by AJ Sherwood
Ravi made an encouraging noise.
Heartened by it, Cameron wet his lips and tried. “I went to Berkley for my master’s and when I did that, the world changed on me. I visited my hometown during the summers to find that most of my friends were gone and had no intention of coming back. My sister went to school in Massachusetts. I felt uprooted after that. There’s not anything pulling me back to the US. But here—god, Ravi. It’s like I finally found where I was supposed to be all along. It’s this incredible feeling of belonging, like I’m rooted to the ground. I didn’t realize how disconnected I was in the US until I came here and met all of you.”
Ravi nodded as if this made perfect sense and Cameron wasn’t waxing poetic. “Yes, I understand that. I felt the same before Alric invited me into his clan. It was such a relief to find a home truly my own and not one I was trying to fit into.”
“Yes,” Cameron said with relief. “That’s it exactly. So I want to stay, but so much has been thrown at me that I’m also kind of overwhelmed on where to start. I’m trying to take this one thing at a time.”
“Perfectly understandable.” Ravi slowed to take a curve, his eyes on the road but his head cocked as if he were thinking about something. “I think shopping and getting a few things is a good step. Alric wants you to be comfortable here, and I think he’s giving you some space to work through it all before formally inviting you in.”
That was one of the questions lurking in Cameron’s head, and he was glad someone had finally voiced it. “So, there is a formal invitation to be issued?”
“Absolutely, yes. And Alric will be happy to issue it to you when he feels you want it. He’s not pushy, our king. Not unless the situation calls for it.”
Cameron was of the opinion Alric could be pushier. He really didn’t know where he stood with the man. In fact, this might be a good opportunity to ask some questions. Ravi was a chatterbox, after all. “Yeah, I’ve got that impression off of him. Hey, Ravi, clear something up for me. Sometimes, being near Alric is Mixed Signals Central, and I really don’t know which way the man will jump.”
“Yeah?” Ravi encouraged. “Like when? How?”
“So, like the first time I worked magic, he offered a bit of dragon’s breath to do a spell with. And he kissed me to give me the breath. And it wasn’t just a peck, it was this body-tingling, sensual caress, and I went a little gooey.”
“I love the gooey kisses,” Ravi sighed, but his eyes were sharp on Cameron. “Really? My stiff king did that? Ohhhh, this is interesting. What else has he done?”
“I may have taken advantage of Lisette’s order to put oil on him and sexed it up a bit. And I swear to you, the man looked like he wanted to pounce and eat me right there. But he didn’t make a move.” Cameron spread his hands. “I thought I was pretty fucking obvious, but I can’t seem to pinpoint if he’s really interested or not. Or if he’s just enjoying the flirting but isn’t interested. Sometimes straight guys do that, just flirt to mess around. But my gaydar’s going a bit haywire around him. Is Alric gay?”
“Pansexual. All dragons are.”
Cameron blinked at him. “Get out. All of you?”
“All of us.” Ravi shrugged as if this wasn’t anything to be surprised by. “We’re just made that way. I can’t think of a single exception to that rule. I think part of it is that we never know what gender our true mate will be, and so dragons are just naturally open to any possibility.”
Fascinating. Cameron was truly intrigued by this turn in the conversation. “Baldewin said something to me about needing mages to have kids with, so I guess I assumed you guys were mostly straight.”
Ravi snorted. “Not at all the case. The majority of mages are female, that much is true. I’d say about eighty percent of mages are women. Male or nonbinary mages are in the minority there. It’s why when I first picked up your scent, I assumed you female.”
Cameron felt the world tilt a little bit more on him. “Whoa. Seriously? Most of them are women? No wonder Alric was excited to hear I have a twin sister, then.”
“It really makes sense to me. When we do see male or nonbinary mages, they’re generally a twin. Or at least, every male mage I’ve known was a twin.” Ravi thought about it for another moment before offering, “If you’re curious, you should ask Gunter about it. He knows more than I do.”
“I will totally do that. I suddenly have a lot of questions about this.”
