Page 3 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

Caelan stuck out his hand, and Shey took it as they pulled each other into a handshake, half hug that included a very manly slap on the shoulder.

“Drayce is right. Formality aside, I’m personally glad to see that you’re well and safe again,” Caelan murmured as he stepped back.

“It’s all thanks to you sending me Adrian and Haru. Without them, I’m sure we’d still be stuck in Damardor.” As he spoke, Shey glanced over his shoulder and winked at Tyche.

Until that moment, Tyche had been half hidden behind Shey and seemed to hope that they would forget about him.

“Caelan, Drayce, I’d like to introduce you to Tyche. He was a prisoner in the same facility in Damardor. He is also the reason that I got out of that hellhole.”

“Now you’re exaggerating. All I did was cling to your shirt as you fought out of there,” Tyche mumbled.

“I don’t think so. Haru speaks highly of you.” Caelan’s words might have sounded friendly, but his tone had become icy as he stared at Tyche.

But Adrian overshadowed the cold welcome with his burst of demands.

“You’ve seen him? Talked to him? How’s he doing? Where is he? Why didn’t he come to greet us?” Adrian fired at him as quickly as he could get the words off his tongue.

Caelan placed a hand on Adrian’s shoulder and squeezed. “Breathe. He’s been here for nearly two weeks, but the Omari Clan is keeping him in a secluded location to better protect him and everyone else from his magic.”

“The Omari dragons and a few other clan dragons are helping to stifle the magic he can’t control and keep it from lashing out,” Drayce added. A frown tugged at his full lips, and he shook his head. “But when he’s talking to you, it’s…it doesn’t always make sense. He’s not always lucid.”

“His mind gets caught up in the nightmares and voices,” Tyche ventured. “He has trouble differentiating between the nightmares and reality.”

“And knowing that, you still put this magic inside a dragon?” Drayce glared at Tyche, but the God of Luck didn’t back down.

Tyche lifted his chin and narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t there.”

“Yeah, but a dragon was your best bet? Why not Shey? Why not yourself?”

“I don’t mean two weeks ago.” Tyche turned his head and stared at Caelan. “I meant at the beginning, with Zyros. You saw her at the end of things, but I was there at the beginning, watching our kind being hunted by the scores, seeing the burst of insane power that leveled cities and devoured entire civilizations. If I had taken the power or even put it in Shey, there was a high probability that Cirina would kill us and take the power. My choices were the power falling into Cirina’s hands—a truly insane goddess who has no feelings whatsoever for humans, who was lost in grief over the murder of her sister, and possesses no support system—or giving it temporarily to Haru. I chose the erratic, impulsive dragon with a large family who would do anything to save him.”

“Fuck,” Adrian grumbled and shoved a hand through his messy hair. “Sorry, Ty. I know I’ve been giving you a lot of shit about what happened.”

Tyche’s expression softened, and he reached out to pat Adrian on the shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re worried about him. I’m worried about him, too. He’s my coffee buddy.”

“You got Haru to drink coffee?” Drayce gasped. “He’s a hardcore tea nut. He doesn’t drink coffee.”

Shey smirked. “Tyche has him on the fast track to becoming a coffee connoisseur.”

Caelan gave a small bow of his head to Tyche. “I hope you’ll forgive us for the cold greeting. Our experiences with gods have not been great. It’s my hope that we have a chance to speak while we’re both here. I’m sure there’s much you could teach us about our kind.”

Tyche’s face twisted up as if he were fighting hard not to laugh right in Caelan’s face. “I feel like the only valuable thing I can teach you about the gods is to stay the fuck away from them, but that’s probably not what you have in mind.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t wade through any more of this royal protocol. Do you know where the hell they’re keeping Haru? I want to see him,” Adrian cut in.

The harsh lines of Caelan’s face melted into a look of sympathy as he turned to Adrian. “I’ve seen him, but we can’t take you directly to him. Clan leader Omari Nori is being very protective of Haru. You’ll have to seek permission to see him.”

Adrian bared his clenched teeth at Caelan and appeared as if he were going to march straight across the island to find Haru, the rest of them be damned.

“Nori’s gonna let you see Haru. Don’t worry,” Drayce reassured him.

“I believe he will. I think he just wants to talk to you. Get a clearer picture of what happened. Like I said, Haru isn’t always lucid, and even when he is, some of what he’s saying makes no sense.”

Drayce shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks and rolled on the balls of his feet. “As soon as we heard a ship from Caspagir was approaching, we knew it would be you. We came to bring you to the clan.”

“Yeah, I think I’m going to wait on the ship until someone needs me.” Tyche took another step back, retreating toward the stairs that led below.

“Nope.” Shey snagged Tyche’s arm and pulled him close. “You’re going with us.”