Page 10 of The Dragon Wakes with Thunder (The Dragon Spirit Duology #2)

eight

Under the corruption of the Quan Emperor, the land was plagued with ceaseless drought, until even Zhonghai Lake had dried to its sediment.

In desperation, the scholar Wang Qi ordered the fishermen to bring their boats onto the cracked lake bed.

Some mocked him, while others grew enraged.

Yet when the scholar raised his hands to the heavens, the Azure Dragon was moved to mercy.

He wept great tears of rain, which filled the lake and returned the boats to shore.

Thus, the Tianjia people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival to honor the dragon, who saw the people’s plight and gave them rain.

I did not know how to find him. Lily claimed that the prince of Ximing was both everywhere and nowhere.

Technically, he was under house arrest, forbidden from leaving his quarters.

And yet, through bribery and blackmail, it was an open secret that he did not remain confined to the guest rooms reserved for political prisoners.

Some servants claimed to have seen him at private dinner parties with notable advisors and magistrates.

Others professed to have seen him enjoying the botanical gardens, or even sunbathing at the moon-viewing pavilion, always with a beautiful lady in tow.

But of course, no matter where I went, he did not make himself known to me.

I had no choice but to turn to other avenues.

In the days following, Lily proved an invaluable resource.

Every morning before sunrise, we met for an hour of sword practice.

I had made Lily a promise, yes, but there was another reason I was particularly soft on her.

With her gap-toothed grin and her cleverness, she reminded me of my little sister.

My little sister, who I was forbidden from visiting.

Though I had not fully recovered from my time in prison, I could still demonstrate proper technique, albeit at a slower pace than I was used to.

At first, it was just the two of us. Lily kept pestering me to include others, and while I was hesitant at first, the idea of using them as additional spies eventually won me over.

Two of Lily’s close friends joined us soon after. Three became four, and then five.

After every session, Lily and Lotus brought me scraps of palace gossip.

Through them I learned madness was catching in Chuang Ning, just beyond the Forbidden City walls.

Allegedly, the spirit gates had begun spreading in the north, suspiciously close to when Sky and the others had departed for the south.

As if the spirit summoner was baiting them, luring them out just to strike close to home.

Common folk had taken to wearing iron around their fingers and wrists, until the demand for iron had risen to such heights, even a market for replica iron had sprung up.

I too was growing superstitious about my iron. Recurring visions haunted my sleep, dreams of qi being drained from the land, sucking the earth dry. At the growing lixia imbalance, birds dropped from the sky. Rivers turned to sand. And all around me, everyone I loved went mad.

I started sleeping with my hands locked around my irons, as if holding them there would keep my mind in place.

Every evening, when most of the court went to supper, I feigned sickness and stayed in my rooms. When I was certain the coast was clear, I’d slip into the reading room and take the secret passageway into the library Sky had built for me.

There I read of ancient mythology surrounding spirit summoners of old, poetry concerning the whims of gods, and even medical texts detailing the biological pathways blocked by overuse of lixia.

Instead of imbuing me with hope, my newfound knowledge stole my sanguine ignorance.

I had done exactly everything I was not supposed to do: depleted my qi, overused my lixia, allowed my life force and spirit power to develop into a parasitic relationship.

Had Sky read these same texts? Was his unceasing optimism rooted in greater conviction for my abilities, or simply baseless faith? And yet I had defied the inevitable before. Perhaps I could do it again.

A creak from above jarred me from my thoughts.

Was it Lily, coming to look for me? Hurriedly I shoved the scroll I was reading back onto the shelf, which sent another one careening to the floor.

Bending to retrieve it, I noticed a familiar ruby bead, the brilliant crimson color reminiscent of fire.

Although the floor beneath the bookcase was dusty, the ruby bead was gleaming.

It had not been there for long.

I left the scroll lying on the floor, racing back up the passageway. I made it up two flights of stairs before needing to stop and rest. As I clutched the stair banister, panting, a maid I didn’t recognize appeared by my side.

“Can I help, my lady?”

“N-no,” I said, trying to keep my vision from blurring. “Just need to catch my breath.”

“Very well,” she replied, before lowering her voice. “My life for the rebellion, Phoenix-Slayer.”

I raised my head sharply, which only caused my nausea to swell. By the time the dizzy spell had passed, she was gone.

How strange…but I didn’t have time to dwell on it now. Racing to my quarters, I found Lily in my bedroom. I’d hoped for both of them, but perhaps this was for the best. Lotus was more obliging, but Lily was far more discreet.

