Page 32 of Dragons & Dumplings
“This feud with the fire drakes iswrong,father.” I was proud of the fact that my voice held firm this time. “It is outdated and pointless. What does it matter that our peoples fought a millenia ago? We are only making the present miserable for a long-standing feud whose purpose has long been forgotten!”
My father’s roar shook the very air. Even the shadowmancer flinched. But Mei gave my hand a squeeze, and through sheer force of will, I resisted the urge to do the same.
“Those wyrms have killed hordes of our kinsmen!”
“And we’ve killedhundredsof them!” I shot back, feeling the warm flame of passion sparking to life within me, banishing the cold shell of indifference that had encased it, keeping me numb and safe for so long. “Let it end with us!”
“No son of mine could spout such nonsense!” Moroz roared as he dove straight for me—no, for Mei, jaws gaping wide.
“Then you will have no son at all!”
At that declaration, he flared his wings, hovering just beyond the trap I had set. The witch-made barrier shimmered, ripe with a special combination of spells.
My father’s pupils narrowed to slits. “You sound like one ofthem.”
“And you sound just like grandfather,” I said softly.
“What?!” The great dragon jerked his head back as if I’d punched him in the face.
I essentially had; when your voice doesn’t matter, you spend a lot of time listening. And I knew all too well how rocky my father’s relationship had been with my warmongering grandfather. They had fought endlessly over what was right for the fleet’s future. But even though I knew my father had once been firmly against any more fighting after he lost his wife, my mother, in a skirmish, now here we were, having the very same argument.
Except now the roles were reversed.
“How dare you,” he said just as softly.
“Have you forgotten how you once pleaded with grandfather to end this pointless cycle of violence?” I asked pointedly. “BecauseIhaven’t.”
“That was...different,” he rebutted weakly. “That was before…”
I had never seen him look so uncertain. His shadow had once seemed to cover my entire world; but now, it seemed rather small and ordinary.
“Is it? For once in your life, either shut up and listen to me, or get out,” I growled. I heard the rustle of fabric and felt sparks of magic as many of the townsfolk stood from their seats.
Moroz glared at me, silently commanding me to lower my gaze and obey him.
“Either you discuss this with me and Mei like a civilized person, or you turn tail and forget you ever had a second son.” I glared right back, my words heavy with conviction and finality.
“Yuri! What are you saying?” Mei’s beautiful golden eyes went round with worry, and she squeezed my hand as if she wanted to convince me to take my words back. “This wasn’t part of the plan!”
“What I have to do.”
“But they’re your family! You can’t throw them away like this—not for Willowmere. Not for me,” she finished in a whisper.
“Some ties are better off broken.” I cupped her face in my free hand, stroking her cheek with my thumb. Then I kissed her in front of everyone, declaring without words where my heart now lay. “And some bonds are thicker than blood.”
A different kind of tension filled the air as everyone held their breaths. Everyone except for me. I was done. I was well and truly done with my fleet’s endless hatred and expectations.
I meant what I said. If he refused to bend even the smallest fraction, then I never wanted to see any of them again. Even though the thought of such permanent separation needled at me, I would follow through.
I wanted no part of this war.
I wanted peace. For me, and for Mei.
And if never seeing my family again was the price I paid for that peace, then so be it.
Finally, my father’s slitted pupils expanded—just a fraction. He gave a tight nod, to the whispered outrage of those behind him, and shifted into his humanoid form as he touched down and easily passed through the barrier—which meant he had meant what he said.
He shivered as one of the spells activated, encasing him in a layer of invisible magic. So long as it was active, he would be unable to harm those within the barrier.
