Rhenor was incredibly tense. He couldn't relax even a little, no matter what he did. He realized they couldn't just march back into the city since the guards were still looking for them, but he couldn't just wait around for the situation to calm down.

Kaz had been captured. That much was clear based on what they'd heard from the few people they'd talked to who'd seen the guards drag the man—no, the dragon—away somewhere. Which meant that they at least hadn't killed him yet, but that didn't mean that Kaz wasn't currently undergoing some awful interrogation.

And they didn't know where the guards had taken Kaz either. Apparently, they hadn't headed to the local dungeons, which if anything was more concerning. At least Elaya knew where those dungeons were. But with Kaz being a dragon, it would make sense for him to be brought somewhere else. What even happened to rebellious dragons?

Rhenor glared into the campfire that he and Elaya had put together to dry off. He was dry now, but he hadn't had a reason to move since they couldn't go gather information on how to save Kaz. So all he was left with were his thoughts, which were making him more than a little resentful.

"Why didn't he tell me?" he wondered out loud, mostly to himself, though he knew Elaya would hear him. The forest next to which they had decided to camp out for the night was silent and serene, so they hardly had to speak loudly to hear each other.

"He probably thought you'd reject him," Elaya answered. As if he didn't already know that. She hadn't said much over the last few hours and mostly just looked sad and thoughtful. She was no doubt already trying to figure out how to get Kaz out of the mess they had put him in.

"I wouldn't have rejected him." Rhenor wasn't sure if that was a lie or not. He honestly had no idea how he'd react. He might have accused Kaz of deceiving him and assume that Kaz had lied all this time to.... No, that wasn't making much sense, was it? What could have Kaz possibly thought to gain from not telling Rhenor the truth? "This is what you meant by me not knowing the half of it, didn't you?"

Elaya sighed, not adding anything. She didn't need to.

"So, the way he acted back on that ship, is that how he usually is, or—?"

Elaya laughed, though it didn't sound happy in the slightest. "I didn't even know he was capable of pretending to be like that for that long. He did get a bit lordly sometimes when he had to be, but he always talked about how much he hated it."

Rhenor mulled those words over. He desperately wanted to believe that the man he'd gotten to know over those few weeks was the real Kaz, and it all hadn't been some act to help him get to Sigallah. Though, when Rhen thought about that, it didn't make sense either because originally, Kaz had just wanted his help in saving Arlow. There had been nothing about traveling mentioned or talked about prior to Arlow's destruction, so clearly that hadn't been Kaz's plan.

And Rhenor highly doubted that anyone was this good of an actor, especially since Rhenor wasn't important. There would be very little to gain from manipulating him. And why would Kaz even need his help, to begin with? Even if he wanted to stay hidden due to his banishment, he could easily live as a dragon in the Crystal Mountains, unnoticed and left alone. And if he got lonely, since Kaz was one to socialize, he could simply transform back into his human-looking form and do just that. Perhaps visit the neighboring villages and make friends with the locals.

But no matter how much Rhenor wanted to trust Kaz, wanted to believe that he'd only lied about what he was, the fact that Kaz was a dragon—something Rhen absolutely hated—was still incredibly tough to swallow.

"Not all dragons are monsters," said Elaya, as if reading his mind. "A lot of them are decent, even. But they also like their lives as they are. They fear change."

Rhenor scoffed. He didn't doubt that they enjoyed their cushy, expensive lifestyles while the kingdom they ruled dealt with poverty and hunger. And everyone feared change—that didn't excuse anything. Rhenor feared change—particularly change like this, where he was forced to question his entire worldview.

He let out a long breath, rubbing his eyes. This was so exhausting to try to figure out. He realized that ultimately Kaz being nice, helpful, and kind should completely outweigh his species, but it wasn't that easy to get it through his head. Maybe he should think of Kaz as an exception.

Rhenor blinked as that actually helped slightly. Dragons on the whole could still be awful, but that didn't mean that Kaz had to be. Kaz wasn't anything like those scaly bastards, despite technically being one of them, that much was clear.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He finally felt some of the tension in him dissipate, though it was only replaced with more worry immediately.

What did dragons do to other dragons if they rebelled? They wouldn't kill them, surely, or they would have done that to Kaz, to begin with. The fact that he'd been banished from the kingdom but not executed was yet another example of a fact that Rhen hadn't thought to question enough.

It had just never occurred to him before that there could be a dragon who wasn't completely deplorable.

