Page 170 of Dragon 7

And then I realized. . .the hallway beyond us was full.

Oh fuck. Why is everyone here? I thought the building had cleared after the war.

I scanned all the faces. Three Claws waited further down—Kaede, Daisuke, and Toma.

They’re safe.

Two Fangs stood across from them—Kaoru and Satoshi. Beyond them Scales lined the wall. Dozens of them. I didn’t even realize so many people could pack this tiny space.

I looked at Kenji. “What are they still doing out here? What’s going on?”

“They wanted to make sure you were okay.” Kenji carried me down the hall.

I shivered.

When we got close to Toma, he met my eyes and a sad expression covered his face. “Thank you, Tora.”

“For what?”

Kenji kept walking us forward without letting Toma answer. “The twins are worse than gossiping schoolgirls.”

“What do you mean?”

“The twins were there when Hiro said the baby girl was yours. Reo put two and two together on the sacrifice and then news spread—”

“No. I didn’t want anyone to know.”

We got to Kaede, and he bowed along with Daisuke. They both kept their heads low and said together, “Thank you, Tora.”

Oh, God. They know too.

Daisuke’s eyes met mine over Kenji's shoulder, and they held tears.

We got to Kaoru, and he bowed his head lower on the right. "Thank you, Tora."

The rest did the same, and then it was Scale after Scale and I didn’t know what to do but hide my face against Kenji’s chest because their love was so strong that it hurt.

"Thank you, Tora."

The Scales bowed as we passed. Row after row. Their voices lifted as we got closer to them. “Thank you, Tora.”

It was a chorus almost without end because the hallway was too damn long.

I cried.

Damn it. What am I going to do with them?

Chapter twenty-seven

The Way Home

Nyomi

I fell asleep in Kenji’s arms somewhere between the island’s tarmac and our journey home to Tokyo.

After that, the night returned to me in fragments.

I rose toward consciousness in small, shimmering intervals. My eyes opened long enough to gather one image, one sound, or one sensation before sleep drew me under again.