Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

“I beg your pardon,” Baldewin murmured.

Tori cast a sly grin at Baldewin, and his heart might have skipped a beat. “I’ve seen both you and Warin doing this kind of itchy back wiggling in your seats. Not quite rolling your shoulders. You’re uncomfortable. Need to stretch your wings?”

“Noticed that, huh?”

Tori lifted one hand and gave a little roll of his eyes. “I mean, it’s not like most people would give it much thought, but then most people have no idea you’re a dragon. You could have dry skin…or you feel the need to fly.”

Baldewin huffed a soft laugh and glanced in the rearview mirror to double check that Warin hadn’t woken. Not that he begrudged his friend time with the mage, but Baldewin was enjoying the idea of having a private and friendly chat with Tori.

“My dragon would very much like to spread his wings. I’ve not flown since we arrived in Helsinki from Sonthofen. Usually, I can go weeks without flying, but I’ve noticed that nearly every dragon in Burkhard is suddenly a little more restless than usual. Everyone is taking to the air in the evenings with increased frequency.”

Tori turned in his seat so he was looking directly at Baldewin. “Really? Is it a summer thing? Humans tend to get out more when the weather turns warm and sunny.” Before Baldewin could answer, Tori’s expression was already clouding over. “No. Wait. Fire dragons prefer the cold. It would make more sense for you to be restless in the winter.”

“And we usually are. Once the mountains have built up a few solid meters of snow, you can hardly keep us inside and in our human form. I think the mages have grown to enjoy the quiet time they get during those months. The castle is empty, and we’re not constantly under foot to cause them problems.”

Tori barked out a surprised laugh and then clapped his hand over his mouth before looking into the backseat at Warin. His pale grey eyes still twinkled with laughter when he looked over at Baldewin. “Dragons are troublemakers in the castle?”

“There might be a few,” Baldewin said dryly, his mind automatically filling with the endless trouble Ravi managed to find at every turn.

“But if it’s not the nice summer weather…” Tori started, leading them back on topic.

“I think it started shortly after the arrival of Cameron’s twin Cassie and their grandmother Noh Ha Na. Cameron was the first mage we’d found in five hundred years. We’d nearly given up hope of ever finding a mage again, of finding mates and love. Then in the span of weeks, we suddenly had three new mages living in our castle. While the human side of us might be willing to listen to logic, I think our dragons are pushing for us to all take flight and search in earnest for our missing mages.”

Tori’s brow furrowed, and he pressed his full lips together for a moment, then finally asked, “Would your king allow that?”

“For dragons to take off on their own search?”

“Yeah. He wouldn’t force you to stay, would he?”

Baldewin’s hands tightened on the steering wheel as he sorted through the rush of emotions. His knee-jerk reaction was to immediately defend both Alric and his clan. The idea of Alric needing to force any dragon to stay and obey his wishes was ridiculous.

But then, the idea of anyone going against what was best for the entire clan was also a little crazy. The key thing to remember was that Tori was coming from a world completely different from his own, and what little he knew of it was not good.

“No, Alric wouldn’t force a dragon to stay at Burkhard if they truly wished to leave. But you must remember that mages are spread around the entire world, and the only way a dragon alone can find a mage is through smell. We might have discovered Cameron purely by luck, but Cassie was able to locate you through a seeking spell and what she calls her Google-fu. Apparently, she is quite good with computers.”

Tori grunted and shifted back around in his seat. “I guess that makes sense. Can’t fly off to find a mage if you don’t even know where to look.”

Baldewin had the worst impulse to reach across the console and place his hand on Tori’s arm, but he didn’t. He kept his fingers wrapped around the steering wheel. Tori had accepted his touch earlier, but Baldewin was reluctant to press his luck.

His dragon wasn’t particularly happy about it. He wanted to figure out a way to pull Tori into his lap while still driving the car. The ridiculous lizard didn’t seem to understand that Baldewin was barely crammed into the driver’s seat. There wasn’t room for Tori in his lap, no matter how badly they both wanted him there.