Long He and Byakko returned the next day as they’d promised. They hadn’t come up with a perfect solution, but they had managed to think of something that Yuelan could try to practice healing magic. Since she was going to Kilin the next day it would wait until she returned.
The morning after that, Guangfeng arrived before the appointed time on his horse with his carriage prepared. He at least wanted Yuelan to have the option of riding in it, even if he knew she could ride Byakko or Long He instead.
Yuelan did not step out the gates until a few minutes after nine. She was dressed casually and holding the house-cat-sized Byakko in her arms.
Guangfeng smiled at Yuelan and bowed. “Thank you for agreeing to do this for me, Yuelan.”
“It’s not for you. It’s for myself.” She barely even looked at Guangfeng as she got into his carriage. “I hope you’ve thought about what I told your brother.”
“I have. I will do my best to understand what you meant.” He didn’t try to get onto the carriage with her and mounted his horse instead.
***
When the carriage pulled up to the base of the mountain, Yuelan didn’t wait for Guangfeng to assist her but hopped down on her own. She set Byakko down on the ground so the tiger could return to his normal size and then settled herself on his back.
Do you want me to stay by the prince, or should we just go as fast as possible to the library? the white tiger asked.
“I suppose we should play nice and stay by Guangfeng,” Yuelan sighed. “He won’t get lost, but it wouldn’t be nice to make him run up the mountain.”
Guangfeng’s lips twitched toward a smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he got down from the carriage. “You’re really angry with me, aren’t you, Yuelan?”
“More frustrated with everything. I’m tired of the treatment women receive. It’s like we’re less than human.” She patted her tiger’s shoulder. “Let’s go, Byakko.”
The tiger started up the mountain path toward the library. Guangfeng struggled a little to keep up without having to run as the prince followed along behind them. When they reached the library Yuelan got off the tiger’s back and headed inside without saying another word to Guangfeng.
Byakko shifted into his human form and followed Yuelan inside with Guangfeng.
Long He was behind the check-out counter examining some recently returned manuscripts and he looked up when he heard people entering. “Mistress, Your Highness,” he greeted the two humans. “Byakko. Everything is ready for your trip back home.”
“Thanks. It won’t be a problem if we only stay for one day, right?”
The dragon frowned a little and studied Yuelan carefully. “You should be able to manage two. Just don’t stay for more than three days or you may not be able to get back.”
Guangfeng frowned. “Why would that be?” he asked.
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“Yuelan is different from normal humans. She has dragon blood in her. It makes her magical ability and connection to the forces of magic much stronger, but it also means she has the same restrictions as a magic beast. Most don’t notice it anymore, but in order for a magic beast to use magic they have to have a reserve built up inside of them. That reserve comes from the world’s magic. Because Yuelan has both dragon and human blood, she uses magic constantly just to stay alive. She has to. The dragon blood is too strong and will overpower a human if she doesn’t. Unfortunately, the world where Kilin is has no inherent magic. The only source of magic there now is the library and it doesn’t produce enough magic for her to sustain herself away from it. The dragon blood in Yuelan is much stronger than it has been in any generation since the original dragon priestess, who was my half-sister. That makes her powerful enough that once she inherited the calling she was able to travel here, but it also means she uses more magic for her own survival. Her reserves aren’t full yet, but she has enough that she can manage to take you there and stay for seventy-two hours before she doesn’t have enough to get you both back here anymore,” the dragon explained.
“Wait, what?” Yuelan spoke up before Guangfeng could. “Did you just say that I’m part dragon and you’re basically my uncle with several ‘greats’ attached?”
Long He looked over at Yuelan and smiled. “Yes, that’s exactly what I said. You’ll likely experience a few physical changes sometime between now and your eighteenth birthday, but they’ll be rather minor.”
“And you didn’t think maybe I should know that sooner? Like when I first came here?” Yuelan frowned and put her hands on her hips.
“It wasn’t necessary for you to know then and I wasn’t really certain how strong your dragon blood was until we went to the temple in Zhongshu. When you first came here you already had a considerable amount of information to absorb. I didn’t want to overload you with too much.”
Yuelan’s face reddened and she glared at the dragon. “I just love how everyone else is making decisions that are supposedly for my own good but don’t consider my feelings at all. Oh, and let’s not forget that all of these decision makers are males, too. In case you all forgot, I have a brain and it works just fine. I am capable of making my own decisions and deciding things for myself. I don’t need everyone constantly trying to meddle in my business and not even bother to get my opinion! If it’s about me then I deserve to know. I’ve had enough of everyone deciding what I should and shouldn’t know and what is and isn’t safe. I didn’t even really get to decide my own marriage!” Her eyes filled with angry tears as her voice rose steadily until she was shouting. “If you all don’t knock it off then I’m going to just refuse to do anything! I’ll cancel the engagement, stay in my residence, and refuse to listen to anything any of you say because apparently I can’t trust you to give me all the information so that I can make an informed decision!”
Long He blinked. “Did...something happen while I’ve been gone?” he asked.
“The prince tried to have Laurel killed without giving our mistress a chance to decide what to do about the girl drugging her tea on her own,” the tiger explained, shrugging. “She’s been angry ever since.”
“I see.” The dragon turned his attention back to Yuelan. “I apologize for making the decision on my own. It is not that I doubted your abilities in any way, nor do I feel that you are incapable of deciding things for yourself. I was going to tell you the next time I saw you because I finally had all of the information to give you about your dragon blood. It seems the way I explained just now was not thorough enough.”
Yuelan snorted and folded her arms under her breasts. “Forget it. I don’t care anymore. I just want to go home and see my dad and pretend none of this is happening for a while. Though I suppose I can’t really do that, since I agreed to take Guangfeng along with me to experience the differences between Longuo and Kilin himself. Just tell me how to get back home with a tag-along.”
“The accessories you wore when you appeared in front of Guangfeng by accident should be sufficient,” the dragon answered. “Just use them as normal and concentrate on making sure Guangfeng goes along with you. I’ve put the accessories in your room here. You seem to have enough control now that it shouldn’t be a danger for you to have them. Just make sure to pay attention when you’re wearing them so you don’t use them on accident again.”
Yuelan nodded and headed for the room she used when staying in the library to get the diamond and barite accessory set.