Page 64 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
“I’ll do as ordered and nothing more,” Galadon said before stomping away.
Aidan gave Hildegard a rueful look. “He’s such a pleasure to be around.”
“You have no idea,” she said, sighing. “The slayer is not wrong that he needs to seek female companionship to help improve his mood, but none of ours are willing to go near him. I still can’t figure out how Rayna gets close to him while appearing completely relaxed. It’s why I pair them together when I can because it does him good to be around someone who doesn’t balk in his presence.”
Her actions made more sense now that she explained them.
The slayer returned from the woods, Titan ruefully following behind her and Eliam joining them as they headed toward the dome. Aidan decided it was time to shift. He’d spotted the last dragons arriving minutes before, and they had a long day of training before them. He could only hope they didn’t end up with anyone dead.
Chapter 18
Bailey
We stood outside the Cleveland County Courthouse. It was near sunset, casting a soft glow over downtown Norman. The streets were full of people coming and going between the shops and restaurants. I loved seeing how much life and vibrancy had returned to the city compared to five years ago. If not for the occasional red dragon flying in the sky, I could almost imagine they’d never come.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t come to shop or grab a bite to eat at the new Italian restaurant I was dying to visit. We had an important meeting with the city council at the courthouse. Nearly every waking minute these days involved war planning. I dreaded the Kandoran coming, but I was also ready for it to be over so we could move on with our lives—hopefully.
The older section of the four-story building before us was built in 1939 using gray limestone and had a flat roof. It consisted of a neoclassical design with art deco details and had a set of steps leading up to the main entrance. Additional sections were constructed on the opposite side about forty years after that. While that end had a similar gray façade, the style was more modern, and a green sloped roof capped the top.
I gestured for Freya, Conrad, and Rayna to join me as we climbed the steps to the older part of the building. We were thirty minutes early for a meeting with the town council, but I wanted time to catch up with them in a secure location where we could talk freely. Javier had spelled the whole place for that purpose.
After we reached the large courtroom we always used, we selected seats at the back. Conrad unapologetically kicked his feet up on the bench in front of him. He’d returned from his latest dragon hunt during the afternoon and looked pleased with himself. As always, he appeared sharp with his perfectly pressed khaki pants and magenta button-up shirt. He’d even topped it off with shiny dress shoes instead of black boots. I caught a waft of spicy cologne drifting from him as well. It grew so intense I wondered if he’d bathed himself in it. Then again, who was I kidding? He probably had.
Freya sat next to him with a glint in her yellow eyes that said if Conrad made one wrong move, his nice clothes would be shredded. She even grew out her claws, which most shifters couldn’t do in human form, and tapped them on her knees in a staccato rhythm. His wary brown eyes widened, and he scooted a foot farther from her.
“Alright, crazy chick.”
She flicked her blonde braid over her shoulder with a sound of satisfaction. “Hmm!”
Rayna and I had settled on the bench in front of them, twisting to the side so we could all see each other. I was dying to talk to the other slayer first. “How is training at the dome going?”
Exhaustion lined her heart-shaped face. “Grueling. I can’t believe I complained about being bored before and volunteered for that. Thanks, by the way, for getting me out of there today. I needed a break from those psychos. It takes my slayer face to get most of them in line when they don’t want to follow basic instructions.”
It had only been two days, but she sounded like it had been a month.
“What is your slayer face?” Conrad asked, curious.
Her expression transformed in a heartbeat into something genuinely menacing with a trace of wild and crazy. Not much scared me anymore, but she looked like she was about to tear apart the room. Even Freya tensed. I needed to work on doing something like that so dragons wouldn’t discount me so quickly.
“Damn, girl.” Conrad let out a shudder. “That’s some intense shit.”
“It’s come in handy with dome training. That’s for sure.”
Maybe that’s why she inspired more fear in everyone than me. While she could be a kind and helpful person, a trace of darknesssometimes reflected in her gaze. I couldn’t pinpoint the cause of it, and she didn’t seem inclined to tell anyone.
I shook my head. “So what’s been the biggest trouble?”
“The dragons argue about everything. Like for instance, who gets to play the good guys versus the bad guys. Whether or not someone got a simulated kill shot or if it would have just been a bad wound. Some of them know very well they should play dead, but they act like the implied neck wound didn’t bother them. It’s a nightmare. We’ve definitely got to work out the kinksbefore adding human soldiers. Aidan was right to start with dragons only.”
I winced, feeling sympathy for her. “How do you work it out if they don’tdiewhen they’re supposed to?”
Rayna tucked some of her coppery-brown hair behind her ear. “We always have a few pendragons there, so yesterday, I started choosing one for each mock battle to help make judgment calls on the disputes. You know, like rotate them to reduce favoritism. That’s working better than when Morgan and I did it by ourselves on the first day. We only got two battles because of all the infighting compared to four this afternoon before I left.”
At least she’d found some sort of solution. I agreed with her that it was wise for Aidan to decide against adding non-human elements at the start. He must have suspected they’d have a lot of issues.
“Who is handling it while you’re here?” Freya asked, leaning forward.
That brought a smile to Rayna’s face. “Galadon. They’re all too scared of him to argue when he says anything.”
