose you look like you do.”
“Yes.” He laughed. “I teach it to some of the children in my village.”
Ha! Eira practically snorted, trying to hold in her laughter. She didn’t doubt he knew how to fight, but he looked more like an assassin. There was no way in hell he was just a teacher.
“Oh, how sweet!”
She rolled her eyes heavenward again. How someone as sharp as her grandmother could be so easily fooled by him just proved he probably was a witch. I mean warlock .
“Here you go.” Her grandmother handed her a hot cup of the tea. “I’d offer you some, Ryu, but it will knock you right out.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.
“Eira drinks it to sleep. It’s about the only thing that gets her to fall asleep these days.”
The look she had given her grandmother to shush clearly hadn’t worked.
Softly blowing on the hot liquid, she caught Ryu staring at her again, but this time, it wasn’t at her burns but her lips.
“I see,” he said, clearing his throat. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to take that, considering I have a long walk ahea—”
“Oh, nonsense,” Grandmother hushed him. “You’re not going anywhere tonight, not in this storm, you’re not.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want to intrud—”
Pfft. Yeah, righ—
As if right on cue, lightning struck hard with a flash, followed by a thunderous bang.
“Well, if you don’t mind?” he asked.
“Of course not.” She nodded, confirming his stay.
Finally full, Grandfather shook his head and mumbled at the next strike of lightning, “Dragons.”
“Dragons?” Ryu asked curiously, wondering if he had heard him right.
“You haven’t heard the old wives’ tale about storms and dragons?” Grandmother was the one to ask as she finally started looking at him like he had been living under a rock.
“No.” Ryu shook his head. “I can’t say that I have.”
“Well,” she continued, “on stormy nights like this, they say it’s dragons fighting.”
He simply said one word.
“Interesting.”