She didn’t acknowledge him, making him scowl. He lifted the gun. She looked over at me through the aqua hair that hung over her face, and my body froze. My blood ran cold as I gazed into her aqua eyes. She was so sad—so weak looking. She wasn’t the same woman I once knew. Over the years, something had happened. Something inside her had started to give up. I did what I could to help her, but eventually, even that wasn’t enough.
“You should have listened,” he said. “This could have been avoided if you had listened. There is no room for imperfection. Goodbye, my dear.”
She didn’t flinch at his words. She didn’t look to face the gun as he pulled the trigger. She stared at me instead, as if she was trying desperately to find the words to say something before it was too late. I, too, wanted to say something, but it was already too late.
I watched her body jerk as the bullet entered her skull. I saw the blood. I watched her body go limp. My heart constricted tighter than I’d ever experienced before. I wanted to cry.
“Mother!”
My eyes snapped open and I bolted up in bed. My breath came out in ragged gasps, and sweat dripped down my neck and back. It had only been a nightmare, and yet the breeze—the smell of blood—the gunshot ringing in my ears—it all felt so real. The memory was so vivid and painful. I hated it.
I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms over them. I buried my head and tried to control my breathing, to no avail. My chest felt tight and my body ached all over. I dug my sharp nails into my arm, the flesh tearing easily. Blood trickled down my arms. I wanted the pain to go away; I didn’t care how as long as I didn’t have to feel it.
“Eira?”
My grip on my arms tightened at the sound of Raikidan’s voice. Of all the times I could be in pain and not want anyone around, he had to be here. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this.
He sat down next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Eira, are you all right?”
I buried my face deeper into my folded body. I couldn’t answer him. I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to lie to him. Raikidan startled me when he pulled me into his arms and held me close to him—the warmth of his bare chest and strong arms enveloping me protectively.
I didn’t fight him—didn’t want to. I wanted the pain to go away. I wanted to know someone cared, even if it was only for a moment. I curled closer into Raikidan’s embrace, and he responded by resting his head on mine and tightening his grip.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he whispered.
I shook my head.
“Okay.”
He wasn’t going to press, and I was grateful. He respected me enough to give me that privacy. My eyes closed halfway and I sighed with content as Raikidan stroked my hair. It was comforting and relaxing.
“It’s painful to remember…” I whispered. “So painful…”
Raikidan hushed me. “It was a nightmare. It’s over now. You’re safe here.”
Safe. I liked the sound of that. I yawned and snuggled closer to him. I didn’t care how out of character my actions were. I didn’t care about anything I normally cared about right now. For once in my life, I was safe for a night. For one night, I was respected for me and I was okay with it all. I could sleep, knowing that even though it was one night, I had a taste of something I had always wanted. My eyes closed, and I didn’t fight the sleep that begged to take me over.
I didn’t care I was about to fall asleep in someone’s arms. I didn’t care if it came to bite me in the morning. I’d deal with the consequences then, but now I would sleep soundly, knowing I was safe from anything as long as he was here.
My breath came slow and steady as I sat on the edge of the roof, thinking while watching the sun sink below the towering buildings of the city. I had been up here alone all day, which helped me. My state and actions last night left me in a haze of confusion when I awoke.
I had woken up alone on my bed. I would have thought what had happened that night was nothing but a dream, had it not been for two small details. I was under my covers, which I was normally never caught under, since I felt too confined and less safe under them. The other detail was much larger and much harder to miss. Raikidan’s head lay on my bed while he slept in his natural form. Why he was sleeping like this, I couldn’t figure out, but my mind wanted me to believe it had been because of what had happened. Whatever the true reason, I was surprised he hadn’t broken that end of my bed.
I had left my room to find something to eat when I’d grown bored of waiting for Raikidan to wake up to question him, and when I returned, he had disappeared, and I hadn’t seen him since.
I sighed softly as a small breeze picked up. It smelled of salt from the far-off coast in the East. I wondered what it was like to live in the harbor cities. Many belonged to Zarda, so it couldn’t be much different aside from the ocean water access. I had never been to the ocean. Zarda had always made sure I stayed inland as if he thought I’d disappear otherwise. I snorted at the thought. He didn’t care if I disappeared. He wanted to make sure his property didn’t get into someone else’s hands.
Then I thought of Jaybird and Arnia. A messenger hawk with the symbol of the West Shaman Tribe attached to the bird’s back arrived earlier in the afternoon. The canister contained a letter with a healing and fire seal—a letter from Ken’ichi to me.
Ken’ichi had written that both Arnia and Jaybird were doing much better than the night before, and were loading into the caravan as he wrote the letter. He had also told me of Ven’lar’s growing interest in Arnia, and Jaybird’s idiotic jealousy. I laughed when I read that section. Although I didn’t know Ven’lar, I had never met a bad shaman. Even Maka’shi wasn’t bad, per se. She just had issues. Arnia would be safe with Ven’lar, and if he could get around Jaybird’s overprotective nature, he might be able to convince her to stay away from this awful place.
