I sighed and stirred my tea. “The simulator pairs you up for battle. That’s it.”
“Uh-oh, sounds like the two of you are fighting.”
I grunted. “Something like that.”
“Tell me about it.”
I shook my head. “It’s not important.”
“It must be if you have to fight over it.”
I chuckled. “No, really, it’s not. It’s over something really stupid.”
“Like what?”
“Hair color.”
His brow rose. “Hair color?”
I played with my teaspoon. “Yeah, I told you it was stupid.”
He chuckled as he shook his head. “I don’t know. It had to be important to someone for it to have caused a fight so bad neither of you will talk to each other.”
I sighed. “It’s my fault really. I’m not good at talking.”
As I had been sitting here I had honestly started to think this. Had I been more willing to hear Raikidan out on the matter than to brush off his concern, we may have come to a better understanding.
He waved me off. “I doubt it’s solely you. Sure, you struggle with something most people would think comes as second nature, but you’re not bad at conveying your points. Blunt, yes, but sometimes that’s what we need.”
I played with my tea some more. “Yeah, but only sometimes.”
“We should probably leave.” I looked up at him. “We’re not going to find anything out. I’ve been on these assignments for over a month and haven’t learned a thing. Either there really isn’t anything new going on or these soldiers have learned to keep their mouths shut.”
I sighed and stood up. “I guess you’re right.”
Kent followed the motion and the two of us left after disposing of our dishes. We parted ways when we made it to my car, and I sat on the hood to wait for Raikidan to finally come out. I was surprised by how long I had to wait. I expected him to come out almost immediately, showing how much he didn’t want to be on this assignment. I waited for him to reach the car before I went to the driver side.
“What, no complaints about my lateness?”
I ignored him and unlocked the car. Once I was situated in my seat, I made sure my foot was on the clutch and started her up. Raikidan slid into the passenger seat, and I shifted my car into gear, cruising down the road without a care. We had some time to kill, and I didn’t need to be scolded by a child for abandoning my assignment too soon.
I glanced at Raikidan. He had been trying to talk to me, his lips moving, but nothing came out. I looked back at the road, content to continue to ignore him. Looks like I still have it. My mentor, Shyden, taught me the trick. It allowed us to concentrate better on tasks that didn’t require us to be aware of our surroundings. It also made it easier to live in the city and put up with people.
The city streets passed by as I took turns aimlessly. I didn’t worry about getting lost. If I had to, I’d use the built-in map Argus installed to get back.
I looked down at my hand when something warm touched it, to find Raikidan’s hand enveloping mine. I let go of the stick and smacked his hand away. “Do you mind not trying to hold my hand? Thanks.”
“You aren’t listening to me.”
“I don’t have to if I don’t want to.”
“I’ve been trying to tell you to make a turn to go somewhere. Did you even hear a single word I said?”
“No.”
He sighed. “Just take this turn up here.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I want you to.”
“You don’t know where you’re going.”
“I have someone giving me directions.”
“Well, you can tell Seda to save her energy. I’m not taking the turn.”
Raikidan grabbed my hand again. “Take the damn turn.”
I smacked him away. “I don’t take orders! Especially not ones from you.”
He latched onto the steering wheel and yanked it. The car swerved into another street. People shouted at the recklessness, but I was too pissed to pay much attention to them.
“What the hell is your problem?” I barked as I righted the car.
“If you had just listened to me in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to do it.”
“There are rules you have to follow. Do you realize what you could have done if I hadn’t kept control of the wheel?”
Raikidan’s brow rose. “Rules?”
I couldn’t believe him. “Do you not pay attention to how I drive? All these rules I follow are to keep us and others outside safe. You can’t just take a turn at will at any speed. You have to worry about civilians walking around on the sidewalks, and you have to worry about oncoming traffic, not to mention if the street is a one-way or not.”
“What would happen if you didn’t follow these rules?”
“You’d cause an accident, and I don’t know about you since you’re a dragon, but for me, I’d get seriously hurt.”
“But you’re—”
“I’m what? Invincible because I’m some freakish superhuman experiment? No, it’s not like that, Raikidan! I bleed. My bones break. dragons may not be so fragile, but just because I’m a soldier doesn’t mean I’m not human. Ryoko hits like a damn train. A train could kill me. An accident could kill me if it was bad enough. It could kill someone else!”
Raikidan looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
I snorted. “Course you didn’t. You just assume you know everything in a place that is foreign to you.”
I shifted down a gear and stopped at the end of the street. I had no idea where I was now thanks to Raikidan, and all he had done was make me go down one street. I had to collect my thoughts and think.
