Part-Time Gods

by Rachel Aaron

  “Hey!” I cried, stumbling forward.

  “Don’t worry,” he replied, hitting the button to close the doors again. “You can’t miss it.”

  “Can’t miss what?” I said frantically. “I don’t even know why you brought me here!”

  “I have to get my darling her seeds,” he said, ignoring me. “Take care, little mortal!”

  He waved cheerfully as the elevator doors closed, leaving me crouched in a panic in the lovely hallway. The lovely dragon hallway in a part of the Dragon Consulate I’d never been to.

  “I’m going to get eaten,” I whispered to Sibyl.

  “It’ll be fine,” my AI replied in the soothing voice she used when it was absolutely not going to be fine. “Brohomir’s one of the three dragon seers. That means he sees the future, right? He must have brought you here for a reason.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s a good reason for me,” I hissed back. “The Peacemaker is Dad’s enemy, remember? This could all be a plot to—”

  “Miss Yong-ae?”

  I jumped with a squeak and looked over my shoulder to see a young man poking his head through the double doors at the end of the hall. He looked so unassuming with his boyishly cropped black hair and quick smile, I didn’t realize he was a dragon as well until I noticed his eyes were that tell-tale insane shade of neon green that was the mark of the Heartstriker clan. Not that that told me anything, of course. The Heartstrikers were the dragons of the Americas, and there were a million of them. Well, maybe not a million, but there were a lot. This Heartstriker looked pretty young, too, maybe even younger than the one who’d taken my report in the Gnarls. I was trying to decide if he was actually employed here or if he was just hanging around listening for gossip when he hurried forward to greet me.

  “Sorry for the wait,” he said, holding out his hand. “I’ve heard about your problem with your father, and I’d like to help.”

  “Really?” Because that was the last thing I’d ever expected a dragon to say. “Thank you very much, um…”

  I trailed off, embarrassed. This dragon clearly expected me to know who he was, but I had no idea. I was mentally nudging Sibyl to help me out when the young dragon laughed.

  “I’m not surprised you don’t recognize me,” he said, giving me a wide smile. “Everyone says I look different on television.” He pointed at his face.

  “I’m the Peacemaker.”

  Chapter 10

  I stared at him, speechless. Then I blurted out, “You’re the Peacemaker?”

  I was horrified at my own rudeness, but I was just so shocked. The Peacemaker was one of the most powerful forces in the world, the only dragon ever to create and sustain a coalition of multiple clans for more than one conflict. He didn’t just rule all the dragons in the DFZ. He and his allies controlled fully two-thirds of all the dragons in existence. I’d heard he was young, but the dragon in front of me barely looked old enough to drink. He didn’t even radiate a predatory menace. If it wasn’t for his eyes, I’d have sworn he was human, which was not a mistake I normally made with dragons.

  “I—I’m sorry,” I stuttered at last, dropping to my knees in a desperate attempt to salvage what I’d just ruined. “Forgive me, great dragon. I did not know.”

  “That’s fine. Everyone does it,” the Peacemaker said, waving at me to stand up. “And Bob always throws people off. I wouldn’t have sent him down to get you, but the only other dragon I trusted for the job with White Snake in the building was Justin, and I didn’t want to start a war.”

  I didn’t know who Justin was, but if the Peacemaker considered the Great Seer Brohomir to be the safer choice, then I was terrified of him.

  “Please come in,” the dragon said, waving me toward the double doors he’d come out of. “My office is a mess, but it’s the only room in the building where I know we won’t be overheard. Dragons are horrible gossips, and we’re full to the rafters right now.”

  I nodded slowly, creeping after the Peacemaker down the hall and into a room that was indeed quite messy but in a way that made me feel at home.

  It wasn’t nearly as grand as you’d expect from the hall outside. The ceilings were very high, and the walls were decorated with more of the beautiful watercolor paintings I’d seen outside. Aside from staggeringly lovely masterpieces from an unknown genius, though, the Peacemaker’s office looked astonishingly normal. There were no heads of his enemies mounted on the walls, no storied treasures or piles of gold stacked in the corners, no famous weapons of war. Just a few comfortable chairs, a bunch of potted plants, and a desk covered with vacation photos of him and his mortal wife. It was so relentlessly undraconic that I was starting to wonder if Brohomir’s madness might not be shared among all the Heartstrikers when the Peacemaker motioned for me to sit.

