Page 41 of The Dragon Wakes with Thunder (The Dragon Spirit Duology #2)

“Controlling me?” he repeated, as if I’d said something ludicrous. “Controlling me?” He threw his head back with laughter. “My dear, I am the one controlling her .”

He was a lost cause, then. He believed what I’d once believed—that I could be the exception, the one to thwart fate. That I could be the one immune to the corrupting hand of power.

“So it is your wish to tear down the veil and let the spirits run amok among us?” I asked, disbelieving. “You would give our world to them, and let this too become a world of spirits?”

“What I want,” he said, his eyes glittering, “is a world for all people.”

“Then—”

“ All people,” he said again. “The blacksmith, the butcher, the widow, and the orphan.” He closed the distance between us, as I edged back.

“None will be greater than the other; the prince himself will be our equal. There will be no more class division, no more blood lineage, no more landowners and tenant farmers and beggars on the street. For the land will be centrally owned, and power will be returned to the people. At last.”

“Then why?” I asked, my voice rising. “Why destroy our world if you care for its people?”

“Because I care for them,” he said. “I equip them. I offer power freely, rather than withhold it for myself. That is what sets us apart from every lord and sovereign before us. You and me, my dear. We can be the last dynasty.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” I insisted.

“With every new gate opened, more and more common folk can cross into the spirit realm,” he said, voice slow, patient.

“More and more people can become summoners and restore power to the masses. How do you think a ragtag band of untrained rebels defeated the Leyuan warlord? How do you think we’ll defeat the Anlai one this time? ”

“Aren’t you tired of war?”

He shook his head. “For us common folk, the war never ended.” He grew impassioned, stirred by the sound of his own voice.

“They tax us mercilessly, stealing our hard-earned coin, promising to repair our roads and fill our storehouses in winter. But winter has come and gone, and the roads are still ruined, and the storehouses empty. The common people are starving, while in the palace, they gorge themselves on the spoils of our labor.”

Was anyone ever satisfied? I wondered. The dragon wanted more; the people wanted more; even the lords and kings wanted more. Was this then our fate—to fight and destroy one another until the world was reduced to ruins?

Kuro must have seen the hopelessness in my eyes, for his voice gentled.

“My friend, the time of emperors and warlords is over. The Mandate of Heaven has passed on to the people. Together, we can build a world where women stand equal to men, where every peasant has the same opportunities as a nobleman. A world where the land is not hoarded by corrupt officials but held centrally by the state for the good of all. Imagine the promise of such a world.”

My heart was thudding wildly in my chest. His tone was soothing, level, and his expression sure and steady. In contrast, I was weak, torn, indecisive.

Help him. Help him return power to the people. You want equality, don’t you? You trained those servant girls in the palace, even though you weren’t supposed to. How is this any different?

Kuro’s hand came down on my shoulder, and I flinched. “ Help me, my friend. Help me crush the foundations of the old world, and build a new one from its ashes. ”

I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. How could I discern right from wrong anymore?

Who was an enemy, and who was a friend? I had been so certain in my choice to trust Qinglong, who had never seen me as his equal.

At the same time, I had been too quick to discredit Sima Yi, aiming to kill him before I’d even known him.

What if the spirit gates did topple the monarchy?

What if change was needed—what if the Three Kingdoms could not go on like this anymore?

What if another young woman, as dissatisfied and reckless as I’d once been, was peering out her window at this very moment, wondering what lay beyond the monotony of the women’s quarters?

What if I gave her a fighting chance? What if she too struck a bargain with a spirit; what if she too sought the power that had transformed me?

“ Hai Meilin ,” Kuro said, his eyes glowing strangely. “ Help me serve the people. ”

His compulsion entered me like sand slipping through the cracks of a sealed door. I felt myself go still, the anxious thoughts in my head settling like dust motes floating to the floor.

A spinning knife sliced open my tunic sleeve, drawing the thinnest of cuts. I turned in surprise, before spotting Lei fast approaching us.

Lei, who never missed.

Waking from the rebel leader’s spell, I glared furiously into his gold eyes.

Without giving him a chance to react, I plunged my qi into his, adopting the techniques I’d once tried on Chancellor Sima.

I felt the dark energy of his lixia, the human emotion his spirit fed upon.

Just as Qinglong devoured my greed, Baihu fed his pride.

He believed he could do no wrong.

He believed he could save the world.

I let his thoughts become mine; I let my qi become earth, let our minds settle like fresh soil under the sun. And then I was in.

“ I warned you not to disrupt the energy flow. ” Baihu’s voice was like sharp claws trailing your skin. Soft yet lethal. “ The veil is splintering. But you cannot allow the realms to merge. We are nothing without balance. ”

“ I know what I’m doing! ” Kuro had shouted back. “ Why can’t you trust me? ”

Kuro’s mental shields slammed up against me before I could overhear more of their conversation. Blinking against the morning daylight, I squinted up at him. Baihu did not wish the realms to merge? Then the tiger’s goals were not the same as the dragon’s?

As I pondered this, dozens of rebels assembled behind Kuro, led by Jinya, who was now armed to the teeth. I drew my own sword.

Jinya tensed, but Kuro did not lift a hand. “Don’t make me fight you,” he warned. “You know this is a battle you cannot win.”

“Even your spirit master has more sense than you do,” I spat. “If you continue down this path, you’ll do more than destroy the ruling regime. You’ll destroy the world itself.”

His eyes were bitter and bright with scorn.

“Everyone wants change,” he said, lip curling, “but no one wants to pay the price of revolution.”

I felt Lei’s presence by my side, and I took strength from his aura of calm. I shot him a questioning look, and in answer, he gave me an infinitesimal nod. So be it, then.

I tightened my grip on my sword. “I will not join you,” I said, my voice carrying across the silent campgrounds. “My loyalties do not lie with Anlai, nor with any other regime.” I swallowed, wondering how much to tell him. Wondering if I had a choice now, surrounded and outnumbered.

I squared my shoulders. “I told you I am journeying to First Crossing. I did not tell you why. The truth is, I am seeking Zhuque’s eternal spring—to relinquish my spirit power, and to give up my bond to the Azure Dragon.”

Kuro’s mouth went slack. Then his face hardened with repulsion. “You’re mad,” he growled.

“Yes.”

The veins in his neck bulged. “You’re making a mistake.”

“Perhaps,” I said. “But it is my mistake to make.”

Kuro looked furious at this. His men tensed behind him, readying for battle. Yet Jinya was the first to sheathe her blade. The sound, so incongruous in the tense silence, caused even Kuro in his anger to hesitate.

“Kuro,” Jinya said quietly, and some of his anger dimmed as he turned to his right hand. “Remember the core tenets of the Black Scarves. You cannot force her.”

The rebel leader wore his emotions openly, so that I could see the warring resentment and irritation on his face, the mutual desire and disgust.

At last, he swung toward me. I anchored my qi, but he only said, “Fine. Seal your own prison.” With a derisive laugh, he beckoned for a nearby rebel, who passed him a pair of iron bands, identical to my former set.

“Since you so love your chains,” he said, throwing the irons at my feet. My cheeks burned at the humiliation, but I kept my head held high.

“You think you’re unstoppable,” I said. “I would know—I was there once. But the time will come when you realize that power always demands a price. And that price may be more than you’re willing to pay.

” My hands were shaking; I lowered them to my sides.

“By then, it may be too late. The one paying will not be Baihu. It will be you.”

I could tell my warning fell on indifferent ears. When he met my eyes, there was not a hint of doubt or uncertainty within them.

“If you will not join me, Phoenix-Slayer, then do not stand in my way.”