figure out how to tell Baldewin he wanted to go back to Finland?
What would Baldewin do if Tori left?
That was easy. He’d follow the mage back to Finland.
The thought stopped him because it had come from his dragon.
Would he really live without the rest of his clan? Would he spend the rest of his long life following behind the mage like a stray dog hoping for a scrap of attention?
An alarm on his computer had Baldewin jerking upright in his seat, tearing him from his dark thoughts. He blinked to find that more time had passed than he’d thought, and he was nearly late for a meeting scheduled with Alric.
Grabbing up his phone, he locked down his computer and hurried down the hall to the king’s office. It was a little hard to believe that two weeks ago he’d been following Cassie down this hall as she rushed to announce the discovery of Tori. How had his life been turned so completely upside down in so short a time?
He reached the office door as Dieter was leaving the room. The old advisor smiled when he saw Baldewin and held the door open for the dragon to step through.
“It’s good to have you home again,” Dieter greeted.
“It’s good to be home at last. Have you heard from Lisette about Cassie?”
Dieter nodded and stepped out of the doorway so Baldewin could pass. “She’s still working but reports that Cassie is recovering nicely. I believe she’s out of danger thanks to Tori.”
Baldewin couldn’t deny that he felt a swell of pride. Of course his Tori had saved her. He was more skilled than anyone understood, more than Tori even knew. Though, Baldewin had to question his own feelings. When had he started to think of Tori as his mage?
“Thank you. I’m glad to hear it.” Baldewin stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. He always thought it slightly amusing that this was the third most comfortable room for him in the entire castle after his own quarters and his office. But then, he knew the furniture and decorations very well. He’d spent a lot of time in this room talking to his old friend about the clan and life in general.
When he crossed the room, he found Alric reading something on his computer monitor, a slight frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. Alric’s eyes flicked up to take in Baldewin, and the frown disappeared.
“I was just reading the report you sent over,” Alric murmured.
“I’m sorry it’s not as detailed as it usually is. I’m still playing catch-up with my inbox and other reports. I can send you a revised one tomorrow morning,” Baldewin offered as he dropped into one of the comfortable leather chairs in front of Alric’s desk.
The king waved him off. “No need. I know that Tori, and then Cassie, had your full attention while you were out of the castle. What you’ve got here for me is no surprise. We’ll need to shift more funds into the security team for additional training.”
Alric pushed to his feet and paced over to one of the walls of windows. Baldewin kept his seat but narrowed his eyes on his friend’s back, carefully watching his movements. His friend had been gravely injured in the war and had never fully recovered. When they were alone like this, Alric typically let his guard down, and Baldewin could see if he was pushing himself too hard by how he held himself while in pain.
But to Baldewin’s surprise, Alric’s movements were smooth and relaxed. He still refrained from using his left arm, but it didn’t seem to be due to pain. Apparently, his mate was doing a good job of helping Alric with his old injury, which was a great relief.
Not that he was actually surprised. Cameron was dedicated to the care and happiness of his dragon.
“I was thinking we need to develop a mage recovery team,” Alric murmured.
“Really? You think we’re going to find more?” Baldewin asked, his tone lightly teasing.
Alric turned back to his friend, one corner of his mouth tilted up in a smirk. “I think the existence of an entire clan of mages in northern Finland is a good sign there are many more mages out in the world just waiting to be discovered.”
“That is true.”
“The fact is that while we’ve been looking for mages for five centuries, we’ve not been prepared for actually meeting them. We just assumed they would know they are mages, and we assumed they’d