“Take a right,” Raikidan instructed, his voice quiet.
“Why is this, whatever it is, so important?”
“Because it is, so just go right.”
I sighed and took it. I might as well since I had no idea where I was. If I was lucky, I’d get to a place I recognized, and I wouldn’t have to listen to him again. Raikidan continued to tell me where to turn, and even after I figured out where we were, I kept listening, though I wasn’t sure why. It was like I had to know where the end result was. As if I needed to know what he was thinking of.
“Pull up here.”
I pursed my lips in confusion as I pulled into a side parking space. “The park? You wanted to bring me here?”
“Yeah.”
I titled my head at him. “Why?”
“Well, if you had been listening to me earlier instead of ignoring me, you would have heard me trying to apologize to you for earlier.”
“Oh…” I turned the car off and climbed out of my car. Raikidan climbed out as well and jerked his head to beckon me to follow. I complied and followed him.
The sky was much darker now, and the trees over us swayed in the wind. My black dyed hair whipped around my face as it was caught up in the gusts of wind. “So why are we here?”
Raikidan shoved his hands in his pockets. “You were relaxed when we were here last. I figured since you were mad at me still, coming here might make you feel better.”
“You were mad at me too.”
“I was mad because you were mad.” I chuckled and shook my head. His brow rose. “What?”
“I was mad because you were mad.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
I shrugged. “Well, I was mad on my own too, but mainly because you were.”
He grunted. “So I could have been sitting with you instead of by myself this whole time?”
I leaned against the rail of the bridge and watched the river slowly run by. “I suppose, but then again, you were glaring at me the whole time, so maybe not.”
He blinked. “How did you—”
“I’m getting better at reading you. To someone else, you may look normal or expressionless, but me, I see the real look, and you looked pretty pissed, so there was no way I was going to let you be near me.”
He shook his head. “I should have figured as much. You’re so perceptive it was only a matter of time before you were capable of doing that.”
The wind ruffled my dress. It made me feel even more uncomfortable. I couldn’t believe Ryoko had managed to get me into this stupid thing. It was the other reason I had been in such a foul mood.
“You look nice,” he said.
“I look stupid.”
“No you don’t. That dress looks nice on you.”
“I hate it.”
“Why?”
I fussed with the stupid dress again. “Because it’s too feminine.”
Raikidan’s brow rose. “You don’t want to feel feminine?”
“No. It makes me feel weak and like I can’t do anything on my own.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yes, there is. Everything is wrong with that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m human. Being feminine makes you eye candy. It makes you a fuck buddy, and then your use is up.”
“Is that why you hate men?”
My hands clutched. “I hate people.”
“Talk to me about it.”
“No.”
He touched my elbow. “Why not?”
I jerked away. “Because I don’t want to.”
“Eira.”
“It’s not important.”
“If it bothers you, then it is.”
I glared at him. “Why do you even care?”
He blinked. I could tell my comment had hurt him, but I didn’t care. “Why? Because I do. Now tell me.”
“Just drop it, Raikidan.”
He moved closer to me and braced his arms on either side of me. “Tell me what bothers you.”
I tried to push him away. “Raikidan, don’t get this close to me.”
He leaned in closer until his breath hit my lips. My mouth dried. “Are you afraid?”
“I don’t fear.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“I can smell it. It’s masked well, but it’s still there. So tell me, what are you afraid of?”
I shoved him away and stormed off. “I don’t fear.”
“Eira, come back.” He followed close behind. “Eira.”
“I thought you wanted me to feel better?”
“I do. I just didn’t think you’d freak out at my compliment. You know, it’s hard to compliment you. You’re always finding some reason to throw them back at me.”
“I don’t deserve compliments.”
He sighed in aggravation. “Why do you talk like this? I’ve never met anyone who was ever this harsh to himself.”
“Because I do.” I sat down in the grass and looked out across the lake. The sky made me uneasy.
Raikidan sat down next to me and scratched his head. “Thanks… for, uh, dying my hair black.”
“Don’t mention it. I figured you’d like it better.”
“I do. It feels a little more natural to me.”
I looked at him. “Raikidan.”
“Yeah?”
“Out of curiosity, if you had the chance to choose to be either a red dragon or a black dragon, what would you choose?”
He looked up at the sky. “Well, if you had asked me that around the time we had met, I would have told you I wanted to be a black dragon. But now I’m not so sure I would change to be either.”
My brow rose. “How come?”
