Chapter 6
A lric drove up to Cameron’s hotel promptly at nine o’clock the next day, simply grateful that the man was willing to give him a second chance. He was going to take it a little slower this time. Move at a pace Cameron was comfortable with. He couldn’t afford to scare him off.
He touched his tie, making sure it was still perfectly in place.
He was dreadfully overdressed for the final day of the festival, but Alric didn’t possess much in the way of casual wear.
It was expected that he always appear pulled together.
A show of strength. He wanted to at least present as someone his people could have confidence in.
The summer sun was only now warming the city as the shadows were chased away. It would be a pretty day, it seemed.
Alric had a speech in his head, an apology to give, but it faltered almost immediately as he pulled up to the front of the hotel.
Cameron wasn’t sedately standing outside, oh no.
He had a leg out like a woman showing off, pulling his pants up a bare inch to show a slice of ankle.
It was such an absurd pose that Alric stared for a full second, befuddled, before bursting out laughing.
Cameron waggled his eyebrows in an outrageous manner as Alric pulled up and stopped. He opened the door, leaning around the side to give Alric an outrageous eyebrow waggle again. “You couldn’t help but stop for that sexy ankle, am I right?”
Alric’s helpless laughter continued. “Absolutely. The sexiness of your ankle did me in. A siren’s call too hard to resist.”
“I’ve got exceptional ankles, I know. I don’t unleash them on men often. Causes too many car accidents.” He hopped into the car, a smile on his face as if he knew he’d broken the ice and was smug about it.
Alric was so relieved at Cameron’s teasing he could have wept.
Far too many hopes rested on Cameron, and their connection was far too tenuous to put much weight upon.
Seeing him here, smiling, after he’d stormed out yesterday allayed his fears.
Still, he felt the urge to clear the air, too.
Not just leave things unspoken and swept under the rug.
“About yesterday, I’m sorry things did not proceed how you’d likely hoped.
I was too focused on discerning what you do know and what you didn’t, and failed to consider your own reaction to it all.
I genuinely enjoyed spending the day with you, and would like very much to repeat it.
If you wish, we can return to the castle for that tour.
No talk of dragons or mages. Just you and me walking around the castle.
Or Baldewin if you’d rather talk with him.
Ravi can also be quite fun once you get used to him. ”
Cameron stared at him for a second and then looked around them as if making sure no one was close enough to overhear him before he leaned close to say, “You’re not very bossy for a king. I thought kings were bossy.”
Alric sat startled for a second. All his grumbly thoughts about not wanting to share him with Baldewin or Ravi were completely forgotten.
His dragon peeked its head up, intrigued by Cameron’s words.
He wasn’t criticizing. No, that was clear with the playful smile on his lips. Cameron was teasing him.
Leaning in close so that his lips were just an inch from Cameron’s ear, Alric whispered, “I can be as bossy as you want me to be.”
Pulling back on a gasp, Cameron looked at him, his cheeks flushing beautifully before he started to laugh. Just maybe Alric had been forgiven.
As his laughter died away, Cameron shook his head. “No, I want to stay at the festival today.” Cameron ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back off his forehead. “Yesterday…I’m sorry I lost my temper. I shouldn’t have. You’re just looking out for your people.”
“Thank you for giving me another chance. It might not seem like it, but I’m looking out for you too. I truly believe you are a mage. I think you’d enjoy learning magic, and as my advisor has pointed out to me on more than one occasion, finding your mate greatly improves your happiness.”
Cameron waved his hands at Alric and a nervous little laugh left his parted lips. “Let’s skip the mate talk for the moment. We can keep it to dragons and mages for now.”
“I think we can manage that.” He pulled the car around to the parking lot near the hotel, as that was the safest place to leave it with the festival going on. They got out there, locking the car with a click of the fob. “What would you like to see today?”
Cameron shrugged. “Let’s just wander the festival for now, peek in the artists’ stalls. I should get something for my sister since she’s upset that she’s not here meeting the dragons.”
