Page 36 of The White Dragon's Dilemma

“Just remember that… well, that Landry has been through quite the ordeal so she might not completely be herself,” Chione told him, her words strangely hesitating.

Caden frowned.“Yeah, but she’ll be with friends so it’ll be all right.”

“Yes…” Chione looked down at her tablet, still gnawing at her lower lip as if debating telling him something else.She must have thought better about it because instead she reminded him, “Remember that Anwar will be here for lunch. Don’t forget that you need to be back for that.Potentially it will be one meal that doesn’t end in disaster.”

“Last night’s dinner went well,” Valerius murmured.

“Really?Because the first course hadn’t been served before everyone stormed off!”Chione cried.

When they had entered the dining room, all of the Dragon Shifters had been remarkably silent.At first.They had all been staring at the helix in the sky that, until that moment, neither Caden nor Valerius had realized was there.Both of them later said that they had felt a strange pull from the sky, but Valerius had told him that Dragon Shifters often did.Dragons were creatures of the air and high places so it made sense that they should want to be up in the atmosphere no matter what. He had just assumed that Raziel had wanted to fly more than face the other Dragons at dinner.

The eyes of every Dragon Shifter had turned towards them, however, as they had entered the room.Caden had blushed furiously as their intense lovemaking--with the fire and ice and both Dragons having a part in it--was not private any longer.Everyone knew.Everyone seemed to know more than them! And then everyone had then started talking at once.

“What is that symbol?”Mei demanded, standing up from her seat, and pointed towards the helix. “It is the mating symbol, yes?Like some kind of--of signal to the masses?”

“We were to all have a chance towinIolaire!”Illarion fumed, pounding the table with one hand.“You went behind our backs, Valerius!”

“You barely had time to make it romantic!”Tez lamented.“I would have bought you flowers and spread the whole room in a carpet of petals. You mated between meetings!”

Kaila patted his back.“You can still do that, Tez.I don’t think they’re going to make love only once.”

Esme looked mildly amused and very pleased for them.“I will say it would have been a little bit more polite to wait for Anwar.He will never get over this.”

Jahara said dryly, “One is glad one had other reasons to come to Reach than to court Caden and Iolaire.”

Marban lifted his glass of wine.“Shall we have a toast to the happy couple?”

Caden and Valerius both just stared outside.They had each known that there had been something different and very special about what had happened between them.The sense of peace and well being that they both experienced now--a kind of shared sense of calm and rightness--confirmed that. But, in a way, like Tez had said, they hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.It had been done between meetings…

“Guys,” Caden surprised himself by saying as he stepped forward as if protecting Valerius.“Guys, you all are incredible.”He looked at Illarion and added, “In your own special ways.”He cleared his throat.“But it was only ever going to be Valerius.If there was going to be anyone at all.” That had everyone going quiet.Caden flushed hotter but pushed on.“But I hope you realize that it was a trulygoodandimportantthing that you’ve come here for, which is to address the growing violence and unrest in the world.We wouldn’t have known about the Faith in each other’s territories if we hadn’t come together.And I don’t think we can find a solution to it on our own.”

Illarion’s arms were still crossed over his massive chest, still scowling, as he said, “Valerius always takes everything that he wants and does so underhandedly.”

“That is absurd!”Esme glared at Illarion.“It is as if when you look at Valerius, you see yourself reflected back to you but have no understanding of what you’re seeing!”

“You are just sore because you announced to the world that Iolaire wasyourmate and now clearly they are not, Illarion!”Tez pointed out.“If you had not been so quick to stake your claim--”

“What did you come for, Tez? You had no interest in Iolaire?Probably not!Because you are only in love with yourself!”Illarion roared.

Tez’s eyes narrowed.“At least, there are things about me which are lovable, which there are not about you!”

“Why you--”

“ENOUGH!”Valerius’ voice echoed throughout the dining hall.He pinched the top of his nose.“Caden is right.Raziel and Iolaire have decided upon one another.But that is hardly the reason all of you should be here.We need a solution to the Faith, to Humans First, to all of it.And I would task you with coming up with solutions.Some of us already have one or two to share.But we need far more and we need to come to a consensus.”

The legs of Illarion’s chair scraped back along the floor and he stood up, throwing his napkin onto the table.“I see no reason to offer my insights to you.None of you has the courage to go through with what I would suggest.”

“You mean the stomach to imprison practically everyone in your little authoritarian regime?”Esme scoffed.“No, we don’t.But it’s not working anyways, Illarion.You need help as much as anyone.”

“You can’t be serious about leaving just because we’re not going to be mates!”Caden cried.

Illarion gave him a nasty smile.“If you wanted my help, you should have considered who you chose.”

“I… that’s not fair!”Caden yelled and flushed.Fairness was for children.Not Dragon Shifters.“That’s ridiculous!You don’t like men or me romantically!It would never have worked between us! You know that!You’re using this as an excuse to simply leave!But we can work on stopping the violence and--”

“I will stop the violence in my territory.I need no help from any of you.”Illarion stormed out.

Mei rose.She looked tired and put out, likely because he had taken her ability to shift.“Illarion is right about one thing, Caden.You need to be more particular about your allies.I understand Valerius, but asking Illarion to stay?Why?He has nothing to offer.”

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