Page 46 of Whispers of the Dragon
Ryu lost a bit more of his composure. “And exactly why do you think it will now?”
“They were not me,” she sneered with pride.
Placing them in his pocket, he supposed that bit was true. If there was one thing he didn’t doubt with Itako, it was her knowledge and power.
“Also, they share blood with Eira, whereas others did not share it with anyone here. I’m hopefulthatwill be the difference.”
Now Ryu fully understood, and it was enough for him to turn to leave, knowing it might work.
“If I don’t see you anytime soon,” she drawled before he could disappear, “I know it worked.”
Stopping in his tracks, he smiled. “But you always know if I will see you again.”
“I do,” Itako confirmed.
“And do you see me returning?” he asked.
Putting the pipe to her lips with a smile, she didn’t utter a word.
Ryu had expected to feel happiness at her smile, but it made him oddly sad to think he wouldn’t be seeing the bitch anytime soon. And while his heart grew a bit fond of her, he was sure he’d regret his next words.
“Would you like me to start a fire?”
Itako blew out a puff of smoke. “I thought you’d never ask.”
It took him only a moment to figure out he had been had. “That’s why you didn’t give me the bottles earlier, isn’t it?”
The blind lady no longer left any pretenses. “Yep.”
“Get in the boat!” Ryu found himself screaming at the second old lady he’d encountered tonight.
“It’s too small for all three of us,” the old lady spat back, sticking her heels into the rocky terrain.
It was the boat he had taken before Eira had known he was a dragon, when he had left and come back from his island to help with Eira’s nightmares. He wasn’t quite sure, but he was a little sure everything on his island held a little magic, so it shouldn’t sink. Or so he hoped.
He regretted this mission and was thinking about turning into his dragon form and disappearing right this second, but it was too late when the supposed arthritis-eaten fisherman got in the boat with ease, as if he was back in his golden days. If he shifted now, he’d kill him. And while it felt like that wouldn’t be such a bad thought in this moment, his conscience won out.
Taking the white box from Eira’s grandmother’s hands that he knew the contents of all too well, he put it in the grandfather’s lap before he faced the stubborn grandmother.
Knowing he was left with one, and only one, option, he leaned down and swung her over his shoulder before placing her in the middle of the tiny boat.
“Shut up!” the grandfather shouted. “If I can hear you that loud, you’re going to wake the whole town up!”
She paused her shrilling at the drop of a hat to turn around and hit her husband. “Oh, please! I’m not that loud!”
“Could have fooled me, woman,” he ground out back at his wife. “You could wake the dead!”
Ryu wasted no time using their argument as his distraction to get the boat in the water, pushing them out as deep as he could before he climbed into the boat and started rowing.
It only took the grandmother a few moments to notice she was now stuck. “You know, if I had known you’d be taking my granddaughter across the ocean in some shitty boat, I wouldn’t have let her go.”
“Don’t worry,” Ryu assured her with a sly smile, “we didn’t go by boat.”
Even more concern grew on her wise face. “Then how did you …? Is Eira all right?”
He decided to take a page from Itako’s book. “You’ll find out soon enough and can ask her all your questions then.”
Ryu hoped that would be enough to suffice for a quiet boat ride and was worried it wouldn’t, until all concern left the grandmother’s face. It seemed she knew something when she grabbed the box from her husband’s lap.
