Page 9 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

Tyche grunted and rubbed his chin. “I can sense Yesuntei’s magic, but it’s all muddled with a lot of dragon magic. I can at least tell you if we’re heading in the right direction.”

It wasn’t great, but it was better than if he’d set out alone. This would probably take all night, but his other option was lying in bed, unable to sleep, and if he did drift off, there were only horrible nightmares waiting for him.

“Wow. You are morons. Both of you.”

Drayce’s dry, almost-snickering words drifted out from behind a nearby tree. The dragon with blond hair and a devilish smirk stepped out of the dark shadows, Prince Shey right behind him.

“What the…” Adrian gasped.

“You can’t be here!” Tyche shouted and then winced, slapping his hand across his mouth while pointing at Shey with his other hand. “Neither one of you can be here,” Tyche continued in a much softer voice.

They hurried to where Shey and Drayce were standing. The damn dragon looked so smug. Adrian had thought he was being sneaky. Not only had Tyche caught him, but Drayce and Shey had also been lying in wait. At this point, he was expecting Nori to poke his head around the corner and laugh.

“Where’s the king? Is he coming?” Adrian inquired.

Drayce lost his grin and winced. “Okay, so yeah. I shouldn’t be here. I sneaked out after Cael fell asleep. This is stupid, but I’ve kind of missed doing stupid shit. Everything is so proper, and there are all these rules that I have to follow as the king’s fiancé.”

“You know you’re going to get into trouble,” Shey observed with a lift of his eyebrows.

Drayce snapped his fingers and pointed at Shey. “Yes, but I don’t think it will be a lot. Nori is understanding, and Haru will rest better after he sees Adrian. We’ll deal with the aftermath later. Let’s just go see Haru.”

“Yes, please,” Adrian groaned. He was at the end of his rope. It had been the only thing he’d wanted since they first stepped onto the Isle of Stone. “Where is he?”

Drayce waved them forward. “Not far. A couple of miles that way.” He spun and pointed into the dense forestland and the thick darkness. It was more than a little unsettling, thanks to all the nightmares he’d been having each time he closed his eyes, but nothing was going to stop him from getting in to see Haru.

Their expedition group set, they headed out through the forest with Drayce leading the way. The chatty dragon caught Adrian up on all the random gossip from the palace. Stories from home helped Adrian to relax and distract his mind as they walked along. As they walked, Shey moved to Tyche’s side and helped the shorter man to maneuver through the woods, his hand ready to catch Tyche as he inevitably slipped on some leaves or tripped over a fallen log.

The steady drone of Drayce’s familiar voice mixed with the rich scent of the Isle of Stone forests eased some of the knot of tension in Adrian’s chest. The air was humid and thick with the smell of green leaves and pine needles, but underlying it all was the scent of frost on stone caught on the edge of the wind as it traveled south from the great mountain peaks that dominated more than half of the island. Haru had promised that after their Shey adventure was finished, he would bring Adrian to his home. They would go flying together to visit some of those icy mountain peaks.

After close to two hours of wandering through the woods, they reached a break in the trees and spotted a building that was disturbingly familiar.

“Shit.” Adrian exhaled.

Drayce snorted. “Look familiar?”

“Yeah.”

“What? Have you been here before?” Tyche demanded, his head snapping from the building to stare at Drayce and Adrian.

“Yeah, when I got into trouble with my original clan, I was held prisoner here. The Takehashi clan is on much better terms with the Omari clan now, and they let Haru borrow this place.”

“I feel like there’s a lot more to that story that we’re sort of glossing over,” Tyche pointed out.

“We are, but you can catch up with Drayce’s exploits later. I’ve got a dragon who needs me.” Adrian jogged away from the trees and up to the entrance. He had no idea how he was going to get past the guards, but there was no way they were going to stop him. Maybe he’d get Drayce to flex some royal muscles or at least provide a distraction.

“Adrian! We’ve been expecting you.”

Adrian’s steps had slowed when he spotted an orange dragon curled in front of the doors to the building, but they’d stopped after that dragon shifted into human form to greet him with a wide smile and a wave of his hand above his head.

“Fucking Nori.” Drayce snorted. “That old dragon doesn’t miss a beat.”

“You mean he knew I wouldn’t listen to him?” Adrian said, resuming his march to the prison.

“Oh, yeah,” the dragon agreed. As Adrian got closer, he realized that the guard was actually Shou, the dragon who’d delivered the godstone shard to them in Bellcairn. “He told us to expect you late tonight and to let you go right in to see Haru.”

For a heartbeat, Adrian was pissed. All that talk about needing to rest and waiting until tomorrow was feeling like bullshit, except to Nori, it wasn’t. He probably believed it. But the dragon had also been smart enough to realize that Adrian wouldn’t wait a second longer than necessary.

Adrian charged in, his heart racing as he ran down the stairs lit by flickering torches. He spotted another couple of dragons in human form, wearing robes that showed they were also from the Omari Clan. He barely spared them a glance as he followed the low thrum of power that now beat in tandem with his heart. It was Haru. It had to be Haru.