Origin (Scales 'N' Spells Book 1)

by AJ Sherwood

  “Good, be sensible. I mean, get nookie if at all possible, but be sensible too. You’re kind of cute, and for some reason I like you. I’d hate to have to replace you.”

  “Wow, I’m just feeling all the love over here.”

  “As you should.” There was a beat. “Does he have a sister, by any chance?”

  “Not that he’s mentioned, but I’ll keep an eye out for a hot German woman for you, okay?”

  “Deal.” She let out an expansive yawn.

  “Isn’t it like two a.m. your time? Why are you still awake?”

  “I couldn’t put down the greatness that is The King.”

  “Which is…what? Your latest K-drama obsession?”

  “It’s seriously freaking amazing. You should watch it. It has Lee Min Ho in it.”

  “I was all set to say no until you said that name. Damn, that man’s fine.”

  “I know,” Cassie purred. “I need to get to bed, though.”

  A red MINI Cooper with white racing stripes pulled up to the curb, and Alric stepped out with a wave and a stunning smile. Cameron smiled back a little helplessly. “Yeah, I need to go. He’s here. Talk to you later.”

  “Stay safe, get nookie!”

  “Totally the game plan. Go to bed, you’re dry drunk. Love you, bye.” Shaking his head, he pocketed the phone. His joking with his sister aside, he didn’t actually anticipate any nookie happening. A vacation fling was totally outside of his expectations. But flirting never hurt anything, right?

  Cassie was crazy but right about the safety factor. Modern society never really talked about how men could get kidnapped, too. Cameron strangely felt like he could trust Alric, though. He had this sort of vibe. An aura, if you will, that spoke of confidence and calm authority.

  Which meant he trusted the man enough to get into the car with him and go tour a privately owned castle. He was just leery enough to give someone else a heads-up in case something went wrong.

  Alric held the door open for him. He was in one of those tailored outfits again, although no suitcoat today, just a fitted vest that hugged his body like a lover. Someone had to stop Alric from dressing like a damn model all the time. It played havoc on Cameron’s libido. Feeling a little like he was on a date, Cameron gave Alric a quick smile and slid in. He didn’t really think Alric was interested in him, though, which was why he had no expectations of nookie later. The man was charming, polite, but his flirtations were so low-grade Cameron wasn’t actually sure if he’d been flirting. Or if this was culture gap. It was a little sad, truth to tell. Something about the way Alric told him of local history, with the dragons and mages, was a little too…earnest? Insistent? It felt as if Alric wanted something else—to convince him that dragons were real. Why that was important, Cameron had no clue. But to Alric, it was.

  His guide regained the driver’s seat, speaking as he put the seat belt on. “You were talking to your sister?”

  “Yeah. I think she’s a little jealous I’m over here. She’s never been to Europe. I mentioned dragons and castles, and now I’m getting all the calls from her.” Cameron had never been in a MINI Cooper before, but it was a fun little car. The leather seats were comfortable, and it zipped around the corners without effort. When he got a job, Cameron might have to get himself one.

  Alric shot him a look before taking the next road, heading toward the highway. “Your sister believes more readily than you in dragons?”

  “Yeah. I guess I’m more practical than she is. While we were growing up, my halmeoni—ah, that is my grandmother—she told us a lot of stories.” Cameron almost left it at that, as he normally did, but this was a man who firmly believed in dragons and mages of long past. Cameron felt he could tell him things he normally wouldn’t. Or maybe it was the magic of speaking to a relative stranger he wouldn’t see again. Alric’s opinion of him and his family history wouldn’t matter much since he wouldn’t see the man again two days from now. “Halmeoni said our family used to be a mage family.”

  Alric, for some reason, didn’t seem surprised by this. “She told you stories about it?”

  “Yeah, a lot. She claims she watched her own mother work magic—little spells, nothing major. But still, magic. She’s very firm on this. I’m not sure if my parents have ever believed her, but my sister does.”

  “May I ask, what is her family name?”

  “Noh.”

  “Ah, the Noh Clan. Your grandmother is correct. The Nohs have always produced mages.”