“I bet. And as for Alric, trust me, he’s interested. I’m not sure why he’s holding back, either. But it’s obvious to all of us that he’s interested. Do not let up on him, okay? I honestly cannot remember the last time he even flirted with a guy. Could be he’s out of practice.”
“Oh. Yeah, I didn’t think of that. I thought maybe culture gap?”
“Maybe also playing into it. My advice? Go for it, be even more obvious. And he does better if you say things outright instead of hinting through actions.”
“That…is very good to know. Thanks.”
“My pleasure. Hopefully soon to be yours.” Ravi slowed at a cross-road and stopped. Mischief danced across his face as he turned to look at Cameron. “I know you said you wanted to go into town….”
Cameron eyed him suspiciously. Should he trust that expression? “Yes, and?”
“Well, do you want to blow off a little steam first?”
Oh, it might be the fun kind of mischief. “Sure? What do you have in mind?”
Gesturing off to the left road, Ravi explained in growing excitement, “There’s a spot over here where paragliders go. You want to do a little skydiving? I can catch you.”
“Wait.” Cameron held up a hand. “Wait, you’re suggesting I jump off a cliff and freefall, and trust you to catch me? In dragon form?”
Ravi waggled his eyebrows outrageously.
“That is by far the stupidest thing I’ve heard suggested all year.” Cameron pointed toward the cliffs. “Let’s do it.”
Ravi cackled as he made the turn.
Cameron belatedly realized that he maybe should have asked a few more questions. “You have done this before?”
“Of course! And think of it this way, it’s good practice. If we’re ever in a situation where you need to run for it, you can call for a pickup and throw yourself into the air. Easier for us to catch you than land and try to take off again.”
That all sounded valid enough. It didn’t explain the smirk on Ravi’s face. “It’s a total adrenaline rush for you. Isn’t it?”
Ravi tossed a hand. “That goes without saying. Don’t worry, I’ve never missed. Even if by some bad luck I do, you’ll have a parachute. You’ll get safely to the ground.”
That all sounded reasonable enough to Cameron. And fun. And frankly, he could use some fun about now. “Then let’s do it.”
They may or may not have skipped out of the Jeep once they arrived. And there may have been nothing more than a minute crash course of how to operate the parachute. It came down to ‘pull this cord, bend your knees, and roll as you land.’ Cameron’s caution didn’t get a chance to say much in between Ravi’s quick explanation. There wasn’t anyone else out here, just a locked building with parachutes lined up along the wall, some hang-gliding equipment. It looked like a storage container left up here for people’s convenience instead of an actual shop. “Is this in your clan’s territory?”
“Hmm? Oh, sure. We sky-dive with our mages, this is our storage cache for the gear.”
Ravi went dragon and then shook like a dog exiting a bath. He looked around, getting his bearings, and his tail lashed side to side in a happy wag. “It always feels so good letting loose like this.”
“I bet. Does it feel like you’re too confined in human form?”
Ravi cocked his giant head, thinking about it. The morning sun touched his skin and for a moment his blue hide looked gilded, like something out of a painting. “Not really the way I’d describe it. It’s more I’m aware of my other form, and sometimes it feels claustrophobic to stay only in one. Switching back a
nd forth between them feels more natural.”
That was interesting. Cameron hadn’t been at the castle all that long, granted, but he’d seen almost every dragon’s form at this point. A lot of them went for evening flights. All but one—Alric. It was a rotten shame the king wouldn’t even change over. Perhaps hiding his scars under clothes felt more comfortable to him. Cameron wished he could ask, wished he could talk this over with Alric, but they weren’t nearly intimate enough to do so.
The thought was lost as Ravi moved toward the cliff’s edge. This side of the mountain range had very little in the way of trees, the valley below opening up to a wide sweep of grass and a picturesque lake at the bottom. It was the perfect place to fly through, without any trees to trip a person up. Cameron doubled back to put his glasses in the Jeep, just in case. It would be a pain to lose them out here.
“Let me get airborne first,” Ravi instructed, wings spreading. “I’ll shout when it’s safe for you to jump.”
