Chapter 13 #2
Baldewin paid for all their dinners, and they sent a thank you to the chef for the food before leaving. As Tori stepped out of the restaurant, Cassie surprised him by linking their arms.
“Tell me more about this masking spell of yours,” she requested, all bright-eyed curiosity. “We checked the records before I flew out here, and no one’s able to figure out what spell you were using. Is this what your clan specialized in? Glamours?”
“It’s one of our strengths,” Tori answered, not sure what to do with this overly friendly woman. Were all Americans like this? He thought they had more of a personal bubble. Cassie seemed to be the type to obliterate every personal bubble she encountered.
“Yeah? That makes more sense, then. We lost a lot of knowledge because of the war, and everything the minor clans knew how to do seems to have gotten destroyed in the backlash. Which is seriously sad, but not much we can do about it. You can teach me the spell?”
“Sure.” Tori opened the hotel door for them, stealing a glance at her. Was she seriously intimating…? “You’ll help me make them?”
“Absolutely.” Punching a fist into the air, she sing-songed, “Craft night, baby! But let’s do something about your hands, first. Baldewin texted, said you’ve got some nasty road rash on your palms. I brought the awesomesauce to deal with it.”
Tori darted a look over his shoulder. He’d used Baldewin’s phone to text what elements he’d like to have on hand, but a salve for his palms hadn’t been on the list. Just when had Baldewin snuck that message in?
Baldewin caught his look and winked at him.
Oh dear, and there went his heart again. Tori was quickly falling into danger, here. Baldewin wasn’t even trying to seduce him, and he was melting by degrees. Just what would happen if Baldewin decided to pull out all the stops?
Tori’s willpower would vanish in a puff of smoke, that’s what would happen.
His companion caught the look, and whispered as she dragged him up the stairs, “And do tell me how you two ended up locking lips. Because wow, was that hot.” With her free hand, she made a show of fanning herself.
His face was back to burning. “That sort of just happened.”
“Yeah? And you want it to happen again.”
Tori made a snap decision to roll with it. Might as well. Cassie was obviously the type to tease. “Have you looked at him? I’m not dead; of course I want to climb him.”
Cassie threw her head back on a laugh. “I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine. Let’s settle on my bed. We can talk magic and sexy dragons.”
“You know, that’s probably the second-best offer I’ve gotten all year?”
“I don’t need to know what the best offer was.” She waggled her eyebrows in a truly ridiculous manner.
As they reached the suite, she released Tori only long enough to turn and face the trio of dragons.
She skipped over to mate and lifted up on her tiptoes to present her with the sweetest kiss.
Sasha made a grab for her, as if she intended to deepen the kiss, but Cassie quickly darted away again, as if she were half pixie.
“Nope,” she laughed with a wag of one slender finger. “Tori and I are going to have some important mage bonding time while we make the masking necklaces. No dragons allowed. You three play nice out here.”
“What will I do without my mate for sooooo long?” Sasha teased.
Cassie jutted out her bottom lip, giving a little pout. “My poor dragon. You will have to amuse yourself with tormenting Baldewin.” She laughed and spun back to Tori, ushering him into her bedroom before anyone could argue.
Closing the door behind him, they settled on her bed with the two bags of supplies she’d brought with her.
Tori went through the vials and cachets of things and felt suitably impressed.
Everything was neatly labeled—in German, granted—and packaged, and even the flight here hadn’t damaged anything.
Everything he’d requested and more was stashed in two black cases that looked much like leather tackle boxes.
“That second case is yours,” Cassie mentioned as she sat cross-legged on the bed in front of him. “When Lisette heard you had nothing on you, she about broke out into hives. Nothing worse for a mage than to be without any elements to work magic.”
“Believe me, I know.” The generous donation touched him. He trailed a hand over the case with light fingers, a little giddy. It was an incredibly nice gift to him, and expensive, to boot. The Burkhards must be very wealthy to spend money carelessly like they had with him.
Cassie unscrewed a short, glass jar and gestured for his hands, and Tori winced as Cassie removed the bandages. “Oh wow, yeah, that’s ugly. Was this because you blew up the van?”
“Yeah, that’s when it happened. Umm...about two days ago.” The thought stopped him. Had it only been two days?
Two days ago, he’d wondered if Baldewin could really be trusted and if he was ever going to find a job. Now, he was sitting with another mage in Lithuania, talking magic.
Holy shit. He’d kissed a dragon!
Several times.
And he planned to do it again.
The first touch of the potion salve was blissfully cool and soothing. He sighed in relief and watched as the rash quickly closed up, leaving new, pink skin behind.
“That seriously impressed both Baldewin and Warin, you know. That you adapted a fire spell on the fly and blew up a car engine. He told us about it later. Lisette wants to debrief you, figure out how you were taught, ’cause it’s not often that a mage can just adapt what they know like that.
People are usually a lot more rigid about their spellwork. ”
Oh, if she only knew. Tori was the black sheep because he used magic like that.
She lifted his palms in both hands, eyeing them critically.
“Yeah, better. Give that another minute, and you should be good as new.” She carefully put away the salve and turned her full attention to Tori.
She was sitting perfectly still, but she managed to give off this feeling of vibrating with excited energy.
“Alright, tell me about this spell. You said it takes will o’ the wisp, song of a nightingale, rainbow mist, and piece of a fallen star? ”
Nerves and self-doubt started to creep in again. What if he couldn’t explain this correctly so she could understand it? He couldn’t always articulate why things worked the way they did. He didn’t want her thinking he was an idiot.
But Baldewin had faith in him. He could do this. Taking a deep breath, Tori nodded. “Right. Piece of fallen star is our base. We’ll need to leave it in as raw a form as possible, so I hope you brought lots of thin wire to wrap it in.”
“Lisette had a feeling you’d need a lot, so she sent a full spool.” Cassie turned and dug it out, plopping it onto the bed. “Then what?”
“We take the rainbow mist and will o’ the wisp light, blend it together, and sing it into one layer with the song of the nightingale.
We’re trying to create a covering that we’ll coat the piece of fallen star with.
” Tori fell into explaining all the nuances, even as he sorted through the pieces of fallen star.
Most of them were a nice size, at least as big as a man’s thumb, which was perfect for their purposes.
Cassie listened attentively, asking questions, but she didn’t need anything explained twice. She readily dove in, her magic certain as she weaved the spell elements together, one layer at a time. It was a pleasure to watch her in action.
And illuminating, too, because she treated magic like Tori did. She didn’t weigh every single element, didn’t second guess or try to force everything into a box of perfection. She took the raw elements and used instinct and intent to weave the spell she needed.
And it turned out right. Every time.
Seeing her like this brought a smile to Tori’s face that lingered without his conscious will.
Watching another mage work magic like he did validated what he’d always suspected.
What Baldewin had said earlier was ringing true all over again.
His way of magic wasn’t wrong. Magic was meant to be enjoyed, not beaten to death.
For the first time ever in his life, he sat with another mage and worked magic and enjoyed absolutely every second of it.