Page 31 of The Dragon Shifters’ Enemy (Dragon’s Reign #7)

His mother chuckled. “Not a fan of the Faith, Rose?”

“They aren’t really a fan of me . Swarm Shifter, remember? They think that certain Shifters mean a person is bad,” Rose reminded his mother.

His mother sighed. “Yes, some do think that. It’s an ugly side of the Faith and if I must lead, I will go after that part. Though… perhaps we should just dismantle the Faith altogether. Perhaps it is doing more harm than good, feeding these fever dreams of Spirits joining with every human being.”

“Ellen.” Caden pictured his father putting one hand over his mother’s. “There are good people in the Faith. Far more than any of these--these misguided individuals.”

Caden was surprised that his father didn’t agree with the “burn it all down” sentiment his mother was showing.

His father had never liked the Faith. He tolerated her enjoyment of it.

But now when his father had a chance to, at least, rid himself of it from his life, his father wasn’t encouraging that.

“People will always want to believe in something. The Spirits are… well, they stand for good things,” his father continued.

“And even if the Faith could be outlawed--which it really couldn’t legally anyways--something else would spring up to take its place.

Something likely unsanctioned, too, and even more radicalized.

Not to mention the people who believe that blowing people up is necessary for some upcoming war will continue to believe that regardless of the Faith’s existence or not. ”

His mother sighed heavily. “I know. But I don’t know if I could live with myself if I introduced Caden to someone who might hurt him.”

“We live in a world with criminals everywhere, Ellen,” Wally said solemnly.

Considering he had been a criminal kingpin before hanging up his crown for that of a legit businessman, Wally would know all about that.

“But we still make friends with people. We still fall in love. We still get married. We don’t lock our doors and never interact with anyone.

Life is about risk . Because the good people and the good moments make it all worth it. ”

His mother’s voice sounded a little teary-eyed as she said, “Thank you, Wally. That was beautiful. I don’t know why this has hit me so hard.”

“Because our son is now at the center of some kind of international conspiracy?” Grant responded dryly.

His mother must have poked him as he let out an “oomph” before amending, “Because your membership in the Faith was something that gave you peace and happiness. Now it doesn’t.

It seems more fraught than anything else. ”

“Those I’ve spoken to want me to take a leadership role.

We’ve talked about the fact that I should.

But I need to get my head on straight before I do that,” his mother said.

“I need to make peace somehow with the fact that there are those in and outside the Faith that want to take advantage of Caden. I have to be savvy enough to help him avoid those people. He’ll trust my judgment. At least a little bit.”

Caden went a little rigid. Iolaire’s ears flickered. He thought that his father would agree and then Wally and Rose would stick up for him being more “adult” than his parents thought. But that was not how it went.

His mother continued, “Caden has shown such grace through all of this really. His good heart looks for reasons to give people second-chances and I think that inspires a whole lot of people.”

“The way he’s really come into his own so quickly has been amazing to see,” his father agreed. “Now that I can look at him a little more objectively, I can see what a remarkable job he’s doing at it.”

He could hear the smile in Rose’s voice as she said, “Caden’s a natural. I was so jaded when he and I first met. I’m still jaded, but I used to believe that there was no goodness in the world. Now I see that there is some anyway. Caden keeps showing me it.”

“Oh, Rose, you’ll add to that goodness and it’ll follow you wherever you go,” his mother said and he imagined her reaching across the table to take Rose’s hand.

“I’m so glad I met all of you,” Rose now sounded a little teary-eyed.

Iolaire let out a purr. Caden grinned.

Time to join them, I think, Iolaire.

Iolaire hooted.

He took a deep breath and went through the foyer and living room out onto the balcony.

His mother caught sight of him first and smiled broadly. “Caden, you’re back!”

She hadn’t been told about where he’d been and what they’d found. He’d made Tilly keep that promise and she appeared to have honored it. Would she become his Councillor when she grew up? He was starting to think he’d be lucky to have her.

“Where did you head off to, Caden?” his father asked, looking happier and more mellow than he had in months, maybe years . Without the pressure and unhappiness of his law firm career hanging over him, the impression he had earlier of his father seeming younger looked to be spot on.

“The Gray Mountains,” he said and sat on the chair that Wally pulled over to the table for him.

“Wine?” Wally offered.

Caden nodded.

“You’ve got to try these cheese puffs. They’re like crack,” Rose told him as she shifted a tray of little souffle-like balls.

He popped one into his mouth and chewed appreciatively. He immediately took a handful more. Rose was right. But his expression soon soured as he thought of telling them about Landry. He had a hard time swallowing the last cheese puff.

“You look like you have something on your mind, kid,” Wally said after studying his face.

