Page 10 of The Arrival of the Dragons

Illarion’s eyes went a sulfurous yellow at beingmanhandledyet again, but in their human forms, Valerius was stronger too.

What are you doing, Valerius?Caden sounded uneasy.

Setting the ground rules,he answered simply.

When they were apart from the others with a semblance of privacy, Valerius released Illarion’s arm and held up his robe for him to put on. Illarion’s brow furrowed. He was clearly wondering why Valerius was offering to help him into his robe. It was also clear he suspected a trap.

Valerius tilted his head to the side and cocked an eyebrow. Slowly, Illarion turned and allowed Valerius to help him on with the robe. Just as Illarion had slipped it over both shoulders, Valerius’ hands bore down on those same shoulders. Illarion let out a soft gasp at the pain as Valeriussqueezed.

Valerius’ voice was low, “Illarion, let me make two things clear. Your insults and disrespect towards me arenotforgiven, and you will pay for them in due time.”

“I--”

“Silence!” He squeezed harder on those shoulders. He heard Illarion’s teeth grinding together to keep back the pained sounds that wanted to escape him. “But here is the most important part for that little pea brain of yours to understand. Are you listening?”

“You are getting dangerously close to--”

“Are youlistening?” Valerius could have truly crushed some of Illarion’s bones if he squeezed any harder.

Illarion grunted and nodded.

Valerius continued, “If you do anything--if you even attempt to do anything--to harm Iolaire, I promise that I willripyour wings off andfeedthem to you. Is that understood?”

There was a half second of hesitation, but then Illarion nodded sharply again as Valerius started to squeeze even harder. He let Illarion go. The Green Dragon Shifter let out an involuntary gasp, and reached up to touch his shoulders, but stopped himself.

Valerius met Illarion’s shadowed gaze, and with another of those not-nice smiles said, “Now, let’s get you settled somewhere out of the way.”

GO PLAY

Caden wondered exactly how and where he was going to go in order to shift back to his human form in privacy. Despite his and Iolaire’s seeming nonchalance around Illarion, neither of them was keen on staying any longer in the same space as the Green Dragon Shifter than absolutely necessary.

Illarion’s eyes were hard. His expressions were hard. He was a hard, unyielding person who had no interest in Caden or Iolaire for any good reason. Truthfully, he made the skin between their shoulder blades crawl.

Esme cooed at him, and he smiled down at her. They liked the Blue Dragon and wasn’t that ultra cool that she could actually control water when she was human?!

Can we do that, Iolaire? Can we make ice when we’re in our human form?

Iolaire hooted that it didn’t know. It had never seen that before. While Esme would be the most logical person to ask, they couldn’t, because she couldn’t hear their thoughts. Relaying them through Valerius would not be wise, because both of them were pretty sure Valerius wanted that ability kept secret. But perhaps Valerius or Raziel would know if they could use their gifts in human form.

Speaking of gifts, what else do you have up your sleeve, Iolaire? That thing of changing people from Shifter to human was pretty surprising!Caden asked his mysterious Spirit.

Iolaire hooted and pretended--or so it seemed to Caden--that it didn’t understand his question.

Why won’t you tell me all we can do?Caden pushed.

Iolaire blinked slowly at him, doing that cat-like loving thing. Caden sighed. Iolaire was being coy, though he didn’t know why. Of all the people that should know what they could do, shouldn’t Caden be one of them? But maybe Iolaire didn’t know itself. The sense he had when Iolaire acted up in the air was that it was going by instinct.

Right now, Iolaire was staring at Illarion, who was staring back. It shifted their stance, lifting their wings and settling them back down lightly to make them appear bigger. It was the equivalent of a cat puffing up its tail and fur on its body. Illarion cocked his head to the side and smiled. Iolaire went quite still. Valerius looked between them and saw what was happening. He stepped between Illarion and Iolaire.

Ignore him. He will be handled,Valerius assured Caden and Iolaire.

Right. He’s… he’s leaning over so that I can see him behind you,Caden remarked dryly.

Valerius pinched the top of his nose at this information.Just focus on me then. It seems he cannot help himself.

Even after you nearly crushed his shoulders, he’s still pushing this,Caden realized.

Illarion is the type who does not stop until he hits a wall that will not break for him. He will bash himself against it for a time before he realizes he cannot get through,Valerius explained.

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