“An anti-spell,” Evora murmured thoughtfully. “It’s true. A spell that powerful, it must have been an anti-spell. I think none of us really sat and considered it at the time. We were too busy trying to hold our clans together. But I can’t think of how else he was able to do it.”
“We’ve had time to think about it now and still can’t,” Cameron agreed with an unhappy frown. “The man abruptly died in the middle of the war, and I’ll bet you that was the reason. The anti-spell blew up in his face, killing him, and possibly damaging all of his clan members.”
“And now they are, what? Exacting revenge?” Rodrigo put his cup on the table before sitting back, staring hard at the floor in thought. “Or trying to reclaim what they’ve lost?”
“Possibly both.” Alric didn’t look any happier, and his eyes kept darting to Cameron in open worry. It didn’t take a genius to guess why. Every time Cameron left the security of the castle, he ran the risk of being kidnapped again.
Cameron lifted their joined hands to kiss Alric’s palm, eyes gentle. “Chill, love. I’m not leaving the castle today.”
“It’s all your future days that concern me,” Alric sighed.
Rodrigo cleared his throat and looked at them with a sort of wistful sadness. But then, Rodrigo himself was still unmated. Baldewin’s heart ached for the dragon. He remembered seeing Rodrigo during the war, meeting with Alric’s father. He’d been a young king at the time but still had at least a century on Alric. And all that time, he’d lived without his mate.
“I speak for all dragons, I think, when I say this. We cannot abide having any mage in danger, no matter what clan. Alric, I wish to help you safeguard them. The Jaeggi seem to be more active here in Europe. We certainly haven’t seen much of them in Brazil. If you wish to send some of your people to us for a time, for safekeeping, we will host them with open hearts.”
Baldewin sensed that Alric almost automatically refused that offer. His mouth was open before he thought better of it and closed his mouth again, sadness etched deep lines around his eyes. “We might. I’ll speak with my mages and see who might like to go.”
“If nothing else, something like an exchange program,” Cameron suggested, looking between both kings. “My grandmother, for instance, she’d love to go to Brazil for a while. She enjoys travel. And she’s hinted she wants to meet the sexy ice dragons a few times.”
Alric snorted in amusement. “Yes, I’ve heard her. In fact, Rodrigo, I think we should encourage her to go with you when you return home. Ha Na is widowed and eager for a dragon mate, but she’s not made a connection with any of my people. At the very least, it will give her a chance to flirt with your clan members.”
Rodrigo’s brows lifted, intrigued. “Is that right? I’ll meet with her and ask, then.”
It physically hurt to bite his tongue, but Baldewin managed to not blurt out a warning. Ha Na was a handful, he knew this painfully well, and foisting her off on the ice dragons without saying anything was not nice. But then, what he’d seen of Rodrigo so far left him wondering if the Valerii might prove to be a good match for Ha Na.
“An exchange of magic, too, would be helpful.” Cameron gave him that charming smile, which could reduce Alric to a puddle of goo in seconds. “In fact, there’s something I want to learn from you. Your clan, I understand, still knows how to do the incubator spells.”
Rodrigo didn’t look surprised by this change in topic. “I thought you might ask that, considering you now have several same-sex couples in this clan. We would also like to use the spells, but sadly we do not have enough mages to operate it.”
“It takes a dozen mages to operate one incubator,” Evora explained. There was pain in her expression, darkening her brown eyes. “We have only eight. It’s too taxing on us to try and keep it operational for nine months, although we tried several times.”
“And collapsed every time.” Thiago placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. His expression was full of pain and worry, leading Baldewin to believe that they were in fact mated. Unlike their king, Thiago and Evora had been very formal and proper in their bearing. But then, every dragon cracked when it came to concern for their mate.
“We will be glad to share the spell with you,” Rodrigo said, and then wagged a playful finger at Alric. “But help us, too. We desire children.”
Alric’s answer was quick and sincere. “Of course. We’ll take turns helping each other.”
“Alric and I have already talked about this,” Cameron tacked on with a smile. “We’re a bit too new to have children just yet. Maybe in a year or two, when we’re more settled. So why don’t you go first?”