“Is this a Councillor matter?” His mother lifted an eyebrow as if she was willing to take his father’s arm and leave the three of them alone.

“No, I mean yes , but I want you two to stay to hear it,” he told them.

Every word felt like a boulder that he was pushing uphill with his tongue. How could he tell them that Landry was dead? It would make it real .

“I saw helicopters taking off,” Rose mentioned, her expression was studiously neutral. “Going towards the Gray Mountains, I think. Did something… ah… happen there?”

Caden sat down and wiped suddenly damp palms over his jeans. “Yeah. We found… we found a Humans First hideout in the mountains.”

There were murmurs of surprise all around. Rose’s forehead furrowed. Wally’s mustache twitched.

“But the Gray Mountains are sacred to Valerius!” His mother wrung her hands together. “Surely, they couldn’t have thought they’d be safe from discovery!”

Caden wondered at the arrogance and risk they all took.

The Behemoth included. But Valerius had not found the wall.

There was nothing to alert him to it. Until yesterday he had no idea such things as these walls existed.

Once more, Caden was glad that he and Iolaire had bonded.

This had spurred Anwar to visit and tell the other Dragon Shifters about what he’d found.

It might have been months or years before he’d done that otherwise.

If he did it at all, Caden thought.

Caden pressed his lips together to stop them from trembling. His mind offered him that image of Landry’s questing hand. Had she been trying to ward something off? Or maybe she’d been trying to grab hold of something to stop herself from being dragged inside the wall.

“We also found a wall ,” he said and though the word “wall” likely hadn’t ever frightened any of them before, he saw that his tone caused them all to draw inward as if to protect themselves from what he had to say next. “This is a special wall…”

And he told them all what he knew. Reminding them about the wall in Anwar’s territory and the terrible things that had happened there. About the battle with the Behemoth. About their suspicions of what it was doing to stir up more trouble.

Finally, he spoke of Celestine and her Falcon Shifters heading over to the next pass from Valinor. He told them of only her return and what she’d said. “Wall”. “Death”. He explained how he and Valerius had gone to that valley and found what was hidden there. A wall of death.

And then… then he told them about Landry.

Caden stared down at his hands as he spoke. He didn’t want to see their faces. He heard sharp intakes of breath. His mother suppressed a sob. His father gave out a pained gasp. Wally openly cried.

“Even if she was with Humans First no one should go like that,” his mother whispered hoarsely.

He knew that his mother’s view of Landry had changed since she was ostensibly working for people that wanted to hurt and use Caden and Iolaire.

“You think she’s gone too, Mom?” he asked.

She opened her mouth likely to say “of course!” But maybe seeing something in his own face she turned that into, “I don’t know. But it would seem… likely, wouldn’t it?”

“Poor kid.” Wally brought out a large handkerchief and blew his nose with it. It honked like a horn and there were muted smiles all around. “She took a bad path. But I truly believe she would have found her way back.”

“Me, too,” Caden murmured.

He realized as he said it that he meant it.

He believed Landry, if she hadn’t been planning a double-cross on Humans First, would have come around.

He knew she had wanted to spare her brothers--were her brothers in the wall, too?

--but the kind of violence that Jasper Hawes was intent on using to harm others wasn’t in her. She would have broken with them.

Eventually.

But there was no more time for her. Unless a miracle could release her from the wall.

Rose was the only one silent throughout this, but she’d hardly known Landry, and what she had known wasn’t good. But when Caden dared to look up at her, her eyes were distant and she was chewing her lower lip. She caught his eyes.

“Caden, was there anything special about this wall?” she asked almost sharply.

“Uhm, both appeared to be of white stone like something you’d see in a--”

“Greek temple?” she finished for him.

“Ah, yeah, why do you know that? I mean other than seeing Anwar’s video--”

“I thought it was a coincidence! I mean it's a blank wall! But if the wall in Anwar’s desert and the wall in the mountain are the same… It can't be a coincidence. It must be significant.” She bit her lower lip so hard that it bled .

“You’ve seen one of these walls, haven’t you, Rose?” Caden asked her as he felt a cold horror building in his stomach.

Rose must have seen another one of these walls in Valerius’ territory! Maybe even around Reach! His impression was that she didn’t really leave the city, but maybe she had seen one in the surrounding countryside or--

“I saw one. I’m sure of it,” she said. “There were even things sticking out of it. I thought they were just carvings though.”

“Where did you see it?” His father brought out his phone and located a map of Reach and the areas around it.

“You don’t understand,” Rose said as she tapped on the city itself until a map of the interior of the city showed up. “It’s here. It’s in Reach. In the Below.”

Story Continues in Book 8!