  Cameron did a double-take, jerking around to stare at Alric’s profile in disbelief. “And how would you know that? Oh wait, is this because you know history?”

  “In part.” Alric’s expression became downright enigmatic. He shifted gears seamlessly even as he took the ramp for the freeway. “The Noh Clan traditionally married into the Wind Dragon Clan, although not always. They lived and worked alongside them for centuries. We were never sure if the Noh Clan escaped the terrible aftermath of the Dragon War. I have records of the clan at the castle, if you want to see them?”

  Cameron stared at him, flabbergasted. He’d never really thought much whether he believed Halmeoni. Well, as a child he had—he’d believed every word. As an adult, he’d shuffled them off as stories of another time, something that he hadn’t seen. They could be true, they could be exaggerations from a child who hadn’t understood what she saw. Either way, it didn’t impact his life, so why think about it? But if Alric was correct, well, it still wouldn’t change much, but wouldn’t it be cool? To know that his family once were that close to dragons.

  A smile lit his face, and he half-laughed. “Wow. You know what? I think I do. If nothing else, I need to tell Halmeoni about this. She’ll flip.”

  “It will be my pleasure to show you.” Alric hesitated a moment, eyeing him sideways before asking carefully, “Knowing that your family is magical, have you never wondered if you or your sister have magic yourselves?”

  Snorting, Cameron shook his head no. “Wouldn’t I have had a moment where my magic went crazy, like it always does in the stories? Nothing like that ever happened to me.”

  “No, magic doesn’t work like that. First of all, you must have power to draw from. A mage doesn’t carry much magical power in and of themselves. It was part of the reason why they were always willing to marry dragons. The bond between dragon and mage allowed them to have the resource of a dragon’s power. It made their magical core very strong.”

  Cameron blinked at him, taking this in. “So…a bond between dragon and mage was something like hooking a mage up to a battery for life?”

  Alric snorted, his smile becoming a little crooked. “Something like that, yes. And mages are able to work great magic, but they have to use the right components to do so. They have to direct their magic or link up with other mages to do the greater magics.” Alric’s enigmatic smile was back in full force. “To carry on your metaphor, it’s rather like the ability to design an engine. If you know nothing about engines, and never try to work on them, how do you know if you have the talent or not? But if you do learn properly about them, and use the correct power and resources, the engine will run.”

  “Huh. No one ever mentioned any of that to me. Halmeoni seemed to think that magic just happened. But she also said her mother was paranoid about working magic, that she barely let anyone see her do it. She certainly wasn’t going to teach anyone else how. I think a lot of information got lost because of her attitude.”

  “It only takes three generations for information to be lost.” Alric sighed, and with that sigh sounded a mountain’s worth of regret. “After so many mage clans were lost in the Dragon War, we believe the mages who survived went into hiding, possibly fearful of being hunted down. Even generations later, I cannot say your great-grandmother’s attitude was unreasonable.”

  And that put it into perspective, didn’t it? Cameron couldn’t remember what set the Dragon War off to begin with. He wasn’t sure if his history class in high school ever covered the why. Just the des
truction it’d brought about to the world, and how they’d lost both dragons and mages because of it. All he remembered was that when dragons and mages duked it out, things like the Sahara happened. Magic could be pretty destructive.

  The rest of the conversation abruptly derailed as they ascended into the mountains. The Cooper climbed steadily, winding around the mountain road, and in between the evergreens, snatches of the castle revealed itself. Cameron almost put his nose to the glass trying to get a better look.

  It stood like a fairytale, all white and pristine as it soared into the sky, the round towers at the top ending in conical tin roofs. It looked like something out of a child’s storybook, and Cameron had to blink several times to convince himself his eyes weren’t playing tricks. “Holy shit, Alric! That’s a stunning castle. And you live in it?”

  “I do indeed, along with the rest of my family. It’s a very large building so it can accommodate all of us with ease.” His expression turned sad for a moment. “More than we currently have, in fact.”

