“Caden, Iolaire!” Valerius cried, running up to them. There was such love, but also desperation in his face and voice. “Chione needs you! You must fly her to the sun!”
The Call
Caden and Iolaire shifted into human form before him. Valerius wrapped his arms around the young man. Valerius was shaking. When did that start? Since he lost them earlier that evening. He’d been shaking since then on some level. Now he felt like he was coming apart, but he had to keep it together for a little longer.
By the spirits, has it only been a few hours?
Valerius kissed the side of Caden’s head fiercely, kissing every bit of skin he could reach, as he held Caden tightly to him. Likely too tightly. But Caden was now a Dragon Shifter once more and he was just a man. He couldn’t hurt Caden physically
“I need to fly Chione to the sun?!” Caden asked against Valerius’ neck. “Can we fly that far, Valerius?”
Immediately, Valerius recognized his mistake and pulled back to explain himself more clearly, “No, no, not to the sun, but into the sunlight on Earth. The sun is already rising on the east coast. You need to fly her there. It’s the only way she’ll heal from the Behemoth’s poison.”
“All right. We can do it. Iolaire and I can do it!” Caden nodded, but still looked overwhelmed. Valerius knew he had never flown that far. “Can--can you come with me?”
“Yes, of course. But you’ll have to carry me, too,” Valerius told him with a slight smile.
Carry? He had never been carried except by the swarm. How he longed to fly himself! Would he again? Yes, yes, he would. And soon.
“Don’t you have to stay in the throne room until Raziel returns?” Marban asked.
“No, he doesn’t. Landry was reunited with her body out there. So the moment that Raziel returns to its lair, we’re all good,” Caden said.
Valerius had thought the same thing, but he hadn’t been sure. In a way, it would be a relief to not stand and wait helplessly in the throne room for Raziel to return.
“Landry’s okay?” Rose asked.
“Oh, yes, I forgot! Landry is free of the Behemoth and hanging in the Emporium eating stale Cheetos and wearing loads of warm merch. Her brothers are not so lucky. They’re encased in ice over… there! You can see them both,” Caden said.
The White Dragon King pointed to the two frozen figures that were surrounded by curious onlookers. A few of those onlookers were taking pictures or video while others looked prepared to start kicking the downed figures. That was not good.
“Marban, Rose, you need to keep order here while Caden and I are gone. People are angry and they look to want to take it out on someone.”
“Understood, my kings!” Rose said with a half bow to both of them. “We’ll handle it!”
“One benefit of being a Swarm Shifter is that people run,” Marban added with dark amusement.
“Oh, and of course, there’s Jasper.” Caden stepped on Jasper’s back. The Humans First leader had been attempting to crawl away while they weren’t looking. “He needs to be kept right where we can see him.”
“I’m a victim! Not a criminal! You can’t keep me here! It’s false imprisonment!” Jasper gasped under Caden’s foot and flailed his arms to the sides.
“You are a traitor, Jasper Hawes,” Valerius’ voice was dark and deep and unyielding. “You will pay for your crimes against humanity and Shifter kind. All will know of the deaths and destruction you caused in your vain quest for power.”
“People will know that I did what I did because--”
“You’re a hypocrite,” Caden finished Jasper’s statement for him. “And that will destroy your fans and followers, Jasper. Because they’ll know that all this time you just wanted to be a Shifter, but you simply weren’t worthy.”
Jasper snarled and spat, but there was a haunted look in his eyes that told Valerius he knew that Caden was correct. Losing adulation would be the end of Jasper’s influence.
“We’ll keep things steady until you return,” Marban said. “Now, go save Chione.”
Both nodded. Caden shifted without any hesitation, which just showed how much he had grown in such a short time. He gently curled a giant claw around Valerius. Valerius tried to enjoy every moment of this instead of desiring to shift and fly himself. This likely would never happen again as Raziel would be with him soon.
So he relished Iolaire’s cool scales against his bare body. He ran his hands over the deadly claws that were so careful not to even prick him. And he let out a delighted laugh when Iolaire took off into the night sky. His stomach dropped to his feet as if he were on a rollercoaster. Iolaire snorted in delight, but then was dead serious as they flew to the bridge and Chione.
They saw her under that silvery wrap. There were half a dozen doctors around her, not to mention Ngoye, Simi and… the rest of the Dragon Shifters. Esme was on her knees--no mean feat for a woman her age--and holding Chione’s hand. Anwar was on Chione’s other side doing the same.
Tez had Chione’s head cradled in his lap while Kaila stood over him, hands on his shoulders as if to give Tez greater strength. Jahara was by her feet, eyes closed, but lips moving as she said a prayer. Mei stood nearby with her arms tightly wound around her chest and her eyes haunted. Illarion paced like a caged wild creature. All looked up at the sound of wings flapping.
