Page 170 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume One

Cassie unscrewed a short, glass jar and gestured for his hands, and Tori winced as Cassie removed the bandages. “Oh wow, yeah, that’s ugly. Was this because you blew up the van?”

“Yeah, that’s when it happened. Umm...about two days ago.” The thought stopped him. Had it only been two days?

Two days ago, he’d wondered if Baldewin could really be trusted and if he was ever going to find a job. Now, he was sitting with another mage in Lithuania, talking magic.

Holy shit. He’d kissed a dragon!

Several times.

And he planned to do it again.

The first touch of the potion salve was blissfully cool and soothing. He sighed in relief and watched as the rash quickly closed up, leaving new, pink skin behind.

“That seriously impressed both Baldewin and Warin, you know. That you adapted a fire spell on the fly and blew up a car engine. He told us about it later. Lisette wants to debrief you, figure out how you were taught, ’cause it’s not often that a mage can just adapt what they know like that. People are usually a lot more rigid about their spellwork.”

Oh, if she only knew. Tori was the black sheep because he used magic like that.

She lifted his palms in both hands, eyeing them critically. “Yeah, better. Give that another minute, and you should be good as new.” She carefully put away the salve and turned her full attention to Tori. She was sitting perfectly still, but she managed to give off this feeling of vibrating with excited energy. “Alright, tell me about this spell. You said it takes will o’ the wisp, song of a nightingale, rainbow mist, and piece of a fallen star?”

Nerves and self-doubt started to creep in again. What if he couldn’t explain this correctly so she could understand it? He couldn’t always articulate why things worked the way they did. He didn’t want her thinking he was an idiot.

But Baldewin had faith in him. He could do this. Taking a deep breath, Tori nodded. “Right. Piece of fallen star is our base. We’ll need to leave it in as raw a form as possible, so I hope you brought lots of thin wire to wrap it in.”

“Lisette had a feeling you’d need a lot, so she sent a full spool.” Cassie turned and dug it out, plopping it onto the bed. “Then what?”

“We take the rainbow mist and will o’ the wisp light, blend it together, and sing it into one layer with the song of the nightingale. We’re trying to create a covering that we’ll coat the piece of fallen star with.” Tori fell into explaining all the nuances, even as he sorted through the pieces of fallen star. Most of them were a nice size, at least as big as a man’s thumb, which was perfect for their purposes.

Cassie listened attentively, asking questions, but she didn’t need anything explained twice. She readily dove in, her magic certain as she weaved the spell elements together, one layer at a time. It was a pleasure to watch her in action.

And illuminating, too, because she treated magic like Tori did. She didn’t weigh every single element, didn’t second guess or try to force everything into a box of perfection. She took the raw elements and used instinct and intent to weave the spell she needed.

And it turned out right. Every time.

Seeing her like this brought a smile to Tori’s face that lingered without his conscious will. Watching another mage work magic like he did validated what he’d always suspected. What Baldewin had said earlier was ringing true all over again. His way of magic wasn’t wrong. Magic was meant to be enjoyed, not beaten to death.

For the first time ever in his life, he sat with another mage and worked magic and enjoyed absolutely every second of it.

Baldewin braced himself. Judging by the smile spreading across Sasha’s face, the dragon was practically busting at the seams to say something about the molten hot kiss she and Cassie had managed to walk in on.

The door to the bedroom holding Tori and Cassie had barely closed before Sasha opened her mouth. “You and Tori, huh? I thought this dedication to his protection was just about getting a new mage to our clan, but there’s more going on. Are you claiming this one for yourself?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Baldewin muttered.

He crossed to the sofa and flopped down on the dark blue cushions. It certainly wasn’t the most comfortable piece of furniture. He was going to be better off sleeping stretched out on the floor. Warin could have the sofa. Cassie and Sasha were going to be cuddled up in one of the bedrooms, while Tori would have the other one to himself.

Though, if Tori decided he needed a dragon to curl up with to stay warm or safe or whatever reason he wanted to cook up, Baldewin was more than happy to offer his services.

“But that kiss…”

“Wait! What kiss?” Warin demanded.

“You missed it!” Sasha softly exclaimed. She quickly glanced over her shoulder toward the closed door, as if checking to make sure she hadn’t been overhead, and then looked at Warin with a wicked grin. “Tori kissed Baldewin!”

“Seriously?” Warin dropped down on the opposite end of the couch, leaning forward a bit as if he was ready to get all the juicy details. “Was it a little peck on the cheek? Or…”

Sasha was already shaking her head. “Nope. This was a kiss. Full on the lips. I’m not sure if there was any tongue involved. Baldewin, was there any tongue?”

There had been a beautiful caress of Tori’s tongue across his bottom lip and the most decadent slide against his own, but there was no way in hell he was going to admit that to these two.