🐲 Dragon and Phoenix (Path of Light and Fire Book #2) (Completed) 🐲

Chapter 2

"You cannot do this!" Yulan screamed.

Queen Djènèba held Yulan in her arms, preventing him from running towards his father. "Be still Yulan! This must be done."

"He's just a baby!" Tears streamed down Yulan's face. "Don't let father do it."

King Yua stood at the ceremonial dais, as two jine-nemaa held the brown-skinned baby boy by the arms and legs. The baby cried, whether from discomfort or some sense of what was to come, Yulan did not know.

"Do you want to die in his place?" Djènèba asked him. Her golden-threaded dreadlocks sat in a complicated bun atop her head. She wore a dress of black and gold, prepared for the celebration of his brother's passing.

It felt wrong. Yulan had to do something.

"Don't kill my brother!" Yulan yelled. "Or I will kill you!"

The gathered nobles gasped at Yulan's words. This was a somber occasion, each wore a mask of sadness, white and with tears of gold. Yulan was sure that underneath they felt no remorse.

The king, caught off guard by Yulan's outburst, held his jeweled knife.

"Yulan!" King Yua bellowed. "Do not worry for Yusabin. He will be reborn, as we all are. This is a great honor."

"This is murder!"

King Yua's eyes blazed. "Djènèba, take him elsewhere. And teach the boy to mind his tongue."

Yulan scrambled and pulled with all the strength his six year old body could muster, but his mother was stronger. He kept reaching for his baby brother, even as the doors were closed in front of him.

His mother jerked his face towards hers, eyes flaring with anger and disappointment. "Yulan."

The deviation from the memory focused Yulan's attention.

"Yulan." She repeated.

This isn't how it happened.

"Yulan, get up!"

Yulan grumbled at the disturbance. While he was grateful for being saved from the memory, it was still quite early.

That recurring dream was now a nightmare; a memory from before he knew the evil that Yusabin would bring. If not for Yulan's words, the King would have not hesitated and Ira would not have had the time to intervene. His childhood innocence had brought ruin upon his homeland.

I was a fool. Everything that monster destroys is on me.

When Yulan opened his eyes, he was face to face with an Acadian whore. The white powder and blush was mostly gone from her cheeks and her long black hair streamed down her naked body. After their very enthusiastic night, he was surprised any makeup at all remained. She was slender, but her form curved in all the right places. Lei or Mei, he couldn't remember the name she gave him, but he recalled that she very good at her job.

She was also very asleep, and the voice didn't belong to her, but his Wing, Berius.

"What is it?" Yulan drew up to sit. The man was true to his word, getting him out of Sikati. Whatever Yusabin had done was more than a simple punch, he had scarred something deep within Yulan and it had taken him longer than normal to heal. They had fled north, jumping back and forth across the border between Yua and Acadia. Currently, they had taken refuge in a border town by the name of Inhasha.

Yulan felt whole now. The next time he and Yusabin crossed paths there would be no discussion. He would correct his mistake and kill him when he had the chance.