Chapter 32
If this weren’t the same man behind Cameron’s kidnapping, Ravi would be convinced Thomas Jaeggi was the most boring man in the entire world.
Five days of following him around, and nothing. Big, fat nothing.
He didn’t appear to talk to or meet with anyone.
He kept the strangest hours, as if he didn’t ever sleep.
He’d go to the café at seven in the morning for coffee and a pastry, then he’d return home to what looked like a cute little flat.
He’d run back out to the grocery store at noon.
Then go for a walk in the evening. Then another walk at four in the morning.
Or, sometimes, Ravi and Sahan wouldn’t see him for twelve hours. It made them wonder if they’d missed him somehow. Then he’d be back out every two or three hours.
In five days, he and Sahan had barely slept, too afraid of missing Thomas doing something important or meeting someone. But he never did.
Ravi could only curse himself. He didn’t know why he’d gotten it in his head this would be a short and easy trip. As if Thomas would kindly set up a meeting with a fellow Jaeggi the day Ravi arrived in Prague so he and Sahan could follow the Jaeggi back to his lair. Neat and tidy.
Maybe he’d only thought that so it would be easier to leave home and, more importantly, Sora.
He missed his mate. It was like there was a hole in his chest that ached constantly. They texted and video chatted when they could, but thanks to Thomas’s insane hours, it wasn’t frequent. Ravi was largely trying to catch up on sleep when Thomas was quiet.
Glancing out the window, Ravi took in the old building facades and red-tiled roofs that filled the skyline. They were renting a room at a little hotel just a couple of blocks from where Thomas was staying.
On the night they arrived in Prague, they’d lucked into seeing Thomas pop by his favorite little grocery store. They’d followed him back to an old townhouse that had been converted into flats. It had taken some doing, but they’d managed to discover that he had a place up on the third floor.
From there, Cassie was able to locate a security camera that could catch sight of Thomas every time he left.
People back at the castle were now monitoring that camera around the clock.
They were watching for people entering the building who didn’t live there.
They were also tracking Thomas’s movements.
Any time something suspicious happened, Ravi and Sahan received a text telling them to head over to the flat.
“Balin is worried,” Sahan said one evening when they’d finished a quick meal of pot pie. They’d grabbed it from a nearby restaurant. God, Ravi missed the food at the castle. This was okay, but Ravi was ready to be home.
“About what?”
“That we’ve been here too long without relief.”
Ravi grunted. Alric’s messages and phone calls were coming more frequently, as well.
His king was worried. He’d mentioned wanting to send someone to replace Ravi and Sahan only once, but Ravi had turned down the offer.
He wanted to see this through. He still believed he and Sahan had the best shot of tracking the Jaeggi back to their home.
But how long was it going to take?
Was it possible Thomas Jaeggi had been kicked out of his own clan because he’d lost Cameron and they’d suffered the dragon attack? Not a single mage had visited him since they’d arrived in Prague, and Cassie hadn’t turned up any sign of a visit prior to their arrival.
This was all starting to feel like a wild goose chase, but it was the only lead they had.
“If you wish to return to the castle—” Ravi started, but Sahan jumped up from his chair, his face flushed.
“I’m not leaving you!”
Ravi smiled broadly at his cousin.
“I know. I’m just saying that we could both use a break, get some real sleep for once. I was beginning to think maybe Hoheit could send a replacement for you, and I could show that person around for a day, make sure they understand what to expect, before my replacement shows up.”
Sahan shook his head, dropping into his chair at their tiny table. “No. Not a chance. We came to Prague together, and we’re leaving together.”
He should have expected that answer. Over the past several days, Ravi had gotten to know his cousin much better. He was pleased to discover that they shared a lighthearted and easygoing temperament. Sahan was also fiercely loyal and devoted, which only made Ravi all the prouder to call him family.
Once their lives were more settled and the Jaeggi were taken care of, Ravi looked forward to taking a long trip to visit Sahan and the other wind dragons. It would also give his soon-to-be in-laws a chance to coddle him. They were pretty freaking amazing.
