Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

“What? What do you mean ‘all?’”

“‘All’ as in the entire clan. All the dragons and all the mages of Burkhard. We all live and work together in the castle.”

Tori wobbled a little on his feet, and Baldewin held him tight, supporting him.

“You live here?” Tori whispered.

“Yes.”

“And the mages?”

“All the mages live in the castle. If you join our clan, you would live here, too.”

“Oh my,” Tori said in a slightly choked voice. “I think…I think I need to sit down.”

Baldewin chuckled. “How about I show you to the room where you’ll be staying? You’ve got to be exhausted from all the travel. You can rest for a little while before dinner.”

“Yeah, rest would be really good.” Tori tilted his head up to look at Baldewin. “Do I need to meet the clan today?”

Baldewin shook his head. “We can wait if you want to take some time to rest from your journey. I’m sure Alric and the others will understand that you’re tired.”

“And you’ll be around, right?”

Baldewin’s heart gave a happy skip as they started toward the castle. “Yes, I’ll be right by your side as long as you want me there.”

Baldewin frowned at his email. There were two hundred and sixty-three unread emails waiting in his inbox. He’d kept up with things for the first few days he’d been out of town with Warin. In the evening, he’d caught up on emails and read reports.

But as soon as Tori joined them full time, it had become harder and harder to keep up with work. Ravi had largely stepped up to keep the worst of the chaos in line, and Baldewin hadn’t been too worried about the security in the castle. The Jaeggi had yet to become so bold and reckless as to direct an attack on the castle.

For now, the most pressing matters were sending out scouts to look for Jaeggi in the immediate area and to have a steady rotation of guards available for mages who needed to run errands in town.

With a heavy sigh, Baldewin dug into the emails, shooting off quick replies and making a pile of reports that he needed to review. He was also starting to complete his final expense report for the year. If the security team was going to be retrieving more mages, then they were going to need more money than usual.

Not that it was a bad thing. More mages meant happier dragons, a potentially growing clan, and more helpers to make products to sell to the rest of the world.

Usually, Baldewin didn’t mind this part of the job. He liked keeping his little part of castle life organized and well running. He liked the idea that his security team kept the castle safe.

It was just that his mind kept straying to Tori.

Was the mage comfortable? Happy? It’d only been a couple of hours since settling him in, but was he already regretting coming to Germany and trying to figure out how to tell Baldewin he wanted to go back to Finland?

What would Baldewin do if Tori left?

That was easy. He’d follow the mage back to Finland.

The thought stopped him because it had come from his dragon.

Would he really live without the rest of his clan? Would he spend the rest of his long life following behind the mage like a stray dog hoping for a scrap of attention?

An alarm on his computer had Baldewin jerking upright in his seat, tearing him from his dark thoughts. He blinked to find that more time had passed than he’d thought, and he was nearly late for a meeting scheduled with Alric.

Grabbing up his phone, he locked down his computer and hurried down the hall to the king’s office. It was a little hard to believe that two weeks ago he’d been following Cassie down this hall as she rushed to announce the discovery of Tori. How had his life been turned so completely upside down in so short a time?

He reached the office door as Dieter was leaving the room. The old advisor smiled when he saw Baldewin and held the door open for the dragon to step through.

“It’s good to have you home again,” Dieter greeted.

“It’s good to be home at last. Have you heard from Lisette about Cassie?”

Dieter nodded and stepped out of the doorway so Baldewin could pass. “She’s still working but reports that Cassie is recovering nicely. I believe she’s out of danger thanks to Tori.”

Baldewin couldn’t deny that he felt a swell of pride. Of course his Tori had saved her. He was more skilled than anyone understood, more than Tori even knew. Though, Baldewin had to question his own feelings. When had he started to think of Tori as his mage?

“Thank you. I’m glad to hear it.” Baldewin stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. He always thought it slightly amusing that this was the third most comfortable room for him in the entire castle after his own quarters and his office. But then, he knew the furniture and decorations very well. He’d spent a lot of time in this room talking to his old friend about the clan and life in general.