Chapter 10
“Y ou studied engineering in the United States?” Warin asked with interest. “That’s interesting. I don’t think we’ve ever had a mage who studied anything but magic.”
Cameron gave a noncommittal shrug, as he had no ready response to that.
Warin seemed a nice enough guy. He was definitely good looking, black hair in a smooth fall past his shoulders, the lines of his face masculine and chiseled.
He spoke and carried himself as if he were a relic of a time long past. Cameron kept wanting to put chainmail on him and give him a sword.
He looked strangely naked without either.
This was the fourth dragon he’d found himself sitting and talking to.
Alric had escorted him into the dining hall for dinner—and it was quite the feast with a wide selection of foods—and introduced him to several people before being pulled away.
Cameron didn’t mind since Warin seemed really nice.
The time he’d helped with the almost-kidnapping attempt, he’d been nice, at least.
The dining hall in the castle was massive. It looked like something out of one of those period movies, with the long tables stretching along the room, with a smaller and shorter table at the far end. Presumably for the reigning family.
Now knowing what he did about the history of the clan, it was sad to see so much empty space. It was at the peak of dinner hour, and yet most of this cavernous room wasn’t filled, people sitting here and there in groups. It should have been full with mages, dragons, children. Not like this.
“Someone mentioned you have a sister?” Warin asked, hope in his voice. “Will she join you here?”
“She really wants to, yeah. Her and my grandmother. They’re really excited about dragons still being alive.
And possibly having magic of their own. I know you guys are really interested in meeting my sister, but I have to warn you, she’s one hundred percent gay.
She won’t be interested in the guys that way.
Like, happy to meet you and talk, no question, just not romantically interested. ”
Warin shrugged, accepting this easily. “I think I can speak for us all when I say we want a mate. We’ve all dreamed of finding that person who’s meant for us. But we won’t begrudge a clanmate if you choose someone else instead.”
“Er…really?” People were generally more selfish than that.
A sad smile graced Warin’s face as he explained, “We’ve learned the lesson the hard way, you see.
What jealousy can beget. Our clan was decimated because of one man who let himself be consumed with it.
None of us needs a repeat. And I cannot begrudge another the happiness, in all truth.
These people are brothers and sisters to me; I know the heartbreak they weather all too keenly. ”
It was settled. Warin was the nicest guy ever. “Well, I hope you guys realize it’s not just me and my sister? I’ve got cousins, too.”
Warin’s face lit up. “Do you?”
“Three, to be precise. I’m not sure how we’ll get them over here, or if they’re magical—could be they aren’t. Who knows? But there’s more than just us.”
A weight dropped next to him on the bench, and Cameron turned his head to realize a woman he didn’t know had abruptly joined them.
“What’s this I hear about a sister and cousins?” she asked.
Warin waved a hand between them. “Cameron, this is Sasha. Sasha, Cameron. He just told me that he has a twin sister and three cousins.”
Sasha looked like a bodybuilder who could walk right into the Olympics and take the gold. Any gold. All the gold. She was beautiful, her blonde hair thick and luxurious, draped over one shoulder, eyes a stunning blue in an oval-shaped face. She also looked quite capable of snapping Cameron in half.
Right now, though, she looked as giddy as any child in a candy store. “That’s amazingly good news! I hope all of them can come.”
“My sister and grandmother hope to come, at least.” And Cassie would take one look at Sasha and climb her like a tree. Cameron decided to call it right now.
“They’ll be more than welcome. I’ll volunteer to guard them from the airport, bring them here.” Sasha nodded, already decided. “Maybe they’ll be here in time for game night. That would be an easy way to introduce your family to the clan.”
“That’s a good idea,” Warin approved heartily. To Cameron, he explained, “We do game night every two weeks. Sometimes we play hide and seek in the castle. Sometimes it’s board games. Ravi introduced PlayStations to us, so we’ve taken up LAN parties, too.”
“Alric plays DnD with his own group every Thursday,” Sasha threw in. “We have one other campaign going, I think. I don’t play myself, but isn’t Menno the DM?”
Cameron’s jaw dropped. “Get out. Your king plays DnD?”
Head canted, Sasha regarded him for a moment. “Is that how he strikes you? As serious? He can be, I suppose. He’s under a great deal of strain. But he does know how to have fun, too.”