The timing on this would have to be rather close. But Ravi was the expert, having done this before. “Okay.”
With a strong upthrust of wings, Ravi threw himself off the ledge and caught an air current. He let out a whoop as he gained altitude and speed. Cameron lifted a hand to his eyes to watch him go, shielding it from the morning sun.
Ravi came around in a deft circle and then bellowed, “GO!”
Cameron’s adrenaline spiked as he raced for the edge, throwing himself off with a whoop. The air rushed past his ears, eyes watering under the force of it. The exhilaration swept through him like a typhoon. Cameron felt like laughing, it was so freeing being in the air like this.
Strong claws caught him against a firm chest, jerking him to a stop, and then Ravi swept upwards, his wings beating hard. Cameron clutched what he could of Ravi’s arm, laughing like a loon. “Oh my god, that was amazing!”
“Let’s do it again!” Ravi called back, just as delighted.
“Of course we’re doing it again!” What was he, crazy? Cameron could do this all morning. Maybe all day.
Ravi deposited him back on the cliff, then hopped back into the air. Cameron was off as soon as Ravi barked out the first syllable. This time, he did a flip off the cliff, daring to do something he’d never quite managed to land in a pool. But he didn’t have water to slap at him out here.
Ravi was laughing as he caught him. “Six points for acrobatics!”
“Bastard! That was worth an eight at least!”
Ravi kept laughing, the tone a bit evil. He dropped Cameron off again, taking into the skies. Cameron eyed the edge of the cliff, trying to think of a way to improve that flip. He wasn’t a natural athlete or anything, and he’d never done gymnastics before. Just messed around in a pool with Cassie and a diving board. Hmm, what to do?
His head came up, and he focused more intently on Ravi. The dragon had said something, but the wind snatched half of it away. Something about behind? Behind him? Cameron half-turned, but only got that far before an arm banded strongly around his chest, pulling him back from the cliff’s edge. He would have fought it but he recognized the scent of the man holding him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing,” Alric growled into his ear.
Uh-oh. Cameron got the distinct impression he was in trouble. “Um, skydiving?”
Alric turned him sharply, hitting the belts of the parachute open and pulling it off with no finesse. There was a sharp, angry tension in his jaw as he worked on them. Cameron wasn’t sure why he was so mad but meekly helped get the parachute off.
Holding it up like a dirty dishrag, Alric growled, “Did you think it was safe because you were wearing this?”
“Um, yes?” Cameron thought that was rather obvious.
Alric closed his eyes, breathing deeply and visibly reaching for patience. “Cameron. A parachute only operates at certain altitudes. Anything less than two thousand feet above ground level, it’s not safe to deploy. You’re at two thousand eight hundred while standing on this cliff. You lose altitude the minute you jump off. What altitude do you think you’re at when Ravi catches you?”
He eyed the distance he normally fell, made some guesstimates, and winced. “Yeah, probably not two thousand. And all the equipment was right here, so I thought it was safe.”
Alric sighed again, deeply, more resigned than angry now. “This is where they land. They store their gear here for convenience. They launch from the top of the Alps, not here. The top is eight thousand feet elevation.”
“Oh. Uh, oops? In my defense, I’ve never gone skydiving before.”
“So this was Ravi’s idea?”
Cameron didn’t actually want to throw his friend under the bus and winced again. “Maybe?”
“Baldewin.” Alric straightened to full height, face set, practically radiating with angry tension. “I want Ravi beheaded the second he lands.”
Cameron started panicking. Now wait, wasn’t that a bit harsh?!
Baldewin, on the other hand, snorted. “I’ll have to catch him first.” He turned and yelled in German, “Da hast du dir schön was eingebrockt!”
A whine came back from Ravi. “Ich hatte keine Ahnung!”
Cameron couldn’t follow what they were saying and pleaded with Alric, “It might have been his idea, but I agreed to it.”
Alric rubbed at his temple like he was fighting off a headache. “I won’t actually kill him for this. He says he didn’t know about the altitude requirement either. Which I believe, as he’s never worn a parachute in his life. But please, the next time Ravi suggests something that sounds like a good idea, pass it by me first? He doesn’t really understand what danger means.”
