Page 35 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“I shall have everything prepared.Would you like to eat by the garden?”she asked.
“Yes, that would be appreciated,” Valerius told her.
Another quick bow and she turned on her heel to retreat the way she came.Caden’s eyebrows rose.
“She’s quite impressive!Makes me feel a little inadequate,” Caden confessed.
“She makes me feel the same,” Valerius said with another chuckle.“She is highly efficient and runs the staff here with a minimum of fuss.You won’t see many of them, but they do appear as if by magic.”
“Impressive!”Caden said as Valerius led him along a covered walkway around the building to the left.“Why did she decide to stay on as major domo?”
“Falcons love their lofty perches and the Valinor is the highest in the area,” Valerius said.“Her kettle of Falcons--”
“Kettle?”Caden’s eyebrows rose.
“That is what you call a group of birds of prey like falcons,” Valerius explained.“They live here with her, but most work with the police and military while Celestine takes pride of care of Valinor.”
“Are all the servants here Falcon Shifters?”
Valerius shook his head.“Many are human.But Celestine rules the roost or eyrie, I should say.”
“Do you worry about it?”Caden asked suddenly.
“About… having Falcon Shifters on staff?”Valerius’ forehead screwed up.
“No.The humans…” Caden let out a breath that he hadn’t known he was holding yet he felt guilty saying this at all.“Humans are more likely to listen to Behemoth’s words, aren’t they?”
“Serai wasn’t human,” Valerius reminded him.
“Yeah, you’re right.”Caden rubbed his arms as he suddenly felt a little chill.“I don’t know.It’s not fair, but with all the hatred and anger I’m seeing from humans, I worry… that sounds so stupid.”
“No, it is not.”Valerius stroked his chin.“When I was a mercenary, I saw enemies everywhere.I imagined that under every person’s shirt was a hidden dagger.That even the children I met who wanted to play were looking to lure me into a dark alley so that adults could waylay me. The reason was--”
“That’s all you’d been exposed to?”Caden guessed.
“Yes, because my job was to kill people for money.I was very good at it.But when you take a person’s life for coin, you begin to imagine that everyone sees things the same way,” Valerius answered.“Now, you are here to protect people, but recently, all you’ve seen are people we trust--thatyouhave trusted--show you a side of themselves that makes you question everything.You want to feel safe.You want to limit the chance of being wrong about someone.”
Caden nodded.“But you also said I’m likehopeso… well, that doesn’t sound very hopeful.”
“Youarehope.But that doesn’t mean you aren’t affected by what’s happened.”Valerius pressed his lips together for a moment as if contemplating keeping his next words to himself.
Caden nudged him.“Go on.Tell me.”
“It was not all that long ago, Caden, when I told you that your father and I had twin concerns for you?One that you were innocent and two that you would learn to rue that, which would destroy that innocence?”Valerius reminded him.
Caden nodded.
“Don’t let fear rule you, Caden.Don’t let distrust color your views.Right now, it seems like everyone is against us, but that’s not true,” Valerius told him.“The majority though don’t.The majority of people are rooting for the White Dragon Shifter.The majority of people want us to stop what the Behemoth is doing.And the majority of people will help us.Not harm us.”
Caden considered what Valerius had said.“You know, I think Valinor makesyouthe hopeful one between us.”
“Here, I feel freer than at High Reach, though I love it there best of all,” Valerius told him.“I also think Raziel just likes being higher up.”
The two of them laughed even as their Dragon Spirits slept on, completely unaware of the teasing.
As they rounded the corner of the building that appeared to Caden to be all curving windows with lots of comfy-looking chairs facing out of said windows, the sound of the waterfall grew louder.And then he saw it.
About fifty-feet away, there was a gray stone cliff that was terraced into several levels.Water plunged into three pools before it fell into a final pool at the house’s level before running off in a lazy stream underneath the structure.There was a deck all around the outside of the pool with lounge chairs, some situated in full sun while the others were beneath some of the trees that provided shade. The smell of clean, refreshing water intensified as they neared the water and Caden took in a deep draught and then gagged.
