Page 27 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

“What? That’s not right. Of course, you can have one. And I’m pretty sure the right one is the same as Caelan’s and Megumi’s.”

Shey moved as if laughing. “No, I can’t have that one because I can’t let my reaction be personal. My reaction must be what is right for my kingdom, and the fact of the matter is that I have no idea what is going on with my kingdom. There’s been limited communication with the queen and our generals since we left Sirelis. I don’t know if we’ve been attacked or invaded or if this has been a bunch of saber-rattling.”

Tyche hummed. “So if they’re just making threatening noises, you can’t go in and sink all their ships.”

“Yes, that would make us look like assholes. We have to match their energy, which would be making threatening noises back at the Order.”

“Pfft. Sounds like New Rosanthe has been the much bigger asshole for a long time, and they need to be pounded into the dirt.” Tyche grabbed the jar of wine and took another sip before passing it over to Shey.

“You’d be popular with my generals. They all have the same opinion. But after the fighting in the Ordas, we all—as in Erya, Caspagir, New Rosanthe, and Ilon—came to an agreement to declare peace and leave what happened with the Goddess of the Hunt in the past. New Rosanthe argued that the goddess brainwashed the emperor, and it wasn’t his fault that he started the war.”

“Wow. That’s some crazy bullshit right there.”

“Yeah, we secretly know it, but Caelan was the first to agree to the terms. If the king whose parents were killed was willing to agree to the terms, there wasn’t much sense in the rest of us kicking up a fuss. We signed the treaty and went home.”

“What you’re saying is that you can’t use their past shitty behavior as a reason to start a war now?”

“Pretty much.”

“Glad I’m not king. That all sounds like a headache to me.” The words were barely out of his mouth when Tyche realized what he was saying. He winced and tacked on, “Sorry.”

“No, you’re right. It can be a headache. Sometimes I’m looking forward to it because I believe I can accomplish a lot of positive things for my people.”

There was a long pause, and Tyche felt the urge to nudge him. “Other times?”

“I want to sneak off somewhere and live a quiet life in the mountains. Let my sister Fiona take over as ruler of Caspagir.”

Tyche snickered. “You know, if I can clean up this mess I’ve made with Haru, I’m still planning to ask Nori for a tiny plot of land to grow coffee. You can always stay with me. We’ll grow coffee and trade it for dragon wine.”

Shey lifted his head and sat up enough from his lounge so he could look Tyche in the face. “Really? You’d let me live with you? I thought you preferred a solitary life.”

Heat scorched Tyche’s cheeks and spread up to the tips of his ears. What nonsense had he been saying? He picked up the jar of wine and set it farther away. That was enough alcohol for him. It made him talk crazy. “Well, I mean…you wouldn’t have to live with me. We could talk Nori into giving us enough land to build two small houses. We could be neighbors. That’s all. I’d already be neighbors with the dragons. It wouldn’t be a big deal if you were my neighbor, too.”

“Uh-huh.” There was something in that low, two-syllable agreement that threatened to scramble Tyche’s barely working brain. That sound somehow became the most delicious caress, and he wanted to lean into it, hear Shey make other sounds just as enticing.

But that was silly.

Shey was still hung up on his now-married ex.

Besides, he was a god. He couldn’t be interested in a human. That was crazy. Stupid, even.

It was the wine. It was making him think ridiculous things.

“But what you were saying…you have to hurry and return home so you can find out what’s happening, right?”

Shey remained silent for several heartbeats before he grunted and returned to leaning against the tree next to Tyche. “Yes. Caspagir has a solid alliance with Erya. There’s nothing formal with the dragons, but we have a sort of friendly agreement that I would like to get in more solid terms, but that’s a slow process. Probably even slower since Omari Nori strikes me as a cautious guy…er…I mean dragon. The short of it is: If the Order is attacking or attempting to invade my home, Erya has agreed to send support, whether that’s weapons, supplies, or troops. Caelan has committed a fleet of ships to protecting the waters around the Isle of Stone, and I’m planning to send a fleet as well.” He paused and sighed. “Assuming our ships aren’t already tied up with the Order.”

“Are the dragons going to send any help?”

“We still need to work that out.” Shey reached across Tyche, causing him to suck in a sharp gasp as Shey stole back the jar of wine resting on the opposite side of him. He released the air only after Shey was taking a drink.

“Why does it need to be worked out?”

“Because of Haru.”

Ahhh…that was a good point. They needed to work out what to do about Haru’s possession of Yesuntei’s powers first. That was likely to determine where Nori sent his dragons.

“We ended the meeting more than an hour ago so we could get some rest,” Shey continued. “We’re hoping you and Haru could join us tomorrow so we can figure out the best course of action regarding that orb Haru is holding.”