That promise potentially got them both out of trouble. Cameron nodded vigorously. “Cross my heart. But how did you know we’re out here?”
“I have a secondary guard who shadows you if you leave the castle. Just in case. They reported it to me.” Alric had a strange quirk to his mouth. If Cameron didn’t know better, he would say the man was sardonically amused. “And please, for the sake of my heart, can you find something more peaceful to do for the rest of the day?”
“I can absolutely find something,” Cameron promised faithfully. He eyed Alric, wishing he could hug the dragon king. The man looked like he needed a hug. And it would be nice, snuggling into the man and enjoying that firm body for a few seconds. Or minutes.
But since he was the reason Alric was stressed out, he probably shouldn’t ask.
The shopping was put aside for the day as they went back to the castle. It didn’t seem the right time to go into town, considering it was semi-dangerous. Cameron didn’t actually want to give Alric heart failure. It could wait another day or two.
Ravi refused to get back into the vehicles, choosing instead to fly back. He likely realized Alric hadn’t relinquished the idea of beheading quite yet.
Cameron wasn’t sure what to do for the rest of the day, but he did still want to ask Gunter those questions. So when Alric went back inside the castle, he snagged Baldewin’s arm. “Hey, Baldewin.”
Baldewin stopped, turning to look at him. “Yes?”
“Can you introduce me to Gunter?”
Baldewin’s head canted a little. “You haven’t met Gunter yet?”
“I don’t remember doing that, no,” Cameron replied with a shrug. “Ravi and I were talking about mages, and how few of them were men, and that Gunter would know more about it. I kind of want to ask some questions.”
“Gunter is very much the person to ask,” Baldewin agreed readily. “And now that I think about it, I shouldn’t be surprised you haven’t met each other yet. He’s usually holed up with his research. Right now, he’s trying to pinpoint with the mages where those spells came from.”
Right, Lisette had said she was trying her own method of tracking down Cameron’s attackers. Hence not having a lesson today. “Then maybe I shouldn’t interrupt them?”
“I think an hour of not looking at the problem would do him good. He’s bee
n staring at it too long at this point.” Baldewin indicated where to go, using one of the many side doors from the courtyard into the castle.
Cameron by no means had the castle layout down. But he was beginning to learn it—how the major hallways connected to each other, at least. This was one he’d used before, but Baldewin went right instead of left, and entered a whole new section Cameron hadn’t ventured into. It really made him wonder. Just how long would he need to stay here before he was as familiar with it as Baldewin? And could it be that his poor brain just had too many things to learn? Here he was trying to learn magic, a complicated castle layout, a new culture, and a new language to boot. His head spun most days and felt like mush by the end of it.
They descended two levels, and Cameron began to wonder if they had a dungeon in this castle. Because this very much felt like a dungeon. The coolness of the stones on either side of the stairs chilled his exposed skin. Cameron really had to invest in a hoodie or something. He’d be a human popsicle for the rest of his life at this rate.
Fortunately, the stairs ended at a door and, apparently, Gunter’s work room. Baldewin didn’t even knock, just barged in and called out, “Gunter!”
“Don’t interrupt me,” Gunter groaned in response. “I was on the verge of a thought.”
“You’re always on the verge of a thought. Pull your mind into the present and come meet Cameron.”
Cameron cleared the door and looked around with interest. It was sort of like Lisette’s work room, but not. More books, for one. Less magical ingredients. There was a collection of chalkboards that dominated an entire wall with writing covering every inch of it. To Cameron’s eye, it looked mostly mathematical with some chemical formulas popping up here and there. Just what was Gunter doing, again?
From behind a massive stack of books—seriously, it was book Jenga—a head popped into view. Ice blond hair, crystal blue eyes set in a square face with a very strong bone structure. He looked like some conquering Viking hero from a story. Cameron blinked, not expecting the dungeon dweller to be handsome.
It took a second, probably because Gunter was switching mental tracks, then he lit up. “Right! Our new mage. Hello, Cameron Park.”
