Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 110079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110079 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Adrian rolled down his window and stuck his face outside, drawing in a deep breath. “Gods, I missed this smell. Even from here, you can smell the snow on the mountains mixing with the pine trees. I’m just missing the jasmine.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be back to the clan soon. At the rate Drayce is going, it probably won’t take more than ten minutes,” Caelan said from the front passenger seat.
“I’m being careful,” Drayce grumbled.
He and Adrian had fought over who’d get to drive as soon as they’d spotted the black SUV. Adrian had made a good case that he was a member of the royal guard, while Drayce was the king’s fiancé. He shouldn’t be driving. However, Drayce had reminded Adrian that he knew the way better and could get them to their destination faster. Adrian had fallen silent and hopped into the rear seat behind Drayce.
“Have you been here long?” Shey inquired of Caelan.
“Not long. About a week.” Caelan turned his head toward them and smirked. “It would have been sooner, but Rayne wasn’t too keen on the idea of me flying out on Drayce. He thought it would be safer by ship.”
Drayce groaned. “Like I would have dropped him.”
“I’ve watched you drop a sandwich while eating it,” Adrian teased.
Drayce lifted a hand from the steering wheel and gave Adrian the bird over his shoulder. “Whatever. I’m not dropping Cael. He’s more important than a sandwich.”
“We were tempted to meet you at sea and fly you here by dragon, but the storms were so bad between the island and Caspagir, we were afraid to risk it,” Caelan continued as if his two guards weren’t bickering.
Tyche dropped his face into his hands. “That was probably my fault, too.”
“Really?” Caelan turned in his seat so he could more easily peer between the front seats and looked at Tyche. “How’s that?”
A weary sigh drifted from Tyche, and he dropped his hands to look at Caelan. “Kaes popped into Bellcairn to stir the pot because, you know, an insane enraged goddess and a pissed-off dragon aren’t trouble enough. I might have told Kaes off because I was at my wit’s end. He left after that, but I feel like he brewed up those storms to test Shey and torment me.”
Caelan’s pale-blue gaze fell on Shey, and he could feel the calculating weight behind that stare. But to his credit, Caelan didn’t ask any probing questions. He let it go and turned to face forward, allowing Shey to release a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
It was weird to think that he was at least seven years Caelan’s senior and had more experience ruling, but there was a new weight to Caelan’s eyes and demeanor as if he were now the older of the two of them. He couldn’t guess what he’d gone through during his long journey across Thia to stop the Goddess of the Hunt.
Maybe he should stop worrying so much about the fact that Caelan was a god and the king of Erya, and start thinking of him as a resource. Who else was he going to ask about handling Kaes? Of course, Tyche was an option, but it seemed like Tyche’s first choice was to tell Kaes off and suffer the consequences later. Shey was hoping to minimize consequences.
For now, he was simply content to peer out the window as they rode down the smooth, winding roads through thick forests. Occasionally, they would spot narrow roads that would shoot off, turning to gravel. He’d get hints of stone walls, but he’d seen no dragons other than Drayce.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how many dragons live on the Isle of Stone?” Shey inquired as he glimpsed another gravel drive.
“Nothing like what you’d see in Sirelis or Stormbreak,” Drayce admitted. “Dragons are incredibly long-lived, which means we don’t have a lot of kids. The Omari Clan is one of the largest clans, and it has fewer than three hundred dragons. The Ito Clan might be the next biggest with about two hundred. Those roads you’ve been seeing are for smaller clan residences for the Omari clan. This is all Omari territory here.”
“Dragons are incredibly territorial,” Adrian chimed in. “It would be at least a twenty-minute drive to a different clan. If they are in a hurry, a dragon will fly. If not, they take care to arrive in regal fashion.”
Shey huffed. “That sounds like something Haru would say.”
Adrian flashed him a crooked grin. “Who do you think told me that?”
“Good point.”
The royal guard appeared more at ease now that they were on the Isle of Stone and headed to meet with the Omari Clan. He was a step closer to seeing Haru. It also didn’t hurt that he’d gotten reassurances from Caelan, who had seen Haru recently. But nothing was going to take away that low thrum of tension until Adrian finally got to see Haru with his own eyes; Shey was sure of it.