“As for Alric and Cameron,” Baldewin continued, his smug smile disappearing, “they have only been bonded for a month. Our king and I have known each other since we were little children. I was lucky to grow up with him as my best friend. I’m proud to protect him in times of trouble and to watch over him in ways Cameron cannot. His focus is always on what is best for our clan. It often means he is very bad at taking care of himself.” Baldewin paused and gave a little smirk. “The entire clan is quite protective of our king and enjoys helping him.”
“And his mate?”
“Cameron? He’s very good at taking care of Alric, making sure that he is happy, but Cameron is also responsible for our clan. He’s dedicated to everyone, which means that we also get to watch over him a bit as well.”
Tori fell silent, watching the waves form and break around the ferry. Two men—a dragon and a mage—together, and their clan accepted it. No, they embraced it, if what Baldewin was telling him was correct. It sounded like a dream. A fairytale.
“Can I see the picture again? The one you showed me the other day.”
Baldewin shifted in his seat and pulled his mobile phone from his back pocket. From the corner of his eye, Tori could see him getting through the security and opening his photo gallery. He thumbed through a lot of pictures before he finally settled on the one of Alric and Cameron standing together. Baldewin silently handed the phone over, and Tori stared at the picture. Their arms were around each other. Alric was a bit formal and maybe a little stiff, but there was such a look of love and devotion in his eyes as he stared up at his mate. Cameron, on the other hand, had a wide grin on his lips and was looking at Alric with unabashed love and happiness.
This wasn’t a fake. He’d seen a few pictures from other places around the world of same-sex couples on their wedding day, looking at each other with the same expression.
“Your clan really has no problem with your king finding a mate in a male mage?”
“Not at all. We were all overjoyed when it became clear that Alric was falling for Cameron. You need only to see them together in the same room for a minute to realize they are perfect for each other. Alric was trained from birth to be a king. He’s good at being diplomatic, but Cameron…” Baldewin paused and lightly chuckled. “Cameron doesn’t always have a filter. I feel like Alric appreciates it, because Cameron likely says the very thing he’s thinking but doesn’t feel free to express. Would you like to see the pictures from their bonding ceremony?”
“Yes, please,” Tori said, handing the phone to Baldewin.
The dragon accepted it and stood a little so he could drag his chair closer to Tori’s. He resettled and leaned closer. Their shoulders bumped, and Tori froze. There was something so big about his presence, but it was more than just the size of his body. It was his personality. As crazy as it sounded, Baldewin was like a walking hug. When Tori was around Baldewin, he was sure he could crawl straight into the man’s massive arms and be cradled there. His hind brain kept screaming that Baldewin was safe. It was the logical part of his brain that kept throwing its hands up in the air in confusion.
Wind blew in across the deck, and for a moment, Tori was hit with the most intoxicating scent of sun-baked sand and bread fresh from the oven. Would it be wrong to turn his face into Baldewin’s neck and nuzzle him a little bit?
Yes.
That was wrong.
He wasn’t even sure he liked the guy. No nuzzling the dragons. Any dragons. Especially Baldewin.
“Let’s see,” Baldewin said softly, as if he was mostly talking to himself. He was scrolling through the pictures on his phone, and there were hundreds of them. The vast majority were of people. Lots and lots of different people, but there were several faces that appeared over and over again.
“Who’s that? He always seems to be smiling,” Tori said, pointing toward a slimmer man with a swarthy complexion and laughing brown eyes, who looked significantly shorter than Baldewin.
“Ravi. Another retainer and one of Alric’s personal guards.”
“He’s a guard? He looks…” Tori hesitated, not wanting to insult one of Baldewin’s friends.
“Short?” Baldewin finished with a smirk. “Don’t let his smaller stature fool you. Ravi is a fierce and accomplished fighter. He’s also the fastest dragon in the entire clan. He’s technically from the Wind clan—”
“Really? I didn’t think dragon clans allowed other members inside. Is that normal?”
Baldewin shook his head. “Before the war, no. It wasn’t unheard of, but from my understanding, it was incredibly rare. But everything changed after the war. So many dragons and mages were wiped out.” Baldewin cleared his throat and seemed to try to wipe away some of the lines that had dug into his face. “I don’t know all the details. I was still considered young when the war happened, and I wasn’t privy to everything happening with the royal family, but it’s my understanding that Ravi’s parents were close to Alric’s. Or, at the very least, they had an alliance of sorts. Ravi was a baby when his parents were killed in the war. He was immediately adopted into the Fire Dragon Clan. He’s always been a Burkhard, and we love him as one of our own. Even if he does tend to drive Alric crazy at times.”