Chapter 2

  My mouth went dry as I stared at the neon-green scales that adorned Callan’s arm. I knew what I was looking at, but I could hardly believe it, and I couldn’t seem to find the words to say.

  “Are those…” Nike trailed off.

  “Dragon scales,” Ruslan breathed.

  “Holy shit!” I finally sucked in a breath and looked up at the man’s face. “You’re a dragon?”

  “Am I safe here?” Callan asked as his green eyes darted around at the guards.

  “Bro, I’m a dragon, and I’m the lord of Hatra,” I said. “My guards don’t care if you’re a dragon, too. They just wanted to make sure you weren’t here to kill me.”

  “I see,” he sighed with relief as I motioned for the guards to lower their weapons.

  “I can’t believe you’re here!” I grinned. “How did you find Hatra? How did you hear about me? Everyone said all the other dragons were dead, but here you are! This is incredible! Come on, let’s go back to the palace. I have so much I want to know!”

  “My lord, perhaps we should investigate a bit further before we--” Ruslan started.

  “Nonsense, Pops,” I cut him off with a wave of my hand. “I knew he wasn’t trouble when I saw him, but now, I know he’s just like me.”

  “Well, not just like you, my lord,” Nike pointed out.

  Okay, there really couldn’t be too many human-turned-dragons that disappeared from another universe and landed on Inati, so that was fair.

  “Ah, right,” I said with a sly smile. “But anyway, I can tell Callan is alright. Let’s just go talk to him.”

  “If you insist,” Ruslan grumbled.

  I could tell my father wasn’t thrilled with my enthusiasm toward Callan, but I’d been right about Olivier, and I knew I was right about Callan. He didn’t mean us any harm, or he would’ve attacked in his dragon form. What would be the point in showing up as a small human when he could come as a dragon and lay waste to the whole city?

  My spidey-senses weren’t tingling in the slightest, and I felt good about bringing Callan back to the palace. Besides, I had about a million questions for him, so maybe getting some answers would make Ruslan feel better.

  I reined in my desire to ask everything as we walked toward the Lunar Palace since I figured my wife would want to be part of the conversation as well. Not to mention, Emma and I were the only ones who hadn’t grown up here, and the others might be able to pick up on anything weird we might miss.

  The moment we walked in the door, I steered Callan to the great hall and offered him one of the plump couches near the fireplace. Ruslan and Nike stood on either side of the couch, and I knew they were both still wary, but they didn’t say anything when the green dragon sat on the cushion.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said before I rushed to the bottom of the stairs. “Come downstairs, please!”

  I heard the hushed whispers of my women’s curious questions before they scuttled down the steps with Julia and Emma in tow.

  “What’s going on, my lord?” Alyona asked as she glanced over to see the back of Callan’s head. “Who is that?”

  “His name is Callan,” I whispered with obvious excitement. “He’s--”

  “A dragon,” Valerra finished in a breathless gasp, and her mouth fell agape. “I can smell him from here. He’s… real. He’s here.”

  “Yeah!” I nodded. “And I’m going to ask him all the things we want to know, but I figured you all should be here for that.”

  “Shouldn’t he be tied up or something?” Laika asked as her furry gray ears twitched nervously.

  “He isn’t a prisoner,” I said with a frown. “He came here because he heard it was safe for dragons.”

  “Well, where’s he been this whole time then?” the wolf Demi-Human pressed. “I’ve traveled through most of Rahma, but we’ve never come across another dragon.”

  “You didn’t know about Eskandar,” I reminded her.

  Laika pursed her lips but didn’t argue, and I left it at that before I motioned for them to follow me into the great hall.

  “Princess!” Callan immediately jumped to his feet before he bowed in front of Alyona. “I’m humbled to meet you, Your Highness. I had no idea you would be here.”

  “Thank you,” my wife said. “And you are Callan, a dragon.”

  “Yes,” he confirmed with a nod as he rose to stand in front of her. “It seems most of my-- ah, our kind has been hidden away since the Sage killed so many of us.”

