Chapter Seven

Winter had been trying to pin down Keylon, but the mage was sneaky. Every time Winter found him, Keylon managed to disappear before Winter could say a word. If this was how annoying Winter had been when he’d been avoiding Keylon, he could understand why the other man didn’t want to talk to him.

But Winter needed to apologize and tell Keylon that he didn’t want their bond to be broken. He didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but they could always change their minds later if things didn’t work out. For now, Winter’s job was to protect Keylon, and he wanted to do it.

It would be easier if he knew where Keylon was.

Usually, the man was either in his office or in the library. Sometimes, he went outside, but Winter had noticed that he only did it when he needed to be alone. The rest of the time, he seemed happy to be around the other mages, even though he ran out of the room every time Winter walked in.

It was definitely annoying.

Winter had knocked on the door of Keylon’s office, but no one had answered. From what he’d seen, Keylon didn’t have an assistant like some of the other mages did, so it meant that the office was empty. Keylon could be outside, but Winter decided to try the library first. If he couldn’t find him there either, he might ask Jillian, the cook, or Thorne, the man who was in charge of ensuring that the castle ran smoothly.

Winter had to be sneaky if he didn’t want Keylon to leave as soon as he noticed him. He was careful as he opened the door of the library, wincing when it creaked a bit. He paused, but no one told him to fuck off as he stepped in.

Someone was working there. There was a pile of books on one of the tables, an open computer, and a coffee cup. Winter could also hear someone humming, and he hoped it was Keylon. Since he doubted that Keylon would go anywhere without his computer and everything else on the table, he decided to wait for him there.

He sat in an empty armchair and crossed his ankle over his knee. He quickly changed position and started bouncing his knee instead, hoping his nervousness would be less apparent if he had a little less energy.

The humming came closer. Winter sat up, looking in the direction it was coming from. He smiled when Keylon emerged from between the shelves a few moments later. He had a stack of books in his arms, and he froze when he noticed Winter sitting there.

Winter quickly raised his hands. “Please don’t leave. I need to talk to you.”

Keylon’s expression shut down as soon as he saw Winter. He didn’t turn and run like Winter had expected him to, though. Instead, he headed toward Winter, dropped the pile of books on the table, and started gathering his things.

Winter sighed. This wasn’t going well.

“Please,” he said.

Keylon glared at him. “Why would I want to talk to you? You already told me everything I needed to know. You don’t want to be my shield, and I accepted that. I haven’t found a replacement yet, but that’s because my sister-in-law is about to give birth. She and my sister haven’t had the opportunity to ask around, but they will soon, and once they do, I promise I won’t take too long to choose another shield. Hopefully, you’ll be free before Carlyle attacks. I know you don’t want to deal with that.”

Winter doubted anyone wanted to deal with Carlyle and whatever he was plotting.

He opened his mouth to tell Keylon that, but Keylon’s computer chimed. Keylon’s eyes widened, and he quickly grabbed it, dismissing Winter.

“I can’t believe it,” he murmured.

With his computer in hand, he ran out of the room. Winter ran after him because he didn’t have anything else to do and because he was curious. He knew it was too much to hope that Carlyle had dropped dead, but he might get lucky.

He was starting to remember where everything was in the castle, and he wasn’t surprised when Keylon ran in the direction of the hallway in which the mages’ offices were located. He stopped in front of a door that wasn’t his, barely knocking before barging in.

“I have them,” he said.

When Winter went in after him, he saw that Keylon was talking to Ansley. Ansley blinked at him, clearly as confused as Winter.

“What do you mean?”

“Graham and Simon Newcastle. It’s their name. I finally found them, and I think this is enough information for you to locate at least one of them.”

Keylon placed the computer on the desk and turned it so that Ansley could see the screen. Winter still had no idea what was on the screen, but he didn’t think it mattered. He had a general idea of what was going on, and it sounded like a good thing.

Ansley frowned as he read whatever was on the screen. He never looked away, not even when he opened a drawer and pulled out a map. Winter watched in awe as he spread it out on the desk and grabbed a few more things from the drawer. He’d seen Jarvis open portals, and he’d watched many mages cast spells over the years, but never anything like this. By the time Ansley was finished, there was a burned hole in the map. He and Keylon looked so excited that they might explode.

“We need to tell Jarvis,” Ansley said.

“Text him,” Keylon said. “No, actually, call him. Call everyone.”

“I take it this is good?” Winter asked as Ansley took out his phone.

Keylon blinked at him as if he hadn’t realized he was still standing there. The joy in his expression vanished, and Winter hated that he’d been the one to cause it to disappear. He wanted to fix things with Keylon, but how could he if Keylon didn’t let him?

