Page 50 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
Longer than two years.
I should have put an end to it sooner. An image of Ryan flashed through my mind, of the way he'd looked after his last stay here, and I felt sick.
“What is it that you're going to offer me?” Jin asked. “In return for some medicine.”
“Whatever you wanted Ryan to steal from me, you can have it.”
Jin made a pensive sound and walked over to a shelf. He took something from it, but it was only when the light made the blue gemstone glint that I recognized it for one of my mother's necklaces. Jin raised his hand, showing it to me. “You mean stuff like this?”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. I might not be as obsessive about material goods as some other dragons, but I still didn't like being stolen from. “Yes,” I made myself say. “Stuff like that.” Nothing was worth as much as Ryan's life, I reminded myself.
Jin tilted his head. “I suppose I can give you some medicine in exchange for valuables, but that would only make up for part of my loss.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Oh, it's simply that you've taken one of my possessions, and I' not sure how you plan to make up forthat.“
“One of your possessions?” I repeated, disbelieving.
“Ryan,” Jin said simply. “You've stated that you have no intention of returning him to me.”
“He was never your possession. You blackmailed him!”
“And yet you need me to save his life.” He smiled. “What a cruel world we live in.”
I had to bite my bottom lip hard to keep from uttering profanities. “What do you want?” I asked.
“I don't know yet,” Jin said with a shrug. “But I'll think of something. You'll just have to keep visiting me to find out.” He walked out of the room while I was still puzzled.
“What do you mean by that?” I called after him.
He came back after a minute, a small vial with blue liquid in his hand. “This is what you came for. It's not as much as I usually give Ryan, so you'll have to come back fairly soon. You'll bring me two of your family's heirlooms to pay for this and the next doses. Understood?”
“Yes,” I said, caught between rage and relief. All I wanted to do now was grab that vial and run out of here before I did something I would regret.
“I'm glad.” Jin walked over to me and held the vial out to me. I grabbed it, but he didn't let go yet. “Don't try to bring me junk,” he said in sharp tone of voice before releasing his grip. “And make sure to greet Ryan from me.”
I nodded, holding the vial so tightly I almost broke it. Like hell would I relate his greetings to Ryan. I wasn't going to do any more for him than I strictly had to.
I turned to the door.
“Wait just a second,” Jin called out before I could leave. He walked out of the room again, presumably to fetch something, and came back with an item I'd seen several times before. Ryan's sketchpad. The one he'd lost. “What would you give me for this, I wonder.”
“Nothing. It's not yours.” I made to grab for it, but he quickly held it out of my reach.
Jin laughed. “Then what's it doing in my apartment?”
“Ryan lost it.”
“And what would you do to be able to give it back to him?”
I growled, a sound I'm pretty sure I'dnevermade before.
Jin laughed again. “So that's how much Ryan means to you, huh? Good to know, good to know.” Surprisingly, he handed me the sketchbook. “I don't want this thing. It's worthless.”
Worthless? No way! I clutched it to my chest, just in case he changed his mind and tried to take it again.
“It was nice meeting you, Finn.”
