Page 16 of The Dragon Shifters’ Enemy (Dragon’s Reign #7)

Caden gave a dramatic shiver. “No thanks! Now tell me about why the press stays away from the Gray Mountains and take me to the hot springs!”

Valerius slid an arm around Caden’s shoulders. “Bossy.”

“I am King Caden, after all,” Caden replied archly.

“You are indeed.” Valerius kissed his temple.

Valerius led Caden over to the beginnings of the garden. All the flowers within it were pure white. He thought of Iolaire’s pearlescent, white scales and wondered if he hadn’t been subconsciously thinking of the White Dragon Spirit on some level before he’d ever met Caden and Iolaire.

“The Gray Mountains were the first mountain range I raised in my territory,” Valerius said.

“Yeah, they taught us that at school. You lifted up the earth and everybody screamed and then humanity knew it had to give up.” Caden shrugged. “I assumed that was propaganda.”

“It wasn’t,” Valerius said softly. “There used to be a military base where we’re standing. Well, not exactly here. It was much lower down.”

Caden’s eyebrows rose. “Really? A--”

“One that had nuclear weapons,” Valerius said softly. “When everything else they had sent against the Dragon Shifters had failed, they thought of nuclear power.”

“Holy shit.” Caden stared at him, his steps slowing. “They said it was considered and put to the side! But from the tone of your voice--”

“They were going to use it. This base. The place where this base was, was going to be Ground Zero of their attack.” Valerius gestured to the ground below them.

They had entered the garden. Heady white blooms bobbed in the sweet breeze. Valerius drew in deep breaths of their scent. The moss path that wound within the flowers was cool beneath their feet. Caden had paled though as he thought of the nuclear weapon.

“It was their final, desperate act of violence. Letting them launch the weapons would have been disastrous. So I had the earth swallow the entire base and then I brought the mountains forth,” he said quietly.

“My god,” Caden breathed. “You can do that?”

Those bright blue eyes were on his face, filled with awe and a little, not fear, but a new understanding of him. Valerius merely nodded.

“So the war ended because you took the nuclear warheads away?” Caden shook his head.

“I showed them that the only people they would be hurting would be themselves,” Valerius answered.

“You are totally going to beat the hell out of the Behemoth,” Caden laughed softly.

Raziel and Iolaire were now both asleep, curled around one another, so Valerius did not have to worry about Raziel’s ego when he spoke.

“Raziel has hidden depths of power that I don't even know,” Valerius sighed. “But even it needed the other Dragon Shifters to defeat the Behemoth. And, the truth is, that they didn’t defeat it. The Behemoth has at least seven of our kind bound to it. What powers that give it I can only imagine.”

“You don’t think that there’s a Dragon bigger than Raziel in there, do you?” Caden’s eyebrows lifted.

But Valerius shook his head. “No, I know there is not. I cannot explain it, but despite what comes across as arrogant bluster at times, I know that when Raziel says it is the king of kings it’s true.”

Caden nodded. “I feel that, too. So the press don’t come here because they fear there’s nuclear fallout?”

“The press do not come here because it is holy ground, in a way,” Valerius explained. “This was the spot where humanity realized it was beaten and had to accept Shifters. This was the spot where we, Shifters, decided to live with humanity instead of destroying them.”

They had just reached the beginning of the spacious deck that surrounded and connected the different parts of the main house, the gazebos and other covered bridges.

The wood was smooth and painted a soft gray.

The sound of the waterfall came from directly ahead of them.

Plants and flowers overflowed the railings and draped over the tops of the roofs of the walkway and crawled up the trellises on the home itself.

Caden’s head moved all around them as he took in the beauty of the sight.

“I can’t get over this. I love our quarters in High Reach--I love Reach--but this is…” Caden just shook his head as if at a loss for words.

Valerius lowered his head as he murmured, “Truthfully, you, of all people, will appreciate why I created this. To turn something ugly into something beautiful, but more than that.”

Caden smiled up at him. “I’m all ears.”

Valerius grinned. “You are correct that I based this home on Rivendell, but I call it Valinor.”

At first, Caden’s forehead remained furrowed, but then he clapped his hands together. “That’s where the elves went after they left Middle Earth! So you named this place after where the elves went .”

“The elves took magic from the world when they left. I thought of the Shifters as bringing it back,” Valerius said with a grimace. “Turning a military base into a mountain range felt pure.”

He couldn’t quite meet Caden’s eyes. The young man was silent for long moments, which had him shifting from foot to foot more. But then Caden hugged him rather fiercely.

“That--that is awesome,” Caden breathed into his left ear and kissed his cheek.

“Humans First would say otherwise.”

“Humans First are idiots. They don’t realize how things could have been!

And… they don’t see the good things,” Caden said.

“When I was born, Shifters were already out and about. I’ve never known a world where there haven’t been people who could become animals.

There’s always been Dragons since I was alive.

