Dragon Rebellion

by M. Lynn

  It wasn’t until he stood face to face with the man who’d altered the course of his life he realized Altan wasn’t his to kill. This was the end to someone else’s story, not Jian’s.

  He turned away, his eyes locking with those of a familiar horse. Most of the horses had either fled from the dragons or were dead, but not Heima. She’d been the only horse Jian trusted to carry Piao’s future, to protect his brother.

  Panic gripped his chest as he realized he hadn’t seen Bo or Duyi in too long. As Luca disarmed and arrested Altan, Jian ran through the remains of battle, staring into the faces of Piao men who’d died protecting their homes.

  “Bo!” he yelled.

  He slammed into someone who’d been running in the other direction, sending him stumbling back over a body. Duyi’s eyes lifted to Jian’s. “I can’t find him.” His breath came fast. “Bo and I were fighting side by side and then…”

  “Bo,” Jian yelled again.

  With Duyi by his side, he stumbled on tired legs through the smoky remains of fire and death.

  When he caught sight of Bo’s prone form, his heart stopped beating in his chest. Duyi dropped by their brother’s side, checking for injury.

  Jian watched with bated breath until a cough racked Bo’s body, and his eyes slid open. He continued coughing as Duyi threw himself over him. “You’re alive.”

  “Yes,” Bo wheezed. “Took a heavy hit, though.”

  Jian finally breathed again, but his heart didn’t mend. It wouldn’t until he made it to the city. A nose nudged his shoulder, and he reached up to wipe soot from Heima’s mane. “One last desperate ride, girl?” He met Bo’s gaze once more. “Are you okay?”

  Bo nodded.

  Jian pulled himself onto Heima and nudged her around. He didn’t need to direct her or dig in his heels to send her into a gallop. It was like Heima could sense Hua, and it wasn’t the first time he’d gotten that impression.

  The northern gates opened as they neared, and Heima thundered through the streets of Dasha until they caught sight of Master Delun in his human form pacing outside the healer’s shop. Jian pulled Heima to a stop and jumped down.

  “How is she?”

  Master Delun stopped his pacing to face Jian. “I do not know.”

  Jian ran by him, forcing his way into the healer’s shop and past the sleeping Commander Yang. Healer Liqin bent over the cot where Hua lay on her stomach. He’d removed her armor and cut away part of her shirt. A flush crept up Jian’s neck, but he was too worried to look away. “Will she live?”

  Healer Liqin carefully removed the arrow without looking at Jian. Blood seeped from the wound as he applied herbs to it.

  Hua’s eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head, pain clouding her gaze. Her lips formed his name, but no sound escaped.

  Jian rushed toward the bed, but a cutting look from the healer kept him back. “She will be fine.” He worked to bandage her shoulder, his fingers grazing over her skin with a delicate touch.

  And that was how Jian’s life started again, with those words.

  Healer Liqin asked questions about the battle and said something about leaving to treat the wounded beyond the gate, but all Jian could hear was the sound of Hua’s breathing, telling him she was still there.

  Finally, the healer stepped away. “I am needed on the battlefield with the city’s other healers.”

  “Take my horse.” Jian didn’t take his eyes from Hua. “Heima will get you there faster than any other.”

  Healer Liqin issued a thanks before leaving.

  The door burst open, and Master Delun ran in. “She’ll live?”

  Jian only nodded as he knelt on the floor and brushed the hair out of her face.

  “Dear girl.” Master Delun met her gaze. “Your Nagi is gone, isn’t it?”

  Hua managed a nod, confirming Jian’s suspicions. Without the Nagi, arrows and fire could harm this beautiful woman.

  Sadness swept across Master Delun’s face, a sadness Jian didn’t understand. With a simple nod, he turned and left them alone.

  Jian didn’t have a thought to spare for the old man as he pressed his forehead to Hua’s. “You aren’t allowed to leave me. Not again, Hua. It’s you and me now, and I never have to see something else control you again.”

