Page 96 of Cam's Treasure

"Her name was Veronica. She was the best woman I knew."

I took in all the pictures, smiling at the ones of Raiden, William, Cassian, Gus, Cam, and Micah. It was clearly taken before the twins and Amelia joined their family, and I wondered if that was why it was in here instead of on one of the walls.

One picture in particular gave me a pause, and I stared at it. It was one of William and Veronica, with a blue-eyed kid between them. The kid had dark hair tied into pigtails, and wore a pleated dress.

"Is that..." I trailed off, confused.

"That's me," Cam said with a wince. "As you can see, I hadn't quite figured myself out back then. Atrocious fashion sense," he joked, and I shook my head.

I knew Cam was trans; he'd told me so quite early. That wasn't what had given me pause.

"But your eyes?" I asked, meeting his very green eyes, the same shade as his dad's.

"Oh, that! Yeah, when I used the dragon magic to switch into my true human form, it changed my eye color for some reason. DD thinks that if I ever changed into a female form, my eyes would turn blue."

That was interesting. I'd assumed dragons' shapeshifting ability was the same as an actual shapeshifter's, but it sounded like they couldn't change specific features after all.

"I like them green," I said, making Cam's grin reappear. I was starting to realize Cam really didn't look like himself without a smile on his face.

Looking back at the pictures, it was clear when exactly that smile appeared on his face too: right before his eyes switched from blue to green. I knew it'd taken Cam months of practice with his dragon magic before he could change his human form, but looking at his journey through these pictures, I could tell it'd been worth it.

We spent a few more minutes looking over Cam's hoard, finding everything from glitter bombs—one that almost exploded in Ember's hand when his fire suddenly popped up and he accidentally squeezed it too tightly—to old journals (Cam's mom's), picture albums, and random knickknacks that seemed to hold meaning only for Cam.

Afterward, I brought my coat safe down and placed it on a table where Cam had emptied some space for it. When I stepped out of the room and Cam locked it again, I wasn't the least bit worried about my coat. It was safe.

Twenty minutes later, we were dressed and ready to go, Micah as always the sexiest of us all with an off-shoulder top showing off his mate mark and a pleated skirt that ended just above his knee. I didn't think I could ever pull off an outfit like that, but it seemed to be made for Micah.

We decided to walk instead of driving so we could get the 'full experience,' and within minutes of walking, I realized Mistvale was a magical place, and not just because of its supe residents.

While most human cities looked like concrete jungles where nature had been pushed to the side—or relegated to clearlydefined places like nature could be bound—that wasn't the case here. In Mistvale, Mother Nature thrived.

Trees lined the sidewalk, offering shade from the sun and shelter when it rained. While there wasn't a lot of empty land in the middle of town, the ones that were there were overrun with weeds and bushes, spilling out into the streets.

The buildings themselves were a mix of old and new, with stone structures covered in moss and ivy standing right beside ones made of steel and wood. It shouldn't look good together, but somehow it did.

"This town is beautiful," I said after we'd been admiring our surroundings in silence for a few minutes. Cam and Micah had been telling us about the various places we saw as we walked, and they were better than any tour guide.

"Right? I could live here all my life," Cam said happily, and I turned to look at him.

"But we can't, right? I mean, people will start to notice it in ten or twenty years when we look like we haven't aged at all," I said, and Cam frowned.

"Yeah, that's true. DD was planning to close Mistvale to all humans and turn it into a supe-only town, but then he and Cass had a talk, and he changed his mind."

"What? Why?" A supe-only town sounded amazing. We wouldn't have to worry about revealing ourselves to the humans, and we could safely be ourselves. Why would that be a bad thing?

"Because that's exactly how Ravenshire was built," Micah said, and my eyes widened.

"What?"

Micah sighed, his eyes turning to the skies before he shook his head. "The mage who created Ravenshire, he did it so the mages would have a safe place to practice magic, away from prying human eyes so they wouldn't be persecuted. Butonce they locked themselves away, they were cut off from everything. Losing touch with humans made them lose touch with themselves. They became insular, started making their rules stricter and stricter, started punishing anyone who was the least bit different.

"DD didn't want that to happen to this place, to us. Then there are humans like Jai and Joy, or even Neel, who belong with us even though they're human. What if a supe who lives here is mated to a human, but they're unable to find each other because humans can't come to Mistvale?"

"That...makes sense," I realized, and I also realized why Raiden was the one watching over this town. It wasn't just because he was a powerful dragon, but because he was an experienced one. He didn't just think about the now like younger people did, like I did, but about the future too.

Still, I didn't like the idea that we'd have to leave Mistvale someday.

"What if..." I started, then trailed off, unsure if it was my place to say.

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