  “What brought you to Hatra?” I asked and motioned for everyone to sit down.

  “When my home was destroyed, I had to find somewhere else to go,” Callan said as he wrung his hands in his lap. “I quietly visited a few cities, but I couldn’t find any more dragons. Then I heard whispers of dragon mates in Hatra, and I knew this was where I had to go.”

  Valerra stiffened, and I knew she was worried about our egg, which was currently hidden away in a vault that only dragons could access. Ravi and Miraya took her hands and squeezed them to soothe her while I continued to ask my questions.

  “Where was your home that got destroyed?” I wondered.

  “I lived in a cave near Juntralago,” the green dragon said. “The town has been deserted for quite some time, so it was perfect for me until something or someone tore it apart.”

  “What do you mean?” Nike furrowed his brow.

  “I awoke to the ground shaking beneath me,” Callan explained with a shudder. “I thought it was an earthquake until a radiating heat washed over my cave, and it felt like the sun had landed in the middle of Juntralago. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

  “What did you do?” Trina asked, and I realized the dryads were enthralled by Callan’s story as they leaned forward and barely even blinked.

  “I flew away,” he sighed. “I know it’s not the bravest of reactions, but I’m fine to admit I am a very timid dragon. My survival instincts have kept me alive for a long time, so I tend to flee before I fight.”

  “Who all knew where you were?” I cocked my head to the side as I considered who could have burned up the abandoned village.

  “No one,” Callan replied firmly. “I, ah, haven’t had friends in a while.”

  “That’s terrible,” Polina said with a grimace. “I couldn’t live that way.”

  “Yeah, who would listen to you talk all the time?” Marina teased.

  “If no one knew you lived there, why would someone attack a deserted town?” I asked.

  “I have no idea,” the green dragon said. “It’s been fine for the last two decades I’ve been there.”

  “Then we need to figure out who attacked,” I decided.

  “What?” Callan gasped and stared at me as though I’d just decided to fly to the moons. “The Sage wants all of us dead, so why in the world would you want to go there?”

  “Because it doesn’t make sense,” I said. “The Sage is dead.”

  “He is?” Callan’s bright-green eyes widened in shock as he leaned back against the couch with a heavy sigh.

  “Oh, yeah,” I confirmed and looked at my dragon lover. “Valerra was happy to take care of him.”

  “I cut off his head,” Valerra said with a note of pride in her voice as she leveled her gaze on Callan. “It was wonderful.”

  “How were you able to defeat his magic?” he asked.

  “I took care of that part,” I said. “Once I knocked him out, we trapped him and brought him back here. Valerra handled the rest.”

  “And he’s definitely dead?” Callan asked and chewed his bottom lip. “I heard he was a necromancer, too.”

  “Oh, yeah, dead, burned to ash, the works,” I replied with a smile. “He’s definitely not the one who attacked Juntralago, which is why we need to find out who else would have the balls to go after a dragon again now.”

  “I can see why you’re concerned,” he said. “But if the Sage is dead, then you don’t need to put yourself at risk on my account. As long as I’m safe here in Hatra, I’m happy. No need to worry about the damage done to a deserted town.”

  “You’re welcome to stay here,” I confirmed. “However, I’m not happy knowing someone else is out there threatening one of my own. And you shouldn’t be, either. What if he goes after someone else? Or if there are more dragons we don’t know about? He could harm any of them, and we would have no idea. Or he could know about us here.”

  “Ah, you’re worried about your children,” Callan sighed. “I can understand that, my lord.”

  “My children?” I repeated as my mouth dropped open.

  I hadn’t mentioned the egg or Alyona’s pregnancy since Callan had arrived, and my paternal instincts began to warm my chest with the need to protect them at all costs.

  “I didn’t mean to rattle you,” Callan said and put his hands up in surrender. “No need to roast me alive, Lord Evan. I can smell the eggs within the castle, and your mate is practically oozing draconic hormones. If it was meant to be a secret, I do apologize for, ah, bursting the bubble, as they say.”

