by AJ Sherwood
Cameron hummed, his eyes moving up and around to look at anything but Alric. “I don’t know. I mean the last time I did sleep like the dead because you managed to keep me so toasty warm. And you didn’t once complain about my cold feet.”
“Because I kept your feet between mine all night so they’d stay warm.” Alric rubbed his face against Cameron’s, kissing and nipping along his jaw until Cameron tilted his head up to give him better access to his neck. He loved that about Cameron. The man just soaked in the affection Alric offered as if he simply couldn’t get enough. “Stay with me,” he whispered over and over again, punctuating each one with a kiss to Cameron’s body.
“Mmm…I love it when you beg.”
“Whatever you wish so long as I get to keep you right here in my arms.”
Cameron huffed a laugh and turned so that he was facing Alric. “As if there’s any other place I want to be. I’ll stay.”
They lounged for a little while longer, slowly kissing and simply enjoying holding each other. When Alric started to worry that he’d drift off to sleep, he roused himself enough to climb from bed and shuffle to the bathroom. He turned on the water in the shower, allowing it to warm while he went back to drag Cameron to his feet. They showered together, though the washing turned to kissing and eventually jerking each other off.
When they finally made it back to bed, they were both exhausted to the bone and smiling like idiots. Tucked under the heavy blankets together with Cameron curled against him, Alric sighed heavily. The world waited for them outside his bedroom doors with all its decisions and painful consequences. Alric was content to let it wait for just a few more hours. For now, he was content to have his world be the sound of Cameron’s soft breathing and the steady beat of his heart.
“Good. Again.”
Cameron focused, more than he’d ever focused in his life with the possible exception of finals. He tapped into the spell elements arrayed next to him, drawing on their power, speaking the warding spell once more. He was warding himself, in fact, and Lisette would come by and smack it with a wooden cudgel. She wielded that thing like a samurai. It was not in any way, shape, or form a light tap. She was honestly trying to break through it, and Cameron had to be firm on his design to make sure she couldn’t.
He glanced at his sister, saw Cassie with the same look of determination. Hers had failed last time on the second hit, and she was a bit pissy about it. But Cassie was the type where the more you pissed her off, the more determined she became to perfect it. From here, her ward glimmered as if woven by fireflies, and it looked as strong as steel.
Glancing the other direction, he checked on his grandmother who had the same sort of ward up, the same determination on her face. Halmeoni had picked up on magic just as fast despite her age. She absorbed magic theory as if born to the role—as she had been.
Lisette came by with her stick, eyes narrowed as she studied each ward in turn. Whack, whack, whack! “Good. I’ll come through again, hold steady.”
Whack, whack, whack!
Lisette turned on her heel, like a model on a runway, her motion sharp and smooth. Cameron thought she was coming back for another round but instead she marched directly to his and stared at it for a long moment. “Cameron. There’s something a bit different about yours. To be precise, I’m seeing something in it that I didn’t expect to.”
“I, uh, noticed the color difference.” Cameron stared around at his own ward, head panning as he took it all in. His grandmother’s was sparkly bright, but his was more muted, more like Cassie’s. Well, not muted—more like a thread of dark crimson flowed in with it all and kept it from sparkling as brightly. He wasn’t sure why all three of theirs looked different in color. But he did know that the red didn’t make sense as none of the elements had a red tinge to it. “I’m not sure where it came from? I’m using the same elements.”
“You are,” Lisette said in a tone that made it clear she didn’t agree. “And you’ve added one more, apparently subconsciously. Things are going that well, hmmm?”
He stared at her amused expression and couldn’t for the life of him figure out what Lisette was on about. “I’m sorry?”
“You and Alric.” She gestured to the ward in general then pointed to a particular strand of that crimson-red. “That is Alric’s dragon force.”
Cameron stared at the same point and felt his brain go spinning off in a freefall. That was Alric’s power?! Oh god, what? Why? How? Cameron didn’t know whether to be pleased by this or—you know what, freaked out sounded good to him. He’d be freaked out.
