Page 158 of Dragon 7

This insurmountable power rolled off him in waves so immense the air bowed, and I almost fell to my knees. Even if a person couldn’t see him, I had no doubt people would know there was something otherworldly in here.

This. . .is what. . .our daughter did. . .

This was what her blood had purchased.

Of course, they won the war.

Pride swelled so fiercely in my chest it hurt, yet grief answered just as quickly.

Is she. . .here too? The Death Guardian said I would see her.

Desperate, I searched his enormous shadowed-body for my daughter. My gaze went to any pocket of air where a small shadow could be a curl of smoke shaped like a tiger or baby.

No.

Hope collapsed within my chest. I closed my eyes and did my best to hold back the pain.

Did the Death Guardian lie? Why can’t I see her? I need to. . .see her just. . .once. . .please.

My eyes burned.

Sound came—the snap of the double doors’ hinges twisting.

I opened my eyes.

A guard held the doors open.

I tensed.

Kenji stepped through the doorway in mid-change, pulling a black long-sleeve shirt down over his tattooed muscular chest. The fabric caught on the ridges of muscle before it settled against his ribs.

He must have done a quick wipe down of blood and death, then hurried straight to me. His hair was still wet at the temples.

Before the shirt’s hem dropped past his sides, I caught the white edge of a bandage under the cloth.

The guard backed out of the room.

The double doors closed behind Kenji.

And the oddest thing occurred.

The dragon-shadow turned his massive head. His gold eyes fixed on Kenji. His long mouth opened around a sound I could not hear. The silent word slid through the space between them.

Kenji nodded.

What?

I widened my eyes. "H-he can talk?"

"Yes." Kenji put his gaze on me. "And his name is Goryū."

I shivered. “Goryū.”

The dragon-shadow snapped his view to me.

My bottom lip quivered. Every instinct I possessed screamed at me to run.

His colossal body flowed toward me.