  “Not necessarily a secret, but I didn’t expect you to sniff them out,” I chuckled with relief. “I just have to keep them safe. I’m sure you get that.”

  “I understand,” the green dragon mumbled. “My own family was lost to the Sage a couple centuries ago. I wouldn’t want that to happen to yours, so I’ll help you however I can.”

  “Good.” I nodded. “I’ll need to know everything about Juntralago to be able to figure this out.”

  “What if the attacker is still there?” he asked suddenly.

  “Then we’ll take care of him,” I said in a low voice.

  The idea of ripping a dragon hunter limb from limb was quite refreshing compared to the gut-wrenching feeling I’d had thinking about someone coming to Hatra to hurt my family. I was more than ready to handle that part of the job.

  “Wait,” Alyona interjected as I started to rise from the couch. “You said you’d been hiding in Juntralago for the past two decades. Where were you before that?”

  “In the open desert for a while,” Callan answered. “Before that, I tried to live in a jungle near the eastern border, but the Breach smelled too awful.”

  “How did you survive the Sage?” Valerra asked.

  “I was barely a hatchling when he started his rampage,” the green dragon said with a grimace. “I don’t remember much about the attack on my family. I just remember waking up in the drache temple. They told me what had happened, and they raised me until I was old enough to fend for myself.”

  Everyone seemed satisfied with Callan’s explanation, and I could feel the tension begin to decrease as my family began to accept the green dragon, but I had about a thousand more questions once he mentioned the drache.

  I’d learned a few sparse bits of information about the race of people who’d trained dragons for centuries or more. I’d met one of them who worked for the Green Glass Sect, but he hadn’t lived long enough for me to ask everything I wanted to know. They’d remained quite secretive as far as I could tell in the history books I’d skimmed through, and I wanted to know exactly what Callan knew from first-hand experience.

  Unfortunately, it seemed we had another problem to solve right now, and I mentally battled with the desire to ask more and the need to find out who attacked his hideout.

  Before I could decide, Nike had already rolled out a map of Rahma.

  “Where exactly is Juntralago?” the noble asked.

  “Here,” Callan said as he pointed to an area west of Hatra. “It’s mostly desert around here until you get closer to the coast, but I stayed where it was warm and dry. Most people don’t visit the desert on vacation, so I could stay hidden pretty easily.”

  “That’s part of why we hid there, too,” Ravi agreed. “Plus, it’s easy to move around and hide in the dunes.”

  “True,” Callan said with a nod. “Before I found my cave by the village, I could dig out dunes and hide there for a few weeks at a time.”

  “And still someone managed to find you,” I mused as I rubbed my chin in thought. “I get the feeling that person had to be looking for you, which means somehow, he or she had some information about how to find you. I say we find this guy and take him alive.”

  “Why not just kill him?” Callan asked and chewed on his lip again. “If he’s trying to kill us, we should get him first.”

  “I understand how you feel,” I soothed him. “But if he figured out where you were, we need to know how and who else knows. After dealing with the Green Glass Sect, I don’t take threats against our kind lightly.”

  “Yeah, we thought it was mainly one guy, but he had tons of followers,” Marina said.

  “And they all tried to kill us a few times,” Laika muttered. “We always had to watch our backs when we went after the Sage or his people.”

  “Were they anything like Odalis’ people?” Isabella asked.

  The Nepin hadn’t joined us until after we’d killed the Sage, but she’d been a part of handling the burglary group that tried to tear apart her home city of Yrosa.

  “Worse,” I grumbled. “Odalis’ thieves wanted money, but Olivier’s people were blind followers of his weird beliefs. They were like a cult, and he somehow had them convinced that releasing the demons from the Breach would be the best thing for Inati.”

  “He seemed to think the demons would be indebted to him,” Alyona said as Callan’s eyes widened. “If he set them free, he thought they would obey his will.”

  “So, he wanted to let those things out in our world?” Callan gasped.

  “Yeah, I think that’s why he wanted all the dragons gone,” I answered. “He knew we would be formidable opponents for his people and the demons, so he tried to get rid of us first.”