All three women stared at him in varying degrees of amusement, which Cameron did not appreciate, fuck them very much. He dropped the ward completely, standing there and not sure what to do with himself or how to look up. The floor suddenly became fascinating.
He was drawing on Alric’s power? HOW?!
“Cameron.” Lisette’s tone was the epitome of patience, soothing and calm, and Cameron hated her for it a little just then. “Do not panic. You’re not bound.”
Cameron’s head shot up. “No. We aren’t. I didn’t do that, he didn’t do that, so how the hell am I pulling on his power like this?”
“Well, young one, when two people love each other very much—”
Cassie snickered, Halmeoni right out laughed.
Cameron shot them both a glare. “The peanut gallery can shut up now, thank you. Lisette, seriously. What is going on?”
“No, that’s about the size of it,” Lisette admitted with splayed hands in a what-can-you-do gesture. “Alric adores and cherishes you above everything. He also trusts you implicitly. Because of that, he’s available to you. He’s open to you at all times. You, from what I’ve seen, feel the same way for him. You remain open to him at all times. Your magic understands this, and sees the open connection and has formed something of a conduit between the two of you. Not an outright bond, no. A channel, if you will, and one strengthened by consistent physical intimacy.”
This didn’t seem to be a birds and the bees talk, which Cameron was thankful for because he would be willing to discuss his love life with Lisette and his grandmother precisely never. Maybe after never. No, this was something else entirely.
“Wait, I thought that I had to actively decide to use elements to augment my own power, to create my own spells?” That’s how Cameron understood it, that a mage didn’t have a power within themselves to work magic.
“And you are.” She cocked her head at him, expression patient as if he’d failed to understand something basic. “You’ve watched me many times work a spell. Have I ever failed to pull together elements to power it? Have I ever relied solely on Dieter?”
No. She hadn’t. Cameron rocked back on his heels, considering that. “I thought the bond between dragon and mage, at least for the mage’s side, was to help with their magic? To supply power to them?”
“Only a bonus,” she corrected with a small shake of the head. “Our main benefit is that we share their life force and thereby are as long-lived as they are. The silver lining is that they can augment our magical cores and supply us with magical power if we need it. We’re certainly more powerful because of them. But that’s not where our talent comes from.”
“Okay that…makes sense.” Cameron ran this new information through his mind, trying to sort it with everything he’d recently been taught. So she was saying that because he and Alric were open with each other and had sex that some of Alric’s power was transferring over? That his magic recognized a ready source willing and available and connected them?
That sounded…a little unnerving still, actually. “But doesn’t that mean I’m bonding to him?”
“Hmm, no. It means you’re creating a relationship together strong enough that if you initiated a bond, it would take.” Lisette put a hand on his shoulder, her eyes gentle and knowing. “This isn’t frightening, Cameron. Your magic will not bind you to him without explicit consent. It can’t. The bonding spell needs to be spoken by both of you
for it to form.”
“That makes me feel marginally better, thanks.” Okay, check that worry off the list. “But this still feels like I’m setting myself up for something? That my magic is doing something it shouldn’t.”
“Yeah, does Alric know about this?” Cassie piped up as she let her own ward drop. “Or is he not aware?”
“We’d have to ask, but I would think he is not aware. Most of the time, the dragons don’t feel magic like we do. And this was a very subtle draw. If not for the difference in color, I would have missed it.” Lisette tapped a finger to the bottom of her lip, eyes narrowed as she studied Cameron’s face. “The two of you, keep practicing your wards. I want to test Cameron.”
Agreeable, the two women moved off to the far side of Lisette’s workroom, near the counter and sinks. Lisette moved him closer to the book section of hers, sitting him down on one of the chairs. She drew out crystal dust from one of the stoppered glass bottles, pouring some in her hand before tossing it lightly in the air. “Ziik Alric gev adi.”
