Year of the Dragon (Changeling Sisters Book 3) (24 page)

I sucked in my breath, getting a sudden rush of brain freeze. “And only a full-grown dragon with four claws can properly wield a yeouiju.”

His shoulders slumped unhappily. “I was only an imugi. So one day, I asked too much of the gemstones, and they exploded into sharp shards that tore through my body and mind. My dragon self leaped in the way to absorb the brunt of the blast. So I survived…but now I am broken in three. It is growing harder for me to maintain my dragon form without disintegrating into a hostile force of pure energy.”

My eyes drifted to the obsidian shard lodged in his left ear, and my hand half-rose to touch it before I caught myself. “Is that…?”

He nodded. “They were never able to remove this piece. I can’t just chop off my ear to get rid of it, either. According to the Lady of Eve, I must figure out a way to ‘release its energy peacefully,’ whatever that means. In the meantime, the yeouiju shard bleeds deep into my mind… It is a part of me now, crippling my soul the longer I remain imugi.”

“And your father blames you?” I asked in a low voice.

Ankor glared, defensive. “He has a right to be angry with me. I jeopardized the celestial balance because of my pride.”

I backtracked. “Surely your intentions weren’t all bad. Why’d you want to make mechanical wings, anyway?”

He shrugged, gazing down to where Kwan and Sanghee luxuriated in the hot tub, watching their offspring play with Nyssa, the wingless nagi. “I guess I wanted anyone to know what it’s like to fly.”

My gaze was drawn to his hand, lying by my discarded spoon. I hesitated and then grabbed it. Ankor’s head jerked up in surprise, and he stared at our entwined fingers as if unsure how he felt about it.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I heard how everyone expects Sun to pass the Trials first.”

Ankor snorted. His leathery skin felt uncomfortably warm against mine. “I heard you lost your position as Alpha of the Seoul werewolves.”

I stared at him for a moment and then began to laugh. “Don’t they know we’re unstable Triads who might go berserk at any hint of bad news?”

The warmth between our fingers blossomed. Ankor abruptly released my hand to grab the second empty bowl. “It would serve them right if we did. No consideration whatsoever.”

“I know!” I leaped up from the tile floor, strangely off-balance. “Let’s begin by ransacking the fridge.”

I hadn’t heard Ankor laugh before, and it was a startlingly beautiful sound, like the deep rumble of an earthquake. “I’m right behind you.”

His dark eyes dazzled me again behind his glasses, like black agates set ablaze by sunlight. I felt a weird pull in my stomach and hurried ahead before he could see the color rise to my cheeks.

Chapter 29: The Weretiger Clan

~Raina~

Our taxi was almost to the Southern Slope Entrance of Mt. Baekdu when the first of the weretigers appeared. Within seconds, we were surrounded.

I recognized the battle-hardened woman with otherworldly amber eyes who stepped forward first onto the road. She was Baek Bo Ra, chieftain of the weretiger tribe. She commanded the driver to return to the airport, leaving us alone with the North Korean weretigers.

Sun Bin attempted a greeting, but Bo Ra raised a hand. “Silence. We cannot talk here.” She pointed, and my stomach did a nervous flip when I realized she was pointing at the frost-encrusted peak. “There we must go.”

“Let me guess: no flying,” Sun Bin grumbled. Nyssa laughed and patted her arm. Mun Mu had acquiesced to the Yongs’ governess escorting us because Mt. Baekdu lay directly on the border of North Korea and China, its slopes spilling onto either side. The Were Nation had a political understanding with one another; that didn’t mean the mortal humans did.

Any thought of sleep fled while trying to keep up with the tigers. Although they wore their human forms, the weretigers were incredibly agile. They leaped to incredible heights and landed on miniscule ledges with the grace of a cat. They had the attitude of one, too, turning to regard our struggles with an air of overwhelming superiority.

However, as we neared the top, the sound of a thunderous waterfall lured us closer. I panted excitedly, tasting the water’s purity on my tongue. Bo Ra smiled at my enthusiasm.

“We do not go to the falls yet,” she said. “I have something else to show you.”

She pointed. I ventured ahead to behold a large rolling river with steam rising from its swirling currents. It was a giant hot spring.

Both Sun Bin and Heesu squealed in delight. We wasted no time in soaking our aching feet in the scalding hot water, the frost on our breaths intermingling with the hissing steam.

“Is this normal in summer?” I asked Bo Ra, gazing up at the foreboding peaks encased in ice.

