Sure enough, as if the world wanted to test his limits, even the small grace Kael had been holding onto was eventually taken from him.
"...What?!" Riley blurted out, his voice pitching up in disbelief.
The golden dragon didn't answer right away. He only gave a faint nod, slow and deliberate, before turning his gaze toward the window.
Outside, the rain had started to fall, thin streaks sliding down the glass like silver threads.
"At least it was just rain this time," Kael said quietly. "Before that… it was far worse."
Riley was suddenly worried. The man before him was starting to look a little too pale.
Kael's expression barely shifted, but the weight behind his words made the air grow still.
"Even now, we still don't know what happened," he said. "But a few decades before I became dragon lord, I woke up with an unprecedented fever. They said I'd gone mad. Cold sweat, fire in my veins, clawing at my own chest. Apparently, I frightened the entire estate."
