Page 165 of Dragon 7

I widened my eyes.

"So terrified, my mother and I sat up in shock. The guards should have stopped her. I did not know if she had killed them or what. Again. . .I was too young to know these things. . ." He let out a long sigh, left the stack of books, and stopped at the discarded IV line near a bed. "This crazy woman looked at my mother and said, ‘I know now that he will never leave you. I will never be enough.’"

I stood there on the edge of this story, needing to know how it ended.

"Then the woman sliced her wrists right there in front of us. There was so much blood. . ."

A tremor went through my legs.

"I screamed. My mother yelled for staff. The woman died instantly. The staff took her away and cleaned up. My father returned days later." Kenji left the IV line. "To this day I do not think my mother ever told my father this. I do not know why I think this. Maybe because they always kept secrets from each other. I was too young to understand what was really happening between them. And. . .by the time I was old enough to ask my mother, I knew better than to bring up that sort of heartbreaking memory so. . .it was our. . .unspoken secret. Mine. Hers. The staff's."

Kenji walked toward me, stopped three feet in front of me, and placed his gaze back on the scratches decorating my arm. "Then Hiro came to the house one weekend. You must understand that my father did not want to claim Hiro, but I remember my mother arguing with him about Hiro for weeks. Their yelling would keep me up at night. She was never adamant about much, but when it came to Hiro, she demanded that he grow up with me. . .”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I was just a kid happy to have a baby brother. Due to my father, Jobon was never around enough to play with me.”

I tried to picture Kenji and Hiro as young boys.

“Hiro came. He was tiny from being underfed. His clothes were dirty and had tons of holes. My mother began to attend to Hiro immediately—shopping, a big bubbly bath, having the chef make all his favorite snacks while trying to sneak in nutritious things. And he was just overwhelmed by how big the place was and all the people in it. And. . .I remember that when it was time for him to go on the first visit. . .he shivered, got close to my mother and me, and looked up at the stairs."

Kenji’s expression turned sad. "My father was there too. Hiro pointed up to the third landing and shivered. ‘Why is that woman with bleeding wrists staring at you, father? Why is she so sad?’"

My heart broke.

Kenji gave me a sad smile. "My mother gasped. My father yelled at him for being an idiot. But I knew right there in that moment that my little brother, Hiro, was an extraordinary individual."

He lifted his gaze from my arms to my face. "And tonight my brother told me I lost my baby girl."

No.

I fisted my hands at my side.

“All night Hiro saw a baby. She haunted him through the battle.”

I stepped back. "Did Hiro say what she looked like?"

Kenji shook his head once. "He passed out afterward."

"Is he okay?"

"He is. The doctor said he was exhausted and needed to rest. He’s at the hospital being monitored."

“I want to see him.”

“When he wakes.”

“Okay.”

"Now my questions, Tora."

I bit my lip. “Kenji. . .”

"When did you find out you were pregnant?"

"Barely twenty to thirty minutes before the sacrifice." My voice came out shaky. "They said. . .a little tiger spirit was above me. Waiting for the baby to have a heartbeat and then the spirit would enter."

His eyes did not move from mine. "The pregnancy was very early?"