“No,” Bo Ra said. “The snow should have melted completely by now.”

Up here in the alpine meadows, the weretigers relaxed and lounged on the shale. Several began to playfully spar with one another, leaping from rock to rock and then splashing across the hot spring. Heesu and I laughed.

Bo Ra nodded at us. “It is your turn to try.”

“I’ve never really practiced any martial art,” I confessed.

She cocked her head. “How do you fight when the undead attack?”

“I use my Were abilities.”

Bo Ra folded her arms. “A Celestial Dragon must know how to fight as a great and mighty dragon, as well as with her fists and mind. Today we shall train on this. Come. I shall show you basic taekwondo stances.”

The Yong siblings were far more advanced than I. Heesu had two teachers, and she practiced mimicking their leaps and bounds until she could blur across the hot spring without causing a single ripple. Ankor’s style of fighting was slow and methodical, yet he dutifully held off three attackers.

But of course, the center of attention was Sun Bin. She stood in the middle of a ring of weretigers, calm and confident as she defeated foe after foe. Nyssa supervised nearby, but she seemed more concerned for Sun’s opponents. One by one, they tumbled onto the rocks bruised and defeated.

Bo Ra nodded. “Sun Bin-a,” she called. “Take a break. Help Raina with her basic stances.”

Sun Bin grudgingly obliged, but she quickly grew bored watching my elementary punches and kicks.

“Let’s go, Alvarez,” she drawled, holding up her fists. “Time to see what you’ve got.”

I attacked hesitantly, wary of the ice on her breath. My older half-sister amusedly dodged each swipe and then stuck out her foot. I tripped and went sprawling on the sand bank.

“I know you’re a water dragon, but you must have fire burning in there somewhere,” Sun Bin called. “Quit fighting like you’re prey and
hunt
.”

I sprang to my feet. Keeping low, I lashed out with a series of punches and kicks, allowing my body to twist and bend like a serpent’s. Sun Bin raised an eyebrow as my fist grazed her side. Then her hand seized my wrist. I gasped as ice crackled from her fingers and shot up my arm, blinding me with numbing, sub-zero pain.

I just had time to see the Winter Dragon’s cruel smile before she cracked back my frozen arm and then forced me to the ground, her knee digging into my spine.

“Yong Sun Bin.” Nyssa’s voice was harsh and disapproving. Through my tears, I realized that Sun’s girlfriend, her siblings, and the weretigers had stopped to watch us.

To my astonishment, Ankor stepped forward. “Really, Sun. Try that against someone who knows your tricks.”

Sun Bin grinned and mercifully released my wrist. I gasped as color flooded back to my skin. Nyssa helped knead feeling back into my limbs and kept her narrowed gaze on Sun Bin. The Winter Dragon sauntered past to meet Ankor’s challenge.

“I don’t know if I can,” she said. “Baek sunsaeng-nim asked me to train, not kick ass.”

Ankor snorted in disgust, nodding toward me sitting sore and wounded on the ground. “You lack the maturity to know the difference.”

The weretigers looked toward Bo Ra. She nodded, motioning for her clan to form a ring. Sun Bin’s smile grew. She waltzed into the circle as if she’d been born there. Ankor studied her every movement cautiously.

Sun Bin abruptly flipped over backwards and then launched into a series of flying sidekicks at Ankor, which he narrowly ducked each time. She landed in a crouch and then flung out a leg. It was what her twin had been waiting for. He dodged again and then seized her lashing foot. He twisted it with a quick thrust. Sun Bin spun about like a top and landed heavily on the wet sand. Bo Ra nodded, and the weretigers growled their approval. One point to Ankor.

Eyes narrowing, Sun Bin resumed her fighting stance. The twins glared at one other, each daring the other to make the first move. Ankor finally acquiesced, beginning a sequence of punches that Sun Bin parried. The Autumn Dragon pressed his advantage but too late realized how close Sun Bin had lured him. She pivoted diagonally and then landed a roundhouse kick that knocked Ankor to the ground, stunned.

The move earned a nod from Bo Ra. Heesu, Nyssa, and I glanced at each other. Point to Sun Bin.

All gloves were off as the twins entered the final round. Ankor abandoned his hesitation, jabbing Sun Bin’s midriff with a flurry of aggressive strikes, and Sun Bin whipped about in the air so many times that I half-expected to see wings sprout from her back. Like a sturdy rock, Ankor stubbornly defended or rolled out of the way each time, but Sun Bin was as relentless as a blizzard. Instead of growing weary, she only appeared to be gaining hyper-intensive energy.

