Page 13 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume One

He had no chance to ask before he was led into a room where Baldewin had obviously set up in. It was, like everything else, filled with carved wooden panels on the bottom half of the walls, the top section with gold filigree over the white in ornate contrast. The very center of the room held a round table with a red velvet tablecloth, a two-tier tray of brownies set on little paper doilies, and a tea set of white porcelain with gold trim ready to serve.

Alric pulled a chair out for him, which Cameron took thankfully. He really needed to sit and process all of this. Baldewin took the last empty chair after Alric settled next to Cameron.

Alric sat and poured a cup of tea before asking, “Sugar, cream?”

“Two sugars, thanks.” Should a king be serving him? The expression on Baldewin’s face said no. But he wasn’t about to argue.

Alric handed him the tea with a slight smile before pouring his own. “Baldewin, to catch you up, we discussed a bit of mage lines and dragons on the way up here. Cameron is of the Noh Clan.”

“Oh!” Baldewin’s face lit up in understanding. “That makes so much more sense.”

“I thought it might. But the family did little to pass down their history, so for his sake, I will speak of the basics. I don’t want him further confused.” Alric stirred his tea with an idle motion, speaking to Cameron directly. “I told you of how mages like to bond with dragons, and why.”

Cameron nodded, showing he was following.

“There is much to tell you on that score, but I will give the gist for now. What I said before is only one reason. We dragons can only bond—or marry as you humans like to put it—with mages. We cannot bond with each other. We cannot have children with each other. When a dragon meets the person they are supposed to marry—a fated mate, if you will—we know it. It might take days or weeks or even months for that realization to come, but we are sure of it once it does. But we’re hardly chaste until the right person comes along, as frankly we never know at what time that will happen.”

Baldewin snorted, helping himself to a brownie. “Dieter was three hundred and twenty when he met Lisette, if that tells you anything.”

Cameron had no idea who those two people were but took the point. “God, could you imagine being celibate that long, waiting for your fated mate?” Cameron murmured, talking mostly to himself. He shivered and saw a matching look of discomfort on Baldewin’s face. “So you date until you find the right person? I mean, that’s pretty obvious to me. Humans do that too.”

“Precisely. But it doesn’t always end well.” Alric sighed. “Many, many years ago, before the Dragon War, there was a young mage by the name of Kaiser Jaeggi who fell in love with a dragon. The two were lovers, a casual affair, as the dragon knew Kaiser wasn’t his fated mate. Then, one day, the dragon found who he was looking for. Naturally, he broke off the affair.” Alric paused, licking his lips. He looked uncomfortable and maybe even sad. “Some don’t handle such breakups well—in this case, the mage handled it very poorly indeed. He went mad, beyond heartbroken that he wasn’t the dragon’s choice. He became unhinged and chose to curse the mage lines.”

This rang a distant bell. Cameron felt like he’d heard part of this story before. “Wait. Wait, you’re telling me the Dragon War started because a guy was jilted?”

Grimacing, Baldewin answered around a mouthful of brownie. “Basically. He secretly took up a collection of every bit of blood he could lay hands on, targeting the larger of the mage clans. Five hundred years later, we’re still not entirely sure how he did it, but he cursed the lines and killed most of the mages overnight. Only the smaller magical clans remained, the ones he hadn’t targeted.”

“There were hundreds of smaller clans, but the Twenty-Six—the major clans—were wiped out overnight. In the wake of that destruction, dragons lost mates as well. Not to mention friends and companions.” Alric’s eyes closed, dark and pained. “It was what sent us to war against Kaiser’s clan. We couldn’t let what he had done stand. We fought him viciously and lost even more, as the dragons without their mages battled magic without protections. The war was brutal, horrifying, and at the end, the decimation was almost complete.”

Baldewin gave Alric a sad nod, a man who knew precisely what the other felt. “We lost whole clans of dragons, too. The smaller mage clans who survived the fallout went into hiding, fearing Kaiser might still be alive. Or that his surviving clan might go after them for revenge. We dragons have been searching for any members of the magical clans for centuries and haven’t had a speck of luck.”

“Until you.” Alric smiled at Cameron and it was like the sun peeking out from behind cloudy skies. “You’re the first mage we’ve seen in five hundred years, Cameron Park. And I cannot express how joyous we are to find you.”

Alric hated indecision. But when he looked at Cameron’s wide-eyed, dazed expression—the young man clearly felt completely overwhelmed—Alric hesitated.

Was it all too much? Should he slow down? Maybe pause and tackle the rest of this information another day? It could be enough to know the real story behind what happened to dragons and his own people. That was more than enough for anyone to digest.

Ravi appearing in his dragon form had certainly helped clear away those lingering questions about whether dragons still existed.

And while Cameron might not be fond of his chosen profession, it was obvious he had a scientific, logical mind. He needed hard, irrefutable proof that dragons lived.

While he didn’t seem to be struggling with the dragon part of things, it appeared the idea of mages and Cameron’s own place in this world wasn’t clicking yet. When those final puzzle pieces fell into place in Cameron’s mind, Alric wasn’t sure if he should expect excitement or horror. He prayed for the former but wouldn’t count on it.

Picking up a spoon, he once again stirred his untouched tea. He glanced over at Cameron’s teacup to find it still full, and his brownie sat untouched on the plate. If Ravi had just waited, he might have been able to fill Cameron with chocolate, making him more malleable.

Right now, Cameron was listening to Baldewin talk about how few of the Fire Clan still existed. Not words he trusted himself to say without a heavy dose of bitterness. The shrinking of his people was thanks to his own failings. If his father was still alive, he would have found a way to locate the missing mages much more quickly. He would have kept the pervasive feeling of hopelessness at bay.

But after five hundred years, Alric struggled with feeling as if he were still racing to catch up with where he should be. Always a step behind, and his people were the ones who paid the price for all his inadequacies.

Today, that was all going to change.

Cameron was here now, and he even had a sister. They’d located two mages. If he could speak to Cameron’s grandmother, then she might be able to remember other people who could be linked to the Noh Clan. At long last, they had a thread to follow, and it could save them all.

It all started with Cameron. He had to understand his importance to them all.

“I just…I can’t believe this,” Cameron whispered in shock. “Has the Fire Clan always been in this area?” Thrusting his fingers through his hair, he tightly gripped his lovely silken locks and pulled. “I don’t remember reading that in my dragon studies class in high school. Damn that final’s phenomena. I swear I’ve forgotten ninety percent of what I learned in class.”

Baldewin chuckled, and a part of Alric wanted to send his old childhood friend away. Having Cameron all to himself yesterday had been an exciting dream Alric wasn’t ready to give up. That was unrealistic, though. He couldn’t monopolize him and shouldn’t try. Alric knew in his bones that Cameron was a mate to one of the Fire Clan. Quite possibly Ravi, considering their similar playfulness and his clan’s history of matching with the Wind Dragon Clan.