Page 11 of Whispers of the Dragon
“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.