“Lily,” I said. “I need a favor.”

The next day, I woke with the sun, my strange dreams fleeing in the morning light.

My body no longer ached with soreness, and my head felt unusually clear.

Under the blue light of dawn, I headed for the back kitchen courtyard, meeting Lily for our morning training sessions.

I had a dozen regular pupils now, and the rate at which they learned enlivened me.

Their consistent improvement was the only tangible progress I could point to in my life.

While I could not use my lixia, could not track down the wayward spirit summoner, could not even leave the palace walls, at least I could teach a few others how to defend themselves.

But perhaps I had grown overly cocky in the Imperial Commander’s absence. After practice that day, I spied a glimmer of white among the gray linens drying on the clotheslines. My pulse thrumming in my ears, I moved closer to investigate.

Before I could part the linens, none other than Winter emerged. “Good morning,” he said, and several girls gasped as he drew back the hanging clothes.

“Should we wait for you?” asked Lily, her terror at being caught plainly visible.

“It’s all right,” I assured her, motioning for the girls to leave us. “I trust him.”

I drew Winter into the privacy of the kitchen alleyway, where the clatter of the cooks preparing the palace’s breakfast muffled our conversation.

“I expected Sky to warn you to keep a low profile,” said Winter. “But perhaps I’m giving him too much credit.”

“He did,” I said. “I’m just…not the best at following orders.”

A flicker of reluctant amusement crossed his face. “Just don’t make things harder for him,” said Winter. “He’s already put himself in a precarious position by siding with you.” With that, he turned to go.

“Winter,” I called after him. “What makes you think I can’t make things better for him?”

“It’s not about whether you can,” he said, in his deliberate way. “It’s about whether you will.”

I stilled. He wasn’t certain where my loyalties lay with Sky.

And it was true that even I had questioned my own motives at times.

But after hearing the cheering crowds at the parade, after seeing the depth of Sky’s love and unwavering confidence in me—greater even than my own—I had made my decision.

“I can, and I will,” I told Winter firmly. “Your father wouldn’t have let me go if public opinion hadn’t forced his hand. But I can change how he sees me—and how the court does too.”

“Is that why you made Yuchen think you a timid fool?”

The comment stung, as Winter knew it would. He could be ruthless when necessary, but I understood—like Princess Yifeng before him, he was testing me.

“I won’t make the same mistake twice,” I said. “I can help Sky secure the throne, Winter. But I need allies.”

I waited, counting every heartbeat. Winter assessed me for a long moment, before saying, somewhat reluctantly, “I can make a good ally.”

I beamed.

A ghost of a smile flitted across his lips. “Do you know,” he said, shading his face against the rising sun, “Sky asked me not to meddle?”

I squinted at him. “Why?”

“He wants to win the throne ‘fairly,’ he said.”

I snorted at this, and even Winter smirked. Fairness had no place in court, I’d long ago decided. It did not matter how you got there—in the end, there were only winners and losers, and the winners rewrote the rules.

“Keep an eye on Prince Yuchen, will you?” I asked him now. “I think he means to make a move for the throne. I just can’t tell when.”

Winter nodded, and I made to leave.

“There’s something else,” said Winter, and to my surprise he reached out and snagged my wrist. Pushing up my sleeve, he saw the irons I never removed. “I thought so,” he said quietly.

I pulled my wrist free from his grasp. “What—”

“Do you know—the dragon cannot kill you?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, a touch resentfully. “He tried to drown me—”

“He can torture you. He can cause you emotional and psychological distress. He can let misfortune befall you without intervening. But no spirit can directly sever the bond with their human vessel. The two of you are stuck together, for better or for worse.”

I stared at him, wondering at his motives. “How do you know so much?”

He gave me a cryptic smile. “I once faced a choice much like yours.”

Before I could press him further, he left, leaving me to ponder the weight of his words.

I had been wearing my irons out of fear, thinking that once the dragon found me, he would try to drown me. After all, I had foiled his plans at the end of the war.

And yet my spirit affinity made me a powerful summoner, one even a Cardinal Spirit could not easily replace.

And if the dragon could not kill me, then he could not find another vessel in my stead.

Perhaps I could make Qinglong see me as an equal this time.

Perhaps we could work together, two reluctant partners made to dance.

It had been a long time since I’d called out to the dragon. Perhaps it was finally time to say hello.