Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

He winced. “Not quite. The conversation went about as well as it did when we first told Cameron.”

“Ouch.” He could easily imagine her wincing.

Baldewin went on to tell her what he’d learned of Tori at the café meeting, including how the mage insisted on being called Tori. Maybe she could provide some insight to Tori, seeing as she was a mage and relatively new to all of this. She gasped and sputtered and made noises of indignation, but then, sweet Cassie was a staunch defender of dragons.

“If someone has screwed with his head that badly, I’m kind of shocked you managed to speak to him in the first place. Was it your sexy smile that finally won him over?”

Baldewin scrubbed a hand over his head. “Not quite.” Actually, not even close. “I had to give him five hundred euros to speak to me. Now we are worried he will use that money to run again.”

“Which is why you’re calling me,” Cassie finished with an evil chuckle.

Oh lord, this was going to be painful.

“Need me to cast that seeking spell, huh? Not wanting my sweet, amazing, trusting brother-in-law, the king, to find out.”

“I would rather not worry our king if it can be avoided. I am sure he has enough to occupy his mind.”

Cassie snorted. “He’s married to my brother. That’s enough to keep any man busy.”

“Will you help us?”

“Of course I’ll help you. What a silly question!” Baldewin had barely gotten out his sigh of relief when she continued, “But my silence is going to come with a price.”

Baldewin choked on air. “What?”

“Keeping secrets from Alric? I can’t do that without compensation!” Her tone of horror was completely ruined by her evil cackle.

“What do you want, Cassie?” Baldewin asked in a dead voice. He looked up to find Warin watching him with a questioning look. He mouthed the word “bribe.”

Warin snorted. “You started that.”

He could only roll his eyes at his friend. Maybe he shouldn’t have paid Tori for his time, but he couldn’t find it in himself to completely regret it. While he didn’t want the man to escape, he did feel better that the mage had some money on hand to buy food and shelter for a little longer. That thought alone proved that Tori had reduced his common sense to mush.

“I wanna come on a mage retrieval mission with you,” Cassie replied.

“What?” he squawked. Of all the things to come out of her mouth, he’d not expected that. “You can’t be serious. This is dangerous work, Cassie. What if the Jaeggi discovered you were away from the castle?”

“I know defensive wards now, and I would have my Sasha with me to watch my back.”

“Cass…” he pleaded.

“And if I was, say, closer to Helsinki, I might be able to get a better read on Tori’s clan’s location.”

Baldewin’s dragon growled, and he had a feeling it actually came out of his throat rather than staying in his mind. This was a horrible idea, but it would be good for their clan to know where those mages were hiding; if for no other reason, Baldewin wanted to give the leaders a piece of his mind. How could they tolerate one of their own looking so worn and ragged? And this idea that male mages were worthless? Yes, Baldewin would very much like to speak to those idiots.

“Alric makes all decisions on who to send on retrieval missions.” Baldewin paused and rolled his eyes at himself because he couldn’t believe he was going to utter these words. “However, I promise to put in a positive word for you and suggest that we would benefit from your onsite assistance.”

Cassie squealed loudly, and Baldewin jerked the phone away rather than risk damaging his ear drum. Dear heaven, that little woman could produce very loud noises. When he returned the phone to his ear, she was still celebrating but with less volume.

“But you have to agree to follow the orders of any dragons on the mission with you. Your safety would be our first priority. If I think for a second you’re going to endanger yourself, then I’m hanging up and calling Alric myself right now—”

“No! No! I’ll be good. Follow all your orders or whoever I’m with. I’ll be the best little soldier mage you’ve ever seen,” Cassie quickly promised.

Baldewin needed to sit down. He couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this. Looking around, he spotted an empty bench and walked over. He collapsed on it before his knees could give out. If the Jaeggi hadn’t been running around, it probably wouldn’t be strange to take a mage on a retrieval mission, but not now. Alric was still only allowing mages to leave the castle on errands if they had at least two dragons accompanying them. The last trip down to the town of Sonthofen had been two mages and seven dragons. He’d heard the cluster had drawn more than a few stares.