33. If Eira’s Dead, There’s No Hope for You
33
If Eira’s Dead, There’s No Hope for You
T hey didn’t dare ring the gong, his original fear of it quickening Eira’s death if she had been caught a real possibility now. So, he was grateful to find Yuri in the Zen garden, hoping she knew the whereabouts of at least one.
“Have you seen Eira today?” Ryu asked Yuri with urgency.
She sensed his concern, so her sweet tone tried to calm him. “I came to her room earlier, but she said she was tired and sent me away.”
Ryu rubbed his temple, still concerned. “And your father?”
“I saw him earlier in the library, but at the moment, I’m not sure.” Her concern was evident now. “Is everything all right, Ryu?”
No, it wasn’t, but how was he supposed to tell Kage’s daughter about her father’s betrayal?
“I just need to speak with him—it’s urgent.” When he turned to leave, Ryu caught a glimpse of something. “What is that?”
“What is—” Yuri stopped when her hand was grabbed by Ryu, who looked upon her fingers up close.
“Why do you have this ring?” he questioned and could sense her surprise that he knew it had been Eira’s. There were many things he had collected for his future mate over the course of his life, and he could recall each one. This one in particular was one of his favorite finds. Eira had yet to even wear anything like it, and now he was starting to possibly understand why.
“Oh, um, Eira gifted it for me,” she quickly explained with a rising heart rate. “I can’t believe you noticed it. She has so many things.” She trailed off as her hand began to be squeezed. “Ryu … you’re hurting me.”
He didn’t even notice that he was squeezing the hand in his like a vice as everything began to click into place.
“What a fool I have been,” he whispered harshly. Then, yanking her closer, he could see the slight excitement yet fear that flashed in her eyes.
Using his other hand to hold her chin, the excitement on her features only grew, as it was clear the moment she had been waiting for had finally come …
But then, suddenly, his hand became as firm as the grip he had on her hand.
“How didn’t I see what a jealous, vindictive snake you are before this very moment?”
“I-I …” The act she tried to continue only lasted a moment longer before she could see in his eyes that there would be no changing his mind—he saw right through her. And with that, the mask began to slip as sweetness faded into her true form. “You have been a fool to fall for an outsider, Ryu.”
“Tell me: was it your father who came up with the idea to kill her?”
“Depends,” she spat venomously through his grip. “Which time? The flower or the perfume?”
The grip on her face tightened even more as he slipped the ring off her finger with a force that showed he could keep the promise he was about to give. “If Eira’s dead, there’s no hope for you in this life or the next.”
“You wouldn’t dare hurt a Kai and a family member of this royal palace!” She hysterically laughed until she trailed off slowly.
And that was when she realized her mistake too late.
“You, Yuri”—Ryu’s grip tightened, becoming painful to his victim—“are no family of mine.”
Kage was a man of habit, and Ryu knew exactly where to find him. An eerie feeling of déjà vu flashed when Ryu saw Kage doing his meditation exercises, which he continued at Ryu’s approach.
Kage merely stared straight ahead, not even bothering to acknowledge his friend’s presence.
Oh, how Ryu wished he could go back to earlier this morning before he had known of the gut-wrenching betrayal and stay there, but Ryu wasn’t so lucky.
He began to circle his sensei, the teacher whom, until today, he had trusted with his life. Sorrow and fury had his dragon balking at being restrained, wanting to be given full rein on the man who had broken his trust.
“I want to thank you, Kage …”
Kage momentarily paused then resumed his fluid movements as Ryu continued.
“I never could fully understand why the males in my family had to bear the burden of having our brides chosen for us.” Ryu walked around his friend who had turned foe. “And why the fate of our island rested on marrying these women. But if we couldn’t find her, we would lose our dragon heritage forever. I don’t know if my other male ancestors felt the same way, but I was resentful.
“I admit there were a few of the women in the village I could have settled for, and I resented having the choice made for me. However, thanks to you, I no longer feel that resentment. The prophecy ensured I and my ancestors couldn’t be manipulated by others, to prevent evil from entering the dragon line.”