But Mom and Dad told me what it was like to find out that Shifters were real. ”

“Your father has seemingly fallen out of love with us if he ever felt that way,” Valerius said dryly, but he respected Grant’s determination not to be blinded by love of Shifters.

“Oh, he was a big fantasy fan growing up. Devoured Lord of the Rings , The Wheel of Time series and so many more,” Caden told him. “The moment he found out that Dragons , not just Shifters, were real, he said that the whole world became better.”

“For a little while,” Valerius murmured.

Caden drew back from their embrace. He held onto Valerius’ biceps though and studied his face. “You didn’t want me--or anyone--to know about this place, not because you’re a secret nerd.”

Valerius lifted one dark eyebrow. “I am the farthest thing from.”

“Nerds are cool, but I suppose since you’re someone who literally is a fantasy character come to life, finding fantasy cool would be weird,” Caden chuckled. “I mean look at your clothes!”

“There is nothing wrong with my clothes--”

Caden kissed him. “No, there isn’t. They’re amazing and they suit you. And that’s part of what makes you different from the other Dragon Shifters, including me.”

“How so?” Valerius held himself still. He was curious what Caden would say. Caden did say very curious things. But he felt like Caden might see him as others hadn’t.

“Your clothes aren’t from any time. They’re out of time!

They’re fantasies that become reality. All the other Dragon Shifters dress for this time or maybe have shades of the age they joined with their Spirits,” Caden explained, using multitudinous hand gestures that Valerius had an urge to stop by capturing those hands and kissing them.

So he did. Caden laughed, but continued on, “You want people to feel that Shifters aren’t everyday.

They are and aren’t like everyone else. You want to show humanity that there is magic.

That there’s something more when the Spirits are in this realm. ”

Valerius did not agree or disagree. Instead he asked, “And Valinor?”

“You changed the United States and Canada a bit when you took over. New mountain ranges. More wild areas. Modern homes, but ones that fit into the environment, instead of making everything an asphalt jungle,” Caden pointed out.

He gave a little shudder. “I’ve been to other cities and I can’t stand the lack of nature. ”

“Nor can I.” Valerius grimaced. “But do not think the past was better, Caden. There was a lot more excrement about.”

Caden laughed again. “I know! But I think you wanted--or want , maybe--to make the world even more different. More like Reach. More like a fantasy book.”

Valerius nodded. “I want humanity to treasure the Shifters instead of hate and fear them. I thought that perhaps if things looked like they do in our media of a more fantastical time that humans would feel that it was.”

Caden smiled. “I can totally get that. People would feel that Shifters were completely normal. Part of the world. Because we’re all in a fantasy movie.”

“Yes.”

“But you clearly changed your mind,” Caden said.

“It’s only been 30 years since we revealed ourselves,” Valerius said.

“But that’s--”

“No time at all,” Valerius cut him off gently. He drew in a breath. “I have very little faith in people, Caden, human or Shifter, as you know. But the environment can help.”

“So are you going to change things to look more like this?” Caden pointed to the graceful stone archways, the delicate bridges, the peaked roofs, all surrounded by water features and gardens. The magical splashing of the waterfall in the background had Valerius’ shoulders relaxing.

“Chione says I need to get buy-in,” Valerius finally told him. “Reach is a start. It resembles--”

“Oh, my God! Reach is Minas Tirith!” Caden’s eyes were huge as he named the Gondorian kingdom.

Valerius rocked back and forth, saying nothing, even as a secret smile played over his lips. “Yes, well… it may have a passing resemblance to that city.”

“You’re doing it! You’re really turning your territory into Middle Earth!” Caden beamed.

“I’m not the only one slowly changing things,” Valerius said with a slight touch of self-consciousness.

“Jahara’s territory is something straight out of Afro-futurism.

Mei is deep into a mixture of Ghost in the Shell and cyberpunk.

Esme is leaning hard into her territory’s Arthurian roots.

Anwar has taken the mystery and mystique of the Arabian Nights and made it quite real.

When you enter Tez’s territory the old ways of the indigenous people rule.

And Kaila has turned her territory into a sanctuary for all wildlife.

We haven’t abandoned modernity or what was before just…

just shaped it slightly. Over time, it will spread and change and become something quite beautiful. ”

Caden had been silent during his rather lengthy speech. It was not like Valerius to blush and he nearly had half a dozen times during this conversation. But he felt very exposed.

“This place is hope for you,” Caden said softly. “No wonder you don’t show it to anyone. You don’t want it crushed.”

“Even without showing it to anyone, my hope did drain away,” Valerius admitted. “Until you, Caden.”

“Me? I’m--”

“Hope personified. Distilled into a single being.” Valerius framed Caden’s waist with his hands. “You make me want to build again. You make me want to try .”

Caden’s hands wrapped around his neck and the young man got up on his tiptoes for a kiss. “I’m all for it, Valerius. We’re going to defeat the Behemoth and we’re going to change the world. Together.”

“Together.”