The next morning, a fantastic burst of flame rose over Ya Luo’s stone garden.

The black dragon unleashed his own torrent of fire to counter his mother’s. The flames crashed into one another with a loud boom.

Qing Shui, in her silver dragon form, shot a determined look at her son. “Come on, Ya Luo, you’ve got to try harder!”

The young black dragon huffed with indignation. He took in as much oxygen as he could into his lungs and unleashed a hotter flame.

As his mother trained him in his stone garden where nothing could be set on fire, Ero watched them nearby.

The calf-shifter had been sullen, upset over the news of his mother’s death. Unwilling to stay inside, he had followed Ya Luo and his mother into the stone garden. Qing Shui allowed him to watch, but she warned him, “All right, but stay well away. The fire can fry you to a crisp.”

Ero had cringed at that, but it didn’t stop him from watching their fire practice just some meters away.

After a while, Ya Luo heard a flap of great wings above. Ya Luo and his mother ceased their practice. The silver dragon stared up with a worried frown on her face.

Ero cried out. The newcomer dragon, who had jet-black scales, crash landed right in front of the calf-shifter. The boy was in human form, his eyes wide in fright.

Ya Luo hurried over, yelling, “Uncle Narwal, what took you so long?”

The giant black dragon smirked down at his nephew. “Adult things.”

Ya Luo rolled his eyes, since “adult things” was just an excuse grown-up dragons used to avoid telling the younger dragons anything.

Qing Shui sauntered over to them, her eyes grim. “What happened, brother?” she asked, her voice hard.

Narwal sneered at her. “Nothing that should concern you, sweetheart.”

A flash of irritation passed through the silver dragon’s face, but Ya Luo knew his mom had good control over her anger. Maybe too good of a control. Qing Shui said, “Fine. Tell your brother-in-law what you’ve seen when he comes back.”

The big black dragon’s grin was wide, full of sharp teeth. His large claws spread out and dug into the rock between his feet. Narwal laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell him every last detail of what I’ve observed for sure.” He dipped his gaze down to Ero, who had subtly moved away from him to hide behind Qing Shui. “Who do we have here? A new little friend for you, Ya Luo?”

Ya Luo tapped his feet lightly on the ground. “Yeah. He’ll be staying with us for a while.”

“Why? Is he nobility? Or even royalty?” Narwal pushed.

Ya Luo showed some of his teeth. “Neither. But he has nowhere to go, so I asked him to stay here with us.” He didn’t know what his uncle had in mind, but his instincts told him not to tell Narwal everything just yet. His uncle likely already knew, but was just playing with them.

Ero spoke up. “I’m nobody. Go away.”

Ya Luo grimaced, wanting to tell the naïve calf-shifter that denying it only made it obvious that he was not nobody.

But his uncle turned his piercing eyes on the calf. Ya Luo was glad that Ero was not in his animal form, or else he really feared that his uncle would devour him as a snack.

But Narwal laughed, and his body blurred. A few seconds later, he had morphed to his human form. His black hair glistened with the gel he liked to use, as shiny as his laser bright green eyes. The man guffawed. “What a daring little boy. You must be something if little Ya Luo and my sister invited you to stay. And who might you be?”

White light flashed as his mother morphed to human form. She strode forward to grip her brother by the shoulder. “That’s enough. Leave the poor child alone.”

Narwal tried to shake Qing Shui’s hand off, but she didn’t let go. He shot her a look of disdain. “I don’t see you with a habit of housing strays. So what’s different about this one?”

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Ya Luo and his mother exchanged a glance. Qing Shui said again, “Just leave the boy alone, you bully!”

Narwal puffed out his arrogant chest. “Or you’ll do what?”

Qing Shui glowered at him. “You’re in my house now, brother. You follow our rules, or you leave.”

Narwal suddenly tore his mother’s hand off of his shoulder. By the way she grimaced and rubbed her hand, Ya Luo guessed that Narwal had clawed it with his nails. Ya Luo was livid and wanted to help her.

His uncle stretched to his full height. “This was once my house too, sister. You don’t get to boss me around.” He grinned. “Or do you intend to hide behind your husband’s back again?”

The silver dragon shifter gaped, then her expression became a snarl. “You’re a cowardly bastard who only knows how to hurl around insults. You might be bigger than me, but that doesn’t mean you get whatever you want.”

As she spoke, the dragon shifter guards surrounded them, ready to morph to their dragon forms to protect their mistress if she gave the word.

Narwal glanced around them with a smirk. “You call me a coward while you get your grunts to do your dirty work, hmph. Very well. I’ll come back to speak with your husband when he returns.”