The letter didn’t say much more beyond Ken’ichi’s plan to leave with them and then come back when Arnia and Jaybird were settled into their new temporary home. I had put the hawk in the greenhouse, where she’d be safe, and made a mental note to feed her in a few hours.
I was taken by surprise when I someone lightly touched my hair. The smell of honeysuckle drifted into my nose, and shortly after, small petals tickled my cheek. I turned my head as Raikidan sat down next to me. I hadn’t heard him at all, and even now he was quiet. I could barely hear him breathe. And here I thought I was good at being stealthy.
I became confused when he didn’t speak. He just watched me, his eyes giving nothing away to any thought that may be running through his mind, but the small upturn of one side of his lips said otherwise. He always had something on his mind, and he was becoming worse at hiding it.
My cheeks flushed and my breath caught when Raikidan suddenly leaned forward. Now I knew what he wanted. The same thing he had wanted from me since the first day he had asked.
I pushed his face away before he got too close. “No.”
He pulled my hand away from his face. “Just one.”
“No!” I yanked my hand from his grip and swung my legs back to the inside of the roof.
“Why can’t you let me have one kiss? I just want to know what it’s like.”
“You already got one from me when Argus fell into us.”
“That wasn’t a real kiss. That was an accident.”
“Go find someone else who will give it to you,” I muttered as I stormed off. “There are plenty of other women out there who would be happy to give you that.”
“But not you.”
I stopped walking and sighed. “We’ve already discussed this, Raikidan. I’m not going to discuss it again.”
He didn’t reply, but I could feel his intense gaze on my back. I sighed again. I was really getting sick of this. No matter how many times I said no, he didn’t stop.
I
turned to face him. “If I gave you a kiss, would you stop asking for one?”
He grinned. “It’s all I’ve been asking for. Just one.”
I sighed and walked back over to him. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this. It was all because I wanted him to stop asking. Anyone else I would have been able to ignore. So why was he so special? Why was I unable to continue to ignore his plea?
Grabbing his chin lightly with my fingers, I leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. I pulled away quickly and attempted to make a hasty retreat.
Raikidan grabbed me by the wrist. “Oh no you don’t. That wasn’t a kiss.”
I chuckled and wiggled my hand free. “You said you wanted a kiss. You didn’t specify what type of kiss.” He stared at me with disbelief. “I did warn you it wasn’t going to be the way you thought it was going to be.” I retreated to my greenhouse. “A kiss isn’t just a kiss. There are different kisses that mean different things.”
Raikidan scowled and followed me. “You know what type of kiss I want. I won’t keep my end of the bargain if you don’t.”
I chuckled. “Yes, you will. You didn’t specify what type of kiss in the agreement. Therefore, you allowed me to choose, and now you have to keep your end of the deal since I’ve lived up to mine.”
I ran to my greenhouse, and Raikidan followed. “Eira!”
I slammed the door behind me and locked myself inside. The glass panes shook, but not enough for me to worry about the structure collapsing on itself, although, the greenhouse collapsing because of Raikidan was another story.
Raikidan yanked on the door several times. “Eira, open up. You owe me.”
I snickered. “I owe you nothing. You have no one to blame but yourself for not making your rules clearer than mud.”
He growled and hit the door with the flat part of his fist. His anger only made me laugh. The loophole was all too perfect. He got a simple kiss and I was able to keep his lips off mine. Sitting down where I was, I went into a meditative trance. I was aware of Raikidan watching me and I could hear his occasional banging, but I didn’t move. I only opened one eye when it stopped completely. He wasn’t looking at me anymore. Instead, he was looking toward the door to the house.
“What are you doing, Raikidan?” It was Ryoko.
“Um…”
I snickered. He wanted this whole kiss thing to be a secret, and his ruckus had brought Ryoko up here. It was going to be interesting to see him worm his way out.
“Why is Laz locked up in the greenhouse?” she asked him.
“Um…” He scratched his head. “I chased her in there. She pulled my hair and… and I… got pissed off…”
I bit my lip. That’s the best excuse he can come up with?
Ryoko laughed raucously and then turned to walk away. “Don’t be mad at her. It means she likes you.”
I pursed my lips. What’s that supposed to mean?
Raikidan, mirroring my thoughts, questioned her. “What do you mean?”
Ryoko giggled. “You’ll have to figure that out on your own.”
She shut the door behind her, leaving the two of us alone again. Raikidan looked at me and I shrugged. I was as confused as he was.
He rapped on the door. “Can I come in?”
I looked at him skeptically. “You’re not going to make me kiss you again, are you?”
“You didn’t give me a real kiss.”
I closed my eyes and went back to meditating.
He sighed. “Fine. I’m not going to ask another from you. A deal’s a deal.”
Grinning with triumph, I stood up and unlocked the door. He came in hesitantly, and looked around as if I had some secret trap waiting for him, making me laugh. “You’re so paranoid.”
