Wish (Scales 'n' Spells 3)

Of course, it helped ease his own worries to hear the twins had come to the castle with no magical experience whatsoever, and they’d been accepted into the clan without the dragons blinking an eye. He already had a small advantage over them. Lisette would have to accept him. Sure, he could only do a handful of relatively easy spells, but that was more than the Noh twins.

But all that magic stuff was tomorrow.

Tonight was dinner and celebrating with many bottles of very nice wine. Warin had politely escorted him back to the room he’d been assigned and given him a light kiss at the door before hurrying away as if he didn’t trust himself around North.

Oh, North was dying to give him all kinds of reasons to not trust himself, but now was not a good time. His belly was full, and he was exhausted.

The twirl to celebrate dragons, magic, and his stunning room turned into more of a flop onto the buttery soft duvet covering his king-sized bed. Lying on his back, he stared up at the evergreen canopy while kicking off his sneakers with a pair of loud thuds on the thick carpet. The room was elegant in a refined, understated kind of way with warm, burnt orange walls. Heavy curtains covered in green leaves hung over the windows, blocking out the cold winter air. The furniture was heavy and dark wood, making him feel as if he was sleeping in a hidden forest glen.

What did Warin’s rooms look like? The dragon had been quick to point out that he was only one floor away. Just up a quick flight of stairs and down three doors. Should he go find Warin’s rooms and…sort of do a comparison?

Funny how the idea of getting up and climbing stairs didn’t seem so bad now that it was to locate Warin’s room. Before he’d reached his own bed, he had been half sure Warin would have to carry him to his room. But he didn’t mention it because the dragon would have undoubtedly tossed him over his shoulder. And really, that was too obvious, right?

Not that obvious seemed to be doing him a bit of good.

North was not the promiscuous type at all, but really…what did a guy have to do to get laid in this castle?

Maybe Warin was just shy and didn’t want to make a move in front of others. Maybe North really should go find his room and simply crawl into the dragon’s lap. Lay it all on the line and see if Warin really was attracted to him. The rejection would sting, but right now he was riding pretty high on the whole finding-dragons-and-mages thing.

With a groan, North pushed himself upright on the bed and debated whether to put his shoes on again versus walking through the castle in just his socks. Would anyone notice? Before he could come to a conclusive answer, his phone started ringing.

How was that even possible? Did he actually have bars up here in the Alps? Shifting on the bed so he could pull the phone from his pocket, North nearly groaned again to see that it was his mother attempting to FaceTime him. It wasn’t a question of bars so much as Wi-Fi.

The idea made North stop and smirk. The dragons had Wi-Fi. Well, of course the dragons had Wi-Fi, but the idea seemed a little absurd since they were supposed to be ancient, magical creatures. But from what he’d seen, his parents were more technologically challenged than the dragons he’d met.

His thumb hesitated over the button to answer the call. He didn’t want to talk to her. Didn’t want to face this world. But there was no point in putting it off. She’d only keep harassing him and hounding him until he finally answered. There would be no getting any sleep.

Sighing, North tapped the button and tried to summon up a smile for his mother’s scowl. The woman’s dour face was too close to the screen, allowing North to clearly see the large pores in her too-pale skin. Her brown and grey hair was scrapped back in a severe bun. She wore minimal make-up. He’d tried once to get her to shake up her routine with a cute bob and some softer colors to accent her eyes, but he could only guess that no Southern mama wanted to get make-up advice from her son. Even if he did do it a fair bit better.

“Hey, Ma,” North said. He scooched up on the bed until his back was against the headboard. This wasn’t likely to be a short call, and his adventure to find Warin’s room was put on hold indefinitely.

“Freddie! Where the hell are you?” she screeched, causing North to lose hold on his weak smile. “The last we heard from you was that you were in London, and then your grandpa told us you were in Brussels. Where the devil is that even?”