Caelan twisted to face Rayne, his head tilted and his eyes urging for Rayne to say something that would get Mio to help them.
“Lady Mio, would you be able to direct us to the leader of your people? We need to meet with them and discuss our reason for being on your island. Do you have maybe a king or an emperor? A prime minister, perhaps?” Rayne inquired.
She stared at Rayne, her lips pursed tightly together as if she were weighing his words. “Clan Takahashi is the most powerful clan right now. All the other clans bow to them. Takahashi Masaru is the head of the clan. You would need to speak to him.” Her nose wrinkled again in displeasure and her upper lip curled. “Good luck talking to that old grump. You’re certainly not going to get two words with him this late at night. You’ll need to present yourselves at his manor at a reasonable hour and hope that he invites you for a meeting, which could take a day or it could be never.”
“Guys, while this is interesting and all, we need to set up a camp and get a fire going,” Eno interjected. “We stand out here much longer in these wet clothes, and Caelan is going to freeze to death.”
Rayne frowned. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, Eno was right. They needed to focus on their more basic needs, and those did not include trying to pull information out of Mio.
He turned on his flashlight and cast it about the immediate area. They had moved to the back edge of the beach to speak with Mio. Where they were standing offered only sand from the water to where they stood. Beyond them was a thick tangle of green-and-brown brush that his light could not penetrate. Setting up a tent on the sand was not ideal, but neither was tromping through such thick brush at night.
But it did raise the question of how Mio had reached them so easily. Was there a path through the growth that he couldn’t see? Or had she simply flown in as a dragon when their attention was on pulling the boat ashore and watching the battle out in the ocean?
To his surprise, Mio dropped her head to one shoulder and let out a long, low groan as if they’d done something to cause her immense pain.
“Fine. I’ll take you into town. I’ve got some room in my house. You can warm up and sleep there tonight.” She glared at each of them for a second before tacking on, “Maybe some food too.” She stopped and pointed at them. “But if you anger someone, you will be eaten and that’s not my problem. You’re not my responsibility.”
Caelan inclined his head to her. “We would be incredibly grateful for any help you can give us.” Rayne and his companions followed suit, bowing a little deeper to her.
Mio sniffed. “Naturally.”
Rayne barely held his smile. He suspected the young woman was as curious about them as they were about her and the rest of her people. She looked to be about the same age as Drayce, who had told them he was twenty-three. But then, Drayce was also a dragon and Rayne hadn’t a clue as to whether that number was correct or a lie.
Lifting up the hem of her robe, Mio turned and started leading the way down the beach toward a black opening within the twisting trees and vines. With all their flashlights reaching around the figure, they could see a clear path that turned from sand to dirt. It was as if a tunnel had been formed in the vegetation leading away from the beach and deeper into the island.
Rayne was searching for something to ask Mio when Adrian spoke up.
“Mio, are you a dragon?”
She whirled suddenly on him, her blue robe flaring out like a cape. She charged him and rose up on the tips of her toes and still the top of her head barely reached his nose. Her eyes were wide and her entire body was trembling as she said, “We’re all dragons here. Everyone, everyone is a dragon here.”
There was so much emotion and hidden depth to those simple words, but now was not the time to try to parse it out. They couldn’t risk upsetting the one person they’d managed to win assistance from.
Thankfully, Adrian had enough brains to try to dig himself out of the hole he’d created with his careless words. He immediately took a large step back and bowed deeply to the woman, his hands clasped to his sides. “Forgive me. I meant no insult to your people.”
The sudden anger that twisted up Mio’s handsome features fled in the force of her shock. She rocked to her heels, her eyes darting from Adrian to the rest of them as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. Her mouth bobbed open and then closed, not a sound coming out on the first try at least.