Chapter 7
C ameron tipped his head back on the chair and breathed.
Just breathed. God, what a whirlwind of a day.
Baldewin had shown him into this room, and then less than subtly dropped the info bomb that he just happened to be in the same hallway as Alric’s bedroom.
Not that Cameron wanted to think about that. For now, he was resting and unwinding.
It was a beautiful room, tamer than most of the castle, as it didn’t have gold filigree on the walls or the huge murals.
A few tasteful seascapes, a thick rug on the floor, and a picture window facing outwards that let him see the full breadth of the mountains.
The view especially helped, more than the tumbler of whiskey in his hands.
He felt strangely exhausted by it all, emotionally drained after the intense scare, the adrenaline rush, and the worry over Alric.
It warmed him that Alric had dove in immediately to his aid, not thinking anything of his own safety in order to rescue Cameron. As much as Cameron hated seeing him hurt, it was beyond flattering that Alric thought so much of him that he’d jumped straight in.
But why was someone after Cameron to begin with?
He needed to talk this through. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he Facetimed Cassie. It wasn’t until he started the call that he remembered the time difference. Oh hell, she was probably asleep right now.
Before he could hang up, Cassie answered with a groggy, “ Whazzit ?”
“Sorry, Cass. I forgot the time difference. I’ll call you again later.”
“ Yeah, cool—wait, what’s wrong ? You look like someone tap-danced on your grave. ”
“Heh. Not a bad overall description.” Cameron ran a hand over his face. He shouldn’t have called her. Now she’d just be worried. Why didn’t he think of that? “Sorry, I’m alright, it’s just that something weird happened earlier.”
“ Good weird ? Bad weird ? Magic weird ?”
“Bad weird. I was out with Alric—”
“ Wait, hot dragon king Alric ?”
“Only one Alric, sis, focus. So I was out with him at the festival. I have a lot of questions still, and he agreed to talk with me there. He went to stand in line for food, and then bam! Four guys appear out of nowhere and grab me.”
Cassie’s voice rose to crescendo heights, expression incredulous. “ YOU WERE ALMOST KIDNAPPED ?!”
“Stop yelling,” he pleaded. “I’ve got a low-grade headache as it is.
Yeah, almost. I put up a fight, Alric heard me and came immediately to help.
We fought them off, they bailed and drove off in a van.
They were using magic to try and blind me, kind of like a flash grenade.
Let me tell you, very weird to see magic in action.
I felt like I was on a CGI set for some urban fantasy movie.
I barely ducked that one before they threw another spell at Alric, which he thankfully dodged, as it was kind of like an acid attack.
Acid! They were going to melt him! Seriously, bad news.
Sis, it was weird. Alric doesn’t know who they are. ”
Cassie frowned fiercely, her eyes focusing on the air just past the phone.
She was in comfortable sleep clothes, a loose shirt revealing one shoulder, blue hair sticking out on one side.
She’d definitely been fast asleep. He glanced at the time on his phone and winced.
It would be about four a.m. on the East Coast.
“ Cam. Where are you now ?”
“Their castle. Alric gave me the choice between guards at my hotel or coming here. I chose here.”
“ Safer, yeah. I don’t imagine many people will beard a dragon in their own castle. Is he investigating ?”
“The whole clan might be. They’re pretty upset, mostly about Alric getting hurt protecting me.”
“ How bad is he ?”
“Not bad. Baldewin said something to Alric in German, so I caught none of it. Alric shut him up pretty quickly. I gathered he was more hurt than he let on. I think he’s got some kind of old injury? I’ve seen hints of it. Anyway, their mage Lisette is seeing to him right now.”
Cassie’s brows twisted together. “ He has an injury despite magic ?”
“Yeah, magic isn’t the cure-all you’d think it is.
His injury is not obvious, if that’s what you’re wondering.
You can see the trace of a scar on his left hand, but that’s about all I’ve noticed.
And the man can move like lightning when the situation calls for it.
” At a cost. Alric’s three bodyguards now made more sense.
If their king wasn’t fighting-fit, then of course they’d have bodyguards assigned to him.
“ So…what are you going to do ? Come home ?”
“No.” The answer was instinctive, and it wasn’t until she asked that Cameron realized he’d already made up his mind.
Cassie’s head tipped, her expression intense. “ Really .”
