Page 33 of The Arrival of the Dragons

Valerius' eyes glowed as he slowly leaned forward in his throne and said softly, “Because there is no substance on this Earth, or off of it, that Raziel and I cannot turn to molten slag in moments.”

Illarion actually twitched. Tez let out a nervous bark of laughter. Even Esme twisted her strand of black pearls tight enough that if they hadn’t been fine quality the strand would have snapped. They had not been in the same room until this visit since the war but they remembered his and Raziel’s abilities well. Perhaps it had been wrong for him not to call a meeting earlier just so he could remind them who was king of Dragons here.

He leaned back on his throne. “So let the crowd enjoy the display, just as Mei knows that by allowing it that I am not impressed.”

Captains Simi and Ngoye, who were both guarding the front doors to the throne room, ready to open them once Mei made her insufferable entrance, were grinning at his show of strength. He did not even have to glance up at Chione to know that her expression was cool and serene, showing her approval too.

“Illarion, is there a metal out there that your poison breath will not corrode?” Esme asked, seeming genuinely curious.

“No.” Illarion shrugged. “It was just a question.”

Tez looked at the television screen with his upper lip raised in disgust. “She should not have soldiers like this at all! Especially when they are made to look like toys! What does she need such an army for?”

“An army is for show or for war,” Esme murmured as she gazed out at the cerulean blue sky.

Valerius could tell she desperately wanted to fly. He would give her a dispensation to do so after Mei’s grand entrance.

“She has a right to rule her territory the way she wants,” Illarion immediately went prickly, clearly anticipating that if they criticized Mei’s army, they might get to his camps.

“Nothing is going to be verboten at this meeting,” Valerius found himself saying. “We will be discussingeverythingthat is of concern to anyone.”

All three Dragon Shifters’ heads snapped towards him. Even Chione looked shocked for a moment, but she quickly covered it with her Sphinx-like calm. After the initial shock had passed, Esme nodded with a small smile on her lips. Tez looked excited as if he had a million criticisms to make. Illarion stared at him without blinking.

“Concerns have been raised,” Valerius said simply. “And as much as we would all like to think that each of our territories is a world unto itself, that is not true. We are all connected. What happens in one territory affects all of the others.”

“My goodness, Valerius, you almost sound like you’re going to exercise your first among equals status for once,” Esme said mildly.

She was right. He had not though intended to say any of this, or do any of it, but as he stared at each of the three dragons here with more to come, he realized that he could not ignore this opportunity. Bringing Marban in had already taught him that disparate voices, perhaps voices one would not think to listen to, often had things to say one needed to hear.

“We made our pact 30 years ago. The world has changed. We should discuss those changes,” Valerius answered her simply.

Though he could see they had questions, his gaze went to the screen where Mei was taking a bunch of flowers from a little girl and kissing the girl’s blushing cheeks. He would speak only when all of them were there, or in private with those he sought to win to his side. He would not repeat himself. Talking exhausted him.

His bad mood was partially caused by that exhaustion Watching Mei pretend to be a down to earth queen when he knew her to be a vicious empress was taxing enough. Having Illarion scowl and strut about the castle while trying to bark orders at Valerius’ staff was another rub. Tez constantly ribbing him about having a romantic attachment to Iolaire was like being pricked constantly by a needle in one’s shoe. But, if he were honest with himself, it was not being able to see Caden that was truly making him edgy.

Their phone call last night had been necessarily brief. Though the phones were encrypted, careful Dragon ears could hear most anything. The longing in Caden’s voice for them to picnic again--though really he doubted it was the picnicking and not the lovemaking that Caden really wanted as did he--and to fly once more was quite apparent. But there had been a sadness and exhaustion in Caden’s voice as well that had alerted Valerius to something being wrong. His normally indeflatable young man was deflated.

“What is it? What’s happened?” he had demanded finally when Caden seemed to not intend to tell him voluntarily.

“What--how did you know?” Caden asked, not being able to lie to him or not willing to. Probably a mixture of both. He’d likely made a deal with himself that he wouldn’t say anything unless Valerius asked him full out.

“Caden, tell me,” he simply demanded.

Caden let out a sigh. “I didn’t want to mention it because… because it’s going to sound stupid. And itisstupid. But it's not, either.”

“You are speaking in riddles,” Valerius said with just a huff of impatience in his voice.

“I got into a fight with my parents about the incident in the park,” Caden told him.

“And?”

That couldn’t be all of it. Caden’s tone told him that something momentous had happened and fighting about the park didn’t seem sufficient to warrant this type of despair.

“I said some–some things that maybe needed saying but I was really mean in how I said them. Dad is in his study. He doesn’t want to talk to me. Mom is furiously canning stuff, and talking in single word answers when she does talk at all. If it weren’t for Rose and Tilly, I would feel invisible!” Caden wailed. Then he swallowed and said, “I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less. I really hurt my parents and they need time to stop being angry with me.”

“What did you say exactly?” he prodded. He really wasn’t good at waiting to hear what the point was.

“Like that my dad is using the fact that I’m a Dragon Shifter to settle some old scores in his own life. Like they want me to have a territory but not go to the park, because they think they’ll be able to control the territory themselves while I… I grow up, I guess. Like not considering what I want or what it really means being the White Dragon,” Caden said, his voice rising with every word.

---