Page 20 of The White Dragon Revealed

Mei stared daggers at Illarion. “Never.”

Illarion smirked. “We shall see.” He then turned to Caden and Valerius. Frowning, he said, “Dating the help, Valerius?”

Valerius frowned. “The help…”

“He crashed my breakfast with Esme, and ate my bacon.” Caden’s beautiful face twisted in dismay. “And then assumed I was her servant. So we just went along with it.”

“It was quite amusing,” Esme said.

“If you are not Esme’s servant then who are you?” Illarion demanded.

But it was Tez who figured it out. His face alighted with joy. “Iolaire! You are Iolaire!”

He raced forward and grasped both of Caden’s hands in his and shook them excitedly.

“Oh, you are exactly what I thought you’d be!” Tez beamed. “Clear eyes. An intelligent brow. A noble nose. A welcoming smile!”

“It’s good to meet you too, Tez,” Caden assured him, blushing a little at all the compliments.

“What are you talking about, Tez?!” Illarion snapped. He pointed a finger at Caden’s chest almost accusingly. “This cannot be Iolaire!”

“Why on Earth not?” Esme asked the enraged Green Dragon Shifter.

“Because!”

“Because?” Chione prompted.

“He is a he and Iolaire is a girl! A woman!” Illarion yelled.

Everyone stared at him. Tez tilted his head to the side as if a different view of Illarion would make sense of that sentence. Caden gazed up at Valerius with a questioning look.

“Why did you assume Iolaire’s human counterpart was female?” Esme asked.

“Because Iolaire is--is small and graceful.” Illarion looked like he had swallowed lemons.

“That is so stupid,” Tez said with a shake of his head. “But what does it matter that Caden is male? I don’t--”

“Illarion does not like men romantically. He has, in fact, made many homophobic remarks to his people in his addresses yet he has also proclaimed Iolaire his mate. What will you do now, Illarion? Eat your words?” Valerius remarked with a grin on his lips. “And it seems that you really did have some romantic interest then, didn’t you, Illarion, in Iolaire? Well, well, it seems one learns something new everyday.”

Illarion continued to open and shut his mouth as he gestured at Caden as if it simply could not be and that his disbelief would change Caden into the shapely woman he’d likely been imagining. Everyoneelse just shook their heads and proceeded to ignore the Green Dragon Shifter.

“Adama, go with Captain Simi and take the robot with you to be examined,” Valerius ordered.

“Valerius, let me assist in this,” Mei suggested. “I know more about them than anyone.”

Valerius nodded after a moment. “Queen Kaila will be here in a few hours. I suggest we hold off on any discussions until then.” He looked down at Caden. “I need to feed you bacon in the meantime since Illarion so cruelly stole yours.”

GREATER POWER

“Before bacon,” Caden began as he turned to look up at Valerius’ handsome face, “I want to see what you destroyed!”

Valerius’ full lips quirked into a smile. “Something you wantbeforebacon? Now that is a surprise.”

Caden’s mouth opened and shut. “Okay, I’d like both at the same time, but if I must choose, I guess hellfire and destruction first.”

Chione had stopped her instructions to the Claw to review the videos of who had triggered Mei’s robots to go on a rampage. “Do not worry, Caden. I will have bacon sent to you.”

“Really?! How fancy! You don’t have to do that!” Caden laughed self-consciously.

---