“Cass, I’m…god, this is hard to put into words.
But I feel like I’ve just stepped through one of those magical portals you see in books and movies.
I’m literally there, on the edge of wonder and enchantment.
But because I’ve stepped through it, I can not only see everything on the other side, but everything there can see me .
It’s a dual-edged sword. I can’t take it back now, either. It’s too late for that.”
“ You’re pretty sure the guys that tried to grab you did it because you’re of the Noh Clan, aren’t you ?”
“Well, let’s add this up, shall we? I’m ignored for twenty-three years, then I meet the Fire Dragon Clan.
Fire Dragon Clan discovers I’m from magical family.
I smell like magic. All within the space of three days, and for the first time in my life, someone tries to kidnap me. Coincidence? I think not.”
“ Laid out like that, I see your point .” Her lips pursed.
“Be safe and keep your guard up, okay? I think life just took a plot twist.”
“ About freaking time. I was getting bored. ” She pointed a stern finger at him. “Be safe, stick with the dragons, and don’t get kidnapped. ”
Cameron gave her a sloppy salute. “Will do.”
With the call ended, he set the phone aside and let his head drop back again. He did feel a little better after talking with his sister. Food needed to happen, though. His stomach was rumbling petulantly.
There was a light knock at the door. Turning his head, he called, “Enter!”
A white-haired woman named Lisette stepped through with a covered tray, a hopeful expression on her face. “How are you?”
“I’m alright.”
He’d met Lisette very briefly when they came in, but her focus had been on helping Alric. He’d barely gotten more than her name before Baldewin was ushering him away to this room while Alric was shooed in the opposite direction under the woman’s watchful eye. “Alric?”
“Will be fine. He’s resting at the moment. His old wound never healed right, and if he over-exerts himself, this happens.”
Cameron felt a little guilty. But he was glad to hear Alric was fine, or would be.
Lisette strode in, the hem of her green skirt swirling around her as she moved. She put the tray on the little round table near his chair, but her crystal blue eyes remained largely on him. “I’ve brought you Kartoffelpuffer.”
One deep breath was all it took for his taste buds to send up signal flags. That. Yes please. “It smells amazing, but I don’t know what that is.”
“Potato pancakes,” she translated with a smile, lifting off the cover. “I thought some comfort food might be in order.”
“God, yes, and thank you.” Cameron dug in with a sigh of bliss. They were warm and perfect on his tongue, with lovely flavor. He could eat his weight in these. “Please tell me you live off these here.”
“Some dragons try.”
Lisette turned to sit in the other wingback chair. She had a slight smile on her face that still somehow hinted at calculation. “Well, young mage. You’ve had quite the day.”
Cameron’s mouth was full, so he couldn’t protest her descriptor, but he frowned at her. It was a frown that relayed disapproval. And frustration. And many other things because he could frown with the best of them. He’d learned it at his father’s knee.
The frown did not have its desired effect.
She smiled in return, as if he’d said something particularly amusing.
“I think you’re under the wrong impression about magic.
Many are if they don’t grow up around people who actually practice it.
It’s not a matter of waving your wand, speaking a spell, and poof! Things happen.”
Cameron felt his brain grind to a halt. Swallowing, he demanded, “Wait, that’s not how it works?”
“No, no. Perish the thought. Books and movies often make it sound as if you have a well of magical energy in you, and with the right talent and intent, magic will leap to obey you. But really, most mages have very little magical power to call their own. We have the talent, certainly, but our magical core is more like a conduit.”
“Like the grounding wire to a battery?” he asked slowly, wrapping his head around this new information. Alric had mentioned something about this too. He hadn’t elaborated on it much, though.
“Something like that. Although, we channel power.” She crossed her legs, hands resting on a slim book in her lap as if they had all the time in the world to discuss this.
“Mages actually require quite a bit in order to do any working. I’m sure you’ve wondered why mages were always willing to partner with a dragon? ”
“It did cross my mind. Alric said something about it, but he didn’t really elaborate.”
“I imagine he, as a dragon, doesn’t really understand it well enough to explain. But you see, when a mage forms a bond with a dragon, we gain access to all of their magical power. It’s readily at our use, and it boosts our own abilities by at least fifty percent.”
Cameron did and didn’t follow this. “So…you have to have something magically powerful to work with?”