Chapter 11
Baldewin groaned softly as he tried to get into a more comfortable position in the car.
Things hurt. Many, many things hurt. Of course, his dragon was making it all worse, starting with his headache, as the creature raged inside of him, demanding to be set free so it could destroy any and all Jaeggi who dared to come near Tori.
Not that Tori had needed his help or his dragon’s. The mage had done just fine taking care of the trap and the Jaeggi. He should have been thrilled about their kisses, but they didn’t count. Baldewin had felt only the faintest brush of Tori’s lips, just enough to leave behind the sweetest tingle.
And then the mage had saved their lives when it should have been him and Warin keeping him safe.
“Baldewin? Baldewin, are you alright?” Tori demanded, pulling him out of his dark, angry thoughts.
“Yes, I’m fine. Muscles are a little sore, and my head is pounding, but I’m fine,” Baldewin murmured. “Warin?”
The other dragon swore loudly in German from the backseat for a moment before finally giving a grumbled, “Okay.”
They did not like being caught unaware. How could they have missed the damn booby trap on the car?
It wasn’t as if they were inexperienced children.
They’d protected Cameron and Alric on numerous occasions.
They’d protected all the mages of the castle with little trouble.
This…this was sloppy. He knew better. He was letting himself get distracted by Tori, and it was going to be the mage who paid for his lack of dedication to his job.
“Stop it!” Tori snapped.
Baldewin blinked and looked up to find Tori glancing sternly over at him before directing his gaze back at the road. “I can hear your brooding over there. This wasn’t your fault.”
“We should have sensed the spell or at least smelled it,” Warin countered, proving that the dragon’s thoughts were running parallel to Baldewin’s.
Tori’s fingers clenched the wheel a little tighter. His whole body appeared to be one tense muscle. “Maybe not. It was a trap, and pretty well camouflaged from what I saw of it.”
“It’s our job to keep you safe,” Baldewin added.
“Yeah, and shit happens. That’s an American saying, right? Shit happens? I always liked that one because in my life, a lot of shit happens. You’ve got to keep moving forward. You know why?”
“Why?” Baldewin asked, suddenly entranced by the mage’s energetic speech.
“If you don’t, you’re just left sitting there in a pile of shit. Who wants that?”
Warin snorted from the backseat, and Baldewin had to huff a laugh as well. Especially when Tori flashed him a wide grin that appeared way too infrequently.
“You may have a point,” Baldewin conceded.
“Finally. You admit I’m right,” Tori teased.
“Enjoy it. He doesn’t even like to admit to our king when he was right and Baldewin was wrong,” Warin called out.
“Only because I am rarely wrong.”
“Whatever,” Tori said playfully. His fingers relaxed a little on the steering wheel, and he slumped in his seat.
The smile was gone, replaced with a thoughtful frown.
“We need to figure out our next step. I have no idea where I’m going, and those bastards found us too quickly after we left them in Helsinki.
I am running really low on ingredients, and I don’t think they are going to give me a chance to ward like that again.
We need more fire power or maybe a way to better hide ourselves. ”
“We need to report in. Tell Alric what happened.” With another groan as muscles resisted the sudden movement, Baldewin pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“Will he be pissed at us?”
“What?” Baldewin’s head jerked up, and the throbbing was forgotten in the face of worry scrawled across Tori’s features. “No, of course not. He’s only worried about our safety. That is and always will be the king’s first concern.”
“Okay,” Tori whispered, but the tension was back in his shoulders, pulling the lean muscles taut under his T-shirt.
Baldewin quickly pushed the entry for Alric’s private phone, knowing at this time of day the king would most likely be in his office, possibly even in meetings with Dieter. The more brains they could get on this problem, the better.
“Baldewin, we were just talking about you,” Alric said cheerfully. “How goes your progress? Your last text stated you were staying in Riga.”
“We’ve run into some more trouble with the Jaeggi, Hoheit. We are all well and safe. I want to put you on speaker so Tori can hear you. You will need to switch to Finnish.”
“Do it.”
Baldewin lowered the phone from his ear and pressed the button on the screen. “Warin, Tori, and I can all hear you, Hoheit.”
“Hello, Tori,” Alric smoothly greeted. “I’m sorry we have to speak for the first time under these circumstances. And I also apologize for my rough Finnish. I am rusty and have been practicing recently for your arrival. I had hoped to be better when we spoke for the first time.”