Ravi’s phone pinged with an incoming text, and Sahan’s echoed it a second later. Picking up his phone, he wasn’t surprised to see a message from Cassie, stating that Thomas was on the move again. He glanced at the time as he was silencing his phone to find it was already after one in the morning.
A low groan rattled up his throat. He’d lost track of time completely while eating with Sahan. One of them should have been trying to catch a few minutes of sleep.
Rubbing his burning, bleary eyes, Ravi shoved his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “Ready?”
“Yeah. Does this guy not believe in sleep?”
“Maybe he has insomnia,” Ravi murmured. He grabbed a light jacket and led the way out of the little hotel room and down the back stairs. They were trying to avoid people as much as possible. It was better all around if no one saw them.
He was confident that Thomas had yet to notice their presence.
Not only were they keeping completely out of sight, but Lisette and the other mages had loaded them up with various charms and spells to block any hint of magic from being picked up.
He was more concerned about Thomas hearing them clanking from the many items knocking together as they moved.
Once out of the hotel, it didn’t take them long to pick up Thomas’s trail. At this hour, few businesses were open, and he was prone to walking to a few particular places.
And tonight, he was going back to the one that appeared to be his favorite—the Charles Bridge.
He rarely walked there during the day when it was full of tourists and would have been easier for Ravi and Sahan to blend into the crowd.
No, of course, the bastard preferred to go walking in the dead of night when there was usually no one else on the pedestrian bridge crossing from Old Town toward the Prague Castle.
It was one of the trickiest places to follow Thomas because they were very exposed. Each crossing, they had to choose between letting him get far ahead of them—and risk losing him—or staying closer and darting from massive statue to massive statue to hide. Not ideal in the least.
Shame the Jaeggi was mucking up Ravi’s memories of the Charles Bridge.
It had been years since he’d last been to Prague, but he’d always enjoyed wandering around Old Town, eating yummy food, and marveling at the astronomical clock.
He loved Prague Castle’s vastness, though he thought Burkhard Castle was prettier.
His favorite, though, was Charles Bridge with its towering statues of saints. It was a shame there were no statues of dragons or great mages on the bridge. They would have definitely helped to protect visitors.
But after the Dragon War, there seemed to be a shortage of dragon statues in the world.
All the same, he would have liked to walk this bridge with Sora, pointing out his favorite saint statues.
Ravi shook his head, trying to clear away thoughts of his mate. He needed to focus. There would be time enough to come here with his sweet honey bear.
The night was cool for summer, which the fire dragons would have enjoyed.
That thought sent a wave of homesickness through Ravi, nearly making him trip.
A few thin tendrils of fog clawed their way up from the river, and some of the sidewalks were wet from shopkeepers cleaning the area in front of their stores.
Most of the lights were extinguished, except for the old wrought-iron lamps casting down a warm yellow glow against the encroaching gloom.
The night held a grim spookiness, as if something were watching from the shadows as they followed Thomas.
The midnight-blue sky twinkled overhead with pinpoints of stars.
A few thin black clouds slithered by, seemingly on a late evening stroll over the city.
A couple other people were walking across the bridge, heading toward Old Town.
They spoke loudly, and there was a whiff of alcohol on the air. Likely tourists enjoying a night out.
As they had before, Ravi slunk slowly along the north side of the bridge, while Sahan stayed to the south side. They paused, allowing Thomas to get a good distance ahead of them while still keeping him in sight. They remained close to the statues, trying to sink into their shadows for cover.
If Thomas followed his usual route, they’d cross the bridge and meander toward Prague Castle before turning back toward Old Town and his flat. Thomas was giving no indication that tonight would be any different.
Passing by St. John of Nepomuk, Ravi ran his hand along the pedestal, hoping that whatever luck the old saint was tossing around would hit him.
Not that he knew what that luck looked like.
Maybe it would prevent himself and Sahan from being discovered?
