Side Character's Curse

12|| Brother

JIA

Well, I'm screwed.

It was easy to convince others who'd never cared enough to get to know Jia, but her own brother? Granted, the system had revealed they weren't very close, but what if he thought something was up?

Impossible. I thought, smoothing down the creases in my dress and brushing back stray strands of hair. I am someone who has fooled hundreds, if not thousands, of people before. Why should this man be any different?

Rowan and I were standing outside the guest room. People passed us with intrigued looks, but didn't offer a backwards glance. Not for the first time, I was grateful for the disinterest.

"So, what's the plan, Mango?" Rowan whispered, rubbing his hands together.

"We go in there and waffle enough for his reason for visiting to be satisfied."

"Any ideas how?"

"Just... go with the flow." Before he could make some snarky remark, I pushed open the doors with a huge beam plastered on my face. It creaked shut behind me and I stretched out my arms in a welcoming gesture, extending the greeting from Jia's home land. "Brother Hao-yu!"

I caught a brief glimpse of a lanky, brown-skinned man with dark hair pulled into a neat ponytail before I was shoved against the door. My back dug into the handle and a forearm was pressed against my throat.

"Where is my sister?" Hao-yu demanded, his dark eyes flashed with anger behind silver frames. He pushed harder. "Where is she, body-snatcher?"

I gurgled for oxygen, scratching against his arm. Black spots danced in my vision and I tried to summon a flame or my scales— anything!— but felt like I was slamming into an invisible wall.

"Excuse me." Rowan pressed his hand down on Hao-yu's shoulder. "Could you please let go of my partner? I would hate to get your blood on my clothes."

Hao-yu snarled something in a foreign tongue, his free hand quickly traced a symbol against the air. A gust of wind slammed across the room and sent furniture flinging against the furthest wall. But Rowan stayed still, not even a single hair out of place.

Rowan's cheerful expression switched off like a lightbulb, replaced with something borderline murderous, and he ripped Hao-yu off me which caused him to topple back. Jia's brother shouted and stopped centimetres away from the small, sharp statue standing proud on the table.

"You okay, Mango?" Rowan spared me a quick look, knees bent and arms spread in a protective gesture.

I rubbed the sore area and coughed. "I'll live. Brother Hao-yu, what are you doing?"

Hao-yu straightened, his muscles tensed with fury and he glared at me with the force of a thousand suns. "Do not attempt to sway me, body-snatcher. You may look and sound like my sister, but I know you are not her. Name your price and release her from whatever prison you've forced her into." His voice cracked in desperation around the final few words and he bowed his head low.

"First." I cleared my throat, determined not to let my fear shine through. "Let's have a seat, shall we?"

We uprighted and adjusted the fallen movables to almost their proper place. Twice, Hao-yu would stop and stare at me, whispering words in a language I didn't understand. When I would tilt my head in confusion, his face screwed up like he'd just sucked a sour lemon and would slam whatever he was holding on the ground.

Finally, we were all seated. Rowan and Hao-yu chose to glare each other down across the small table, and I picked my place in between them. If one decided to strangle the other, I thought I could use my dragon strength and push them apart. But that didn't work earlier, did it? A shudder passed through me as I remembered the swirling confusion when I couldn't use my powers to push Hao-yu off me. I'll have to ask him about that.