Page 44 of The Dragon's Promise

And suddenly he began to grow.

His eyes swelled like full moons, and his horns tripled in length, branching out into a crown over his hair. The scales on his back bulked out into plates of emerald armor. In a rush of green, he grew and grew until his grandfather could no longer strangle him with one hand. Until he rivaled the Dragon King himself in size and magnificence.

Seryu opened his fist, brandishing the starstroke net.

Nazayun laughed. “You cannot harm me. It is against your oath.”

“I know I cannot harm you. But Shiori can.”

With a roar, Seryu lashed out his great tail, seizing his grandfather by the neck. His strength took the Dragon King by surprise, and both dragons turned to Lady Solzaya.

“Mother!” cried Seryu. “Let Shiori go.”

“Contain your son!” Nazayun bellowed at the same time.

Solzaya hesitated, and her golden eyes turned wintry. “My son has arrived at his full form, Father. He is no longer mine to contain.” The remaining mirror shards flew from her necklace and lodged themselves into the Dragon King’s tail, pinning him still. “Just as I am not yours.”

Spurts of ink clouded the water as Solzaya’s octopus released me, and I raced to Seryu’s side. Kiki took one end of the starstroke net, and I the other. Together, while Seryu pinned the Dragon King down, we threw it over Nazayun’s chest.

“Now, Grandfather, let’s try this once again,” said Seryu through his teeth. “A dragon’s word is his honor. His honor is his pearl. You will promise that no dragon—including yourself—shall harm Shiori and her kin, so long as they live.”

“How dare you,” Nazayun rasped as the starstroke net’s magic gripped the contours of his heart. “I am a god of dragons. I will not bow down to any mortal.”

Out of his eyes shot forth a bolt of magic, and the water turned cataclysmic.

A monstrous wave folded forward, and Seryu grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me onto his back as he bore its brunt. Fierce currents wheeled our way, uprooting the seagrass, the coral forests—everything in their path.

Seryu and I were next.

As Seryu shielded me with his body, the Wraith’s pearl flew out from under my arm. It rose like a dark moon, its halves cracking apart and spreading wider than ever before.

Dazzling light burst from its center. Nazayun’s waves crashed against an invisible wall. They could not touch us.

The pearl’s light met Nazayun’s defensive shield head on and pushed forward, advancing for the Dragon King.

I reached for it, offering what strength I could. It was like embracing a broken star about to explode. I wasn’t sure whether it could control itself.

“Don’t break,” I told the pearl. “Use as much force as you need to, but don’t break. Please.”

The pearl shuddered. It was straining against Nazayun, and new fractures had appeared upon its dark, gleaming surface. Its halves cracked wider, fanning light in all directions.

Don’t break, I repeated before letting it go once more.

While the Dragon King was distracted by the pearl, I gathered the ends of the starstroke net and pulled with all my strength.

Nazayun’s heart emerged, brilliantly gold. I cupped my palms around its curved surface, cradling it. It was hot and cold at the same time, and blazed like glass that was newly forged. With a heave of my arms, I yanked it free.

I had his pearl. The Dragon King’s pearl!

The two pearls were as different as could be. One dark and broken, the other whole and bright and shining. Well, Nazayun’s pearl was not so bright anymore. Its light became subdued, and the mountainous currents that he had summoned rolled away and vanished.

Once the sea had stilled, Seryu closed his fist around his grandfather’s heart. “You will swear now,” he said icily.

Nazayun snarled, writhing with anger. His tail lashed this way and that, dislodging the mirror shards and crushing the rocks below into dust. But he had no choice.

“I will honor the promise,” he said with vehemence. “Neither I nor any dragon of my realm shall harm you, Shiori’anma—or your kin. You will be safe from us, in sky, in sea, and on earth. This I vow, as King of Ai’long and Ruler of the Four Supreme Seas.”

The power of his oath made the seas tremble, and a cold tingle rushed along my skin.

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