Tori flashed wide, panicked eyes at Baldewin, who chuckled. The poor guy already looked overwhelmed, but then, it wasn’t every day a person spoke to the king of the Fire Dragons for the first time.
“Tori greatly appreciates your efforts, Hoheit,” Baldewin offered smoothly. “Is anyone with you at the moment?”
“Dieter is with me,” Alric replied.
“A pleasure to speak with you, Mr. Taavi,” Dieter greeted in clean, clear Finnish. Of course the old dragon was fluent. There were probably very few languages Dieter didn’t speak at this point.
“Is there anyone else I should summon for this meeting?” Alric interjected.
“Maybe Lisette. Let me lay out the situation for you as it stands right now.” Baldewin quickly recapped the booby trap they’d found on the car, the attack, and even the impressive defensive spell Tori used to defeat the Jaeggi before they ran out of Riga like all the hounds of Hell were on their heels.
“I’m glad you’re all safe,” Alric murmured. The king sounded distracted, as if he were already turning over options to get them all safely and quickly back to Sonthofen and Burkhard Castle. “I know this option was rejected earlier, but it remains our best choice. If you could fly—”
“Nope,” Tori said loudly.
“It’s the safest option and would get you here in a matter of hours so we can properly protect you. You need more than two dragons with you right now. Flying really is the safest choice.”
“Nope. We’re just gonna nope right out of that option and move on to option number two that does not require my feet to leave the ground,” Tori said firmly. Baldewin was failing miserably to control his goofy grin. Clearly Tori had recovered from his inability to speak to a king with great aplomb.
“I’m not asking that you fly via dragon. I am more than happy to charter a private jet that will bring you to a small airfield not far from Sonthofen. From there, we can properly escort you to the castle,” Alric calmly argued. The man clearly did not understand how much Tori did not like flying.
“Whether on a dragon or in a plane, it all still counts as flying, and I am not flying. Try again,” Tori countered.
The line went silent for a moment except for a muffled sound that Baldewin was willing to guess was a barely covered laugh from Dieter.
He could easily imagine Alric’s stubborn glare at the phone as he sat at his desk.
His Hoheit did not like to be deterred from the course of action he preferred, but he was a resourceful man.
“If I cannot get you on a plane or a dragon, then I must send more dragons in your direction. I will have an entire army flanking you at all times, if I must. You will arrive at Burkhard Castle unharmed.”
Tori’s eyes widened so much they were in danger of rolling out of his head. “Is he serious?” he demanded in a breathy whisper.
“I am very serious, mage,” Alric answered before Baldewin could, proving his hearing was as sharp as ever.
The entire morning had been filled with surreal events stretching from the booby trap on the car, the attack, the kisses with Baldewin—which weren’t real kisses no matter how much part of him really wanted them to be—to this entire conversation with a freaking king.
Yep, Tori had to be dreaming. He hadn’t crawled out of the ridiculously comfortable bed yet. He was curled up in a mound of pillows and soft blankets.
Then why the hell couldn’t he be having a fun dream about a naked Baldewin?
A horn honked, and Tori looked back to the road in time to jerk the wheel, pulling the car from the center line and away from the massive truck that had been barreling down on them.
Okay. Not a dream. Or nightmare. He was really awake, driving a car and talking to the king of the Fire Dragons. He needed to focus if he was going to help get them somewhere safe before another gaggle of Jaeggi mages located them.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m ready for an entire squadron of dragons to descend on me,” he managed.
He might have adjusted to having Warin and Baldewin around, and he might be heading to an entire castle filled with them, but he didn’t want to be surrounded by strange dragons sooner than absolutely necessary.
Most of the time, he could forget that Baldewin and Warin were dragons. They were just a nice pair of guys he was hanging out with during an international road trip. There would be no forgetting it if he suddenly picked up a dozen new bodyguards.
“Remember, Hoheit, it wasn’t that long ago that Tori was under the belief dragons were evil betrayers. It takes a while to adjust that mindset after hearing it your entire life,” Baldewin murmured.
Tori opened his mouth to apologize, but Alric was already speaking.
“Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry I didn’t consider that, Tori. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or more threatened than you already do. My only concern is your safety.”
And Tori believed him. He’d never met the dragon, but there was an earnest quality to his voice that left Tori convinced he actually cared about his well-being. It didn’t hurt that Baldewin trusted him so completely, and Tori found himself trusting Baldewin’s judgment.