  “We need to talk about your father.”

  That, at least, was expected, and I sat down with a sigh. The Peacemaker did the same, flopping into the worn leather chair behind his desk and folding his hands on the blotter. “I understand you and the Dragon of Korea are having a problem right now.”

  “He’s having the problem,” I said bitterly. “He cursed me.”

  “I know,” the Peacemaker replied. “My sister, the dragon who helped you in the Gnarls, told me all about it.”

  From what my mom had said, she’d told everyone about it, but that wasn’t my concern. “If you know that, then you know this is not my fault,” I said angrily. “We had a bargain! If I paid off all the money I owed him, he’d let me go free. That was our deal, but when I started to win, my dad cursed me with bad luck that made it impossible for me to earn money. I managed to pay off my debt anyway, but now he refuses to remove the curse. He even tried to kidnap me back to Korea! I had to break out and flee here in a cab.”

  “The DFZ told me,” the dragon said, nodding.

  I stared at him. “The DFZ told you?”

  He smiled. “She’s my city, too.”

  Huh. Apparently all those rumors about the city being close to her dragon weren’t just rumors. Another time, I would have asked him how the hell he’d ended up on a first-gossip basis with a god, but right now I had bigger dragons to fry.

  “If you know the story, then you have to help me,” I said. “I know my dad’s not a member of your peace club, but I live in your territory, and you and the DFZ both have rules prohibiting holding mortals against their will.”

  “I know my own laws,” the Peacemaker said, though not crossly. He sounded more sad than anything, which was why I wasn’t surprised when he added, “But I can’t help you.”

  “Why not?” I demanded, shooting to my feet. “A dragon cursed me against my will! I’m not asking you to go to war with him. I just need someone to get his magic off me!”

  “Those are one and the same, I’m afraid,” the Peacemaker said, steepling his fingers on his desk. “I’ve actually known about you and your father’s unique situation for some time. When you first wanted to move here four years ago, Yong came to me personally to request permission.”

  I blinked. “He did?”

  The Peacemaker nodded. “It was a big deal. As you said, Yong’s not part of my ‘peace club,’ and that was a problem. I’m the Dragon of Detroit. Living in my territory is a privilege extended only to those dragons who’ve sworn to abide by my rules. I can’t just let any dragon’s mortals live here. There’s an application process, and your father applied for you. Quite forcefully, actually.”

  I’d…I’d never known that. I’d always thought I’d moved to the DFZ against my father’s will. I hadn’t realized he’d gone to bat for me. I wasn’t entirely sure I believed it, to be honest. Not that I thought the Peacemaker would lie about something so easily confirmed; I just couldn’t imagine my dad swallowing his pride and asking a favor of a dragon he so famously despised.

  “I couldn’t believe it either at first,” the Peacemaker said when he saw my expression. “But it was clear to me that your father cared about you very much. He wanted you to be
able to go to the school you’d chosen, and I allowed him to send you here.”

  “That was very generous of you.”

  The dragon’s lips quirked in a smile. “It wasn’t entirely selfless. I was hoping to convince him to join us. Korea is one of the last great unallied territories, and Yong is famous for being an honorable, stand-up sort of dragon. He’s a prime target, in other words. I was hoping to tempt him with generosity, but he’s a stubborn dragon who values his independence.”

  “Sounds like someone else I know,” Sibyl whispered in my ear.

  I gave her a mental shove and returned my attention to the Peacemaker, who was still talking.

  “Obviously, relations with Yong have deteriorated in the years since,” he went on. “But I’m afraid I still can’t allow any of my dragons to take his curse off you.”

  “Why not?” I demanded. “I read the declaration you made to the people of the DFZ when you founded this place. It’s printed on all the brochures downstairs. You promised you wouldn’t allow your dragons to abuse humans anymore.” And I was definitely being abused.

