The man stopped a good meter away, close enough to talk, but far enough out that Tori didn’t feel threatened. His body language was loose, almost deliberately, as if he were trying to put Tori at ease. Fat chance, that.
“Baldewin?” Tori demanded.
The dragon nodded. At least Tori now had a name to match with the dragon. “I want to talk to you,” Baldewin stated without any fanfare or greetings. “You set the terms.”
Tori wanted him to go away. He blurted out without thinking, “Five hundred euros, and I’ll talk to you for an hour, but no more.”
“Done,” Baldewin said without hesitation.
Shit, he should have said a thousand.
Still, the five hundred would buy him several more days. Trying to squeeze at least coffee out of the deal, he cast about, saw a café nearby with outdoor seating, and pointed there. “Treat me to coffee at least before you give me a headache.”
Was that a flash of a smile on Baldewin’s face? Well, Tori was so pleased that he amused the man. He glowered but bit back words, not wanting to sound like an idiot. He marched to the café in question, practically feeling Baldewin’s eyes burning into him. He didn’t look around, though.
Where was the other dragon? Was he somewhere nearby and watching?
Their interest in him didn’t make any sense. Why were they being so persistent? It wasn’t like Tori had much value. His magic was for shit, according to every teacher he’d had. Dragons needed female mages for their offspring. Their mates were all female mages.
That was one of the other sins he bore—he was a male mage. Back before the Great Dragon War, he would have offered nothing of value to a dragon clan.
The hour chat might be ostensibly for Baldewin to get information from him, but Tori would turn those tables as much as possible, as he had his own questions that needed answers.
They went to the counter, and Tori splurged by ordering the largest coffee he could with all of the extras without a trace of guilt. Baldewin gave him an amused glance, as if he knew exactly what Tori was doing, but didn’t call him on it. He just ordered his own coffee, then two rye breads with the usual toppings of cold cuts, cheese, butter, and a cucumber topping. Almost as an afterthought, he ordered Karelian pies as well.
Tori’s mouth watered. Karelian pie was one of his favorite pastries ever, with its thick rye crust and rice porridge inside. He hadn’t eaten it in months, trying to save up the money to leave his pathetic hometown. His stomach gave a petulant rumble, and Tori gave it a discreet pat. Baldewin had ordered two because he intended to share, right?
Their order was promptly passed over to them on two trays, the food divided between them, and Tori was quick to claim his before going outside. He barely had his ass in the seat before he bit into the sandwich and then the pie, making sure Baldewin couldn’t reclaim either. Hardly fair of him, but he was too hungry to think about fairness just then.
Baldewin said nothing, just drank his coffee and let Tori eat. If the man wanted to waste the time he was paying for to watch Tori eat, fine.
Well, no, not fine. Tori had questions he wanted answered.
He slowed down reluctantly. “What the hell do you want with me?”
“There’s very few mages left, Mr. Taavi,” Baldewin answered, ignoring the food and coffee in front of him.
“It’s just Tori,” he snapped. “No one has ever called me Mr. Taavi, and I definitely won’t answer to Nestori. I’ve never liked that name.”
Baldewin’s lips twitched slightly as he took in those acerbic comments and then continued in low, even tones, “I’m Baldewin Burkhard of Clan Burkhard in Sonthofen, Germany.”
Tori paused for a moment, his eyebrows beetling together as he searched his brain. “Burkhard sounds vaguely familiar.”
Baldewin’s eyes widened, and his nostrils flared a little as if Tori had said something unbelievable or even insulting. He kind of wanted to laugh at Baldewin’s expression of shock. He didn’t know Tori’s clan didn’t teach each new generation much about the dragons. Certainly not names. Just that dragons were evil and couldn’t be trusted. It was so damn fitting that he was sitting there with a dragon, sharing a meal. His clan leaders would be losing their minds if they could see him.
“Burkhard is a highly respected clan. We’re fire dragons and have called the Alps our home for centuries. King Alric Burkhard has been our leader for roughly five hundred years.”
“Uh-huh,” Tori muttered, hating to admit to himself that the dragon’s Finnish was rather good. He didn’t care about dragon clans or their leaders. He wanted to know why Baldewin and his friend were so interested in him.
“Yes, um…” Baldewin paused and cleared his throat before he started again. “As you may or may not know, after the Dragon War, most of the mage clans were wiped out. Those that remained were scattered throughout the world. The Burkhard dragon clan has been searching for the hidden mages ever since to both replenish the magic in our own clans and to reestablish our links to mages. Since the dawn of time, it has been the duty of every dragon to protect and serve mages.”