“We were able to locate one of the people who work for Carlyle. I don’t know if the guy is in the same place as Carlyle, but there’s a good chance he is or will return there, which means we might be about to get Sol back.”

That meant a fight was about to happen. Winter was an idiot, but he was an idiot who cared. “I’ll protect you,” he told Keylon.

Keylon didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. “I know. You’re still my shield, since I haven’t broken the bond.”

Winter wanted to tell him that wasn’t the reason he’d protect him, but Keylon wasn’t running. From the sound of it, he’d let Winter go with him and protect him, and Winter didn’t want to ruin that.

He was sure he’d find another way to ruin everything, but for now, he was glad that Keylon was letting him close.

* * * *

Keylon believed that Winter believed what he was saying. He didn’t think that Winter would allow him to get hurt just because he resented him for the bond they shared, but that didn’t mean Keylon wanted to be with Winter during whatever was about to happen.

Once, he wouldn’t have hesitated. He’d trusted Alvin with his life, and he wanted to do the same with Winter, but he couldn’t. What if Keylon trusted him, only to get hurt? Keylon had gone many years without a shield, and even though he’d been protected in the castle, he’d encountered a few situations in which he’d had to defend himself. He was still alive, which meant he wasn’t that bad at it.

But Winter was looking at him with big puppy eyes, and Keylon wanted to give him everything he asked for. It was an expression Alvin never would have worn. He’d been a strong man, sure of himself and of his place in Keylon’s life. He’d taken the lead when they were in dangerous situations, and he wouldn’t have dreamed of asking Keylon if he was okay being protected. He would have done it and would have apologized later if he’d had to.

No matter how much Winter looked like Alvin, he really wasn’t him.

“Fine,” Keylon said, because he didn’t want to fight. “You can protect me when we go find this guy.”

Winter beamed at him. It made Keylon’s heart race, but he told himself he needed to calm down. Winter might be able to protect his body, but he’d already shattered his heart.

Once Jarvis knew what was happening, he was quick to give orders. Fifteen minutes later, the mages were gathered in the courtyard, their dragons hovering behind them. The only one who didn’t have his was Dallin, and that was even more obvious now that all the others were there.

Tyne had told Meyer to fuck off when he’d tried standing next to him, which Meyer hadn’t taken well. He looked like his best friend had just died. Keylon didn’t blame him for that. He didn’t remember Tyne, and he had no idea what he’d done to make Tyne so angry, but he was trying.

Since Tyne didn’t want Meyer, he was now hovering next to Dallin, who was gently talking to him. It was an okay solution, but in the long term, someone would have to do something about Tyne’s anger and his apparent hatred for his dragon. Even Keylon didn’t hate Winter that much, and Winter had asked him to break their bond.

“Wait!” someone yelled.

Keylon turned to see Samuel running down the stairs. He had no idea why Samuel was here, but he could take a guess.

“I want to come with you,” Samuel declared when he was next to Jarvis.

“It would be better if you didn’t. You don’t have a shield,” Jarvis said.

“Dallin doesn’t have one, either.”

“But he had one before. He’s been in this kind of situation before, too. It’s dangerous.”

“It’s not. You have enough dragons that it won’t be a problem if two of them have to watch two mages.”

Jarvis looked like he wanted to say no, but they didn’t have time. They needed to go before the man they’d located vanished back to wherever Carlyle was hiding.

Jarvis sighed. “Fine. But be careful. I don’t want to have to contact your clan and tell them you died.”

Samuel grinned and stepped away. Keylon wasn’t surprised when he came to a stop next to Winter. It was clear that Winter would have to split his focus between the two of them. Keylon would bet that Winter would be more focused on Samuel, but that was okay. Keylon had more experience than Samuel. He could defend himself while Winter kept an eye on his friend.

Jarvis opened a portal. When Keylon peeked through it, he could only see trees. “What the fuck is this guy doing in the middle of a forest?” he grumbled.

“He’s probably up to no good,” Winter said.

For some reason, he sounded happy. Maybe he liked being included in what was happening.

“Whatever,” Keylon said as he moved forward.

Winter followed after him. In fact, he was so close that Keylon could feel him move against his back. He was pretty sure that if he stopped suddenly, Winter would slam against him.

What was going on in Winter’s mind? Earlier, he’d almost sounded as if he’d decided he didn’t want their bond to be broken after all, but that didn’t make sense. Even though Samuel had told Keylon he wouldn’t bond with Winter, it didn’t mean Winter didn’t still want that. It certainly didn’t mean that he wanted Keylon now.

