Chapter 7
“You could have fucking told me that the Jaeggi are the ones kidnapping mages!” Tori snapped as he put a key into the lock on his motel door.
Baldewin did feel a little contrite about that, but in his defense, how was he to know that Tori would stumble across them soon? “I couldn’t tell you in that setting. You were so sure the Jaeggi were allies. How would it have sounded if I pointed a finger at them, claiming them as the enemy?”
Tori stopped with his door only partially opened, and glared over his shoulder at Baldewin.
He seemed unwilling to admit Baldewin had a valid point.
“Fine. Fine, alright, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.
Next time, give me the heads-up anyway. Before I go chatting with would-be-kidnappers like a fucking idiot. ”
“Cross my heart,” Baldewin promised solemnly.
Tori looked only slightly mollified as he pushed the door open with more violence than necessary and stalked through. Baldewin immediately followed him, Warin at his heels, but he barely had a foot inside before his nose revolted.
It smelled musty in here, as if the ventilation hadn’t worked properly since the building was built (likely the case), and nothing got particularly well cleaned in between visitors (also likely the case.) Tori flopped down on the edge of a twin bed and gestured them to the other.
Baldewin sat, more than a little gingerly, although Warin didn’t seem to find an issue. He flopped down, leaning forward.
“You see now why we’re so anxious for your sake?” Warin waved a hand to indicate the world outside the room. “We’re not set up for long-term protection. Baldewin and I came out here just to meet you, invite you into the clan, and provide a safe escort. Not to serve as a protection detail.”
Tori groaned, looking visibly torn. “But what do they want? I mean, I’m from an allied clan. I should be the last person they try to kidnap! What is their goal?”
“I told you the truth when I said we don’t know.” The words were sour in Baldewin’s mouth. “We’ve tried investigating but have little to work from. They’ve been entirely too good at keeping their tracks covered.”
“But you’re sure they’re kidnapping mages, so that means you’ve run into them before, right? You mentioned them grabbing the king’s mate, but anyone else?”
“Ja, Cassie. She’s Cameron’s twin.”
Tori blinked at him. “A twin, huh. Just those two?”
Baldewin exchanged a weighted glance with Warin, not sure how to answer that question.
But Warin seemed to think complete honesty was best with Tori, as he responded forthrightly, “We don’t know for sure.
Cameron was the first mage we’d seen in almost five hundred years.
In fact, you’re one of the handful of mages we’ve found since the war ended. ”
Tori’s clear grey eyes widened, and his jaw slowly dropped. “That can’t be right. There are hundreds of mage clans! I know magic isn’t as common as it used to be—”
This would bring up a whole other argument, but Baldewin didn’t see any way around it.
“Magic almost died because of the Jaeggi. They enacted a spell that traced all the main mage clans and destroyed them in one fell swoop. Only the smaller clans, like yours, have survived. They mostly went into hiding, and some did such a thorough job of it that they lost their legacy altogether. We had to tell Cameron and Cassie they were mages, that’s how much of their heritage had been lost.”
Tori looked between the two of them, brows drawn. “Wait. That’s it. That’s why you’re campaigning so hard to take me back. Because you have no mages.”
“Basically the case,” Warin admitted. “Any mage we find these days, we protect automatically. You’re far more precious than you realize, Nestori.”
“Oh hell. It makes so much more sense now.” A bitter laugh escaped him. “Even a male mage has some value to you, eh. Even one with no magical talent.”
Baldewin didn’t want to use this as an in-road to convince the mage to come with them, but his unease was strong.
He didn’t like sitting here in this dank room.
He didn’t like being away from his clan’s defenses when the Jaeggi were swarming like sharks scenting blood.
And he truly didn’t want to stay here another minute longer.
“No, that’s not the only reason. I told you, we don’t care about gender.
You are a mage. That’s all that matters to us.
All mages are precious to this world, whether you are mated to a dragon or not.
Whether you are a magical prodigy or not.
Mages represent a beauty and wonder that has been lost from this world for far too long.
Your existence, your gifts, make this world a better place.
And it is the duty and honor of every living dragon to protect every mage he finds.
Even if you refuse to ever come to our clan, it is my honor to protect your life. ”
Tori stared at him, his lips slightly parted in surprise. He wasn’t sure if Tori believed him, but at least he was listening.
“Shit,” Tori sighed, running a hand through his short hair, only to wince and jerk it away.