The crystal powder lit up a warm, dusky red as it settled in a brief halo around Cameron. Then it dissipated like dust motes.
“Hmm, as I thought.” Lisette nodded in satisfaction before joining him in the twin chair nearby. “The conduit between you isn’t strong enough to tie you like a bond. It’s more that he left some of his power with you.”
“So more like a battery than a live wire.”
“That’s a good way to put it.” She cocked her head at him. “You don’t seem relieved.”
Cameron wasn’t sure what he was. His emotions still careened through him like one of those rubber ping pong balls. A supersonic one, to boot.
Alric trusted him this much? Cared for him this much? This wasn’t a conscious decision on their part—it was born of want and desire. Of trust and need. Had Alric subconsciously made the decision to give Cameron everything, and Cameron’s magic had picked up on this ready supply of magical power suddenly available?
And if Alric was doing that, giving Cameron something of his life force so freely, then—
Then Alric was likely falling for him hard and fast. The realization was both breathtaking and alarming. Having Alric’s heart would be a priceless gift. Cameron was in no way sure he was ready to accept it. His mind kept skittering off, trying to avoid thinking about it properly, and Cameron had to force it back on track.
No. The time had come to really think about this instead of going with the flow. Cameron wasn’t going to risk breaking Alric’s heart because he’d failed to really consider what it all meant. What they meant to each other.
“Cameron?” Lisette called to him, low and gentle.
He wet dry lips. “Alric is amazing, Lisette. The epitome of the kind of man I always wanted in my life. He’s the most giving, selfless, beautiful person I’ve ever known. If it was just a matter of falling in love with him, I’d do it in a heartbeat and without a second thought. But…it’s not just him.”
“No,” she agreed, her eyes soft with understanding. “No, and you’re wise to consider that properly. This clan is very much part of Alric’s heart. You can’t love one without the other. You can’t consider one without the other. Does the clan give you pause?”
“You guys are awesome.” Cameron shook his head, struggling to put this burning feeling in his chest into words. “Seriously, I love all of you. I’m still getting to know a lot of you, but every single person has welcomed me. I’ve never felt more welcome or at home anywhere before in my life. It’s why I asked to formally be invited into the clan. But being part of you and being a leader over you is entirely different. I’m the youngest member of this clan by centuries. How the hell am I supposed to be wiser? Why would anyone trust me with that responsibility?”
Lisette sat back and thought for a moment. “Do you know that Alric was considered barely more than a teenager when he was handed the throne?”
Cameron blinked at her. “No, really?”
“He was a little childish most of his life. Not focused, always flitting from one thing to another. His father despaired of him most days. It wasn’t until the war started that Alric focused. We were all surprised by it, how responsible he seemed to become overnight. He was with his parents every step of the way in leading the clan—and then he was alone, still leading us as best he could. He stumbled often in those early days. He depended heavily on Dieter to give him wise counsel.”
Seeing what he had of Alric and Dieter’s interactions, Cameron didn’t think that had changed much.
She turned and regarded him thoughtfully. “I’m glad you’re seriously thinking about this. That you realize your own position in all of this with us, and not just with Alric. But I want to assure you, too. When we come to you with some issue at hand, it’s not because we necessarily need your wisdom. We need you to listen. We need you to hear us, to realize the problem, and to help us find a solution. Leadership, young man, has absolutely nothing to do with always knowing the answers. Think back on how Alric has responded. Has he ever just snapped out an order?”
Cameron had his mouth open to respond but then he closed it. No, come to think of it, Alric rarely gave an order on the spot. He normally conferred with someone, made sure he had the facts straight, before issuing a command. Cameron had often thought him one of the best leaders he’d seen because Alric was such a good listener for his people.
“No, I’ve never seen him do that.”
“It’s why he’s a good king, yes? He makes a good example for you to follow.”
“Would I be actively leading the clan, like he is? I really don’t know what all is part of the job. Of being consort, I mean.”
