Rodrigo flashed him another of his devilish smiles that caused Baldewin to growl possessively. He fully suspected the king of the Ice Dragons knew exactly what he was doing and was enjoying pushing Baldewin’s buttons.
“We are not holding you to any promises. You do not speak for those people. Only yourself.” Rodrigo paused and spread both his hands before him. “I will not lie and say we don’t hope to find at least a couple of mages who might fit among our people, but the time I have spent talking with King Alric has already been incredibly fruitful for both of our clans. If I must leave Alric’s lands without a mage, I do not see this trip as a loss. We have gained knowledge, and that will lead us to finding more mages for my dragons.”
Rodrigo might be a bit of a playboy, but he was clearly a wise leader. Some of the weight on Tori’s chest lifted, and he didn’t miss that even Alric seemed to breathe a little easier. From the corner of his eye, Cameron’s expression appeared to twinkle with new amusement. He’d noticed Alric’s relief as well.
“While all that is true, we would be remiss if we didn’t at least try to speak with the Taavi Clan. If we could provide them with the truth, many mages may find the mate and happiness they’ve been longing for,” Gunter added. “Even if we fail on our first attempt, we could at least open the lines of dialogue with them.”
“And they also need to know about the problem with the Jaeggi,” Baldewin added. “They might not listen to us, but they must be warned. Their people can’t be left vulnerable to attack.”
Sighing, Tori found himself nodding in agreement. For as much as he’d like to see the entire village burned to the ground, he knew that wasn’t fair. The memory of Cassie being drained of her power right in front of him was a stark reminder of what could happen to his own parents or other people he’d grown up with.
“Yes, we must speak with my former clan,” Tori said heavily. He nodded and lifted his gaze to Baldewin and then Alric. “The best way to do that is with me there. We can’t warn them in any way that we’re coming. As insane as it sounds, the best way to approach them is to catch them off guard. And if you’re going to get them to listen about the Jaeggi starting the war, you’re going to need proof. Not just some posts on the internet.”
“How about journals?” Gunter quickly inquired. “I have old journals from the leaders of the other mage clans. Three from leaders of major clans that were exterminated. They detail the descent of Kaiser Jaeggi into jealous madness after he was put aside. Would that work?”
Ravi cackled. “Are you seriously offering to allow those precious books to leave your dungeon?”
“Obviously I would be accompanying the books to make sure they were properly cared for and protected,” Gunter snapped at the smaller dragon. Just the idea of the journals leaving his sight had a small wisp of smoke curling out of Gunter’s mouth. Ravi laughed harder.
“I think the journals would be very convincing once we got them to look them over,” Tori replied when he was sure he could do it without laughing.
Rodrigo clapped his hands together and rubbed them, his handsome face alight with amusement. “This is the start of an excellent plan. We shall gather up these books and fly to Finland—”
“No flying,” Tori interrupted sharply.
The ice dragon looked at him with utter confusion, as if the translation spell had suddenly stopped working. “No flying?”
“Uh-uh. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not again. This mage”—he pressed his thumb to his chest—“does not fly. Both feet stay on the ground.”
Rodrigo chuckled and waved a dismissive hand at him. “Oh, don’t worry. We can fix that.”
Tori did not trust that. Nor did he particularly care for the speculative look that had entered Alric’s eyes.
The soup course was taken away, and the main course was brought in. Conversation at the table moved in relaxed waves. There were many more questions about the Taavi Clan, but many of the people wanted to know more about what it was like to grow up so far north in Finland.
Talk moved over to the Valerii dragons, who had apparently migrated from the cold of northern Russia to the warm beaches of Brazil after the war. Rodrigo was quite good at waxing poetic about surfing and lying out on the hot sand under the sun.
Only when the dessert course was served did Tori realize he’d spent the past several minutes talking to Cameron, both his hands gesturing wildly as he described the little dwarves he and Baldewin had uncovered in Poland. At some point in the dinner, he’d relaxed enough to release the dragon from the death grip he’d had on his hand.