  Cameron sensed some tragic history behind that statement. He didn’t want to pry and reopen old wounds. So, he changed the topic a little to something else. “How long has the castle been standing? You said it was to replace the other one that burned down in 1300-something.”

  “You’re correct. It was built late 1300 and finished in early 1400. So, some time.”

  “The upkeep on this thing must be insane.”

  “Oh, I have a little help on that. Fortunately.” Alric’s mouth grew in a smile that suggested he’d just told a joke, something Cameron didn’t know enough to get. “But there’s something up here that I want to show you—oh Scheiße.”

  Cameron’s head snapped around to see what had caused Alric to swear. For a split second, he didn’t see anything and was confused. Then he saw it, soaring through the clear blue sky, angling down and toward their direction.

  A dragon. In full flight.

  “I told him not to do that,” Alric sighed, already sounding resigned.

  Cameron wanted to say words. Many words. They garbled together, unable to release a single syllable; his eyes threatened to pop out of his head altogether. “Ashohjokjsdfronheeeeee—”

  “Sorry, that’s Ravi. As I’m sure you’ve discovered, he’s impulsive.”

  Not the question Cameron meant to ask, but crap on a stick, that was the same guy who’d glommed onto him yesterday?! But the guy yesterday had dark hair and a sort of Middle-Eastern look, and the dragon above his head was a slate blue, and those colors didn’t really match up, and why was Cameron thinking about colors of all things when he had a dragon literally flying overhead, and wow, brain, can we focus a little here on the important things?

  Not good, Cameron was now babbling to himself in his own head.

  Ravi the dragon landed behind them on the road and chased the car with a sort of joyful bound, like a puppy who’d been promised a walk. The ground seemed to tremble and bounce under the wheel each time Ravi’s large feet landed. Cameron twisted to watch him, jaw still dangling. My god, but look at him move, so fluidly like that. He completely missed it when they cleared the front gates of the castle and into the inner courtyard. He only knew they had suddenly parked, and that meant getting out, and Cameron had absolutely no intention of getting out while a dragon hovered nearby.

  “Cameron?” Alric’s voice was gentle, a hand on his arm with the lightest pressure. “Cameron, would you like to get out?”

  Speaking around a dry mouth, he croaked, “You know, I think my knees left for a different continent, so if it’s all the same to you, how about I just sit here for a while? Say, the rest of the year.”

  “If you need a minute, certainly. I’ll be back for you once I’ve dealt with a certain creature who doesn’t know how to behave.” Alric opened the door and got out, immediately commanding in a firm voice, “Ravi. Down.”

  Ravi obediently plopped down in front of the car, wings tucked in. Sitting like that, he was roughly the size of a cargo van, sans the tail swishing back and forth. “Hoheit, why are you treating me like a dog?” he asked, voice a little louder than a human voice could comfortably maintain.

  “You are worse than a dog. A dog, at least, would obey me. You’ve alarmed him so thoroughly he doesn’t want to leave the car right now.”

  Ravi’s large head ducked low, sinking toward his massive shoulders as if he was ashamed or embarrassed. “Oh. That’s my bad. I thought show was better than tell and it would convince him faster.” Tilting his head, Ravi addressed Cameron directly. “Sorry, Cameron. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Cameron found his knees. Or his courage, or whatever it was. When Cameron was very young, maybe five, he’d been so excited about dragons. Everything he owned was dragons. When he’d finally learned at eight they didn’t exist any longer, he’d been so disappointed, he’d cried about it for days. Watching the blue dragon move, actually seeing the proof of it with his own eyes, he felt that giddy wonder of his five-year-old self spring up with a vengeance. No way could he sit still when a living, breathing dragon stood right there in front of him. He got out, his motions on autopilot, all of his attention on Ravi.

  Dragons were real.

  He nearly shook with the need to touch, wanting that tactile sense. His eyes roved over Ravi’s sleek form, taking in every detail. Ravi had his head canted invitingly, encouraging Cameron closer to touch.