The situation was confusing, and Keylon didn’t have the bandwidth to focus on it right now. He just wanted to get his hands on the guy Ansley had located, give him a good shake, and get him to confess where Sol was. Maybe Keylon could take his anger on the guy and threaten to torture him. He couldn’t do anything to Samuel or Winter, but no one had said he couldn’t hurt the guy.

Jarvis closed the portal once everyone had crossed through. It looked like they were throwing a party in the middle of the forest, but Keylon wasn’t surprised that everyone had insisted on coming. They might be close to getting Sol back, and everyone wanted to help.

“There,” Penley said as he pointed his finger to the left.

He had a hand pressed against a tree. Keylon knew he was communing with nature. It was part of his magic, and he’d become stronger since he’d finally accepted that it didn’t make him weak.

Keylon squinted in the direction Penley had indicated. He was surprised to realize he could see the faint outline of a building. It wasn’t big, more like a cottage, but it was definitely present.

They were silent as they walked closer. The dragons were huge, but they made even less noise than the mages, which was weird. Keylon was sure they could sneak up on him and he wouldn’t notice until they were right on top of him.

“What is this place?” Winter asked in a whisper.

“If I remember right, there was a small town here once,” Jarvis answered. “Or close by, anyway. It makes sense for someone who wants to be alone to build a house here. It’s close enough to the town that they could go there to get food but not so close that the townspeople would bother them.”

“What does this have to do with Carlyle?”

Jarvis shrugged. “He had liked having hidey-holes. I didn’t understand why, but once he stopped being my apprentice, I couldn’t say anything about it.”

The building was definitely a house. Now that they were closer, Keylon was able to confirm that, even though one of the walls had collapsed and there was no roof anymore. He wondered if Jarvis was right and Carlyle had lived here. Was that why one of the two humans who worked for him was here? What could Carlyle have left behind that he needed so badly to send someone to retrieve it?

Something creaked inside the house. The door was hanging sideways, but the inside of the place was dark, so it was impossible to see anything. Keylon wasn’t looking forward to going into the building, but thankfully, it looked like they wouldn’t have to.

A man appeared at the door. He was looking down at something he was holding, which explained why he didn’t see them right away. There was a bag hanging from his shoulder, and he slipped it down and opened it.

Jarvis cleared his throat. The man froze and slowly looked up. Keylon had researched the brothers, so he knew this was Simon.

What he didn’t know was what Simon was going to do.

* * * *

For a moment, everything was still. The man standing in front of the cottage stared at the group of mages and dragons with wide eyes. Winter, the other dragons, and the mages stared back.

Winter wasn’t quite sure what was expected of him beyond protecting Keylon. Jarvis had taken the lead without talking about it with the others, but it looked like something he routinely did, and Winter was fine with that. He wasn’t used to this kind of situation. He didn’t usually deal with people who wanted him dead, and he’d have no idea where to start.

The man burst into motion. He ran to the corner of the cottage, holding his bag and the thing he’d been about to put inside tightly to his chest. The dragons reacted instantly, going after him.

“Simon!” Jarvis called out. “We’re not here to hurt you.”

Winter almost snorted. They might not be here to hurt him, but if he tried anything, they would. Winter didn’t care about this Simon guy. He cared about Keylon and Samuel and keeping them safe.

“Don’t hurt him,” Jarvis ordered as the dragons disappeared around the corner of the cottage.

Winter still didn’t know what to do, so he decided to follow. By the time he rounded the cottage, Simon was nowhere to be seen, but he could see the back of two of the dragons. Winter ran after them, and he would have reached them if his foot hadn’t caught on something.

He looked down, swearing, then frowned.

The cat figurine looked like it didn’t belong. It was clean, which meant it had been dropped recently. Winter leaned down and wrapped his fingers around it, only to swear again and drop it when he felt the power inside of it.

The second time he reached for the figurine, he knew what to expect. The magic vibrated inside the smooth surface, but it didn’t hurt him. He managed to pick up the cat and raise it so he could take a better look.

It was made of white and light blue ceramic. There was nothing special about the cat figurine beyond the fact that even Winter could feel it was full of magic, and he wasn’t a mage. He didn’t know what it was, and he probably wouldn’t be the one to solve that mystery, so he pocketed the figurine and started running again.

He could hear people yelling, but they didn’t seem to be moving. He followed the sound until he reached a path deeper in the forest. He was surprised to see it there, but when he squinted, he could see houses in the distance, partially hidden by the trees. Clearly, the small village Jarvis had mentioned before had expanded and was now closer than ever to Carlyle’s cottage.

A dog barked furiously, but no one was trying to stop it. Winter understood why the dog was reacting that way when he realized what he’d walked in on.