  A tear tracked down her cheek, streaking through the blood, reminding them of what this day held. “Jian,” she whispered. “So much bad.”

  “What?”

  “I did…” She closed her eyes. “So much.”

  He shook his head. “It wasn’t you, do you hear me?”

  “But I—”

  “No. Hua.” He took her hand in his. “These hands are clean of all evil. You are good, Hua. You protected all of us.”

  A small smile curved her lips. “I love—”

  He didn’t hear the rest of those words because her eyes slid closed. Panic gripped him for a moment before he realized she’d only fallen asleep, that she would wake again to give him one of those rare, heartbreaking smiles.

  “It’s over, Hua,” he whispered, sitting back on his heels. “We did it.”

  39

  Hua

  The days following the battle were a whirlwind of activity. Jian had Hua moved to the palace into a room more lavish than she’d ever seen before. The city mourned the lost even as it celebrated the fact Piao was still standing and the return of a dragon to protect them.

  Hua’s mother and Nainai were constant companions while she remained in bed recovering from her injury. Every time Jian came by, they refused to leave her alone with him. Suddenly, after everything, their sense of propriety had returned.

  Hua had lived in an army camp full of men, she’d fought in numerous battles and had lived with a Nagi inside her, but spending time with an unmarried man was somehow not right.

  She’d have fought them on it if she wasn’t so relieved to be with them all. When Ru wasn’t following Jian or Bo around, he came in and jumped on Hua’s bed, jostling her and sending pain right through her shoulder. But she didn’t mind if it meant she got to see him every day.

  A new dawn had risen in Piao, one with the Kou as allies instead of enemies. She’d gathered bits of what was happening. A man named Khenbish had arrived with Master Delun. He led a group of Kou in the mountains who’d been fighting against Altan’s rise to power for many years. There hadn’t been time for their army to come, but he flew with the dragon. These Kou now controlled Koulland and believed in more than fighting their neighbors to the south.

  Peace was not something Piao had experienced in a long time, and it was only possible because of two Nagi.

  Hua pressed a hand to her heart. “Thank you.”

  There was no response, but she hadn’t expected one. The Nagi was truly gone.

  “Hua.” The door to her room burst open, and Ru ran in. “More people are arriving.”

  “What do you mean, Ru?” She pushed herself up, ignoring the pain in her shoulder.

  “The shopkeepers sent wagons days ago to the Liudong Valley. The people of Dasha brought the injured here.”

  Hua couldn’t lay in bed another day. She swung her legs over the side, needing to see for herself. The Kou decimated Commander Yang’s forces before marching on Dasha. She’d assumed the Piao soldiers who’d arrived with Chen and Yan were all that was left. “Show me where they are.” She looked to the settee where her mother had fallen asleep, knowing she wouldn’t approve.

  Ru only grinned.

  When they stepped into the hall, Chichi ran for them, but Ru stepped between her and the dog, quelling the excitement.

  They wound through the busy palace. Hua didn’t recognize anyone they passed until they reached the entryway where Yan and Zhao rushed through the door. She followed them out, and they smiled when they saw her, but there was something missing.

  Chen.

  Their fourth. Without him, they weren’t complete.

  A lot of people had been lost in the battle, but that one stung the most.

/>   People crowded the steps to watch the train of wagons enter the square. Even Empress Yanyu and the consorts joined them. Hua watched Zhao’s gaze travel to the consorts and the one who was missing.

  Lihua had been injured in the fight. She’d live, but she’d never be free of the scars marring her once-beautiful face. No one had seen her publicly since.

  When the emperor stepped from the palace to stand among the columns, a hush overtook them.

  The wagons circled before finally coming to a stop. Healer Liqin and his counterparts ran forward to care for the wounded soldiers.

  Hua barely saw them because her gaze fixed on a familiar woman. The emperor was the first to move, ushering his people down the steps to help the injured.

  Hua waited for Qara to see her, to tell her what would happen now that she was just Hua Minglan again, no greater purpose.