  “I did promise,” the Peacemaker said. “But, as I keep trying to tell you, Yong is not my dragon. He’s a power in his own right, and three weeks ago, he declared that any interference with the magic he’d placed on you would be considered an act of war.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. “He told you that?”

  “He told everyone,” the Peacemaker said grimly. “Rumors of your curse hadn’t even finished spreading before he came to address our assembly and laid down the law. And since Yong has a reputation for keeping his word, we all believed him. That’s why I can’t do as you ask. I have great sympathy for your plight, Miss Yong-ae, but the whole point of the Peacemaker’s Accord is to end the constant warring that has plagued the dragon clans for so long. We’re finally on the brink of real worldwide peace for the first time in our bloody history. I can’t jeopardize that for you.”

  “So what am I supposed to do?” I cried. “I can’t break this thing on my own!”

  “Well, if it makes you feel better, it can’t go on for much longer,” the Peacemaker said. “You’re the one who’s cursed, but Yong’s taking the brunt.” He tilted his head at me. “Do you know how dragon magic works?”

  I nodded. “I know Dad’s been spending his own fire to keep me in check.”

  “He’s been spending more than that.” The young dragon placed a hand on his chest. “Our fire is more than fuel for our spells. It’s our life, the thing that makes us dragons. Yong’s curse on you is so strong because he’s been pouring his fire into it. Old as he is, he has a lot to give. But no dragon’s fire is infinite, and when you made him use it to crash the gold markets, you took more than he was wise to spend.”

  I stared at him in surprise. “How did you know about the gold markets?”

  “There are few things dragons pay attention to more than gold,” he said with a chuckle. “Add in the flares of Yong’s magic at the same time as every dip plus his bizarre warning about your curse, and most of us were able to put two and two together. It’s earned him a lot of new enemies. My mother in particular wants his head on a platter. She has a lot of gold.”

  She wasn’t the only one. I’d seen the piles dragons slept on. I’d been too busy to think about it at the time, but I could absolutely see now how crashing the gold market would step on a lot of tails. That was honestly a bonus, though. Anything that put more pressure on my dad was A-OK in my book. What I didn’t understand was why the Peacemaker was telling me this as if I cared.

  “His enemies are not my concern,” I said coldly. “I did what I had to do. If he didn’t like it, he could have stopped the curse at any time.”

  “But he didn’t,” the Peacemaker said. “And now we’ve all got a problem.”

  I arched an eyebrow at that, and the dragon leaned forward with a grim expression. “Whether he was right or wrong to do so, your father has spent an enormous amount of his fire trying to force you back under his control. It’s left him weak and vulnerable, and that’s not good for anyone. The Dragon of Korea isn’t part of my Accord, but he has his own alliances with several dragons who are. If one of his enemies sees his weakness as a chance, it could plunge the whole region into war and threaten the peace I’ve been building for twenty years. That’s a lot of unnecessary damage for what is essentially a family problem.”

  My hopes sank with every word. “So you’re just going to throw me under the bus?” I said. “Give me back to my dad to placate him just so you can keep your peace?”

  “I’m not giving you to anyone,” the Peacemaker said patiently. “But I think you need to ask yourself why your father is willing to go this far.”

  “Because he’s a narcissist who can’t let go,” I snapped.

  “Narcissists don’t hurt themselves for others,” he argued. “There’s no question Yong is going about this in entirely the wrong way, but I believe that, deep inside, he’s a good person.”

  “Don’t you mean a good dragon?”

  The Peacemaker shook his head. “Those are two very different things. Funny enough, I believe Yong’s problem is that he’s both. The Dragon of Korea is famous for his ruthlessness, cunning, and honor. He is feared by his enemies, respected by his neighbors, and worshiped by his people. With the exception of his excessive exuberance for mortal collecting, his reputation as a dragon has always been flawless. And then you came along.”

  “Are you going to tell me I ruined him?” I asked bitterly.