"Kaz never wanted to be a Lord," Elaya said, hugging her knees to her chest as she stared into the fire absently. "He inherited the title after his mother died. He hadn't had much choice but to take it, and he'd only had it for about half a year."

Rhenor was afraid of hearing these things. He was afraid that he would find out something about Kaz that he wouldn't be able to disregard or excuse. But things like this did help. And he couldn't say he was surprised by it either. Kaz had never come across as power-hungry or even interested in ruling anything. He didn't seem too confident being in a leading role either, although that didn't necessarily have to mean he would be bad at it, of course.

"And the Astranno clan has never taken an active part in what the King is doing," Elaya added, looking nostalgic.

"You knew them?"

Elaya smiled at him, her eyes still sad. "Yes. I wouldn't call them nice, exactly, but...." She shook her head. "They are all dead now, aside from Kaz."

Rhenor felt his heart clench. Kaz's whole family was gone? He hadn't known that. Kaz had only told him about his mother dying, but nothing beyond that, and Rhenor hadn't wanted to talk about his family much either, especially now that he knew that they weren't simply dragon loyalists.

But he'd never thought Kaz had such a similar familial situation to his own. Kaz's family might have not been killed by dragons, but they were still gone. No wonder Kaz had wanted to meet up with Elaya again so badly. Elaya must have been the only person left Kaz would consider family if they'd truly known each other for so long.

Rhen felt an overwhelming urge to hug Kaz, which just made him angrier because he couldn't do that right now. Kaz was out there somewhere, probably scared out of his mind and thinking Rhenor wasn't even going to bother trying to get him out of the claws of his fellow dragons because of everything Rhen had said about them so far.

Rhenor sighed. He'd really screwed this up, hadn't he? Particularly because he and Elaya were the reason Kaz was in this situation. If they hadn't gone along with that heist, Kaz would never have put himself in harm's way for them.

But if this hadn't happened, Rhen would also not have found out about what Kaz really was. And he would still think that Kaz didn't want them to be together because Rhen wasn't rich. Although that part still confused him. Was it the fact that Rhenor wasn't a dragon that was the problem?

He proceeded to ask Elaya this question, and she shook her head and scoffed.

"It's not allowed for dragons to be with humans," she explained, sounding about as annoyed as she could be. As if she'd had to talk about this a thousand times over. "But it's mostly because the majority of them don't want any half-dragons to exist."

Half-dragons? It was possible for dragons and humans to have children? Just the idea was abhorrent to Rhen, but if the dragons agreed with that assessment, he couldn't help but feel intrigued by the concept as well. He truly wondered what a half-dragon would look like, given the dragons' ability to change shape.

"I think Kaz is just scared the dragons will have killed if they find out," Elaya said, sighing. "I think they would want to do that just for you associating with him, but Kaz won't listen to me."

Rhen felt his shoulders sink. He'd thought that it was odd for Kaz to insist on rules like this. He supposed he would just have to have a talk with him once they rescued him. Rhen didn't care if the dragons disapproved. He was already a fugitive, and Kaz looked close enough to a human as long as he kept his ears covered that no one would be able to figure out he wasn't one. And they couldn't have children anyway, so why did any of this matter?

Kaz just couldn't help but overthink, could he? And neither could Rhenor if he was being honest.

Just wonderful.

"We'll find him," Elaya said, for what felt like the hundredth time. But Rhenor didn't mind hearing it again.

"Yeah." Of course, they would. And he didn't care what it would take. It was a shame that Arion and Serina left after they had all managed to escape the city, but he didn't blame them. Not everyone would be interested in risking their lives to help a dragon, even though said dragon had saved them. Rhenor himself would have run away in their position, but it was still a shame. They could have used their help.

But at least Rhen and Elaya still had around two thousand talons between them. If there was one thing he'd learned in life, it was that when it came to getting information, if threats didn't work, money always did. And using the dragons' money to get information to use against them was about the best way he could think of using it.

"First, we need to go back and get our things, though."

Yes, he had no problem with that idea. He wouldn't mind getting his bow, especially given that the guards were looking for them.

"How are we going to get back to the city?" Rhenor asked, looking the way Sigallah was located. He couldn't see it through the thick woods, but he knew it was there anyway.

"I know of a way. I'll show you when we go back." Elaya got up, tying her hair back into a ponytail. "Speaking of which—shall we?"

Under normal circumstances, Rhen would argue that this wasn't wise. But they didn't have the time to wait around forever. The sooner they found out where Kaz had been taken, the better. So he sprung to his feet, brushing his hair back and picking up his backpack, heavy with silver.

"Yes. Let's go save Kaz."