Simon’s gaze was wild as he looked around. He’d found an older woman on the path and had her back pressed against his chest. He had an arm hooked around her neck, and even though she’d grabbed it with both her hands, it was clear he was hurting her. She was having trouble breathing, and her face was turning red. The dog barked and ran around them, trying to get to her as his leash hung from his collar. When he got too close, Simon kicked him, making him whimper.

“Stay away from me,” Simon said.

Winter raised his hands. There were already enough dragons focusing on Simon. Marlow and Parker looked at each other, then at Simon again, and Winter knew they were planning something. Bennett had his hands raised like Winter, possibly to make himself look harmless, but Winter could have told him it wouldn’t work. He was too big to look harmless. Meyer had stayed behind, which was good, because Winter hadn’t thought of doing so. The mages needed to be protected, but Winter wasn’t used to thinking about anyone but himself in these situations.

Not that he’d lived through a lot of them. His life with Samuel’s clan had been normal. There had been no fighting or running for his life. There had been no need to protect anyone, not even Samuel.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Bennett said.

Simon didn’t look like he believed him. He frantically looked around, possibly for an escape, but there was nowhere for him to go. If he let go of the woman, the dragons would catch up to him. He was human, so even if he managed to get ahead, they could shift and grab him.

“I know what you did,” Simon said. “You trapped Carlyle. You tortured him.”

“Technically, that wasn’t us,” Winter said, careful not to use the word mages in front of the woman.

Simon’s attention snapped to him.

Winter grimaced. “Sorry. What I was trying to say is that we didn’t have anything to do with that,” he said as he gestured at himself and the other dragons.

“You supported them! That makes you as guilty as them.”

“You’re not going to be able to run away,” Bennett said in a soothing voice. “Let go of the lady, and we can talk. I promise we’ll stay away from you and that we’ll give you space.”

“You’re saying that because you want me to let go. I don’t believe you.”

That was smart—Winter wouldn’t have believed Bennett if he’d been in Simon’s place, either. Simon might be human, but he was on Carlyle’s side. He knew part of the story, but Winter was ready to bet that Carlyle had edited out the parts that would make him look bad. Either that, or Simon was as evil as Carlyle.

Marlow took a step forward. Simon’s gaze moved to him. He pushed the woman forward, bolting as soon as he let go of her. The woman cried out and started to fall, but Marlow was there in time to grab her and haul her back to her feet. Parker, Bennett, and Winter rushed after Simon, but it was too late.

Winter watched with wide eyes as Simon threw something on the ground. A portal appeared in front of him, and he ran through without hesitating. He didn’t even slow down.

Winter did. He was tempted to jump through the portal so he could continue following Simon, but there was no way to know where it led. Probably straight to Carlyle.

Parker almost crossed into the portal, but Bennett caught his arm and pulled him back. The portal flickered, then vanished, leaving behind a smoking rock.

Winter poked at it with his shoe. It was just a rock, but he thought that was where the portal had come from. He hadn’t realized that mages could make spells that could be portable and used by humans.

“Do you think it’s safe to touch?” he asked no one in particular.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Keylon said from behind Winter, making him jump.

Winter twirled around. “What are you doing here?”

Keylon didn’t look impressed. “What do you think I’m doing here? You idiots ran after Simon as if there was no danger. I wasn’t going to let any of you get hurt.”

“We were protecting you.”

Keylon didn’t look convinced. “The only one who stayed behind was Meyer.”

Winter looked around, but he couldn’t see Meyer anywhere. “Where is he?”

“Back at the cottage with the others. Tyne and I decided to follow you.” Keylon grimaced. “It was better for everyone not to leave Meyer and Tyne together.”

Winter nodded at the rock. “What happened here?”

Keylon looked around. “That’s what I’d like to know.”

* * * *

Keylon had no idea what he would walk in on when he’d followed the dragons, but he wouldn’t have allowed any of them—let alone Winter—to get hurt. He’d taken ten years off Keylon’s life when he’d gone after Simon, and he hadn’t seemed to hear Keylon when he’d yelled at him to stop.

So Keylon had followed.

Tyne hadn’t hesitated to come with him. That was a relief, considering the way he’d been glaring at Meyer, who’d been ignoring him. They were going to have to fix whatever was happening between them eventually, but for now, it was better to ignore them.

Winter had asked what had happened. Keylon could take a good guess. He didn’t want to say anything in front of the woman Marlow was gently talking to, though, so he tilted his head in the direction from which they’d arrived. “Come on.”

“Is it safe to leave that rock there?”

