Origin (Scales N' Spells #1) - A.J. Sherwood Page 0,134

lunchtime in Rio and the king of the Ice Dragons would have completed his morning meetings with his advisors at this point. Alric wanted to be sure Rodrigo didn’t have any further questions for him before he shut down the ruler side of his brain for the evening. He wanted to be able to give Cameron his full attention.

A knock on his door had Alric swallowing back an irritated sigh. Dieter had already escaped for the evening. He had a standing dinner date with his lovely mate at 17:00, which meant the old dragon snuck away from his office at 16:30 everyday so that he could freshen up for his sweet Lisette.

Maybe he should have dipped off to his own chambers already to do the same for Cameron.

But now it was too late.

“Enter,” Alric called out, forcing away any sounds of irritation.

Baldewin’s smirking face appeared in the doorway and Alric nearly rolled his eyes. “Long day, Hoheit?”

“There have been longer, but I will admit that I am eager for this one to be over,” Alric replied. He sunk a little lower into his chair, relaxing as Baldewin shut the door behind him. When it was just him and Baldewin in the room, it was a little easier to shed his royal mantle and just be himself. They’d grown up as close friends, gotten into endless amounts of trouble together. While Dieter was good about reminding him of his place and responsibilities, Baldewin was a constant reminder that he was more than the crown he wore.

Which brought up the question: what was Cameron in that world? The bridge between them?

“Did you get the day’s final security report and my suggested rotation?” Baldewin inquired.

He strolled farther into the room, but bypassed the desk in favor of the large sofa that sat perpendicular to Alric. This had been a common arrangement between them for more than a couple of decades. At the end of the day, Baldewin would wander in with the excuse of some bit of work nonsense and then proceed to flop down on Alric’s couch. They talked, usually about a lot of nothing, and then wander down to the dining hall for a late dinner.

Alric glanced down to see the email appear within his inbox. “Is there a problem with the castle’s servers again?”

“No,” Baldewin paused, stopping mid-sit. “Why?”

“Because you nearly beat the email and it’s at least a three-minute walk from your office to mine,” Alric teased.

“Ja, ja,” Baldewin muttered and flopped down on the couch, propping his booted feet up on the arm while folding his hands on his stomach. He could imagine Dieter frowning at his friend, but Alric couldn’t deny that their friendship had managed to survive Alric’s ascension to the throne. He needed this bit of normalcy in his day.

Though, Cameron had never really treated him as royalty. Only as the man he’d first met at the Dragon Festival.

“So...I heard an interesting bit of gossip this afternoon.”

Alric froze. No one would dare speak about his little afternoon rendezvous with Cameron in his office. The meeting with Dieter afterward had been difficult enough, though his advisor would never do something so horrible as to actually hint that he knew exactly what had been happening behind the closed door. Dieter wouldn’t spread gossip, but had someone else been walking by his office and heard him?

“I thought you didn’t listen to gossip,” Alric replied, trying to keep his voice calm and maybe even a little bored.

“I don’t, but this was about a certain mage and a certain king.”

Alric placed his right hand on the surface of the desk and pushed to his feet, eyes narrowing on his old friend, who looked as if he was about to bust open if he didn’t share what malicious little tidbit he heard.

“I’ll not tolerate anyone in the castle spreading malicious gossip about Cameron,” Alric growled. His dragon stirred, demanding Alric hunt down the person who was speaking about his mage. Maybe his dragon would have this person for dinner and still spend the evening licking Cameron. Yes, that sounded much better.

Baldewin snickered as he held up one finger. “First, everyone adores Cameron. No one is going to say one mean thing about that man.” Baldewin added a second finger. “And two, the gossip is that your powers have started showing up in Cameron’s spells. Care to comment, Eure Majestät?” His friend’s expression became positively smug.

Groaning at himself, Alric instantly deflated as he walked around the desk. His dragon grumbled and settled