  But Qara approached Master Delun instead, and the two of them walked across the square. Hua ran after them. Neither seemed surprised when she fell in step beside them.

  “When a Nagi fulfills their mission, it is a time to rejoice.” Qara’s voice was soft. She made no mention of either battle they’d been through or the days since. “But two… that was surely a sight to see.”

  “Two?” Hua couldn’t breathe as her eyes flicked from Master Delun to Qara.

  Master Delun smiled sadly. “My Nagi was with me for many decades. It seems it was waiting for the moment it could come to Piao’s rescue.”

  “Not just any moment.” Qara met his gaze. “That specific one. A Nagi’s fate is written before it is born. If you’d come to Piao’s aid in any other fight, it would not have fulfilled the mission.” She turned to Hua. “And yours, Hua, was meant to save the emperor. Bo Xu Wei is the only man who can bring Piao into a peaceful future. I have only ever known of one other Nagi to walk this earth in the last one hundred years. It was put here to save a young boy, a task that could set that boy on the path that lead to this future.”

  Master Delun was quiet for a moment. “Me. It was me. I was taken in by a girl before the Nagi came to me. She saved my life and then disappeared. I searched for her for years after that.”

  Hua couldn’t comprehend everything they were saying. She’d heard the story of the Nagi saving the boy before.

  Qara went on. “And in saving you, she made sure you were around to welcome in a Nagi, guide Hua when she came to you, and finally complete your mission by coming to Piao’s aid.”

  “And I wouldn’t have been in Dasha to save the emperor if Master Delun’s Nagi hadn’t convinced mine it could take complete control.” It all made so much sense now. She gripped Master Delun’s arm. “You must come with me. I need you to meet someone.”

  Master Delun didn’t question her. Instead, he followed her with trust as they left Qara to aid the healers. Hua’s eyes found the person she needed, the one who’d been through more than her family had ever known.

  Hua always felt a connection to her Nainai, and she knew why now. They shared a sacred bond, an experience no others could claim—except the man at her side.

  “Nainai,” she called. “I need you.”

  Nainai smiled upon seeing her, but then froze. “Niu?” She put a hand to her chest. “It’s been many years, but I would recognize those eyes anywhere.”

  “Jie.” His eyes widened as he looked from Hua to her nainai. “I…”

  “She saved your life, didn’t she?” Hua wanted more than anything for her suspicions to ring true.

  Master Delun swallowed and nodded. “Before the Nagi, my name was Niu Delun, and I was a simple boy. Jie found me after I’d been beaten and left alongside the road. I thought I was going to die.”

  And with that simple act, Hua’s nainai saved Piao with just a small kindness.

  Hua left them to their reunion as her shoulder started to ache. She’d left the herbs that helped the pain in her room, but she wasn’t ready to go back to the solitude yet, not when the activity in the city was so different from days ago.

  Gone was the gloom of impending battle. Now, a different future lay before them.

  She just wished others were here to see it. Before she knew where she was going, she’d found her way to the pillars she’d hidden behind with Luna in the moments before her sister’s death. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she didn’t hold them back as she slid down a pillar to lean against it.

  “You would not believe what has happened since you entered your next life, Luna.” She looked toward the sky. “I know you can’t hear me because you are probably living another grand adventure, one I’ll join you on someday, but I wish you could see us now.” The killings of dragon blooded by the emperor had stopped the moment Bo Xu Wei came to power, but Hua knew it would take longer for the people to accept. They’d hear what happened this day and fear a return of dragons once more.

  Changing the hearts and minds of men and woman wouldn’t happen overnight. The dragon blooded would remain hidden from their neighbors to avoid persecution.

  The people’s fears of what happened in Kanyuan would override what happened here in Dasha.

  Hua sighed and leaned her head back against the pillar. “I’ll protect them, Luna. For you.”

  “I talk to her too.” A voice intruded on the moment, and Hua shifted her eyes to the emperor of Piao who stood nearby with his eyes downcast.

