Blue Dragon. Kylie Chan

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СКАЧАТЬ of the way,’ the Dragon said, quickly moving to Jade’s side and putting both hands on her head. Everybody retreated to give him room.

      The Dragon concentrated, and his long turquoise hair floated around his head. ‘I’m taking her home,’ he said softly. ‘She needs to be under the water. This will take a while. My Lord?’

      ‘How long?’ John said.

      ‘I’ll still be able to return tomorrow to take the Lady’s family West,’ the Dragon said. ‘Jade will need to recuperate for a few weeks. She has massive internal injuries, far too much for any energy worker to handle. Leave her with me.’

      ‘Go,’ John said, and both Jade and the Dragon disappeared.

      I flopped to sit next to the bloodstains on the carpet. I lowered my head and shook it. ‘Damn.’

      ‘This is all your fault,’ Jennifer said loudly from the couch.

      I jumped up and stormed to the spare room where I was staying. Gold was still in the bed, his boyish face peaceful as he slept. I sat on the floor next to his head with my back against the wall and buried my face in my knees.

      About five minutes later, John came in and sat cross-legged on the floor on the other side of the room. He rubbed his hand over his face, sighed, and tied his hair back.

      ‘No one should be suffering like this for me,’ I said into my knees. ‘I’m dragging my entire family away from their homes. Gold and Jade nearly died. I can’t do this to them any more.’

      ‘Gold, you are released,’ John said loudly. ‘You have your freedom. Go.’

      ‘You can’t release him,’ I said. ‘He told me only the Jade Emperor can release him.’

      ‘I am the First Officer, Highest Celestial General,’ John said. ‘In precedence I am second only to the Celestial himself. If I say Gold is free, then he’s free.’

      Right Hand of the Jade Emperor. I inhaled sharply as I understood. ‘But you said that as your chosen, after you’ve gone I’ll be accepted as . . .’

      ‘Precisely,’ John said. ‘As my equal. Over everybody.’ He spoke firmly. ‘You’re free, Gold. Go.’

      Gold didn’t move. ‘No.’

      ‘Why not,’ John said, and it wasn’t a question.

      ‘Because I love serving you,’ Gold whispered. ‘I will go if you order me, but I beg you, please, let me stay.’

      My father came in and closed the door softly behind him. He hesitated.

      ‘Brendan,’ John said, still seated on the floor, ‘do you blame Emma for all of the troubles we are having right now?’

      ‘No,’ my father said. ‘I blame you.’

      ‘Good,’ John said. ‘You’ve laid the blame in the right place. Does it make any difference, now that the blame has been laid?’

      ‘Not a bit,’ my father said. ‘We’re still in the same situation, and we’ll all make it through somehow.’ He leaned on the wall. ‘Don’t mind Jen, Emma, she’ll survive. Right now her kids are fighting with Amanda’s for rides on the Tiger. They’re having a great time. Don’t worry about them.’

      ‘Jade nearly died,’ I whispered.

      ‘And if I attempted to free her, she would stay as well,’ John said.

      ‘We all love you, my Lady,’ Gold said, still without moving. ‘We are profoundly honoured to serve you and the Dark Lord. I would rather be here with you than anywhere else in the world, and so would Jade.’

      ‘We do what we have to,’ my father said. ‘And we survive.’

      ‘Your father is a very wise man, and I can see where you gained much of your own wisdom.’ John looked up at my father. ‘No snake spirits in the family tree?’

      My father shrugged. ‘How would I know? Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t even know that snake spirits existed. What does that have to do with it?’

      ‘Snake spirits are renowned for their wisdom,’ I said into my knees.

      ‘Are they renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy?’ my father said.

      ‘Nope,’ I said, smiling despite myself, ‘that’s definitely a female thing. All women are renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy.’

      ‘Your mother didn’t,’ John said.

      ‘I don’t think you did either, pet,’ my father said. ‘This man is about as good as you can get. It’s just the situation that’s difficult.’

      ‘Thanks,’ John said softly.

      ‘Come and help with the kids,’ my father said. ‘Are all the sleeping arrangements organised?’

      ‘You should take my room,’ John said to me.

      ‘We’ve had that discussion, and you need your rest,’ I said, looking up from my knees. ‘And the boys want to share the same room. They’ll have a ball.’

      ‘Where will you sleep?’ John said, gesturing towards Gold.

      ‘I’ll move,’ Gold said.

      ‘You’ll stay right there,’ I said quickly. ‘That’s an order. I’ll find somewhere to sleep, don’t worry about me. I can share with Leo, sleep on the floor in the student room he’s using. Or on the floor here.’

      ‘Leo won’t let you sleep on the floor; he’ll give you his bed and you won’t be able to stop him,’ Gold said with amusement, without moving.

      ‘Now go and do those sword katas,’ John said. ‘Round Leo up, he can do them too.’

      ‘You really have to do that?’ my father said.

      ‘Oh yeah,’ I said, rising. ‘Absolutely. When it comes to the kung fu, he’s the Master and I’m just the student. If he tells me to do a hundred push-ups, then I have to do it.’

      ‘You still owe me a hundred push-ups from last week,’ John said. ‘You are extremely disobedient sometimes, Emma.’

      ‘Oh, shut up, old man,’ I said as I took my father’s arm in mine and opened the door.

      Gold made a strangling sound behind us as we went out.

      While Jennifer settled herself in the room she would share with my parents, the rest of us went into the training room for the demonstration. Jennifer didn’t want to see it, and the children were too little to stay still in such a small space.

      ‘Did you do those katas yet?’ John said from the doorway as my parents, Amanda and Alan lined up against the long wall.

      ‘After we’ve done this,’ I said.

      John СКАЧАТЬ