Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

“How bad?” she demanded of him, thankfully in German. Lisette looked like one of those regal silver film stars, the aging beauty who played anything from the good witch to the evil stepmother. Her white hair was bobbed, which flattered her face, and she moved lithely as if age had never touched her.

Alric grimaced in pain, trying to move gingerly. His entire body flared in pain, radiating from his injured side. “Not good. Cameron’s chosen to stay with us. Baldewin, will you help him get settled?”

“Of course, Hoheit.” Baldewin immediately went around to the other side of the car. Cameron shot him an anxious look, and Alric squeezed his hand reassuringly before letting go, giving him over to Baldewin. Alric kept an ear trained on the two as Baldewin encouraged him to come out and follow him into the castle.

Assured that Cameron would be seen to, Alric moved cautiously out of the car, catching one of Dieter’s shoulders to help balance him. He felt almost nauseous under the pain.

Lisette looked him over and clucked her tongue. “Sasha reported what you did. I can’t chide you, considering you were rescuing Cameron, but I don’t like the pain I see on your face, either. I think you’ll need more than the pain-relieving salve.”

Alric’s mouth screwed up in a sorry semblance of a smile. “I won’t say no.”

Cameron tipped his head back on the chair and breathed. Just breathed. God, what a whirlwind of a day. Baldewin had shown him into this room, and then less than subtly dropped the info bomb that he just happened to be in the same hallway as Alric’s bedroom. Not that Cameron wanted to think about that. For now, he was resting and unwinding.

It was a beautiful room, tamer than most of the castle, as it didn’t have gold filigree on the walls or the huge murals. A few tasteful seascapes, a thick rug on the floor, and a picture window facing outwards that let him see the full breadth of the mountains. The view especially helped, more than the tumbler of whiskey in his hands. He felt strangely exhausted by it all, emotionally drained after the intense scare, the adrenaline rush, and the worry over Alric.

It warmed him that Alric had dove in immediately to his aid, not thinking anything of his own safety in order to rescue Cameron. As much as Cameron hated seeing him hurt, it was beyond flattering that Alric thought so much of him that he’d jumped straight in.

But why was someone after Cameron to begin with?

He needed to talk this through. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he Facetimed Cassie. It wasn’t until he started the call that he remembered the time difference. Oh hell, she was probably asleep right now.

Before he could hang up, Cassie answered with a groggy, “Whazzit?”

“Sorry, Cass. I forgot the time difference. I’ll call you again later.”

“Yeah, cool—wait, what’s wrong? You look like someone tap-danced on your grave.”

“Heh. Not a bad overall description.” Cameron ran a hand over his face. He shouldn’t have called her. Now she’d just be worried. Why didn’t he think of that? “Sorry, I’m alright, it’s just that something weird happened earlier.”

“Good weird? Bad weird? Magic weird?”

“Bad weird. I was out with Alric—”

“Wait, hot dragon king Alric?”

“Only one Alric, sis, focus. So I was out with him at the festival. I have a lot of questions still, and he agreed to talk with me there. He went to stand in line for food, and then bam! Four guys appear out of nowhere and grab me.”

Cassie’s voice rose to crescendo heights, expression incredulous. “YOU WERE ALMOST KIDNAPPED?!”

“Stop yelling,” he pleaded. “I’ve got a low-grade headache as it is. Yeah, almost. I put up a fight, Alric heard me and came immediately to help. We fought them off, they bailed and drove off in a van. They were using magic to try and blind me, kind of like a flash grenade. Let me tell you, very weird to see magic in action. I felt like I was on a CGI set for some urban fantasy movie. I barely ducked that one before they threw another spell at Alric, which he thankfully dodged, as it was kind of like an acid attack. Acid! They were going to melt him! Seriously, bad news. Sis, it was weird. Alric doesn’t know who they are.”

Cassie frowned fiercely, her eyes focusing on the air just past the phone. She was in comfortable sleep clothes, a loose shirt revealing one shoulder, blue hair sticking out on one side. She’d definitely been fast asleep. He glanced at the time on his phone and winced. It would be about four a.m. on the East Coast.

“Cam. Where are you now?”

“Their castle. Alric gave me the choice between guards at my hotel or coming here. I chose here.”