  She didn’t know what to say to him. The Nagi saved him in battle, but she couldn’t forget the deal he’d made with both her and the Nagi.

  He’d been willing to let her kill him.

  As if he was thinking the same thing, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head. “You saved my empire.”

  Hua stared at him, an emperor on his knees. Again.

  “We had a deal. I willingly give my life to you.”

  Hua’s heart leapt into her throat, and she didn’t speak for a long moment before getting to her feet. “You told the Nagi you’d let her kill you in exchange for her aid, but your Majesty, she saved you instead. The Nagi is gone.”

  His eyes snapped to hers. “Gone?”

  “Her mission was never to destroy the empire, but to save it, to save you. The deal you made was never her purpose.”

  “Deal?” A new voice entered the conversation, and Hua stepped back as Jian appeared, a scowl marring his features.

  Bo sighed and got to his feet, exhaustion more than relief flashing across his face. “Jian—”

  “What deal?” Jian growled.

  Hua wrung her hands together as the ache in her shoulder intensified. “I was supposed to kill the emperor.”

  40

  Jian

  “No.” Jian turned on his heel and walked away from the two people he loved most in this world.

  The two people who’d kept a painful secret from him.

  If the Nagi hadn’t left, she would have killed Bo. And the worst part? Bo would have let her.

  He glanced toward the healers taking care of the injured with the aid of shopkeepers, tired soldiers, and even the consorts. Dasha had come together in this time of need, but all Jian could think of was the night before battle with Hua. Why hadn’t she told him of the plan the Nagi and Bo had devised?

  He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck, forgetting entirely why he’d followed Bo toward the pillars after speaking to Khenbish. Hua’s family had been keeping her mostly in confinement as she healed, and he’d needed to see her, to hear her voice.

  To know it truly was her.

  And now… Footsteps sounded against the stone as he reached the bottom of the marble steps. “Wait!” He turned to find Hua running after him, pain flashing across her face with each step.

  “Slow down. You’ll only injure yourself further.”

  “I don’t care.” She stopped in front of him, panting. “You don’t get to just walk away from me.”

  “I need time, Hua.”

  “Well, I’m not going to give it to you. Your brother and the Nagi made a deal. If the Nagi helped Piao in the battle, the empe
ror would not stop her from killing him. That was the only thing that could bring the Nagi onto Piao’s side when all she wanted was revenge.”

  “And you? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  An apology shone in her eyes. “I promised your brother I wouldn’t. I’m sorry, Jian, but this wasn’t your decision to make. Just like it wasn’t your choice when I tried to sacrifice myself. You may be a commander once more, but you do not get to control us.” Her chest heaved with the words.

  “I—”

  “No.” She stepped closer. “I’m not done. I have spent the last few days in bed with nothing but time to contemplate how close we came to losing everything. And I won’t do this again.”

  “Do what?”

  “Sacrifice everything. We don’t need to. Jian, I lied to you.”

  His brow scrunched.

  “I can’t keep myself from loving you.” A tear escaped her eye. “I have done so much evil. Destroyed cities. Killed sleeping allies. Lied to everyone.”

  He tried to speak, to tell her once again none of that was her, but she put a hand up.

  “I know it wasn’t me, but I still felt every action. I felt the satisfaction the Nagi derived from them, the cold calculation in her mind. I don’t want to be cold. I don’t want those memories to overwhelm the good. I—”

  He slammed his lips into hers, cutting off her final words and stealing the breath from her lungs. With her injured shoulder, she could only slide one arm around him, but it was enough to know this was right, true. Everything they’d fought for, every struggle they’d faced had been for this moment.

  The moment they got everything they’d dreamed of.

  Commander Yang was able to leave the healer a few days later with the help of some of his soldiers. Yan rarely left his side, and Jian wondered if he needed to keep himself busy after Chen’s death. He wished he could take the pain from Dasha and wipe the city clean of blood, but too many people had been lost.