Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

The other door into the lounge opened at that moment and Ravi popped in. “I heard my name. What did I do this time?”

Alric tilted his head to see over the back of the chair. “I was reminding him of the White Russian disaster.”

“Oh god, that was vile,” Ravi agreed promptly, expressive face screwing up as if just the memory made him gag. “Baldewin, no mixing drinks for you.”

Baldewin sighed, defeated, and lifted both hands in surrender. “Fine. Then come mix me one. Alric, come get your own drink.”

Alric groaned in protest and settled more firmly into his chair. That held no appeal whatsoever. It was actually game night, their weekly night for playing a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons, but he wasn’t sure if he had the mental energy to play.

“Why are you standing over my shoulder?” Ravi prodded at Baldewin with an elbow to his ribs even as he reached for two glasses.

“I want to see how you do it. You never give me good measurements to go by. I don’t know how much to put in.”

“You put in stuff until your ancestors lean in to whisper against your ear, That’s enough.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“It is not my job to be helpful.” Ravi’s hands flew as he poured from different bottles, mixing drinks like he’d been a bartender in a previous incarnation. “Alric? What do you want?”

“Brandy, straight.”

“You are so boring. I bet your safeword is vanilla.”

Alric snorted and refused to be baited. “I’ve had too many complications recently. I want something simple tonight.”

Handing Baldewin his drink, Ravi shot him an intrigued look over his shoulder. “Ooh, are we talking about Cameron already? I thought I’d have to get you drunk first.”

Alric suddenly felt the distinct lack of a drink in his hand. This impending conversation called strongly for the haze of alcohol. “How did we jump from complications to Cameron?”

For some reason, both dragons gave him this doubtful look, then turned to each other.

“I can’t figure out if he’s playing dense or if he actually thinks he’s fooling us,” Ravi noted to Baldewin before taking a sip from his own concoction.

“He might think he’s fooling us. I’m not sure why; he’s never really had that good of a poker face.” Baldewin sipped at his own drink and sighed. “You really are good at mixing drinks.”

“Of course I am. I get lots of practice in this group. Even Gunter treats mixing drinks like it’s a chemistry experiment.”

“I heard that!” Gunter called from the hallway. He entered the room a second later, looking like he’d just left the scene of a murder. His greyish hoodie was spattered with vibrant red, especially around the sleeves.

Alric looked him over in concern. “Do I need to go find the body?”

Gunter blinked at him, expression perfectly blank. “What? No, of course I cleaned up after myself.”

Being the patient one, Baldewin redirected him again. “What happened?”

“Oh, I had a dye bag slip out of my hands. Hit the table and burst.”

So not a dead body. Alric was relieved. You never quite knew with Gunter.

Waving this off as unimportant, Gunter zeroed in for the bar. “Why were you talking about me? And where’s my drink?”

“We weren’t talking about you, we were talking about Alric’s crush on Cameron,” Ravi denied, turning back to the bar. “And what do you want?”

Feeling like this conversation was spiraling in a direction Alric very much did not want it to go, he tried to nip it in the bud. “I don’t have a crush on Cameron. Why would you say that?”

All three men looked at him with such open disbelief Alric squirmed under it all.

In an overly patient manner, Baldewin turned to Gunter and inquired genially, “Did you observe that our king has a massive crush the size of Jupiter for our new mage?”

Gunter responded in the same manner, like a lord replying at some grand function, “I did, good sir. I daresay you could see his crush from space.”

Ravi jerked a thumb at Gunter. “Even Gunter noticed!”

“Excuse me, I’m not that oblivious.” Gunter frowned at him, affronted.

Ignoring him, Ravi brought Alric’s drink to him in his usual smooth, cat-like stride. “Alric, you are fooling precisely no one. Why are you even denying it? I mean, seriously, it’s not like this is forbidden. And Cameron is obviously interested.”

Alric accepted the drink, but he couldn’t seem to meet his friends’ eyes. There was no fooling these three. Alric wasn’t even sure why he tried, except that he didn’t really want to discuss this. Not even with these men, who were as close to him as brothers. “After so many years of looking for a mage, with so many of us wishing for a mate, I can’t selfishly monopolize him.”

“Oh, Alric,” Baldewin sighed, sounding pained. “Is that really it? That’s why you’re trying to put a lid on this?”