  “Not at all,” the Peacemaker said. “If anything, this turn of events only makes me want him more. No properly prideful, selfish dragon puts himself in this much peril for a mortal. It’s clear to me that, no matter what he might claim, the Great Yong loves you very, very much, and it would be the greatest tragedy to go to war over something as beautiful as that.”

  I looked down at my hands. Hearing him say it like that made me want to believe it. I was only human, after all. Of course I wanted to believe my father loved me. But I’d been down that dead-end road too many times already, and I refused to be tricked again.

  “You’re wrong.”

  The Peacemaker sat back in his chair. “How so?”

  “My father doesn’t love me,” I said, fists tightening on my cheap, dirty leggings. “He covets me. I’m his Opal—a thing, not a person. He isn’t doing all this because he misses me or wants me around. He’s doing it because I’m the only one who’s ever had the guts to reject him, and he can’t stand it.”

  “Well,” the dragon said slowly. “He’s your father. I suppose you’d know him best.”

  I nodded approvingly, but the dragon wasn’t finished yet.

  “Sometimes, though, the people we’re closest to are the hardest to see truthfully. Our own feelings can get in the way, making it difficult to see what’s right in front of our noses.”

  My fists clenched in rage. Who did he think he was, saying that to me? This wasn’t some little family spat that could be cleared up with a good long talk and a hug. My father had tried to kidnap me! But before I could figure out how to tell him how wrong he was without being directly insulting, the Peacemaker lifted his hands.

  “I know, I know,” he said, smiling. “But before you dismiss me entirely, can I ask you a question?”

  It couldn’t be worse than what he’d just said, so I nodded.

  “Do you hate your father?”

  I blinked in surprise. I’d never actually thought about that before. Now that someone had asked me directly, though, the answer was obvious. “No,” I said. “I’m mad at him, and I want him to stop, but I don’t hate him.”

  “Why not?” the Peacemaker asked. “You just said he’s done horrible things to you. I can’t take that curse off of you, but there are plenty of other dragons who will. Why not sell him out to one of his enemies and be done with it?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him my usual line about how I didn’t want to trade one master for another, but the wo
rds felt like ash in my mouth. The situations were entirely different, but the simple, straightforward way he’d asked the question reminded me of Dr. Kowalski when she’d demanded I tell her the truth. Then as now, I’d thought I was, but when I stopped and asked myself for the truth—the real reason I’d stuck so hard to our bargain instead of selling my dad out to any of the powers who would gladly have bought his weakness—the answer that came back was very different.

  “Because he’s my dad.”

  Even as I said it, I knew my answer was indefensible. Parenthood didn’t excuse anything. There were plenty of people who hated their dads with good reason. I had good reason, and yet, despite everything he’d done, all the times he’d stomped all over my life and called me a dog-girl and a disappointment, I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t sure if I loved him anymore, but I couldn’t bring myself to hate him. Not even to save my own neck, which was probably the stupidest decision I’d ever made. I fully expected the Peacemaker to tell me so, but to my surprise, the dragon just nodded, his young face made older by deep, deep sympathy, as if he knew exactly what I was feeling.

  “It gives me hope to hear you say that,” he said. “And for what it’s worth, I don’t believe Yong sees you only as a thing.”

  “But he does,” I argued. “He told me so.”

  “I’m sure he did,” the Peacemaker replied. “But you should know by now that what a dragon says and what he feels are often two entirely different things. He might tell you you’re a possession, but in every interaction I’ve had with him—from the first time we met when he asked me to let you live here to his declaration that anyone who touched you would be his sworn enemy—Yong has constantly and consistently referred to you as his child. You might not be his by nature, but in his actions, you are his beloved daughter, more important than fire or gold.”

  “If that’s true,” I whispered, voice shaking, “why is he doing this to me?”

  “I don’t know,” the Peacemaker said. “But I think you had the right of it when you said he coveted you. I can see how that would be intolerable from your perspective. No one wants to be owned. But for a proper old dragon who’s been taught since birth that affection was a weakness that would get him killed, coveting a gem is a lot safer than loving a daughter. That’s his problem he’s going to have to get over on his own, of course, and I’m not asking you to forgive him. I’d just…I think it would be good if the two of you could talk.”