Page 28 of Dragons & Dumplings
“Thank you,” I said around the lump in my throat.
She slowed. “Anyone would have done the same.”
“No. They wouldn’t have,” I said with more force and bitterness than I meant to.
Her eyes flicked to me in surprise. Her pupils were half-contracted, as if she felt torn between hurt and pity. I hated seeing her look at me like that.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I blurted, “I ran away from my fleet. That’s why… That’s why Mikhail hunted me down. I realized he had found me, back in the diner, and I didn’t want him to hurt you, too.”
“Why didn’t you fight back at first?” The sympathy in her eyes was nearly my undoing.
“Because when I don’t, the beatings don’t last as long,” I whispered hoarsely.
Mei’s hand flew to her mouth. “Is that why you ran away?”
“Yes.” I grimaced. “The Frost Fleet is for warriors. And no matter what I did, I was never strong enough for them. At first, I was simply searching for an alternative way to be useful, to prove my worth.”
Her eyes widened. “Your book—your research!”
I nodded. “But once I was away from the north, and got to see how the rest of the world lived… I began to question some of my fleet’s teachings. Some of my father’s teachings.”
“Like what?”
I hesitantly reached out to take her hand in mine. When she didn’t pull away, I whispered, “Like the fact that all firewyrms—I mean, fire drakes—are not monsters.” I took a deep breath. “When we first met, I treated you as if you were one of the evil dragons I had been led to believe you were. But Mei, your spirit and kindness quickly showed me that everything I had been taught about your people—was wrong.”
Her golden eyes brightened. “Was that supposed to be your punishment for being seen with me?”
I winced. “Yes.”
“So you decided to hurt my feelings to protect me from Mikhail?”
“Yes.”
“It makes me happy that you want to protect me, Yuri.” Her voice caught. “But I want to protectyou,too.”
I swallowed. Nodded. “Thank you for chasing him off. How did you manage to do it?” I sat bolt upright. “Wait, have your parents returned?”
Mei laughed softly and pushed me back down against the pillows. “No, I had a witch cast a clone spell on me as I transformed, so that it looked like a whole fleet of fire drakes was going after him.”
I blew out a breath of relief that sent a mini flurry of snowflakes into the air. “Brilliant. You never cease to surprise me.”
“I could say the same,” Mei murmured. “I never expected an ice dragon could ever be so warm and selfless.”
“Do your parents have as terrible an opinion of ice dragons as my fleet does of fire drakes?” I would expect nothing less.
“My parents fled the war between our peoples,” Mei said sadly. “We’ve been running my entire life.” Sudden fear contracted her pupils, and the air around her shimmered with heat. “You don’t think… Will Mikhail bring the rest of your fleet here? Because of what I am?”
I grabbed her hand before her temperature could spike any further. “He might.” I held her eyes, refusing to lie to her again. “But even if he does bring the entirety of the fleet down from the north, I swear to you that you, your parents, and the whole of Willowmere will be safe.”
“How can you be so sure?” Her voice trembled. “Do you have some sort of plan?”
“I have an idea. I will take care of it, so all you have to do is focus on preparing for the Harvest Feast.” For once, I didn’t have to fake the confidence in my voice. A month ago, the mere thought of defying my father and brother like this would have made me want to curl up into a ball. But now that I had someone to protect… “Leave everything else to me.”
Mei gave my hand a squeeze.
“Regardless of what anyone else says, you are a warrior to me, Yuri.” Her words completely shattered the walls of ice around my heart.
I had been waiting my entire life to hear those words.
