Origin (Scales N' Spells #1) - A.J. Sherwood Page 0,115

starting to slide up his back. “What?”

“You, your sexy highness, are a horrible liar.” Alric gasped and started to jerk away, but Cameron tightened his hold on Alric. “What? Gonna tell me you’re not a horrible liar? That you’re an excellent, accomplished liar?” he teased.

Alric attempted to glare at Cameron. He was damn good at glaring even if he wasn’t spectacular at lying. At least, he’d been good at glaring prior to meeting Cameron Park. Now all he wanted to do when he was near the man was smile like a besotted idiot.

“You’ve outwitted me again, young mage. What would you have me say? The potential appearance of the Jaeggi means I failed to protect my people and wipe out this threat like I should have.” Alric felt that failure to the quick. Like the knife was already pushed in to the hilt. No one needed to twist it further.

“No, it means the bastards are sneakier than anyone thought. Did any other dragon think they were still around?”

Alric huffed, but Cameron had a point. Rodrigo had been as shocked as Alric. They’d all thought the Jaeggi had been eliminated. If he’d known they were still around he would have kept hunting.

“And even if they are still around, this is the first you’ve seen of them in five hundred years. I’d say you did a hell of a good job beating them back.”

There was no stopping the smile that lifted the corners of Alric’s mouth as he stared up at Cameron’s brightly shining eyes. He looked at Alric with such pride and confidence, as if fate herself whispered in his ear that Alric could do whatever Cameron believed of him. His people looked at him similarly, but Alric had always told himself he’d just inherited what his father created.

But not Cameron. The mage had never known his father. He knew only Alric, and for some reason, Cameron believed in him.

Lifting his hands, he cupped the side of Cameron’s face. “How did I ever get through my day without you?”

Cameron’s cheeks flushed and he chuckled. “I imagine with a lot less laughter and fewer distractions.”

“Very true.” Leaning in, he captured Cameron’s mouth in a sweet kiss, dragging it out until he got that blissful hum of pleasure. He lived for that sound from the man, needed it more than air. He pulled away and brushed one last kiss to the tip of his nose. “Go learn magic. We’ll talk more soon.”

With a great deal of reluctance, Alric stepped away from Cameron. The mage winked at him and dipped back into Lisette’s room. Alric started for his private office again. Danger lay ahead of them and they desperately needed answers, but Alric felt like he could conquer it all because of Cameron.

Lisette clapped her hands together. “Places, everyone!”

Leaning into his side, Cassie muttered to her brother, “I feel like I’m doing some kind of theater production and I’m a chorus girl.”

“Same,” Cameron muttered back. In truth, though, he was more than a little nervous. None of them had a great deal of magic training under their belt, but for this, they all needed to pitch in.

Today was the day they sent a drone into enemy territory.

A magical drone, of course.

Every mage the clan had was present, all of them cooperating to do the working. Spells over a long distance like this functioned in multiple parts: one part to control the ‘drone’—in this case a shadow cat—another to stream all of what the drone heard and saw back to the castle, and yet a third to display that information in a mirror so everyone could see it. Lisette had tacked on a fourth spell to record everything into a memory crystal in case they wanted to review it again later. Odds were good they would.

Nine mages were arrayed around Lisette’s worktable. Dieter, Alric, Sasha, and Gunter were all nearby, trying to stay out of the way but close enough to watch the proceedings. Baldewin was holding up the door with Ravi, keeping people out, but both of them were watching with intent interest.

Cameron ran his eye over the table once more. Map with precise location to deploy shadow cat, check. Energy stream powered by will o’ the wisp, check. Connection between that and mirror ready, but not in place just yet. That was the last spell to do.

This was interesting for Cameron, in more ways than one, as he’d never worked a spell in conjunction with other mages before. But it was also interesting