  Ravi was very much the western style, four-legged dragon, his body covered in a sleek hide-like tough leather with the slate blue of his skin darker in places, like near the juncture of his legs and under his chin. His head was small and slim, meaning it was probably the length and width of Cameron’s torso. Keen brown eyes observed him carefully. He kept very still, as if to not spook Cameron further. Cameron couldn’t help but reach out, and Ravi put his nose squarely into Cameron’s hand. It startled him further, the texture of the leathery scales, the heat of him.

  A warm hand settled at the base of Cameron’s spine, and it settled there in support. “Cameron?”

  “My god,” Cameron breathed, mind whirling as he slotted what he knew against what he was seeing with his own eyes. “The illustrations we have in the history books really don’t do dragons justice.” Another fact careened through his brain, ping-ponging about and demanding attention. Had Ravi addressed Alric as ‘Hoheit?’ It sounded like a title. For that matter, hadn’t Alric said from the very beginning that this castle had always been the home of the Fire Dragon Clan? And that Ravi was part of his family?

  The realization hit him like lightning. Was he actually surrounded by dragons right now?

  Turning his head, he looked at Alric as he never had before. Alric watched him with perhaps a hint of nerves in his eyes, but with that calm he always seemed to possess, body oriented toward Cameron like a stalwart bastion. Who was this man, really? “I’m sorry…Hoheit? What does that mean?”

  Alric smiled a little. “I believe the nearest English equivalent is ‘sire.’” His expression became solemn as he bowed his head to Cameron. “I am Alric Burkhard, King of the Fire Dragons. You, sir, are in the heart of Fire Dragon territory.”

  “Well,” Cameron’s mouth irreverently spat out, “I can see why you’re so sure dragons are still alive.”

  Alric barked a laugh, his eyes crinkling up in an adorable way. “Indeed. Why don’t you come in? I still owe you a tour, and I think you want to sit down again.”

  “Yeah,” Cameron agreed faintly. “Sitting down. Great idea. Let’s do that.”

  “This way, please. Ravi, if you’d put the car away?”

  “Sure.”

  Cameron went where Alric led, turning toward a side door that he could see on the opposite side of the rather massive courtyard. Well, that made sense, didn’t it? The courtyard would have to be huge in order to accommodate a dragon’s wingspan, or several dragons coming in and out all at once. Cameron felt like he’d stepped back in time, seeing the little nicks and claw marks in the grey paving stones from
where claws had dug in. Striding along with the dragon king at his side, who was dressed in modern clothes, didn’t seem to dispel the image much.

  Oh damn. Alric. King. That was just now really sinking in, and really? The man who had charmed him into taking a tour and eating dinner with him was a king? Cameron couldn’t really wrap his head around it. Alric didn’t act kingly—not like you saw in the media, at least. Alric was entirely too...was human the right word?

  There was a suspicious sound behind them that may or may not have been a car being physically lifted off the ground.

  “You scratch my paint, you buy the car!” Alric called over his shoulder.

  Ravi didn’t even sound concerned. “Pfft, like I’ve ever scratched your paint.”

  Cameron couldn’t help but peek over his shoulder. Ravi had literally lifted the car up, hauling it like an oversized toy toward…the garage, he assumed. So, dragons were insanely strong. Check. Don’t piss off a dragon.

  “Baldewin,” Alric greeted in a warm voice. “Come and properly meet Cameron.”

  Oh, this was the other guy—dragon?—who had been with Alric the day before. He stood just inside the door leading into the castle interior, content to watch them come to him. If a wall could be given human form, then this was the man. He wasn’t particularly tall, a little over six foot, but he had a solid build that made him imposing. Cameron irreverently wondered if all dragons were good-looking, as Baldewin was no slouch in that department. He had a very different look than either Alric or Ravi, with amber skin and gorgeous grey-green eyes. The closely trimmed stubble beard and square dark glasses made him look like a hot college professor in search of a blackboard.

  Not that any of Cameron’s professors had been that attractive.

  Baldewin held out a hand, which Cameron took. He spoke in a deep voice, smooth on the surface but with a gravelly undercurrent that tantalized the ears. “Cameron. I’m very happy to see you. We all wanted to come out and greet you, but I think you’re overwhelmed as it is.”