Kaes grinned. “She’s fine. I’ve sent her to New Rosanthe for the time being. It’ll take her a while to regroup and get a bead on her sister’s powers again. That should give you time to deal with him.”
The God of Storms had barely finished speaking when the snow and frozen rain started to fall, briefly obscuring Shey’s vision. He blinked twice, but the God of Storms was already gone.
Cirina was also gone, but it didn’t feel like the relief that it should have. They’d traded a brief respite from the Goddess of Dreams for catching the attention of the much more powerful God of Storms.
“Haru!” Adrian cried. He ran and slipped his way closer to the raging dragon, who was still searching for the missing goddess.
Tyche swore and ran after Adrian with Shey following on their heels. They would have to worry about Cirina and Kaes later. Right now, they had a much bigger problem.
“Haru! Look at me!” Adrian shouted.
The dragon’s head whipped around, and those gigantic eyes locked onto Adrian. Shey’s heart stopped in his chest. But instead of blasting Adrian with fire, he simply stared and growled. Smoke curled up out of his mouth, and his dark scales glistened in the snow and flashing lightning.
“Haru, shift right now. Let me help you,” Adrian pleaded.
The growl grew louder, and he opened his mouth. His sharp teeth snapped at Adrian, but just as quickly he jerked his head back and shook it violently. A kind of whimper broke from his throat, and those hard eyes softened.
“Go home, Haru!” Tyche shouted from beside Adrian. “Go home, and Adrian will find you. He’ll save you.”
The dragon extended his wings. With a couple of strong flaps, he launched his massive body into the air. A roar cut above the thunder as he soared higher, disappearing into the clouds.
Adrian snarled and grabbed Tyche by the front of his sodden shirt. “What did you do? And why?”
Shey reached out to pry Adrian off Tyche, but the god surprised him by covering Adrian’s hands with his own and squeezing. He didn’t shy away but met Adrian’s angry stare. “I gave us our only fighting chance. If Cirina had gotten her sister’s powers, there would have been no stopping her. She would have destroyed all of Bellcairn, probably all of Damardor. My powers are useless against her. But a dragon’s is more than enough to beat her. Especially while holding the power of a god.”
“Why did he try to attack me?”
“Nightmares,” Shey replied. “That magic comes with a cost.”
Tyche nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Shey to give him a tiny smile. “Yesuntei called them whispers. Her doubts and fears whispered in her ear, creating shadows around her that haunted her even while wide awake. It’s why she preferred a life alone, away from humans. When she was calm and centered, shehad better control. She could compartmentalize all the noise in her head from the magic.”
“You gave a half-maddragonthe power of theGoddess of Nightmares, which is sure to drive him completely mad?” Adrian demanded, his words gaining volume and intensity as he spoke, so that he was shouting in Tyche’s face by the end.
“What?” Tyche’s voice cracked. “What do you mean half-mad?”
“Haru is insane. Everyone has always told me that. He has serious impulse-control issues. His moods snap wildly.” Adrian released Tyche and shoved his hands into hair, pacing away. “Gods, Haru.” He turned the dragon’s name into a heart-wrenching moan.
“It’ll be fine,” Shey said firmly.
“Are you crazy?” Adrian yelled. “What part of any of this makes you think it’ll be fine?”
“The powers will balance out,” Tyche promised. “Haru needs time to adjust. His powers will help protect him. He’ll be okay. I know it.”
“But…this isn’t permanent, right? You can take the powers out of him?”
“Yes! Gods, yes!” Tyche shouted, throwing up his hands. He couldn’t look more horrified. “There’s no way this is permanent. A dragon god? Fuck, no.”
Shey covered his face with his hand and rubbed his eyes. A dragon god was precisely what Tyche had made in an act of desperation.
“However, to get the pearl from him, I will need him in his human form,” Tyche admitted.
Shey had a feeling he knew how Tyche had to get the goddess’s powers back, but he wasn’t about to tell Adrian. The man had enough on his mind already.
“So, now what?” Adrian snapped. He was calming from his initial panic, but he was still glaring at Tyche like he wanted to use him as a butcher block for all his knives.
“Okay!” Tyche stepped up and held his hands out in front of him, his gaze serious and focused. “We go to the docks and we steal a boat. We take the boat north to Sirelis, where we get a bigger, faster boat.” His head turned to look at Shey. “You do have big, fast boats, right?”
Shey smirked. “Many.”