“Yes, you’d be co-ruler. We dragons do not believe in having a dominant head. Co-ruling often works better, we’ve discovered. You’d have much the same responsibilities as he does although you’ll likely divide duties, play to your individual strengths.”
“So…what you’re saying is, if I match Alric’s leadership style, I’d be fine?”
Lisette shrugged eloquently. “I believe you would be. And even if you make mistakes in the beginning, Alric will be right there with you. Teaching you. We’re not going to throw you off the deep end and then watch you drown, Cameron.”
A weight slowly rolled off his shoulders and Cameron took in a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay, yeah, I feel better hearing that. Um…so…obvious question, but does everyone basically know where this is going?”
“I’m not sure if we know much at all. Alric is being very taciturn in regards to you. But we hope dearly that he chooses you. That you choose him. You’re incredibly good for him, Cameron. I’ve never seen him laugh with such open joy, not in five hundred years. And you have this knack for disarming him. Alric is normally as patient as the day is long, but when he does lose his temper, it burns hot. We’re not always sure how to calm him again. You seem to have figured out a method.”
Should he explain to her about the angry sex? Nah. “Yeah, that’s kind of still a work in progress.”
“Your work in progress is more effective than anything we’ve tried. We want our king happy and healthy. We’ve all tried for centuries to make that happen, to return some of the service he gives us on a daily basis. You seem to be the lynchpin to his happiness.” Leaning forward, she put a hand over his, tone sincere. “Please don’t let the uncertainties scare you away.”
Alric might still need to reassure him about all of this. Cameron really didn’t want to make any assumptions or put his big feet where they didn’t belong. But that wasn’t something Lisette could help him with. “Okay. I’ll try. I do think—”
The door opened, and Alric’s head came around it as he leaned into the room. “Everything alright?”
Cameron stared back at him, perplexed. How the hell did Alric know he’d just had a mini meltdown mixed in with an anxiety attack?
Oh. Oh, don’t tell him….
Cassie started cackling. “He felt a disturbance in the Force!”
&nb
sp; Cameron shot her the bird. “Shut it, you. Uh, come in, Alric. We’re discussing something that kind of involves you. And our sex life.”
Alric took a good look around the room with a dubious expression. “That sounds like a conversation I’d rather avoid.”
“Me too, trust me, but come here anyway.”
Now more worried than before, Alric stepped in and crossed to him readily. Cameron shifted in the chair to give him room, which Alric used, squeezing them in. With him settled, he looked Cameron over carefully, blue eyes taking in every facet of his expression. “What has happened?”
Lisette cleared her throat. “First, Alric, tell me why you came. Did you feel something?”
“It was an odd sensation,” Alric admitted, still watching Cameron carefully. He tapped a finger over his heart. “A slight tug and pull, a sense of unease. I felt that Cameron was disturbed by something, although I didn’t have any ready explanation for why. It was persistent enough that I finally came down here to check. To allay my suspicions, or so I thought until I saw the two of you sitting here. Cassie, what did you mean by disturbance in the force?”
His sister grinned rather smugly. “Turns out you’ve been oversharing, Alric.”
Alric blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”
Lisette shot her pupil an exasperated glare. “Wards, Cassie.”
“Teasing them is more fun,” she responded, wrinkling her nose. But she turned her back on them and returned to building wards.
“Alric.” Lisette waited until the king was facing her once more before continuing. “As it turns out, you’ve opened yourself so much to Cameron that his magic has, in turn, opened up to you and absorbed some of your power. We noticed it just now in the ward he built.”
Alric went abruptly still, so still that he wasn’t even breathing for a moment.
Cameron eyed him sideways, also holding his breath, as he wasn’t sure how Alric would take this.
“Not a bond,” Alric stated, although it lilted up at the end like a question.
“No,” Cameron agreed with a tiny shake of the head. “More like a conduit? My magic is aware that you’re a powerful source. And you’re open with me—there’s no guard up there. So it absorbs power from you whenever we, um, interact.”