Wish (Scales 'n' Spells 3)

“Oh! That’s great news. Yeah, I hope she’s right too.” North flipped the laptop around to be in his lap and plugged the mountain range into a Google search. “Okay, so the Allgäuer Hochalpen—gah, seriously, how do you say that? Anyway, it’s part of the Alps. It’s a nature reserve, looks like. I’m probably going to have to get over there and do the seeking spell again once I’m closer to figure out where they are in the mountains.”

“What?” Earl teased. “You don’t fancy tromping about in foreign mountains looking for ’em?”

“That idea strangely holds no appeal. Hard pass on that.” North turned his head to look out of the window where it was, once again, snowing. “Especially with this weather. Maybe coming out here in December was a bad idea, after all.”

“Don’t know if you’d have gotten another shot at this after it took so long to convince them in the first place.”

“Yeah. There’s that.” North’s family was not okay with the idea of him being…him. Being gay was bad enough, but the brightly colored clothes, and the eyeliner, and the silk boxers, all of that just pushed his family right over the edge. They wanted him to be like them.

In a word, boring.

North’s desire to escape that stranglehold was strong and had been building since he was fifteen. Still, finances were a problem, and it had taken him until the ripe old age of twenty-one to convince his parents to go on this trip and help pay for parts. Even then, Grandpa Earl had pitched in to help cover the bases. It was ridiculously expensive to hop from one country to the next. This trip was vital in more than one way, not only as an escape, but also to prove to himself what he’d always known.

Fate had given him magic for a good reason. He just had to find the reason.

Dragons were, crossing all fingers and toes, hopefully the reason.

“Be more enthusiastic,” Earl encouraged him. “You’re closer!”

“Yeah. No, I’m really excited about that. I just keep thinking—German Alps. Winter. Snow. That sounds like a very cold and dangerous combination.” And as he’d already proven, his jacket from home was not really up to the task of European weather. North had goosebumps on his goosebumps.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” was his grandpa’s loving advice.

North sighed. No sympathy from that quarter, eh? Shoulda figured.

Warin felt a tug. Again. He stopped mid-stride and whipped around, glaring at the long empty hallway behind him. What was that? It felt like an insistent tug from behind, as if someone was trying to pull at him. It had been faint at first, but that last one had felt physical, as if someone were directly behind him.

“What?” Ravi asked, also stopping to gaze behind Warin.

“Something pulled at me,” he answered, still looking suspiciously about. This wasn’t a prank of some sort, was it? He could easily see Cameron and Ravi putting their heads together and cooking up a prank like this. Their new consort was incredibly mischievous, and Ravi was incorrigible.

Ravi snickered and looked up at Warin. “Something tugging at your tail?”

“That’s actually exactly what it feels like.” And it was disconcerting to boot. Warin hadn’t felt like this in hundreds of years, since the last seeking spell used to locate him on a battlefield.

Ravi abruptly stopped snickering, his rich brown eyes narrowing under dark brows. “Seriously? We’re in an empty hallway, and that’s not funny.”

Judging from that reaction, it wasn’t him. Warin would prefer it to be a prank. “Afraid of ghosts, young dragon?”

“Hell to the nah, I have badass mage friends to exorcise them.” His confidence faded a little as he continued. “But do I need to call one? Like seriously, is there a ghost messing with you?” The shorter dragon came around Warin’s side to peer behind him, squinting suspiciously as if willpower would allow him to see a spirit.

“I don’t think it’s a ghost. It feels like a seeking spell.”

Ravi’s curls-topped head snapped around. “What? Uhhh…that’s not good news. What with everything that’s gone down this year.”

Warin’s stomach twisted. A rogue group of mages called the Jaeggi had been attempting to kidnap mages and drain them of their magic. There had also been an attempt to kill their king before they disappeared without a trace. It would be just his luck if they found a way to target him.

“I know,” Warin answered grimly. “I think I better report this.”

“Straight to Alric,” Ravi agreed, already shooing him in the king’s direction. “He’s in his office, last I checked.”

Warin headed that direction, as Ravi would know. As irresponsible as the dragon looked on the surface, he was one of the king’s retainers and bodyguards for a reason. Ravi took his duties seriously, and he always knew where the king was.

They changed hallways several times, taking a flight of stairs up before reaching the right area of the castle. Warin navigated it on instinct. This beautiful castle had been his home for centuries. He could likely walk it blindfolded. Upon reaching the door, he gave it a respectful knock and waited.