Baldewin got a good look at his palms and realized he was scraped up and lightly bleeding.
Swearing, he immediately left the bed and knelt in front of Tori, capturing his hand to examine it.
The mage flinched, and Baldewin immediately lightened his grip, making sure Tori felt free to pull completely away.
The injuries weren’t bad. Road rash. No doubt from where he’d been thrown against the pavement following the explosion. It wasn’t just his palms, but one of his knees, too. He could make out a blood stain on the left leg of his jeans.
Tori squirmed. “Stop. I’m fine. It’ll heal.”
“It needs tending, and there’s nothing here to aid with that.” The idea of having open wounds, no matter how minor, in this room made Baldewin shudder. That was just asking for an infection.
Baldewin’s heart couldn’t take much more.
It had stopped when he saw the explosion, and he might have lost his temper a bit when it came to taking out those Jaeggi.
He was just coming back to his senses, but the mage was injured.
A mage under his protection was hurt. Frustration and a deeper ache echoed in his chest. He’d failed to keep Tori safe.
The mage had already suffered so much. He needed to fix this.
“We need to take you out of here,” Warin said firmly.
Tori shook his head. “I’m glad you guys stepped in and helped earlier. Truly, I am. That doesn’t mean I’ve agreed to go with you.”
Stubborn, stubborn man. Baldewin wanted to scream. He bit it back and spoke rationally, calmly. “You do not owe us for that. I’m simply asking you. For tonight, please, come out of this room and stay in our hotel. I’ll get you another room, separate from us. You needn’t stay in the same room.”
Warin pitched in, “You gave them your name earlier, correct? On the train? They can use that to track you down here. You need to shift to another place where you’re more anonymous.”
“But won’t they be able to track both of you down by name?”
“We’ll change hotels as well. Warin can gather our bags and meet us somewhere else.
If I have Cassie make the reservation, it will be under her name, harder to track.
We can continue the conversation about whether you’ll go with us or not there, but we need to move out of here. This place isn’t good for your health.”
Still, Tori visibly hesitated.
Baldewin’s frustration pulsed like a live wire within him. It didn’t help that his dragon had also chosen this moment to lift its head and grumble with displeasure. The beast was demanding that he simply pick up Tori and take him somewhere safe.
For a moment, the words scrambled in his head, and he couldn’t remember the right word for ‘please’ in this language.
He defaulted to German and hoped that his posture, still kneeling at Tori’s feet, and his tone, would be enough to get the point across.
“Bitte. Tori, bitte, let me bring you out of here. Care for you.”
Tori’s head dropped for a moment, and he seemed to be thinking hard. Slowly, he nodded. “Fine. Fine, let’s go for now. You’re right about this place not being safe.”
“Dankeschon,” Baldewin murmured in relief. “I’ll help you pack quickly. Warin?”
“I’ll head over to the hotel, call Cassie on the way.” Warin stood, already palming his phone. “Should I stop by a pharmacy as well?”
“No, we’ll do that.”
Tori had his mouth open on a retort, only to swallow it back and sigh as if he realized the futility of the argument. It was just as well. Baldewin disliked arguing as a rule, but he’d do it in this case.
It took barely five minutes to pull together what little Tori had.
Two sets of clothes—which explained why Baldewin kept seeing him in the same outfits over and over—some toiletries, and the guitar Tori carried nearly every time Baldewin had seen him.
The instrument intrigued Baldewin, a music lover himself, and he hoped to use it as an opening to ease them into a better conversation later.
By the time they left the room and returned to the rental car outside, Baldewin’s phone pinged with an incoming message.
It was from Cassie and simply read, Check your email.
He started up the car first, getting a little heat going as the air was colder now that they were approaching evening, and he was worried for Tori’s sake. The man didn’t even own a jacket.
Tori immediately shut the heat back off.
Baldewin glanced at him with a frown. “You’re not cold? It’s a touch chilly tonight.”
It was his turn to get an odd look. “This isn’t cold. It’s actually quite pleasant.”
“You really don’t find it cold at all?”
“No, the weather’s perfect tonight. Ha! You Germans, you have no blood in you. It has to be -5 Celsius before we stop barbecuing for the winter.”
“I know Finland never gets warm—” Baldewin started dryly.
“It gets plenty warm for us,” Tori negated, smile saccharine sweet.