Then it was over. Ankor landed a solid front snap to Sun Bin’s head, but she leaned back to absorb it and then caught him in the throat with a tornado kick. As Ankor reeled over, choking, Sun Bin spun sideways and grabbed hold of his ear.

I just had time to catch a glimpse of the gleaming obsidian shard before Sun Bin’s fingers sank into his tender flesh. Hissing, Ankor collapsed to the ground while his twin pressed her weight against his ear.

“Enough.” Bo Ra stood. The other weretigers immediately padded away, losing interest.

“Cheater,” Ankor muttered as Sun Bin released him.

His twin cackled. “It’s not my fault your weaknesses are right where I can reach.”

Bo Ra beckoned for us to gather. “Very good, Sun Bin,” she acknowledged. “Our enemy has no honor and neither should we. If you know the enemy’s weakness, then use it. How can we determine what these weaknesses are?”

I felt uneasiness wrap thick cords around my chest, and it had nothing to do with Sun Bin’s deadly ice.

“What they care about,” I said softly.

The weretigress turned her disconcerting amber eyes to me. “Explain.”

“When Citlalli defeated the Vampyre Queen, it was because she presented her with a distraction: what she wanted most.” I paused, remembering the night Citlalli had shared this tale. She had stayed up with me because I was too frightened of the dark. Somewhere toward the early hours of dawn, she’d revealed how close she’d come to death, if No-Name hadn’t answered her summons.

I continued: “The Vampyre Queen was so blinded by greed to consume her oldest foe that she forgot what No-Name also held: Maya’s original soul. Thus did Maya attack and destroy herself.”

Bo Ra looked abruptly at my imugi siblings, and a thin smile crossed her lips. “Good. I had forgotten…one of Mun Mu’s children did fight in the Were War.”

To my surprise, it was Ankor who reacted swiftly with anger. “We wanted to help,” he growled. “Father said it wasn’t the right time.”

Bo Ra tapped a finger on her chin. “Enlighten me, imugi prince. When was this right ‘time’ that you were waiting for? Would it be after the first world war, when Maya and her sons took up permanent residence in the burned remains of Gyeongbok Gung Palace? Would it be after the second, when her darkness extended to the northern reaches of Russia to the tip of Southeast Asia? Or would it be after the Korean War, when your father ignored the plight of the spirit world and focused on helping the mortal humans with his metal war machines and chemical bombs?”

“He couldn’t risk us,” Ankor replied hotly. “We were the Celestial Dragons, the only ones who would be born for the age. If we perished, then so did any hope of completing the seasonal cycle.”

I glanced at Sun Bin, surprised she had kept quiet for so long. Her face was expressionless as she gazed off at the bubbling spring. Did she agree with Bo Ra?

“You don’t understand, Baek sunsaeng-nim,” Heesu spoke up. “Umma was sick and fading. Appa was doing his best to search for a cure for her and raise us at the same time!”

The weretigress looked back and forth between us. “Ah. Now, forgive me if I am incorrect. However, the reason the Spring Dragon was missing was due to your father’s infidelity, correct? If he had stayed true to his mate, especially in her time of illness, then the seasonal cycle would have never been broken, yes?”

My eyes burned with unexpected tears, and I ducked my head so they wouldn’t see. I suddenly saw another girl my age who looked like me, but she didn’t walk and talk like me. She flowed down the streets like an unstoppable river, and when she spoke, her language was Korean first and English second.

“It was already ruined,” Sun Bin finally said. Her bristling hostility wasn’t directed toward Bo Ra. It was riveted on her twin. “Father wanted
you
, Ankor. He wanted you at his side to fight against the Vampyre Queen and be heir to his corporate empire. But you fucked that up, didn’t you? Aren’t you only half a dragon now?
Can
you even shift anymore?”

Ankor clamped a hand over his pierced ear and leaped to his feet as if physically struck. “I have a way to fix this. But it is none of your business.”

Sun Bin snorted. “What’s changed after ten years? I was first-born. Appa should have wanted me. He never should have cared that I didn’t have a dick. But he does, and now I’m still not worthy of his attention because I don’t like the ‘right’ gender. After all, what would that do to Yong Enterprises’ sterling reputation?” she finished sarcastically, and Nyssa grabbed her hand in comfort.

“Stop it!” Heesu surged to her feet, her fists clenched. “I hate it when you two fight!”