Page 102 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume One

Gunter was back to staring at him blankly.

Yeah, okay, that hadn’t been clear. “I mean, instead of cancelling one spell, can I create an area around me that cancels everything? Like an AOE circle in a game, where the effect is within a certain radius of the caster.”

“Ahhh. Now I understand you. Ja, ja, this sounds possible. In fact, even better. I’m not sure if we can make it portable enough to carry, but I’m up for the challenge.” Gunter looked it too. In fact, he looked almost giddy with the idea of cooking up new magic.

It was part of the reason why he and Cameron got along so well. Any lab experiment was always more fun with a buddy. Cameron might be a little giddy himself.

“We’ll need to factor in Alric’s power when we figure up the power levels,” Gunter muttered to himself as he started flipping through pages.

“Sorry?” Cameron tensed a little, surprised to hear that. Surely the story hadn’t gotten around the castle already about how he and Alric were connected.

“When you bond properly, you’ll be drawing on his power more heavily than you are now,” Gunter explained, still flipping through pages with intense concentration, as if he knew what he was looking for and it had to be in here somewhere. “So we need to keep it in mind while experimenting.”

Oh. Um. It was a foregone conclusion that he and Alric would bond and become mates? Uh….Cameron wasn’t so sure of that.

And he had no ready response to Gunter’s assumption. None at all.

Alric tried not to glance at the clock for the hundredth time, but failed miserably. Just like all the other times he’d fought it.

17:36.

Less than a half an hour.

He’d gotten a text from Cameron after he left Gunter’s dungeon that he was planning to grab dinner at 18:00 sharp and he would very much like it if a certain king could happen through the dining hall at the same time so they could enjoy dinner together.

And then a leisurely dessert in Alric’s chambers.

It was the perfect end to a somewhat long day. The only things keeping him in his office were some reports that he needed to look over and a possible email from Rodrigo. It was just now 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.”