Kage made a disgusted sound as he proceeded with his exercise regime. “Your line is weak. The dragon holds so much power, yet never once has it been used to benefit the island. Everyone should be made to fear us, to pay homage to you. Instead, you protect them. Our people still are working as hard as my parents did. We could be rich while our people would never have to work another day.”
Ryu folded his hands behind his back as he continued to walk. “How? By using my dragon’s existence to inspire fear? The fear wouldn’t create wealth; it would lead to the downfall of our people.”
“So says our weak prince,” his sensei mocked.
“I am not weak. My ancestors were not weak. We are simply not greedy,” Ryu spat back, unbelieving of the change in the man who had taught him everything he knew about combat. “How have my father and I not seen you despise us so?”
“Because my ancestors and I did not want you to see. It’s not like we could steal the dragon away from your family—it was gifted.” Kage put his hands up to the sky to curse whoever that had been. “Unless one of your ancestors had a child with one of mine, then that child could assume the dragon heritage without being stolen. Unfortunately, females aren’t often born in our family, and when they were, your ancestors had already mated and birthed the next heir. Yuri is the only female in my lineage who’s been born during a time period that could have bred a dragon and heir.”
“So, you were prepared to kill anyone I mated with?”
“Yes.”
Ryu couldn’t believe the brazenness of Kage’s admission. “You don’t deny it?”
“I said you were weak, not stupid.” His backhanded compliment didn’t go missed. “Of all the mates you could’ve had, she was quite easy to want to kill. You should be thankful I have gone to such lengths to rid you of that girl. Eira is a frightened mouse; she doesn’t deserve to be queen. The prophecy has been fulfilled. The tree is no longer dying, and nothing has ever been written in history that says only a fated mate can bear a dragon and heir. My daughter will mother excellent children. She will give you a strong warrior, a son to be proud of, not a son afraid of his own shadow. And I guarantee you the tree would restart life again.”
“You underestimate Eira. Regardless of whether Eira is in my life or not, I would have never touched Yuri. I feel nothing for her.”
“You cannot love Eira. Her beauty does not compare to that of my daughter’s.” Kage practically laughed. “You would willingly have children with a woman whose relatives have been a source of humiliation since their arrival here?”
“As opposed to having a child with a woman whose father is a murderer?” he mocked.
Unperturbed, Kage didn’t even bat an eye. “I have done what is necessary. What you should have done yourself.”
Ryu stopped dead center in front of Kage. “You are aware I cannot let you go unpunished for your crimes?”
“I am prepared to be banished.” He nodded. “It was a price I was willing to pay to have the dragon lineage for my family, which is more than you or your family have done. The dragon was gifted to a line that none of you have done anything to deserve such honor.”
Ryu’s head fell back in maniacal laughter. “You don’t get it, do you, Kage? If you had confined yourself to murdering the villagers, you could have asked them for the mercy of banishment. But you allowed yourself to strike out at Eira— my mate —and then attempted to kill her twice . She is of the royal house; therefore, the punishment falls onto my shoulders.” He let his words sink in for a moment, then continued his taunting, “I am not as merciful as the villagers. There is only one punishment I find acceptable for the crimes you have committed—”
“You think you are capable of killing the man who has trained you since you were a boy?” Amusement filled Kage’s expression, which Ryu didn’t take personally. Kage made a habit of underestimating others. “You will not be able to best me in your human form. You will have to call forth your dragon. It will be seen from the palace and the training area. How do you think the villagers will react to the dragon killing their beloved sensei? You will only find yourself becoming the outcast.”
Ryu’s dragon-like gaze didn’t waver. “I do not need to call forth my dragon to beat you.”
“You cannot beat me in a real battle,” Kage scoffed.
Unafraid, Ryu assumed his position. “We shall see.”
“We shall.” A smiling Kage assumed his own.
Ready to fight to the death, neither bowed to the other, showing their lack of respect for each other.
Readying himself for Kage’s attack, the hot-blooded dragon in him demanded him to make the first move. Filling his mind with cold reason, Ryu ignored the dragon’s demand. Kage was a master of his art. His family line had trained dragons for centuries; therefore, they were granted the small gift of living a longer life as well, as only when they grew too old to fight were the Teis able to best Kais in combat. Kage had never been beaten, which had only added to his arrogance.
