Chapter Nine

Keylon kept his focus firmly on the notepad on the table in front of him as he played with a pen. He could feel the other mages watching him, but thankfully, none of them had asked him what was wrong. By now, everyone had to know that he’d run away from Winter and had been avoiding him ever since. He could feel Penley and Ansley vibrate with the need to ask what was going on, but every time one of them opened his mouth, Jarvis glared at him. So far, neither had dared to defy him.

For a bit, they’d leave Keylon alone, which was what Keylon wanted. They needed to focus on Carlyle and what they could do about him, not on Keylon’s love life or his freak-out.

Jarvis placed his phone in the middle of the table after dialing Emory’s number. Carlyle’s dragon had left the castle a few weeks ago, and while Jarvis apparently heard from him regularly, it was the first time Keylon would talk to him since then. He was worried about the dragon, even though he should consider him an enemy. Carlyle had hurt Emory as much as he’d hurt the mages—if not more—and Keylon trusted him.

“Jarvis,” Emory said when he answered.

“I hope we’re not bothering you,” Jarvis said. “You’re on speaker so that the others can hear our conversation.”

“Oh. Hello, everyone.”

There were a few murmured hellos back, but everyone was tense, including Emory. Keylon could hear it in his voice.

“I called to ask you about a place we found that we believe is connected to Carlyle,” Jarvis explained. “As you know, we haven’t been able to find him or Sol, so we decided to try to locate the two humans who work for Carlyle.”

“And you managed that? It’s impressive.”

“I could do it only because one of them left the place Carlyle’s shielding from my spells,” Ansley explained. “I believe that the shielding spell is on a place rather than on Carlyle himself.”

“We found Simon in a small cottage,” Jarvis interjected.

He explained to Emory where the cottage was and what they’d found, but Keylon’s thoughts drifted away from the conversation. Like always, they went straight to Winter.

He’d been trying to talk to Keylon these past few days, but Keylon was hiding from him. It was cowardly, and he knew he should stop and face whatever was going to happen, but every time he thought about doing that, he panicked.

Winter had said all the right things. He’d even kissed Keylon, which was what Keylon wanted, right?

He did want it. He knew he’d never get Alvin back, but he could see himself finding a new relationship with Winter. Things wouldn’t be the same, but they didn’t have to be.

But instead of giving Winter a chance and seeing where things could go between them, Keylon was on the run. Every time Keylon saw Winter, he left the room. He’d stopped answering the door both in his office and his rooms in case it was Winter. That meant he was also isolating himself from the other mages, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He needed to protect his heart, and that was what he was doing.

“Yeah, I recognize the place you’re describing,” Emory said, bringing Keylon back to the present conversation.

“So it was Carlyle’s.” Jarvis didn’t sound surprised since that was what all of them had assumed.

“He had places like that scattered around the country. Carlyle always said it was so we could choose where to go when we wanted to be alone.”

Keylon sucked in a breath. He couldn’t even imagine how Emory felt when it came to Carlyle. Carlyle had done the worst thing he could ever have done to a dragon. He’d taken almost all of Emory’s magic, which meant that Emory had lost his dragon for decades. Without magic, he hadn’t been able to shift. It was a miracle he was alive. Keylon wondered why Carlyle hadn’t taken all magic he could get from Emory. Had he still felt something for him? Was that why he’d left him enough magic to survive for decades?

But that was the past. Penley had managed to give Emory his magic and his dragon back, and Emory had decided to use it to get revenge on Carlyle. He’d left the castle almost right away, and he had yet to return.

Keylon was surprised to realize he missed him a bit. They hadn’t been close before, even when Carlyle had still been a decent person, but Emory had been around the castle for a bit after they’d found him, and even though he’d been mostly quiet, he was a nice man to talk to. Keylon wouldn’t call him his best friend, but he did call him a friend, and he was worried about him. There was no way to know what Carlyle would do if he ever got his hands on Emory again.

“We found an object there,” Jarvis explained. “A small ceramic figurine of a cat. We haven’t manipulated it too much because we can sense there’s magic inside of it, but we can’t make out the spell.”

“He used objects to store magic.”

Keylon leaned back in his seat. With the right spells, Carlyle could have stored an immense amount of magic, depending on when he’d started. What had he been planning on using it for?

“That means that if he gathers enough of them, he can recover the magic he lost while being trapped,” Penley said. His eyes were wide.

Keylon thought he was afraid and understood the feeling. The thought of Carlyle recovering his magic so quickly made him want to scream. They’d worked so hard and had lost so much, and it had been for nothing.

“Yeah,” Emory agreed. “It’s a problem. You think you can continue tracking the two humans? We might not be able to find Carlyle, but if we find those two, we can stop them from taking any more of these objects back to Carlyle.”

“I can try coming up with a spell that will alert me when they move away from Carlyle’s spell,” Ansley said. From his expression, it was clear he was already thinking about the kind of spell he’d have to cast.

He loved these magical puzzles, but this was a dire situation. They needed to find out what Carlyle was up to, and they had. The problem was that Keylon wasn’t sure they could do anything to stop him.

“Where are you?” Jarvis asked Emory. “Have you had any luck finding him?”

“Not so far. I found a place where he stayed for a bit, but he’s not here anymore. I think he knew you might be able to find him here. It’s the place where he was born.”

