Page 24 of The White Dragon Revealed

Tez whistled as he and Esme spread out to survey the wreckage.

“You are formidable, Valerius,” Tez remarked approvingly. “I mean I knew that, but still… seeing is believing. I am like Caden in my shock and admiration.”

“Illarion should see this.” Esme was tapping her chin and looking over the carnage with an almost cold approval.

“Why?” Caden asked.

“You heard him, Caden. He thinks he could win in a battle between Valerius and himself. This would show him how foolish such a belief is,” she answered.

Caden felt as much as saw Valerius tense and his eyes narrow. His temper and the violence that he controlled so well were suddenly right beneath the surface. A tissue-thin layer of civilization was hiding the Black Dragon King beneath. Caden’s breath caught and he looked at Valerius. The moment Valerius saw the fear in his face, the violence bled out of him and he cupped Caden’s cheek.

“I won’t let Illarion even try to attack you. I’ll make it so he can never shift again!” Caden’s hands fisted at his sides.

Iolaire let out a trill of agreement.

“So fierce.” Valerius smiled at him fondly. “But I think that a confrontation between Illarion and myself is inevitable. Illarion must put his hand in the fire and be burned before he realizes he can be harmed.”

“You shouldn’t do that!” Caden cried.

“What? Why?” Valerius looked between them.

Esme sighed and tilted her head towards Tez. “Caden.”

“I know I suck at secrets!” Caden cried. “But I know we can share this with Tez. I feel it. Iolaire feels it.”

“Tell Tez what?” Now Tez was speaking in the third person.

Iolaire was cocking its head as it cooed--not in the same way as itdid at Raziel--at Tez. Tez’s eyes grew huge and he put a hand on the center of his chest.

“Iolaire! I can--I can see it! It is cooing at me and Eldoron!” Tez now was weeping with joy. “Oh, Eldoron and I are now complete!”

Valerius looked at Caden. “Iolaire is… is cooing at them?”

Caden grinned and put a hand on Valerius’ arm. “Not the way Iolaire does to you and Raziel.”

And then Caden blushed so hard that his cheeks felt they were on fire. He might have just revealed more than he should. Despite him having seen how the separation between Iolaire and Raziel was breaking down, he didn’t think Valerius knew. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because Valerius was too close to see it, that things had been the same for so very long.

“I see.” It was Valerius’ turn to blush. He lowered his head and wouldn’t quite meet Esme and Tez’s eyes.

“Esme, tell them about the Faith and war,” Caden urged her.

With a deep breath, Esme nodded and pressed the tips of her fingers together beneath her chin before telling Tez and Valerius everything they had learned from Illarion and her own investigation into Serai.

Caden turned to Tez. “Have there been any violent activities by the Faith in your territory, Tez?”

Tez’s forehead furrowed, but then shook his head. “The Faith is not strong in my territory. You see, my territory is filled with many native peoples who were forced to accept Christianity. What they did was to incorporate their already existing beliefs and Christianity. When Shifters were revealed to be real, they just… well, incorporated some more. Christianity just got a larger pantheon, but nothing truly changed.”

Esme crossed her arms over her chest. “I suppose you were lucky in a way, Tez. Belief in religion in my territory was all but gone. It still remained in a sort of historical almost secular way, but after Shifters were revealed to be real… It was like a tidal wave drowned everyone in shock. Their minds--so used to believing there was nothing more than what they could experience with their five senses--suddenlywere shown to be completely unreliable. The Faith has taken off there. Sometimes… sometimes it worries me.”

“Even though you have used it to control your territory at times?” Tez pointed out.

Esme waved a hand through the air. “I know that you think of yourself as a Dragon of the people, Tez, but you must understand that I am not you and my people are not yours.”

Tez bowed to her. “You are right. Forgive me, Esme. I just remember how the powerful ruled the peasants through religion in the past. It… grates.”

“Of course, it does! You were controlled in the past. Not the controller. Now you seek to give people choice and the illusion, if nothing else, that they are in control of their destiny,” Esme said. “But if the Faith truly is seeking to sow discord among us then not even your territory with your faithful little workers will not be safe for long.”

“We can’t have a war! That would be crazy! So many people would die!” Caden looked at what Valerius had done with hellfire. “So many people would die.”

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