Page 43 of The White Dragon Revealed

“Valerius, I don’t want totakeanything from you. I won’t. I want toaddto what you have. Not take away!” Caden flapped his arms frantically. “I just want to be here with you and--”

“Oh my!” Chione gasped and every one gaped at her. She pointed to the mirror.

It was then that he caught movement in the mirror. When Valerius looked over, he saw Iolaire and Raziel reflected there. Their heads were moving towards one another’s. He saw Iolaire flap its wings eagerly. Raziel’s red eyes squinted with amusement and it let out a puff of fire. That was answered with a puff of frost. They rested their foreheads together.

Caden pointed at the two Dragons in the mirror. Unlike everyone else, Caden did not look surprised. “That’s why I don’twantorneedterritory. They have to be together. Nothing should separate them. Don’t you see?”

Raziel let out another puff of fire and Iolaire met it with ice. The ice should have melted or the fire should have been cooled. But instead, the two swirled together and were equally sustained. Both Dragons closed their eyes in contentment.

Chione breathed, “So that’s what fated mates looks like.”

CIRCUS RING

“Am I really going to do this?” Caden asked Valerius.

“Thisisyour plan, Caden.” Valerius sounded amused.

“You could have talked me out of it!”

“After I saw how you and Rose handled your father, I knew I didn’t have a chance.” Valerius still sounded way too amused.

Caden twitched the huge black cloak with hood around his naked body. It was one of Valerius’normalcloaks that he wore when he traveled incognito in Reach. Caden was dwarfed by it. It pooled around his feet and he could have wrapped himself three times over and had material to spare. The hood hung all the way down to his chin unless he balanced it just so. It kept blocking his view of the Below’s marketplace from their secret location behind a mostly broken down stall.

Well, it normallywasthe marketplace. In fact, it was where he had shifted and landed that first day he had joined with Iolaire. Now the area was completely transformed. The tin roofed stalls and piles of second-hand clothes and goods were all cleared away. The hard-packed earth was covered with a red carpet. That had Caden sighing. He knew that Marban had been behind it. It made Iolaire look more like a rockstar than a…

What? Normal Dragon? Okay, that’s a little stupid. But it makes Iolaire look above the people and I don’t want it.

But there had been no time to change it. After the confrontation with his father that had turned into a lot of hugging and a lot more honest talking and then hearing Kaila boast about how she had trounced Illarion--her wild hair and ripped clothes were worn with pride--he’d barely had time to travel with Valerius through the secret underground tunnels and pathways to the Below. He’d been awed by what he’d seen from spiraling staircases to sloping hallways carved with scenes of dragon battles.

“If you do not want to shift, Caden, Lana and I are well prepared to go in your stead!” Kaila looked at him brightly. She was balancing on her hoverboard with one hand firmly on Valerius’ shoulder.

“I’m sure people would love to see you and Lana, but we promised them, uhm, Iolaire,” Caden told her as he sheepishly tugged on the oversized hood. “Some people might be--wrongly--disappointed just because they were expecting something and got something else. Even if it is better!”

Kaila, who was still wearing the clothes that had gotten ripped in herhistoricbattle with Illarion in Esme’s foyer, which apparently was also the worse for wear, stuck her lower lip out in what suspiciously looked like a pout. But then she brightened again as her goldfish quick mind turned to something else.

“It’s too bad that your father couldn’t come with us!” she said.

Caden actually agreed. He still felt this utter sense of relief and comfort now that he and his dad were on the same page. In fact, he’d found himself wanting his father’s opinion now that it wasn’t being forced on him.

“While Caden intends to reveal himself, today is not the day. People are watching anything Iolaire is doing including those that attend its events in the hopes to track down anyone they consider suspicious,” Valerius answered for him.

“Yes! Esme and Tez were looking at that online! They always spend so much time staring at screens that I--”

“Kaila, what were they seeing online about Iolaire?” Caden’sforehead was furrowed. He had avoided looking for news about himself, but this must be important if Esme and Tez were interested in it. The two of them were still up in High Reach now, working with Mei on finding out more about who their real enemies were.

Kaila blinked as if she couldn’t quite remember what she had been saying. Caden was about to remind her when she said, “Oh! Right! Well, there are whole YouTube channels dedicated to scanning the crowds where you’ve appeared. Also, they have video of the day of the bombing. That incident at your house is also being connected with everything going on.”

Caden swallowed. He looked up at Valerius. “I am glad that I want to come out now. It doesn’t seem like the secret could be kept much longer anyways.”

Valerius nodded soberly. “I had a vain hope that we could keep your secret safe for a little time, but I doubt it will last the week. The thing is that none of us were joined with our Spirits during the Internet age.”

“The Internet is wonderful! But it does have its drawbacks,” Kaila agreed, but Caden had a hard time imagining her taking the time to sit still long enough to be on a computer or tablet or even a phone.

“But back to your father, Caden. His time is being well spent meeting with Justice St. John,” Valerius said with a small smile.

“Dad acted like he was meeting a rockstar when the Justice appeared,” Caden said with a faint huff of laughter.

His father had, in fact, totally geeked out in his lawyerly way when the head of the United States Supreme Court was announced. He then had gone almost silent when Valerius had introduced the two of them and the Chief Justice had actually known who he was.

---