Keylon hesitated. It would be safe to abandon. It was just a rock now that the spell that had been placed inside of it had been used. They might be able to find something on the rock, though. If anything, Jarvis would want to examine it to check whether or not Carlyle had been the one to cast the spell on it.

Keylon doubted it could have been anyone else. They knew Simon worked for Carlyle, and while Jarvis hadn’t recognized the cottage, he’d admitted that Carlyle had several hiding places scattered around the country.

He took out a tissue from his pocket and carefully picked up the rock. It was warm, but not hot. He could still feel the portal magic, but that was all he could feel.

“Let’s show this to Jarvis,” he said.

Winter nodded. He didn’t follow Keylon right away, though. First, he looked around as if checking that the other dragons would be safe and that Simon truly was gone. Considering Keylon had seen him walk through the portal, he was sure the man wouldn’t return.

He and Winter picked their way between the trees and around bushes. Things were tense between them, and Keylon didn’t know how to fix it or even if he could. He was afraid of what would happen if he trusted Winter. He’d tried that once, and Winter had broken his heart.

“So you guys can place spells on objects,” Winter said.

“We can. It’s often used with children. They don’t have the knowledge or power to cast spells on their own, so an adult will do it for them and place the spell into an object. More often than not, it’s a portal spell like this one was. It makes it easier for children and people who can’t open portals to travel.”

“How often can one of these spells be used?”

“It depends on what kind of spell is placed on the object. This one was a one-time thing. I can feel the spell is spent.”

They reached the cottage, and Keylon looked around. He could hear voices from inside, but he wasn’t looking forward to joining the others. There had to be spiders as big as his fist inside that cottage.

“Jarvis?” he called out.

Jarvis appeared a few moments later. He looked around, frowning, so Keylon quickly reassured him.

“Everyone’s fine. Simon opened a portal and left.”

“He’s human,” Ansley said as he walked out of the cottage, looking disgusted. He shook his hand, then cleaned it on his jeans.

“As far as I know, both he and his brother are,” Keylon confirmed. “He used this,” he said as he threw the stone in Jarvis’s direction.

Jarvis easily caught it and examined it. He hummed as he did so, and since it looked like it would take a while, Keylon turned his attention to Ansley. “Anything?”

Ansley shook his head. “Beyond spiderwebs and dirt, nothing. There’s not even a way to tell if this actually belonged to Carlyle. We did find that Simon had to tear out part of what remained of the wooden floor and dig into the earth under it to find what he was looking for.”

“Do you know what it was?”

“Could be anything.”

Winter cleared his throat. “I found this earlier. I think Simon dropped it,” he said, holding out his hand.

Keylon blinked down at the small ceramic cat. It was pretty and looked fragile, and there was nothing special about it that he could see.

He could feel it was special, though. The little cat almost vibrated with magic. There was a spell on it, but Keylon didn’t want to touch it to find out what that spell was.

“It’s best if none of the mages touch it, just in case,” Jarvis quickly said. “The dragons shouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t trust whatever that is.”

Winter nodded and put the cat back in his pocket. Keylon was tempted to ask him to take it out again because it might be their only way to find Carlyle, but right now, it would be useless. It would need to be examined so they could tell what it was and what it did, and they’d probably have to release the spell, because if Carlyle had been the one to place it there, it couldn’t be a good thing.

“Tyne will want to see it, so don’t lose it,” Jarvis said.

Winter frowned. “You said the mages shouldn’t touch it.”

“That would be best, but we might not have a choice. Tyne’s specialty is psychometry, so hopefully he’ll find something. If he can’t, Dallin will deal with it.”

The sound of voices made them turn. Keylon tensed, only to relax when he realized the dragons and Tyne had rejoined them. The woman was gone. Keylon had only seen the end of what had happened, but they couldn’t afford to draw the attention of the human authorities. None of them liked messing with people’s memories, especially after what had happened to their dragons, but Tyne had probably used a spell to ensure that the woman wouldn’t talk.

“What were you thinking?” Jarvis asked when Marlow reached him.

“I should have stayed behind to protect you,” Marlow said with a grimace before leaning closer and kissing Jarvis’s cheek.

Keylon looked away. He was happy for Jarvis, Ansley, and Penley, but part of him ached every time he saw them with their shields.

He glanced in Winter’s direction, surprised to see that Winter was watching him. For a moment, he couldn’t look away. There was something in Winter’s gaze that took away Keylon’s breath, but Keylon couldn’t afford to dream.

Winter had made it very clear that he didn’t want to be with Keylon. He might have changed his mind, but Keylon couldn’t put himself out there again. The last time he had, his heart had been left shattered, and he hadn’t even started to put the pieces back together.

He couldn’t take the first step. If Winter wanted something, he’d have to ask for it.