With that, his body morphed back to a large black dragon. He launched into the sky and disappeared.

Ero’s eyes were wide as Narwal whipped up a gust of wind and soared away.

***

Then his gaze focused back on Ya Luo and Qing Shui. “Who the heck does he think he is?” The calf-shifter cried out. “He can’t have that much power that he can threaten you, right?”

His words were directed at Qing Shui, but he was looking at Ya Luo.

Qing Shui fidgeted with her hair. The determined and fierce woman he saw earlier was gone. “It was at least partly my fault. Narwal is my younger brother. I spoiled him when he was a kid, never wanting to be too strict towards him until it was too late.”

Ero scrunched up his nose at that. “That’s weird. Why blame yourself? Surely it was his parents who taught him to be bad?”

Ya Luo and his mother exchanged a look. The young black dragon shifter heaved a sigh. “My grandparents passed away when my mom and uncle were still children. They were brought up by the Royal court’s orphanage home, so yes, my mom was her brother’s main caregiver.”

Ero was shocked, especially as Qing Shui didn’t seem offended that her son spilled out her backstory to a stranger. Lucille would have scolded Ero harshly if he casually told someone about her adopted heritage.

The calf shifter’s chest hurt at the thought of his mother, and his breaths quickened. But he gritted his teeth, unwilling to let his grief pull him down, not when he was still in the presence of people he didn’t yet trust.

Qing Shui said, “Thank you for your kindness, Ero, but he’s still my brother, and I could have done better as an older sibling.” She rested her chin on a delicate hand, her eyes mournful. “Regardless, he is an arrogant asshole. We need to watch our backs.”

Ero was startled by this. Narwal was indeed an asshole but somehow, the calf believed that he wouldn’t seriously want to hurt his sister and nephew, other than just intimidating them. He asked, “How about your husband? Does he need to watch his back?”

Qing Shui cast a look at her son, while Ya Luo stared at the ground. She sighed. “Yes, though Byron doesn’t believe me and thinks my brother is just misunderstood.”

Byron…the name sounded familiar to Ero, but he didn’t say this out loud. Instead, he asked, “When do you expect him to come back home?”

The silver dragon shifter grimaced. She wrung her hands in a nervous manner. “He’s a bit of a wild dragon, so we can’t predict when he’ll come back.”

“How long has he been gone?” Ero asked, bewildered.

The dark-haired woman dipped her head and played with her long strands of hair.

It was Ya Luo who cleared his throat and answered, “It’s been seven days since we last saw him.” He shrugged, like he was feigning nonchalance. “My dad likes to live his life and travel around. He loves us, but he loves his freedom more.”

Surprisingly, Qing Luo hissed at her son. “Don’t say that, Ya Luo. He loves us just as much, if not more. He simply needs time away from home. He needs his personal space. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t care.” Her voice became very small at the end of her sentence.

Ero was increasingly uncomfortable with this conversation. He originally only wanted to know when Ya Luo’s father would arrive, so that Ero could mentally prepare himself, especially as Narwal seemed to take Byron the most seriously. Ero hadn’t wanted to hear about another family’s drama, though he felt bad for Ya Luo and Qing Shui.

Instead, he asked, “Speaking of fathers, have you had any more word on my father, Mateo?”

Ya Luo avoided his eyes. “We still have no news on him, I’m sorry. Though we haven’t been actively looking for him, I admit.”

Temper suddenly flared in Ero. “What makes you decide whether or not to look for someone?”

The other boy widened his eyes and then glowered at him. “Lucille was different, since she was a princess. Of course our spies would pay close attention to her. As for her consort, he has vanished without a trace. I hope he’s all right, but we’re dedicating our limited forces to our priorities.”

“Good to hear that my mom was a priority for you but my dad wasn’t,” Ero said bitterly.

Qing Shui subtly walked between the two boys. She said in a soft voice, “Ero, I apologize. We must seem heartless to you. As you said, we focus our spies on certain people but not others. We can talk all we like about our own priorities for our limited dragon forces, but at the end of the day, we still neglected your father — and Mildred. I’m sorry.”

Ero was still angry, but her admission of their faults appeased him somewhat. “Could you send spies to look for my dad and Mildred now?”

The silver dragon shifter gazed at him with an unreadable look. “Yes… when my husband comes home. I may have command over the guards, but the spies are his. They don’t answer to me.”

Ero gaped in dismay. “Why won’t they answer to their boss’s wife?”

Qing Shui lowered her eyes. “Because they don’t trust me. At least not anymore.”