Or make Thomas finally lead them to a meeting of the Jaeggi?
They slowly crossed the bridge. The sounds of the river Vltava splashing and breaking on the banks and against the stonework rose up in the silence of the early morning hours.
They could hear only Thomas’s steady footsteps as they darted from statue to statue, trying to get through the yellow circles of light that dotted the bridge.
When they were three-quarters of the way across the bridge, Thomas suddenly stopped in the middle of the path. Ravi froze, his heart leaping into his throat. This was new. Had they made a sound and given themselves away?
Ravi quickly glanced over at Sahan to find him crouched beside a statue of St. Joseph. He shrugged at Ravi, indicating that he didn’t know why Thomas was suddenly stopping.
“Really? I deserve better than this,” Thomas called out.
A chill ran up Ravi’s spine, but he still didn’t move. Who was Thomas talking to?
That question was answered when Thomas suddenly turned around and looked directly at Ravi. He knew they were there.
“You’ve been following me for…what? Five days? Have you discovered what you need?” The man’s voice was deep and taunting, slicing through Ravi.
He’d been sure that Thomas had never spotted them, never sensed them with magic.
Moving away from the statue, Ravi took a few careful steps closer to Thomas, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. Five days of lurking and sneaking. Five days without his mate. Five days without fucking sleep.
“How?” he demanded.
Thomas barked out an ugly laugh. “You think I can’t smell a dragon?”
Sahan moved over to Ravi’s side, his cousin practically vibrating with rage.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve watched your every step, known about your every move.”
“You know what I wanted you to know.”
Something dark and sinister started to uncoil itself in Ravi’s stomach, and he took a half-step backward.
This was wrong. All of it was very wrong.
Reaching out, he grabbed the sleeve of Sahan’s jacket.
Two dragons against one mage whose magic was broken should not be a problem, but Ravi couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
“You’ve forgotten who the Jaeggi are,” Thomas continued.
He took a step closer to them, crossing into the light of one of the old lamps.
He’d aged significantly in the past year.
His black hair and beard were liberally sprinkled with white.
His large frame seemed to have slimmed, but his jaw remained square and blunt like a nutcracker’s.
“We are the hunters of the mage clans. The trackers. No prey ever escapes us.”
“But we’ve been tracking you!”
“Are you sure about that?” Thomas chuckled.
Ravi tried to pull Sahan behind him, but he knew it was already too late as a dozen Jaeggi mages popped into existence, forming a circle around them.
A transportation spell. Difficult to manage at the best of time, the spell was rarely used, according to Lisette.
But it was clear that the Jaeggi were still comfortable with it.
Particularly if the Jaeggi leader was expertly luring his prey into a trap.
Sahan swore softly under his breath as he looked at all the mages surrounding them. Ravi’s heart raced. Magic started to build in the air like a gathering static charge. He had only seconds to act.
Grabbing Sahan’s arm tightly, he put his full strength into throwing his cousin toward the railing.
“Tell Alric!” he shouted.
As he expected, his cousin shifted into his dragon form before he could hit the water. With wings thrown wide, he caught the air and rushed up into the sky, a dark dragon-shaped blur. Sahan’s angry roar shook the night.
Ravi understood his cousin’s pain. He wanted to stay and fight, to protect Ravi, but if they both died on the bridge, then the mages and dragons back at Burkhard would never know the danger they were all in.
Ravi didn’t know if he could get free fast enough, but he was game to try.
He didn’t want to be stuck here, either.
The magic was thick and cloying now. It felt like it had a lock on him, but like hell would he just sit there and wait for the transportation spell to fling him to some unknown destination.
His best bet was to shift and fly out, as his dragon form was much faster than his human form and the transportation spell could be far-reaching.
Skin rippled, and he could feel the shift. His human mind was starting to fall back as he happily handed the reins over to his dragon. But the shift never completed.
Something slammed into him from behind, hard. The world went completely white and then cold, as if he’d fallen into a snowbank. Then, nothing.