Breath (Scales 'n' Spells 2)

“I’m with Ravi,” Lisette grumbled.

“Dearest!” Dieter gasped, dropping his hand to stare across the table at his mate.

Lisette folded her arms tightly over her chest and narrowed her gaze on Dieter. “Don’t you give me any ‘dearest.’ They’ve made their bed. Let them lie in it.”

“While they certainly haven’t given us any reason to protect them,” Gunter started slowly, “it does seem like they could be making a lot of poor decisions based on bad information. If we were to give them correct information, they may be willing to change. Their current opinion certainly isn’t endearing, but we are still left with one major dilemma: we desperately need mages. Are we going to willingly walk away from an entire clan of mages and not even try speaking to them?”

“There is also the matter of handing the Jaeggi a ready supply of magical batteries if they do discover the Taavi Clan,” Baldewin added. “While I have no love of the Taavi, I don’t want to give the Jaeggi more magical power.”

“Gunter and Baldewin are correct,” Alric said firmly. “I have no desire to aid the Jaeggi, and the discrimination and homophobia that Tori suffered might not be indicative the entire clan. In addition, they may be willing to change with a little education. We need to at least try to speak to them. Make them aware of what truly happened in the war and the state of affairs now.”

“You’re going to need Tori for that,” Cameron interjected. “At least talk to him about how best to approach them.” The young mage frowned and shook his head. “I’d hate for him to need to return after he escaped what sounds like a hellish life.”

“Yes, we’ll schedule another meeting with Tori and get his input. I would prefer him to be there for the meeting, but in no way would he be forced to return to his clan if he didn’t want to go. The man has been through enough. I wouldn’t dare subject him to returning even for one hour if he didn’t want to.”

“Thank you, Hoheit,” Baldewin said, some of the tension that tightly clasped his heart starting to ease. If Baldewin had his way, Tori wouldn’t set foot anywhere near his old clan ever again. His preference was for Tori to stay in the castle for a long time. At least until the Jaeggi problem was taken care of.

“Very good. Baldewin and Ravi, please see that an official dispatch goes out to our entire clan explaining the increased restrictions on dragons leaving the castle alone. Mages must still be accompanied by at least two dragons outside the castle walls. I will reach out to Tori and set up a time to discuss how best to approach his clan,” Alric said, closing the meeting.

Baldewin nodded, anxious to find Tori and check on him. He wanted to know what Tori thought of Lisette and how he was adjusting to the castle. If he was spending time with Ha Na, there was no doubt in his mind that Tori had met quite a few other dragons and mages by now.

“Don’t forget about the other thing,” Cameron loudly whispered to his mate.

“The other thing?” Alric’s brows met over his nose for a moment before his eyes widened. “Oh yes! The other thing.” Their king smiled a bit stiffly as he turned his attention to the other council members gathered around the table. “I do have some other interesting news. King Rodrigo is on his way to Germany with at least five of his retainers.”

The room exploded in noise from Gunter, Ravi, Dieter, and even Lisette. Baldewin could only sit with his mouth open as he looked at his childhood friend. A devilish smirk tilted up one corner of Alric’s mouth as he met Baldewin’s surprised gaze. When they were young, Alric had loved to shock people and catch them off guard. As the king, it was something he didn’t get to do too often now. Oddly, Baldewin found it reassuring to see this little hint of the old Alric still causing mischief.

“How long have you known?” Dieter demanded, his voice trembling in indignation. The old advisor had clearly been sure there was nothing happening in Alric’s life that he didn’t know about.

“Rodrigo boldly announced he was coming to Burkhard about twenty minutes before we joined here,” Alric said, and the old dragon deflated a little.

“I’m confused. Why is this a big deal?” Cameron asked, looking across the table at Gunter.

“First off, no member of the Ice Clan has been in Fire Clan territory since the war, and that was more than five hundred years ago,” Gunter said. “Second, it is always a bit dangerous for any king to come into another king’s territory. Dragons have long been territorial, which is part of the reason the Ice Clan is on the other side of the world. With so much space separating us, there’s little chance of dragons from separate clans running across each other by accident while stretching their wings.”