He grunted. “When you’re involved, it’s a good idea to be careful. You’re too unpredictable.” I continued to laugh. “Why do you come in here all the time anyway?”
I shrugged and retreated to the center of the greenhouse, where a small koi pond was located. “It’s peaceful in here. It allows me to stay calm, and it allows me to escape from the harsh industrial atmosphere of the city.”
He gazed around. “Is that why this place is so abnormally huge?”
“Yes and no. I also needed it to be this big because of the various species of plants I’ve collected. A small greenhouse wouldn’t work out. It’d be too cramped.”
“You don’t like the city much, do you?”
I snorted and sat down in front of the pond. “I hate this place. It smells terrible and it’s noisy.”
Raikidan sat down next to me. “Then why come back at all?”
I sighed. “Because it was the right thing to do.”
I pulled a flame from one of the small fires that burned on the statue in the center of the pond and played with it. The flame morphed into several different shapes until I settled on a butterfly. Willing life into the fire, it fluttered around the two of us.
Raikidan, enthralled by the insect-shaped flame, reached out and grabbed it. “I was right, it was harmless.”
“It’s called Show Fire,” I explained. “It’s a false flame that has the same properties as a real flame but without the heat, making it ideal for training. All trained shamans and elementalists know how to use it because it’s so ideal.”
He held out his hand were the ember barely remained alive. “Basic or not, it’s still neat. Can you teach me?”
I lifted a finger and willed the ember into another flaming butterfly. “You can’t teach anyone fire control. They have to be a shaman or elementalist themselves.”
“I can use fire.”
“You breathe fire,” I corrected. “It’s not necessarily the same.”
“Well, then how do you become one?”
“You’re born as one.”
He snorted. “That doesn’t explain how you become one.”
“That’s because no one knows the qualifications or why. The elemental gods just bestow the power to us.”
“What about to be a shaman?”
I pursed my lips. “Some think the spirits choose you since being able to communicate with them is another requirement, and others speculate it’s fate.”
“Do you believe in fate?”
“Yes.”
“So everything that’s happened in your life was predetermined? It wasn’t some freak thing that just happened?”
“I met you, didn’t I?”
He blinked. “I don’t understand.”
I willed the butterfly in his hand to flutter around for some time while I worded myself correctly. “Why you? Why you, out of so many others, did you find me in the shape I was in? What made you so special? Why were you the only one who wouldn’t turn a blind eye to my condition and keep going on in your life without any regret?”
Raikidan looked down at his hands in his lap and let out a long drawn out sigh.
I sighed and scratched my head. “Sorry, that… that came out wrong.”
“No, it came out fine,” he objected. “It’s just… I never thought about it that way. I thought fate was bogus. I believed it was some way for others to explain the unexplainable. I thought it was a reason for others to make you not hate. But… but now that you’ve said that, I suppose I should really think it over. I shouldn’t let one or two past events dictate how I see things as a whole without putting serious thought into it.”
I studied him. I had a feeling I knew what past event he was referring to. His mother. The urge to ask—the need to know what exactly had happened to her—rose up in me, but I kept my mouth shut. It wasn’t my business. I knew the kind of pain that came with losing someone like that. I knew not to poke at those types of scars.
“So will you teach me?” Raikidan asked. “I want to try to learn this.”
&
nbsp; “It’s not easy to learn,” I warned. “Especially for someone like yourself.”
Raikidan shrugged. “The harder it is to learn, the more determined I am to learn it.”
I laughed and then turned my body to face him. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He grinned with enthusiasm and faced me to receive his first lesson.
Chapter 22
Raikidan flinched when I dabbed healing ointment on his burn. He wasn’t doing well with the training. I knew it would be hard for him, but this was ridiculous. Every time he attempted the most basic technique, he’d burn himself. I was starting to think I’d run out of ointment before he’d finally give up on this crazy idea of his. Why is controlling fire like this so important to him?
Raikidan flinched again and I sighed. “Sorry. If I had any skills in healing I’d be using them.”
“It’d be a relatively futile effort,” Raikidan said.
I looked up at him. “How come?”
“The spirit energy used by priests and shamans doesn’t mix well with our draconic power. Some wounds can be healed, but not many.”
“So, if you were deeply wounded to the brink of death, no one could save you?”
“Another dragon with healing fire could. That would be easy for them, but a shaman or priest, even with combined efforts with others, would struggle to stabilize a dragon with their healing abilities.”
“Looks like it’s a good thing I know something about modern medicine then,” I joked as I went back to searching his arm for more wounds. I tilted my head when I found a scar on his bicep. I lightly traced it with my finger. I had never noticed it before. Then again, I had never taken this close of a look at his skin. “I didn’t know you had a scar here.”
He shrugged it off. “It’s nothing.”
I chuckled. “I always thought your skin had no imperfections. It’s good to know you’re a lot more normal than I first thought.”
He chuckled. “Nothing is really ever perfect, right?”
Pieces Page 24
