Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 556(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
For the first time since waking, Kai felt like he could release a calm breath. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander in a blankness while soaking in the tender touch of Xiang’s fingers as they moved over his, massaging away the last of the tension there.
“Could you tell me what’s going on? How is it that the fae queen can summon and command the dragon in the first place?” Kai swallowed hard and opened his eyes to find Xiang staring at their hands, a frowning spreading across his lips. “It doesn’t make sense to me. I grew up with all kinds of dragon myths.” His head popped up, and he glared in Kai’s direction. “I’m from China, dammit! We’ve got more dragon stories than anyone else. Dragons are the most powerful creatures ever. No one should ever be able to control them. Except for maybe the gods, and even they had trouble.”
Xiang’s obvious anger left a smile tugging at the corner of Kai’s mouth. He could appreciate the man being pissed on his behalf, but the amusement faded.
“It’s because of the sword,” Kai murmured.
“The sword controls dragons?”
Kai sighed and pulled his hand free of Xiang’s touch. “While you might know a lot of dragon myths, did you know that not all dragons create hoards? Most actually don’t.”
His friend glanced over his shoulder at the giant cavern of collected treasures and laughed. “Clearly, this is one of those dragons that does.”
“Dragons start most hoards to protect a single, rare and priceless treasure. Of course, the dragon begins to obsess about the other items, but the focus remains on that one treasure. That item is the heart of the hoard.”
“Why do I have a terrible feeling? I’m not sure I want to know anymore.”
Kai lifted an eyebrow at him. “Want me to stop?”
“Of course not! Keep going,” Xiang ordered with a wave of his hand.
“The legend is that if you can sneak into a dragon’s hoard and steal the heart, you can gain control of that dragon.”
“Fuck,” Xiang whispered.
“That’s why dragons build up such enormous collections. It’s nearly impossible to find a hoard in the first place and sneak past the dragon, but once you’re there, you must locate that one thing among all the thousands of things.”
“So, Queen Belladonna somehow found the dragon’s hoard and stole the sword that is the heart of the hoard?” Xiang jumped to his feet and paced away from the bed, his hands shoved into his hair. “That’s…that’s crazy. How were the fae even able to find the hoard? Or gain knowledge of which item to even take?” He stopped and glanced around the treasure collection before whipping his gaze to Kai. “Unless they took a bunch of stuff.”
“The thief didn’t,” Kai grumbled. “It happened more than a hundred years ago when the door between worlds was last open. I don’t know how the hoard was located, but I have a guess as to why the sword was taken.”
Xiang paced to the bed and sat. “Well?” he prodded.
“The sword…it has a certain special magic energy. It was a gift for some assistance the dragon provided a very long time ago.” Kai hesitated. It was so strange talking about himself in the third person. Most of the time, he’d skirt conversation about the dragon, so he wasn’t in danger of making any slips, but Xiang needed to know what was happening. Unfortunately, his brain was still so foggy after his fight with Queen Belladonna. It was getting harder and harder to keep himself separate from the dragon.
Xiang’s eyes widened and pointed toward the door. “Are you telling me the dragon who kidnapped me is Shenlong?”
Kai groaned and covered his face with his hand. Shenlong was one of the highest ranking of all the dragons in Chinese mythology. He was the thunder god with control of the weather. He had been heavily worshiped because the old agrarian culture relied on benevolence for the survival of their crops. Shenlong was right up there with Tianlong, the celestial dragon who guarded the heavens.
“No, he is not Shenlong,” Kai said, his voice muffled under his hand. “The dragon…” He paused and dropped his hand to glare at Xiang. “All the details about the dragon’s past aren’t important. The key thing here is that the sword was a gift for helping some people out. The dragon felt honored by the thoughtful gift, so he treasured it. However, years later, the man who gave him the sword became a god, so the sword gained some extra power. It’s that power the fae likely latched on to. I doubt they knew they’d gained the ability to control a dragon.”
Xiang’s mouth opened and closed without him making a sound. He stood up and pointed at Kai, then sat down again.
Great. He’d broken the vampire.