Chapter 4 #3
North felt himself pale, his mouth suddenly dry. “King? Like with a throne and crown and ‘off with their heads’ and all that king?”
“Yes.”
“Though he’s not much on beheadings,” Gunter added without lifting his gaze from his phone. “Hoheit, we made it safely to Brussels and have located the mage.”
“What does ‘Hoheit’ mean?” North whispered to Warin.
“German for ‘sire.’”
“Excellent. That was fast work,” a deep, authoritative voice replied. North couldn’t say he knew what a king was supposed to sound like, but this guy sounded impressive enough to be a king.
“Yes, well, he was easy to locate with the distress call spell he used. I’m sorry to report that we’re not the only ones to take notice of the mage. The Jaeggi are here as well.”
Alric’s voice became a harsh whisper of words North didn’t understand, but it was a pretty safe guess he was swearing. “Is he okay? Was he hurt?”
North quickly shook his head.
“No, he’s fine. Here, I’ll let you speak to him.”
North’s head shaking grew more violent, his eyes wide at Gunter.
Had the dragon lost his freaking mind? Talk to a king?
He couldn’t talk to a king, let alone the KING of the Fire Dragons.
That was just crazy. He was just North. A nobody from Georgia who might have gone on this quest more to escape his family than to actually find dragons.
He jumped from the bed and started to edge across the room as Gunter headed toward him, but Warin was sweeping in from the other side, a supportive arm wrapping around his shoulders. Okay, that was nice. At least, it was enough to catch him off guard and stop his retreat.
Warin got him settled on the edge of the bed again, and Gunter handed over the phone so that North found himself looking into the face of a very handsome man with dark hair and dark eyes. Were all the dragons sexy? This was getting to be a little disconcerting.
“Hello, I’m Alric Burkhard, King of the Fire Dragons. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”
North couldn’t stop his eyes from immediately shooting to Warin. Honor? Was Alric confused about who he was?
“Hi, umm…I’m North…er…actually, my name is Fredrick James North Aldridge, III. My family calls me Freddie,” he said with a wince.
“What would you prefer I call you? Mr. Aldridge?”
“No! North. North is just fine with me, umm…Your Majesty. Or Highness. Hoheit.”
Alric grinned at him. “Alric is fine with me, North.”
North’s head might have gotten a little foggy with that smile.
That man should smile all the time. But it might not have just been from Alric’s smile.
Warin still sat close enough that their thighs touched, and his arm remained wrapped around North’s shoulders as if he was preparing to pull him into his lap should the need arise.
A slender hand came to rest on Alric’s shoulder, revealing that the dragon wasn’t alone.
“Here. Let me see. I want to see him.” Before North could ask who that was, a new face appeared in front of Alric’s with a wide grin.
The young man was clearly of Asian descent with large glasses and dark hair with lighter brown highlights. “Oh! He’s cute.”
“Seems to be a trend among the new mages,” Alric murmured in what seemed to be a teasing tone.
“And most importantly, he appears to be of the male variety. Ha! You silly dragons thinking all the mages were female,” the man said over his shoulder before looking back at the screen.
“Hi, I’m Cameron. I’m also a mage and the mate to Alric.
I can’t wait to meet you in person when you come to the castle.
We’ve got to get you away from the Jaeggi. ”
“Alright, Cameron,” Alric started. The voices were muffled for a moment as the screen moved around so that they couldn’t exactly see anyone.
“Cameron Burkhard joined our clan over the summer and officially bonded with our king, becoming his consort,” Warin explained softly.
“He’s quite nice. You’ll like him,” Gunter chimed in.
“But who are the Jaeggi? And what do they have to do with me?”
“The Jaeggi are a rogue clan of mages,” Alric started in a dark voice, his face back in the center of the screen again. “The clan is responsible for the great Dragon War and the destruction of thousands of mages and dragons. They are now back and hunting mages, interested in them for their powers.”
“Oh God,” North whispered, horror twisting his stomach into a heavy knot. Those people were trying to grab him. Did they want him dead for doing magic? Or was it something even more sinister? “But I’m barely a mage. I know only a handful of spells, and I’m not all that great at those.”
“Let me talk to him. You’re just scaring him,” Cameron said.
Alric was suddenly shoved to the side like Cameron had pushed his chair away from the desk until he filled the screen alone.
“Hey, North. The Jaeggi are bad news. They tried to kidnap me before I even realized I was a mage. Even without magic knowledge, they wanted me.”
“Whoa. That’s insane,” North breathed.
“You’re not helping, Cam,” Warin growled in a low, warning voice.
“I’m getting there,” Cameron added testily.
He flashed North what the younger mage was sure was supposed to be a reassuring smile.
“They’re after all mages, which is why we need to get you back to Burkhard Castle as quickly as possible.
It’s teeming with dragons to keep you safe, and there are other mages at the castle to help with your training as well as protect you. ”
“But if the Jaeggi are here hunting mages, shouldn’t we take care of them here first? To protect any other mages?” North suggested.
“No,” Alric called. He zipped back into the screen, pulling Cameron into his lap so they could be seen.
It was actually kind of adorable—the mix of Alric’s intense expression matched with the melty one Cameron was giving his mate while cuddling against him.
“We are working on a plan to take care of the Jaeggi, but we don’t know how many are in Brussels with you.
Warin and Gunter are two of my strongest dragons. They will protect you.”
“Our priority is keeping you safe above all else,” Warin murmured in North’s ear. “But I can’t do that against an unknown horde of mages trying to take you from me—I mean us.”
That was hard to argue with when Warin was getting close and sounding so sweet. But he didn’t like leaving behind those guys who had chased him. Wouldn’t they harass another mage? Of course, going after them meant putting Warin and Gunter in more danger, and he didn’t want to do that to them.
“Are you sure it’s okay if I come to the castle? I get the impression that dragons are kind of in hiding from humans, and I wouldn’t want to give away your secret. This trip was just to see if the scale led to a living dragon.” North’s smile turned into more of a wry smirk. “Mission accomplished.”
“Definitely!” Cameron called out.
“It’s true,” Alric said with a nod. “We would be honored if you came to our home. It would give you a chance to meet the rest of our clan, other mages like you. There’s much you still don’t know about what happened to both our peoples.”
North chewed on his bottom lip. It all sounded way too good to be true.
Dragons. They were alive, and there was an entire castle full of them.
There were even mages. Mages who knew magic.
And if Cameron and Alric were a sign, there were even gay mages and gay dragons who had close, loving relationships.
He’d taken little glances at Gunter and Warin during the call, and neither dragon seemed upset that their king was with a man.
That alone had North more than a little curious to meet them all.