“Being around you and the others made me realize if I chose either, I wouldn’t be the same. I wouldn’t be Raikidan. I’d be someone else. I don’t want to be someone else.”
I looked away. “I see.”
“Why would you change, Eira?”
“What?”
“You told me once you would change if you had the chance. Why? I see nothing wrong with who you are.”
“Course you don’t. No one does. No one will…”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m not me when I’m undercover, and I’m not me when I’m not. No one knows the real me.”
He tried to look me in the eye. “I want to.”
I looked away to avoid his gaze. “No, you don’t. She’s not worth knowing.”
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me back into his hard chest. I fought the red flush that attempted to emerge. He was making me feel weird again.
“Don’t say that,” he murmured in my ear. “I want to know.”
Before I could press the argument further, a drop of water splashed onto my face. My eyes fluttered and another one hit me. I suppressed a smile when Raikidan grumbled something that sounded to be in his tongue.
“We should go,” I said. “We don’t want to be caught up in this rain while driving. It looks like it’s going to be a bad storm.”
He sighed and let me go. “Fine.”
I rose to my feet gracefully and led him to the car. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the gods for their timing. It couldn’t have been better. Just as I turned the key in the ignition, the sky opened up and poured down on us. I sighed. Maybe I sent that prayer too soon.
Chapter 3
Ijogged up the stairs of the basement. For the past few days a rare tropical storm had sat on top of Dalatrend and caused quite the trouble. Missions had been put on hold and work was nonexistent due to flooding. Thankfully, the storm finally broke several hours ago.
When the clouds dispersed and the low sun cast orange rays over the city, I had gone to check the sewer systems to see if they were going to be usable. During heavy rains like this past one, the rain filled the water plant quickly and forced it into the run-off locations. The sewers were one of those locations, causing issues for the rebellion at times.
I looked at the dead rabbit in my hands. The sewers had flooded like I thought, but not enough where the run-off tunnels couldn’t get the extra water out and keep walking paths cleared. One run-off tunnel in particular had been the full objective of my search below the city.
A young woman with long brown hair, sun-kissed skin, and dog-like ears where nu-human ones would be, greeted me with a warm smile as I opened the door—her golden eyes twinkling with the warmth of her personality.
“Oh, hey, Ryoko,” I greeted.
“Hey to you, too.” Her brow then rose in question when she noticed the furry bundle of flesh in my hands. “You couldn’t have grabbed one of those special meal packages you brought with you from your outside city excursion to eat?”
I shrugged. “The spell doesn’t protect the food indefinitely, so I loaded what I had left into the kitchen.” I looked at her with playful accusation. “Someone then proceeded to eat it all.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I did not eat all of it, and you know it.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, sure. You keep saying that, Miss Hole-for-a-Stomach.”
“Laz, stop teasing me!” She then stomped over to the couch and sat down.
I noticed she had my Library book in her hands, but I didn’t mind. If she wanted to learn about something other than cars and war, then who was I to stop her?
I placed the rabbit down on the bar and pulled out a cutting board before skinning it. I glanced at Raikidan when his presence filled the kitchen. He watched me with curiosity and I waited for his questions. I knew him well enough now to know they’d come.
Raikidan leaned on the bar next to me. “Where did you get this?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said.
The rabbit was only an extra prize. It had bounded into the open just as I was about to head back to the house. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“You left, didn’t you?” he whispered in my ear.
“I went to the forest.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
Raikidan looked at me as if he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t say anything and I went back to carving the rabbit. My stomach begged for relief, and although I would have preferred to finish carving the animal before I ate, I chose to give in to its needs. Slicing off a piece of the hindquarter, I stuffed it into my mouth. Noticing the hunger in Raikidan’s eye, I carved out a chunk and handed it to him.
His brow rose. “You sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He grinned and took the meat. He popped it into his mouth and swallowed it without chewing. This impressed me. I would have thought a chunk of meat that size would have gotten stuck in his throat.
Ryoko scrunched her nose. “That’s disgusting. How can you eat raw meat? That’s just not right.”
I snorted. “Your kin do it.”
“They’re full wogron. They don’t look human like me. It’s a little different.”
Raikidan snorted. “Hardly. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with eating meat raw.”
“It’s disgusting!”
I grinned, making her blink in confusion. I cradled the head with one hand and carefully carved out the eye. I looked up at her, my grin still intact, and popped the eye into my mouth. Her face contorted with disgust. I was sure she was trying not to gag.
“That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen you do!” she complained.
Raikidan nudged me and pointed to the rabbit. “Can I have the other one?”
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