“I should’ve thought about looking for him there.”

“I don’t think you would have found him. I doubt he stayed for long. Probably just enough time to rest and let his magic build up a bit. He’s good at hiding. He always has been, but I’m sure I can find him.”

That was the only thing they could do now. Both Ansley and Emory were trying to find Carlyle, and in the meantime, the other mages could only train and hope for the best.

And in Keylon’s case, hide from his dragon.

* * * *

Winter hated feeling like things had gone back to how they’d started. He was confused and worried about Keylon, who’d been avoiding him. Winter had thought they were past that, but clearly, Keylon had panicked when Winter had talked to him, and he still felt that way.

Winter wasn’t sure he understood what was going on in Keylon’s mind. He’d thought he was doing everything Keylon wanted—telling him he wanted them to try to be together and that he didn’t want to stop being his shield. It was what everyone expected from them, and for the first time, Winter was okay with that.

He wanted to protect Keylon. He wanted to be sure nothing would happen to him, especially with the fight with Carlyle looming on the horizon. More than that, he was attracted to Keylon, and he liked him. Now that he’d let go of the foolish idea that he and Samuel would be together, Winter could see himself with Keylon. He didn’t know if it was because they’d been together before or because Keylon was a lovable, stubborn man, but Winter wanted more.

That was easier said than done, since Keylon never stayed in the same room as Winter long enough for Winter to even say hello, let alone talk to him.

Winter had thought Keylon wanted the same things as he did, but if that was true, why was he running?

He kicked a pebble and watched it disappear into the lake. The mages were having a meeting right now, while Marlow, his son, and Bennett were flying over the castle. They’d asked Winter to join them, and he’d been tempted to say yes, but he wouldn’t be good company. He was too worried, both about Carlyle and about what was going on in Keylon’s mind.

“You’re not usually the kind of guy who mopes,” Samuel said from behind Winter, making him jump.

Winter turned to his best friend and glared. “And you’re not usually the kind of guy who sneaks around and scares people to death.”

Samuel looked Winter up and down. “You don’t look dead to me.”

“It’s a miracle I’m not,” Winter grumbled.

He would always love Samuel, and he was glad he hadn’t lost him. He wouldn’t know how to go through life without his best friend. But sometimes Samuel was infuriating. He knew Winter like no other. Winter had no doubt that if Samuel was here, it was because he was planning to give him a piece of his mind, and Winter wasn’t sure he could deal with that right now.

“What’s going on?” Samuel asked.

“Nothing. I was taking a walk and spending some time alone.”

“Okay, you can try that again, but this time, be honest with me. What’s going on?”

Winter sighed. “It’s Keylon. The usual.”

Samuel grinned and bumped their shoulders together. “Can you believe it? You have a mage.”

“I don’t know that I do.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I went to talk to him. After I had time to think about what happened when I kissed you and my feelings, I wanted him to know that I’m not in love with you. I told him that, and that I wanted to continue being his shield. I kissed him, and he kissed me back.”

“Those all sound like good things. I’m proud of you for finally getting your head out of your ass.”

Winter pushed Samuel, who stumbled toward the water. He managed to stop before getting his feet wet, and Winter was tempted to push him again. He wanted to know what Samuel thought he should do, though. He’d been trying to fix this on his own and had failed, and he didn’t know what else to do.

“It does sound good, but Keylon’s been freaking out since then. After we kissed, he left the office and told me that he didn’t believe I don’t have feelings for you. He thinks I’m confused or something. No matter how many times I tried talking to him, he won’t listen to me. I don’t know how to get through to him. I don’t know how to convince him that I don’t have that kind of feelings for you and that I want him .”

Samuel hummed. He looked out at the lake, and Winter wondered what he was thinking.

“Will you be moving here permanently, then?” Samuel eventually asked.

That wasn’t what Winter had expected. “Maybe? I don’t know. Right now, it looks like Keylon doesn’t want anything to do with me, so it’s probably not a good idea for me to move.”

“I think it is, actually. You moving here would show him you’re serious about him and being his shield.”

Winter hadn’t thought about that. “I don’t want to leave you behind.”

Samuel rolled his eyes. “Who said you would? I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve been living in the castle as long as you have, and I’m not going anywhere. Jarvis said I could move in permanently if I wanted to. I think he’s worried about the fight because I don’t have a dragon, but he knows I can be useful. He told me that if I’m okay with it, he wants me to protect the castle and ensure nothing happens to the people who work and live there. It’s not what I had in mind, but I’ll protect them with my life.”

That would keep Samuel out of the fight, which was a good thing. Winter was relieved that Jarvis had thought of that. He was also surprised that he’d managed to convince Samuel to say yes. Samuel was stubborn, and he wanted to help.

“You need to talk to Keylon,” Samuel said. “You need to make him see that you’re serious. He needs time, but also to understand that you might have fucked up before, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to continue doing so. Tell him you’re not going anywhere. Tell him he can have as much time as he wants. Show him you care. After all, the bond between you is there, and you’ve already promised to protect him. You don’t have to be together for you to.”

That much was true. Winter would protect Keylon, whatever was happening between them. He didn’t like seeing Keylon hide away from him, though. He wanted them to be more comfortable together.

Clearly, that wasn’t something that would happen anytime soon.