  “Do you think whoever came to Juntralago is trying to open the Breach, too?” he asked. “They want to create their own demon minions?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “It’s entirely possible, I suppose. We just need to go find out for ourselves, but I think we should keep the group small at first.”

  “Like a scouting mission,” Nike agreed. “I think you’re right.”

  “I’d like to go,” Skye volunteered. “I can get some real experience, and it sounds like we may just be looking for clues about who was there, right?”

  “We might,” I hedged. “We might also find the attacker, so you have to be ready for that.”

  “I am,” the newest Noble of the Sword said with a firm nod.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ruslan give her a slightly impressed look, and I wondered how easy it would be for Skye to overcome the idea that women couldn’t be Nobles of the Sword. My father wasn’t a sexist by any means, but it seemed the collective experience on Inati was based on the one crazy woman. I was curious if any other female Nobles of the Sword had existed and decided to look in the archives when I had some free time.

  “Alyona, Laika, and Ravi, you should also join us,” I decided. “The rest of you need to stay here and keep an eye out in case the attacker comes here instead.”

  “We can also check on the comatose patients with the Blue Tree Guild,” Naomi said. “Maybe the attack and their illness are related somehow.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Julia chimed in with a curious look on her face. “I think that would be a good idea. Those poor people have suffered long enough.”

  “I wish we could find the right spell,” Miraya murmured. “Maybe I can try to find their spiritual seas.”

  “And stay behind?” I asked. “You can do that?”

  “I am connected and bonded to you, my lord,” the sword spirit said with a smile. “If you ever have need of me, I can always be summoned to your side, no matter the distance.”

  “Oh… awesome.” I grinned. “Okay, then, yeah, feel free to look into the patients more.”

  “Back to the patients’ spiritual seas, if they haven’t cultivated, that could be dangerous,” Ruslan said with a frown. “Perhaps a touch of your healing would be better instead.”

  “Yeah, let’s do the less dangerous option,” I agreed. “Let me know if you all figure out anything. We’ll update you when we get back from Juntralago.”

  “I’m not leaving the palace,” Valerra declared as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Not with another dragon-hunting lunatic on the loose.”

  “I would never ask you to,” I assured her. “You should stay here and keep our eggs safe.”

  “And I’ll stay with them, too,” Emma finally spoke up.

  My aunt had remained oddly quiet as she watched Callan carefully interact with us, but now, she was quick to make sure I knew she’d be at Valerra’s side.

  “Eggs?” Callan’s eyes bugged out again. “As in, more than one?”

  “Don’t ask too many questions,” Nike advised him when Valerra’s nostrils flared in anger. “You’ll find out what Lord Evan and his mate want you to find out.”

  “Uh, of c-course,” the green dragon stammered and looked down at his hands.

  “We’ll meet back here by the end of the day,” Julia said as she motioned for the others to follow her. “Hopefully, we’ll all return with good news.”

  My parents led some of my lovers out of the palace toward the Blue Tree Guild airship that currently housed the comatose group they’d rescued from the forest. No one knew what had happened to them, but it seemed my family was determined to find out.

  “We should portal to Juntralago,” I said once they were gone. “The last thing we want to do when looking for a dragon hunter is fly in as dragons.”

  “You can portal?” Callan blinked rapidly and couldn’t seem to wrap his head around everything we could do.

  “Alyona is the best priestess in Rahma, if not on all of Inati,” I bragged on my wife. “She can do anything she sets her mind to.”

  “Oh, stop,” Alyona giggled, and her cheeks flushed the color of a carnation.

  “Are you sure we should do this?” Callan asked as he watched our exchange. “It could have been anyone that did it. Maybe it was an accident?”

  “Do you really think it was?” I arched a doubtful eyebrow at the green dragon.

  “No,” he said with a sigh. “And everyone who spoke of the dragon lord did so with great respect for your skills. I don’t think they all know about your war with the Sage, but many tales of your battles have spread like wildfire across Rahma. I suppose I need to relax and let you handle things.”

 

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