Wings of Fire (Godstone Saga 4)

“One more question. Afterward, we can talk,” Caelan said quickly, fully aware that he sounded like a small child begging to postpone his bedtime for five more minutes. But he knew that once Nori discovered his reasons for coming to the Isle of Stone, everything would change. And they both deserved to have this moment of family happiness.

“Of course,” Rayne said and bowed his head. “Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

Nori surprised Caelan by nudging him with his elbow and smirking. “Is that for my benefit, or is he always like that?”

Rayne’s head snapped up, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. Eno broke the tension first with a loud bark of laughter, but Caelan joined in with his own snickers.

“My grandfather has your number, Rayne,” he teased.

To his credit, Rayne shot him a dark, warning look that Caelan didn’t believe at all. “One of us needs to maintain some propriety.”

Nori patted Caelan’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I have a couple of advisors just like him. Stuffy and grumpy. But there’s no need for that around family.” He smiled, eyes so happy. “They have become your family, haven’t they?”

There was no hesitation to Caelan’s nod. “They have.”

“Though we’re still breaking that one in,” Eno added, pointing in Adrian’s direction.

Caelan glanced at Adrian to find the guard appeared to be genuinely shocked. “You’re not a fill-in, Adrian.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Adrian murmured.

“However, we are still missing one to our family,” Eno said.

Caelan nodded, his fist tightening on his knee. “And we’re not leaving here without him.”

Nori covered his fist and lightly squeezed. “We’ll figure out Souta’s dilemma soon. What was your one question?”

Caelan actually had a thousand questions about his father, grandfather, Clan Omari, and dragons in general. It was hard to pick one, but he settled on something that Nori would probably remember easily. “What did my father look like when he was in his dragon form?”

His grandfather’s expression instantly brightened. “How about I show you as close as we can come? Your cousin Haru has a very similar color to your father’s if I’m remembering correctly.”

He pushed to his feet and waved for them to accompany him through a door at the side of the audience chamber. A servant was there to greet Nori and the older dragon quickly sent the man off in search of Haru with orders for him to appear at the practice field.

“My lord, if I may ask,” Rayne started, “are the dragons of each clan gathered by color? I noticed that Souta’s dragon is black scaled, and the clan tends to favor the color black in their clothing.”

“Several hundred years ago, that was the case, but most of the clans have intermarried so each clan has a motley of colors. There are some exceptions. Most of the Takahashi dragons are black, and a good number of the blue-scaled dragons belong to Clan Ito,” Nori explained as he walked down the hall toward the back of the building. Caelan’s eyes slid over beautiful ornate woodwork, elegant paintings, and other delicate pieces of art. There was a very serene feeling that came over him as he walked through Nori’s home.

Nori stopped suddenly and glanced over his shoulder at Rayne. “Don’t let anyone fool you. The color of a dragon’s scales means nothing. It’s the dragon’s actions that mark the soul inside.”

“Yes, Lord Omari,” Rayne easily agreed with a bow of his head.

The old dragon chuckled softly and resumed his walk. “Just like Akiko,” he muttered under his breath and then added to Caelan. “Akiko is my advisor. Always with the titles.”

“If it helps, Souta and I have gone out of our way to drive Rayne crazy. He’s threatened to strangle Souta on several occasions,” Caelan said.

“With good reason,” Rayne grumbled softly, but loud enough for Nori to catch it and start laughing.

They exited the rear of the building into another large courtyard. This one was bigger than the courtyard at the front and had stations for a variety of training exercises. There were a couple of squads of men on the far side working with swords, following the bark of an instructor.

The sky overhead was crisp and clear blue while the bitter cold wind had subsided for now. A scent of pine and a hint of snow lingered along with the smell of burning wood, likely from a stove.

Stretched out on a wooden bench was Haru, appearing as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Caelan wasn’t fooled. The dragon was waiting for them. As soon as they appeared, he grinned broadly and hopped to his feet.

“Your cousin is a menace, but he has a good heart,” Nori said as they closed the distance.

Caelan narrowed his eyes on Haru. He was a handsome man in a lithe and sharp way, but he looked nothing like the Hagen he remembered. “Is he really related to me by blood or is cousin simply a term of familiarity?”