“Your sister would be very welcome to visit Burkhard castle anytime she wishes,” Alric said smoothly.
Alric started them down the block toward the heart of the festival thoroughfare.
The foot traffic on the sidewalks was still relatively light, and most of it appeared to be families with young children.
Walking beside him, Cameron bumped him with his elbow and smirked. “Uh-huh. I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that you think my sister and I are mages.”
Alric tried to give his best innocent look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s just a nice, neighborly offer as your friend.”
Cameron cackled, the sound bouncing off the buildings around them. “First you offer to be bossy, and now you’re neighborly.”
Alric grinned at him, purposefully bumping him with his arm. “I’m trying to be charming, so you’ll forgive me for yesterday’s debacle. Is it working?”
Groaning, Cameron held up both of his hands as if in supplication. “No, not a charming Alric. I can’t handle it,” he pleaded between giggles. “You’re forgiven. Just turn off the charm.”
A bit of smugness swelled in Alric’s chest. He liked making Cameron smile.
It was satisfying, for some reason. He wanted to keep Cameron laughing all day.
However, he suspected it wouldn’t get him any closer to the young mage staying with them.
To accomplish that, he needed Cameron to become invested in his lost heritage.
And that meant talking about the very things that had upset him so much the previous day.
“It’s good to know that I have a secret weapon should I need it,” Alric murmured.
He directed Cameron down another street, leading them to the main square for the festival with rows of vendor stalls.
A stage was set up at the far end for local bands and performers, but it was still empty at the early hour.
Colorful pennants flapped in the breeze that carried wonderful scents of coffee and cinnamon.
“I don’t think the world could handle a charming Alric,” Cameron said with a sly smile. He breathed deeply and sighed. “But if you want a secret weapon, all you need to do is feed me. I smell sugar, yeast, cinnamon, and coffee, and I want all of that.”
“Then you shall have all of that.” He placed a hand carefully against Cameron’s lower back, guiding him forward toward the food vendors.
“Maybe you’re wrong about the mage thing. Maybe I’m a dragon,” Cameron said.
“Really? Why do you think that?”
“Because I am endlessly hungry, and I figure I’m trying to fill a dragon-sized stomach.”
Alric huffed a laugh. “I’ll have you know that our appetites are generally human-sized.
Except for Baldewin. I’ve seen him inhale enough food for three men while seated at a banquet.
And Gunter. He gets caught up with his research and forgets to eat unless someone reminds him.
Even then, he picks at food like a bird. ”
“Gunter?”
“The royal historian. He makes chronicles of our history, but also conducts research into our past and tries to uncover knowledge that will help us find our lost mage clans.”
Cameron stopped walking, a small frown on his lips. “Royal historian. And Ravi is?”
“Ravi is a member of the royal guard.”
“And you’re king,” Cameron said, his voice dropping closer to a whisper.
“Yes.”
Cameron glanced around them. There were more people streaming around them, but they stood undisturbed like a large rock in the middle of a forest brook. “But no one is staring or whispering or even taking pictures when they see you. No one knows. Why? Why doesn’t anyone know dragons still exist?”
An old pain throbbed to life in Alric’s chest as his eyes strayed away from the man in front of him to the people passing them by, blissfully ignorant that the very thing they celebrated stood among them. But they weren’t really celebrating dragons. Just the end of them.
It had been a relatively easy decision at the end of the war. One of the few things he and Rodrigo, king of the Ice Clan, agreed on.
“We decided it was better for our kind to be forgotten,” Alric started.
“We tried to keep the fighting away from human settlements and cities, but it wasn’t easy.
Magic can wreak horrible devastation, and dragons…
well, we’re not particularly small by any means.
Countless humans lost their lives in a war that had nothing to do with them.
When it was over, we thought it safer for humans if we stayed away from them as much as we could and let them think we were gone.
This festival is a celebration of the end of our war. A celebration of our disappearance.”