“Let me show you your wedding garments!” Anwar said.
With a flourish, Anwar threw the doors open to them. He walked backwards, stretching his arms wide, as if he were a circus master. He stepped to the side so that they could see fully and unobstructed his creations for the five of them. Illarion and the dogs allowed Caden and Valerius to go in first. Caden plastered a smile on his face.
At first though, he could not see anything except for the outline of three manikins that were standing up against a wall of windows. The sun beamed in so brightly that it was blinding. But Caden’s eyes slowly got used to the glare. Yet it was Valerius who let out a soft breath and then a chuckle that alerted Caden that maybe they weren’t fuschia horrors.
“Anwar… Anwar… you bastard,” Illarion laughed delightedly. “Fuschia? You really had them going!”
Caden blinked and the three outfits were clear to him. He even knew which were which because they were color coded. Each was a long coat that would land down to the knees of each of them. They had high collars that were popped to frame their heads. Metallic thongs with thick braided hooks would close the coats.
Valerius’ was black on black. Black exterior, black embroidery in a shining, metallic thread, and black silk interior that looked like cool, night water. A line of rubies was sewn into a fire pattern on top of the sleeves. Caden’s coat was also black on the outside but there was icy silvery thread embroidery along the collar, cuffs and edges. The interior was a pure snowy white silk. Diamonds were sewn into a snowflake-type design on his sleeves. Illarion’s coat, too, was black on the outside, but with forest green embroidery and interior silk. Emeralds formed a stylized smoke symbol on his sleeves.
The pants were fitted and black, which would show off Valerius’ long legs very well. There were knee-high boots of polished black leather. Silk wrap shirts, again, in the colors of their Dragons with Chinese-style collars were also provided. And to complete the look were black belts that had curling, dragon buckles.
The dogs whined as they looked from Valerius to the clothes to Valerius again. Couldn’t they take just a teensy, weensy bite? Maybe shred a boot? Or maybe chew a sleeve? Would Valerius really pull Mephous’ wings off?
Valerius gave the dogs a hard look. They sighed and went back to biting the heads off of their stuffed toys. Caden wondered why Illarion didn’t mind them chewing on the voodoo doll versions of Mephous, but Illarion seemed to love the dogs’ destruction of the plushies.
More power to him.
Caden leaned down to finger the material of the shirts. Raw silk. Beyond high quality. It was light and cool. It would likely feel like they were wearing nothing at all. He looked up at Anwar with a grin.
“You knew you scared us with the fuschia, didn’t you?” Caden asked Anwar.
The Silver Dragon King grinned. “Oh, yes, and it was so fun!”
Illarion slapped Anwar’s back, which caused the Silver Dragon King to lift an eyebrow, but then smile as Illarion said, “You had them good!”
“And they were so wonderful about it.” Anwar laughed delightedly. “Fuschia has its place, but not with your complexion, Caden.”
Caden grinned. “What about everyone else’s outfits? Can we see those too?”
“They’re right there.” Anwar pointed to manikins on the far wall.
Tez’s outfits matched theirs except for it being gold. Mei, Jahara and Esme had fitted silk dresses in the colors of their dragons with a slit up the leg. Their coats were not black, but white with metallic stitching and jewels as well. Kaila’s was a mix between the men's and women’s outfits, but hers had wide, flowing raw silk pants that shimmered with her Dragon’s colors. There were also pieces of elaborate jewelry for each of them, including crowns.
Caden went over to the nine crowns that were nestled on velvet pillows. Though he had never seen Valerius wear a crown, he recognized which one was the Black Dragon King’s immediately. It was a stark black-gold crown with three sharp points that speared towards the sky.
And then there was his own. It was silver so pure that his eyes almost ached with the shininess of it. Three large diamonds encrusted the top like ice. He lightly ran his hands over it. He turned back to Anwar.
“This all looks amazing. The crowns… What made you think of those?” Caden asked.
“We’ve all had them since the War,” Valerius said. “Yours was the only one newly found.”
Caden touched it again. For a moment, he had a vision of Raziel and Iolaire working together to forge this somehow. The diamonds were as cold as ice and he pulled his fingers away. Valerius’ crown was warm to the touch and Caden could well imagine it being forged in a great pool of magma.
“Did the Dragons make these?” Caden asked finally.
“Yes, we think so,” Valerius said.
“You think so?” Caden’s eyebrows lifted.
“Believe or not, I just put the pillow out and waited,” Anwar said. “And there was your crown this morning.”
Caden looked at the two sleeping Dragon Spirits. No wonder they were tired! They’d been working on this! He smiled at them with affection even as his eyes watered a little bit.
“That’s--that’s so cool,” Caden admitted.
Valerius came over and put his hands on Caden’s shoulders, squeezing gently, until Caden felt those tears subside. He leaned back into Valerius’ embrace and breathed.