“We haven’t seen him really smile much the past several decades,” Warin pointed out with a sigh. “He takes on too much responsibility, sometimes. He blames himself for not finding mages before this. As if he failed us by not doing so. I suppose right now, he does give off that impression.”
And then some. Cameron had seen him smile, though.
And laugh. He’d been great fun on the two times they’d been out together.
But then, that sort of made sense, in context.
Of course Alric would be in lighter spirits.
Cameron’s arrival had given him hope. Up until now, he’d likely felt he was in a dark tunnel and even the light at the end was just an oncoming train.
Everyone dealt better with a bad situation when they at least had hope to cling to.
“It’s not that he struck me as this too-serious guy,” Cameron sought to explain to them. “He was fun while hanging out with me. I guess I didn’t expect a dragon to play Dungeons and Dragons.”
“Oh.” Sasha snorted, lifting her cup to her mouth for a sip.
“Yeah, the irony of that still amuses me. Ravi was the one to bring the first edition book home, so many years ago. Took a while for it to catch on—the rules are rather intense—but people had fun playing it. I’m not sure how Alric got pulled in. ”
“Ravi,” Warin stated confidently.
“What am I being blamed for?”
Cameron tilted his head back to see the dragon standing right behind him. “Corrupting Alric with DnD.”
“Ohhh. Yeah, that was me.” Ravi plopped down in the seat next to Cameron’s, a slice of cake in his hand. “I accept blame for that. Cam, Lisette wanted me to assure you, he’s good now.”
For a second, that didn’t connect. Then Cameron spotted Alric across the room and saw him turn to speak to someone.
He displayed no sign of the pain from before, his movements far less stiff and more fluid.
Oh good, so she had taken Alric aside at some point and done something to help him.
A spell or a potion, who knew? Cameron made a mental note to ask later, as he was curious on the how-to.
It was a relief, frankly. Cameron had hated seeing Alric be in pain and yet smile as if nothing was wrong.
“Did he overdo it again?” Warin asked in dismay.
“Yeah, I think this was more a leftover of saving Cam from the kidnappers,” Ravi confided. “We’d mostly gotten the kinks worked out after that fight, but it wasn’t something to be fixed in a day.”
Cameron listened to this exchange with intense interest. “Does Alric normally overdo it?”
Sasha waffled a hand back and forth. “He’s generally sensible enough not to.
But sometimes, he gets in this weird mood where he has to prove something, or do something on his own, and he’ll reinjure himself.
Drives us all crazy. The reason he’s got four retainers is because it takes four of them to support him. ”
“Gunter doesn’t count,” Ravi denied, biting into his cake with relish. “He’s too much of a dungeon dweller. He’s only useful when Alric needs to send someone out to research.”
Cameron hadn’t met Gunter yet, only heard him referenced several times.
He’d have to find a moment to do so. Right now, he didn’t want these three sidetracked.
He was getting an entirely different view of Alric through their perspectives, and it fascinated him.
“Four retainers? I know about Baldewin, but who else?”
“Me,” Ravi lifted a hand briefly in the air.
“And Dieter, and of course Gunter. Dieter sort of inherited the position, as he was the previous king’s retainer.
He helped Alric take over the role and then just stayed.
Sometimes the only person Alric will listen to is Dieter. Alric chose the rest of us.”
“Indeed I did.” Alric came to stand at Warin’s side, looking them over with his mouth curled at the corners, indicating he was pleased to see Cameron surrounded by dragons. “Ravi I chose for his fighting prowess. You’ll discover he’s the fastest in the clan.”
“You chose me for my good looks and stunning personality too!” Ravi protested.
Alric’s eyes cut to him with such a deadpan expression Cameron snorted a laugh.
Ignoring the dragon, he continued, “I asked Baldewin because I can trust him, and we’ve known each other so long that we can anticipate how the other wants things done.
It’s turned out to be a very good decision.
Gunter, I needed his mind. That said, he’ll surprise you by how well he fights. ”
“He fights dirty,” Ravi confirmed, scraping up the last of his icing.
Sasha shuddered. “More like, he fights scary. You never know what strange move he’ll use to attack with. I swear he lies awake at night, thinking of how to be more efficient in killing things.”
“I think he actually does do that,” Ravi confirmed seriously. He shrugged it off just as easily.
