Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

“Sir, yes, sir.” Nikki gave him a sloppy salute.

The healer then stepped out, took one look at Alric, and sighed. “You really did overdo it, I can tell. Can you shift forms?”

“I wasn’t sure if it was safe to do so,” Alric admitted a little sheepishly. “It twinges like a bone’s trying to pop out.”

“For the love of—” Sora cut himself off and sighed. Deeply. As if the universe and stubborn dragons pained him. “Alright. Sit down, let me take a good look at this. Cameron, go find my mother; she was in the other black van, last I saw. I want a second opinion before I have him shift. Hoheit, if you’ve undone her hard work, you’ll hear about it. At length.”

“I may have gotten carried away.” Alric’s smile didn’t look as apologetic as he’d probably intended. There was a bit of a feral tooth in there. “But eradicating the danger my family’s been in for hundreds of years rather got to my head.”

“Yes, and I’m grateful for that. Ravi and I want to start a family soon.” Sora spoke his diagnostic spell, red lines growing and writing themselves along Alric’s skin. He pursed his lips as he looked them over.

Gunter tried to imagine Ravi and Sora with children. They’d be adorable, no doubt. Ravi was always adorable, especially when he was in the middle of doing something he really, really shouldn’t.

If Gunter had a dying wish, it was that the children would take after Sora. Because god knew, the world did not need more dragons with Ravi’s energy. Multiple Ravis in one castle was too much for any castle to bear.

Hear that, universe? Please and thank you.

Cameron came back quickly with Yuki in tow but apparently he had heard at least part of this comment, as he asked his dragon spouse hopefully, “Can we have a baby soon too? We’re swarming with mages and dragons, and the castle is safe as houses. Surely we can do that this year.”

Alric looked wistful himself. “I’d certainly like at least one this year.”

Yuki was quick to join Sora’s side, and she had an eerily similar look on her face, with the pursed lips and narrowed eyes. “We’ll of course help you to have a child, but for the love of god, Alric. You nearly undid all of the good healing you’ve managed in the past several months! Your poor muscles are inflamed and swollen right now. It’s so inflamed it’s trying to put your socket out of joint.”

“I didn’t know inflammation could do that,” Cameron said somewhat rhetorically. His expression was a fine balance between exasperation and worry. “Alric, I knew you should have stopped while you were ahead.”

“Apparently,” Alric said on a sigh. “I’ll heal from this, though.”

“You will,” Yuki agreed, then exchanged a long look with her son, a silent conversation between them before she tacked on, “But I think bed rest for two days will help. And no, Cameron, I don’t mean that kind of bed rest.”

Cameron wrinkled his nose at her. “Booo. Kill joy.”

“Yes, I live to be a cockblocker. Alric, I think it’s safe for you to shift. We’ll get something cool and soothing against that shoulder and let you sit the rest of this one out. Cameron?”

“I’ll handle the rest, don’t worry. We’re in cleanup mode, anyway, it’s not like anything major is going down.”

“HOHEIT!” Baldewin waved a hand overhead. “I need authorization on the Jaeggi vehicles leaving!”

“I spoke too soon.” Cameron shook his head, already resigned.

“I can handle them,” Alric offered.

“No, you can sit there and look pretty. I’ve got this.” Cameron headed for the main road, positioning himself to intercept them.

Gunter watched him go, a proud smile on his face. Cameron was so different than the young man they’d all met at the festival. He’d grown into his role as consort very well. He now thought nothing of stepping in front of cameras or speaking with figures of authority. He did it with a charming smile, disarming people into agreeing with him before they quite knew what they were doing.

Alric really had done well choosing this one.

Apparently thinking along the same lines, Alric turned his head to watch him go, a proud smile on his face. “Look at him. No hesitation. I want to be out of here sooner rather than later. It’ll be less obvious if we can leave this area before dawn’s light. Call Rodrigo for me, get a status update.” “Sure.” Gunter pulled his phone out to make the call.

Rodrigo answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

“How are things in there? Hoheit wants a status update.”

“We should be able to leave in the next hour,” Rodrigo assured him, the sound choppy with background noises. “We ice dragons have subdued most of the fire. It’s just the front section that still needs to be put out. We’ll have it done before they can get set up.”