Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 140644 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140644 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Tori snorted but didn’t bother to look up from his sandwich. Bitter words rose up in his throat, but he swallowed them down with the bite he’d just finished chewing. Protect and serve mages? What a load of bullshit! What happened to protecting the Jaeggi? Or the mages destroyed in the war?
Where the fuck was the dragon who was supposed to protect him from his own damn clan?
Yeah, he’d grown up hearing stories about how evil and untrustworthy dragons were, but as soon as he’d realized that he would always be an outsider among his people, he’d dreamed of a dragon with gleaming scales swooping down to save him. The dragon would roar and breathe fire, scaring everyone who had ever hurt him. They would run away or fall to their knees and apologize for ever doubting him.
And then the dragon would scoop him up in his powerful arms before carrying him away to his castle.
Luckily, he’d woken up from that ridiculous dream. There was no dragon waiting to fly to his rescue. No dragon to protect him and keep him safe.
Tori saved himself. Fuck dragons.
“Despite our years of separation, mages are still the true and only mates of dragons. You are our only hope of finding joy and love in this world,” Baldewin continued.
Except that Tori was a male mage and could never be the mate of a dragon. A key thing Baldewin was conveniently leaving out. He must think Tori could lead him to more mages, particularly female mages.
Some of his skepticism must have shown on his face because Baldewin cleared his throat again and his voice softened a little. “But it’s not just what my dragon clan needs. It’s also about protecting mages. The world is a dangerous place.”
“Whatever,” Tori mumbled. “This world doesn’t believe in magic anymore, outside of clans. Mages died with dragons centuries ago.”
Baldewin sat back in his chair and held out both hands to his sides, a small smile playing on his lips. “And yet we’re both sitting here, eating a nice meal, and enjoying the sun on a beautiful, summer day in Helsinki. A dragon and a mage.” He dropped both his hands to the table, and his smile dimmed a little. “Dragons and mages are fated to be together. We need each other for survival. You’ve been fighting and struggling for so long, Tori. You’re exhausted. Let us help you.”
“You do this with all the mages?”
“Yes. If we find a mage now, we immediately go to them and invite them into our clan.”
Tori leaned closer, his eyes narrowed. “What the hell do you think I am? Some stray dog that needs to be rescued? You gonna put me down if I don’t prove to be useful enough to your clan?”
Baldewin’s eyes widened so much Tori was afraid they’d fall straight out of his head. His mouth bobbed for a second, and Tori couldn’t deny he got a little pleasure out of flustering the dragon so thoroughly.
“No! That’s not what I meant at all.” Baldewin leaned forward, his hand jerking forward and then suddenly stopping as if he’d started to reach for Tori and then realized his mistake. Tori sat back, his arms folded across his chest. “No, Tori, you don’t need to be rescued. In the four days that Warin and I have watched you, we can clearly see that you are an intelligent, resourceful man who can survive just fine all on your own. But you also can’t look me in the eye and tell me you are happy with your life.”
Baldewin had him there.
Over the years, he’d learned to be a pretty good liar. It was about survival, about trying to smooth out the uncomfortable moments in life as much as possible. But even on his best day, he couldn’t lie about being happy.
“It’s important to us that all mages are safe,” Baldewin said as Tori remained silent. “Especially mages like you, who apparently have no clan.”
Tori let out a harsh huff of laughter. Baldewin was right but wrong. Unfortunately, Tori had one. He’d just had to escape it. And what did that sob story mean, anyway? “Sounds to me like a dragon clan desperate to save themselves. If you have no mages, you only have yourselves to blame. You shouldn’t have started the damn war.”
Baldewin’s brows compressed. “What does that mean?”
“My clan was friends with the Jaeggi; they told us the story. About how dragons betrayed them and started the war.”
Holding up both hands, Baldewin blinked a couple of times and shook his head, as if all the information Tori was throwing at him didn’t make any sense. “Wait, you do have a clan?”
“No. Not anymore.”
Baldewin’s confusion didn’t appear to go away, but he didn’t question it further. “Is that why you won’t trust me? Because you think we’re such disloyal creatures? You were taught that dragons betrayed the Jaeggi? We betrayed mages?”