Warin tilted his head back to look up. “Hoheit, I think Cameron should be pulled into game nights. It’s an excellent way for him to really make friends with people.”
“I quite agree. I’m not sure what the plan for the next game night is. Has anyone asked Ranulf?”
“No, we just thought of it,” Sasha explained.
“Ah.” Making a decision, Alric extended a hand to Cameron. “Come, let me introduce the two of you. It’ll be easier to ask him directly.”
“Yeah, okay.” Cameron popped up, coming around the very long table in order to reach Alric’s side.
As he walked, the thought came to him that every moment he spent near Alric, his perception of the man changed.
He’d initially only seen a very handsome man with a gentle smile.
Now, when he looked at Alric, he saw not only the king, but the man himself—the flaws, strengths, and hopes that embodied this man.
And the more he learned, the more interesting Alric became.
Cameron really disliked shallow people who had no hobbies or personality, like they were unformed lumps of clay.
He’d unfortunately met a fair share of them in his life.
Alric was anything but. The man was complex, and intriguing, and he really had to stop drawing Cameron’s attention like this.
As it was, Cameron couldn’t tell if Alric shared the attraction.
And if he did, why wasn’t he interested in making a damn move?
It was a little frustrating. Cameron felt the burn of it.
Alric drew him to another table and hailed a man who was built much like a tank on legs. Not fat, just solidly built and with a bushy beard halfway down his chest. “Ranulf.”
“Yes, Hoheit?”
“Our guest wishes to join in on game night.”
“We’d be happy to have him.” Ranulf left the chair with more agility than Cameron expected and came around to shake hands. “Hello, Cameron.”
“Cameron, this is Ranulf,” Alric finished the introduction. “He’s in charge of all the mechanics in the castle, including the vehicles. A very handy man. Ranulf, what game is set for this upcoming session?”
“Halo. We’ve not had a good Halo night in ages. You ever play that one, Cameron?”
“Me and every other boy in my generation, seems like,” Cameron answered with a laugh. “I haven’t picked it up in ages, though. Hopefully muscle memory comes back to me. What time?”
“We generally start at seven. We’ve got a gaming room set up in the right wing, up near Ravi’s room. I think we have enough controllers to go around.”
“Ranulf!” someone called.
Ranulf turned at the hail. “Oops, looks like something’s not working right. Give me just a minute, Cameron, Hoheit.”
“Sure.” Cameron watched him go for a moment. “So he’s sort of the clan’s handyman?”
“That’s a good way of thinking of it,” Alric agreed. “There’s little the man can’t fix.”
“I’ll remember that.” Turning back to Alric, he studied the man more carefully. What he saw, or rather the absence of it, relieved him. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Alric’s expression turned puzzled. “I’ve been fine all day.”
Snorting, Cameron drawled, “Liiiies. Lies and slander. You were obviously in pain earlier when addressing the whole clan. We all picked up on it.”
The king went abruptly still, dark eyes sharp on Cameron. “How could you possibly tell?”
“You get little pain lines here,” Cameron lifted a hand and traced a line out away from Alric’s eye with his thumb, a gentle caress.
Alric’s eyes darkened perceptibly at the touch, and wasn’t that fascinating?
Playing with fire, Cameron upped the ante a bit and deliberately caressed the tip of Alric’s bottom lip as he traced another line around his mouth.
“And here. I noticed them when I was standing next to you.”
“I see,” Alric replied, voice a touch hoarse. “My mistake. I thought I was hiding it well.”
“I really wish you hadn’t tried.” And look at that face.
Alric clearly liked Cameron touching him.
Cameron may or may not be oblivious at times (Cassie claimed he missed cues all the time) but right now?
This moment? A blind eye couldn’t miss Alric’s reaction.
The King of the Fire Dragons didn’t have as good of a poker face as he thought he did.
And this close, there was no chance in hell Cameron could miss his reaction.
Alric was attracted alright. Cameron wished he understood why Alric wouldn’t make a move. Why he wouldn’t do more than this light, occasional flirtation that teased but promised nothing. What was holding the man back?
He didn’t know. But he’d figure it out. And if Alric was incapable of making a move, well, Cameron didn’t have a problem doing it instead. Alric was far too intriguing and sexy. Like hell would Cameron let the man slip away without even trying to date.
That would be too much of a waste.