Yep, Caelan said all the best things, even if he didn’t realize he was saying them.
Drayce placed his head on Caelan’s shoulder and closed his eyes. He could have fallen asleep like that. It would have been his best sleep in months. Caelan’s warmth, strength, and smell were wrapped all around him in a happy cocoon.
“Drayce?”
But sleep couldn’t happen yet. They all had huge problems ahead of them, and most of them began with Takahashi Masaru. His father.
“I don’t know if it’s been explained to you, but as part of the dragon agreement to help protect the Erya Godstone, a dragon has been sent to Stormbreak with the birth of each new Guardian,” Drayce began.
Caelan stiffened and Drayce could almost hear the brain cells starting to melt as he put the information together. “You’re not the first,” he said, almost cautiously.
“No.”
A hand resting on Drayce’s shoulder tightened. “Hagen?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think my mother knew?”
“Honestly, no clue. I mean, your mom seemed to freaking know everything, so I want to believe she knew. But…maybe not.”
“Does that mean you knew Hagen? Or that he knew you were a dragon?” Caelan pressed and Drayce slumped against his friend, grateful that his mind had gone off on a different tangent than he’d expected.
“I didn’t know Hagen while he lived on the Isle of Stone. He was from Clan Omari, who has never been on good terms with Clan Takahashi. But yeah, he knew I was a dragon from the first time he spotted me, and he knew why I was there.”
Caelan swore softly under his breath. “I’m an idiot. I always thought you were my friend because you wanted to be. That we just happened to meet and hit it off.”
Drayce shoved away from Caelan and turned so that they were facing each other while seated on the dirty stone floor. “Yes, my job was to one day become your protector. That’s it. That’s all I’m supposed to do. But when we were in high school, the only thing I wanted in the world was to be your friend.”
Caelan ripped his eyes away to glare out the open cell door, but Drayce leaned over so he was right in his line of sight. “I’m serious. From the first second I met you, I thought you were the coolest, funniest, kindest, and most awkward person ever. I wanted to be your friend more than anything in the world. No!” he shouted suddenly, correcting himself. “What I wanted most was for you to want me to be your friend. I wanted you to see me as someone who was worthy of being your friend.”
Frustration drained from Caelan’s face to be replaced by the softness in his gaze that melted Drayce into goo. “Idiot,” he whispered with a shove. “You’ve always been worthy of being my friend. Does this mean that you and Hagen were actually friends?”
Drayce shook his head, a stab of regret piercing his heart. “No, not really. When I started spending more time in the Towers with you, I went out of my way to avoid him the first few years I was living in Stormbreak. He…he reminded me a lot of home, and as much as I was glad that I wasn’t there anymore, it made me homesick. It was easier to forget about everything I left behind if I didn’t see Hagen. I guess I always thought there would be plenty of time to talk to him and learn what I needed to know from him.”
“Hagen was a good man. I think he took good care of the queen. Protected her as best as he could.”
He smiled at Caelan, so many words balanced on the tip of his tongue, but now wasn’t the time to discuss them.
“It would be best if you didn’t mention me or Hagen to anyone else while you’re here,” Drayce warned.
“Why?”
He cringed and shoved a hand through his filthy hair. He’d not had a proper bath in months. Not so much a problem since he passed most of his time as a dragon and the dirt didn’t really stick to his scales, but in human form he felt disgusting. As it was, every time he touched Caelan, he got his nice uniform dirty, not that the king seemed to mind at all.
“Being made the protector of the Guardian of the Godstone is not an honor,” he said, carefully picking his words. “It’s been seen as a way to get rid of unwanted dragons if they can’t be easily killed without starting a clan war. Hagen was part of Clan Omari, which was threatening Takahashi Masaru’s hold on power. Hagen was a first son of the Omari’s leader and a threat to Masaru. Since the Takahashi clan leader had the power to name the next protector…”
“He chose Hagen to get him out of the way,” Caelan finished.