Ryu might be younger, but the master was far from being an old man. His body moved as fluidly as a much younger man’s, and he spent hours and hours training students.
Kage came at him, lunging at him like a pouncing tiger, hitting at him like claws aiming for his lungs to drive the oxygen out and to get him to expend his energy on defensive moves. Like a predator, he wanted to weaken his prey before moving in for the killing blow.
However, Ryu blocked the blows, using chi when Kage managed to land a strike. For every strike Kage made, Ryu stomped forward, making strikes of his own.
The two combatants parried blows back and forth. While the two fighting styles allowed Kage to reserve his strength, Ryu had to expend more energy to land harder blows. Kage was banking his defense that he didn’t have the stamina to defeat him.
But what Kage didn’t take into account was Ryu had started training students, also, and would often become bored in the evenings, deciding to spend them training to become a better instructor. He had actually set himself a goal to become an instructor as good as Kage.
When his sensei had moved the target from his lungs to his arms, pain filled him as one of Kage’s moves had him biting back a grunt of pain as the master tried to rip his arm open. Blocking the pain with his chi, Ryu struck at Kage’s own arm with a heavy blow at the weakest part.
A distinctive sound of bone snapping had Kage losing momentum for his next strike, his arm hanging uselessly at his side.
Automatically, the master switched his fighting tactics to that of a crane, using his one arm to defend himself and attack. Ryu didn’t let Kage switching tactics faze him, sticking to the dragon, sweeping from one side of his opponent to the other. His blows became harder. Fiercer. Determined to beat Kage into the ground for daring to hurt any of the islanders under his protection. Those were the blows he was receiving in punishment. They might hurt a hell of a lot, but they did not kill.
A foot lashed out, aimed at his knee. He was barely able to move in time to let the blow hit the outer side of his thigh.
Limping, Ryu parried with a hard stomp on Kage’s foot, grinding the tender flesh under his heel until Kage fell backward. Ryu showed no mercy, driving blow after blow down onto his once trusted friend until the master no longer fought to rise.
“You are a fool, Ryu. A child from you mixed with my blood would have the capacity to become a legend .” A small trail of blood dribbled from the corner of Kage’s mouth.
Ryu stared down at the broken master with pitiless resolve. “A legend you would have tried to make into a monster to be feared and create havoc across the world. Eira brings generations of love with her. Her courage and bravery are shown on her face. You might see Eira as weak, but I see a warrior. A warrior capable of weathering the storms our future holds, compassionate to those who we protect, and most importantly, she will teach our child to hold those same values to keep those like you with evil in their hearts at bay.
“I have served your punishment for the crimes you have committed against the islanders. I will now serve your punishment for attempting to kill Eira.” Ryu didn’t give Kage time to react, lashing out to rip his windpipe out with a bare hand before throwing it down onto a weakened chest.
Turning away, Ryu gave him his back while Kage choked to death on his own blood.
He came to a halt, seeing his father standing just a few feet away. He had clearly watched it all, as his head hung in sorrow.
“Kage was like a brother to me. His father was my mentor, as Kage was to you. I had no idea of the evil that lurked in his soul.”
“Nor did I,” Ryu agreed. “Their evil could no longer be hidden once Eira came to the village. He was determined to kill her before we could create a child and the cycle passed on.”
At the mention of Eira’s name, his father gave a start. “That is why I came here. Her grandfather stole a boat. They are heading back to their home.”
“And you didn’t stop them?” Ryu asked the obvious, all while he was grateful his mate still walked this plane.
“Son, I think you are forgetting which one of us can still fly.”
“Oh, right,” Ryu remembered, ready to let his dragon finally be free.
“How do you plan on convincing them to come back?” he asked his son before the transformation was complete.
When Ryu spoke, it was between half-man and half-dragon. “Who’s to say I’m going to give them a choice?”
Watching his son proudly start to soar the sky to retrieve his mate, Tatsu had one simple request. “Maybe just convince Eira to come back. You can leave the other two.”