“Scheiße,” Warin muttered, and Baldewin couldn’t argue. The dragon stopped and looked at Baldewin, his eyes wide. “You don’t think his clan is aligned with the Jaeggi now, do you? Do you think he could be working with them?”
Baldewin chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before finally shaking his head. “I don’t think so. He seemed surprised that mages were being kidnapped, and I believe his reaction was genuine. If his clan is working with the Jaeggi, then he is not part of it. However, I did not mention that the Jaeggi were the ones behind the kidnappings.”
Warin shoved his hands into his pockets. “Wise. Considering how little he thinks of us now, it wouldn’t do us any favors to disparage the name of the clan he believed he could trust.”
“He conducted a search on my phone and confirmed what I told him was the reason for the start of the war, but it wasn’t enough to sway him that we can be trusted.”
Warin kicked a stone off the path and into the grass. “Thousands of deaths and five hundred years, and the Jaeggi are still making our lives hell.”
“For now, we must focus on Tori and pray the Jaeggi don’t know about him yet.”
“True.” Warin shoved a hand through his long hair and blew out a heavy breath. “I had hoped for better news, but it is a positive step if he was at least willing to talk to you.”
Baldewin grunted. “I would not call it willing. I had to bribe him to spend an hour with me.”
“What?”
“I had to give him five hundred euros. I also bought him a meal at the café.”
“Five hundred euros! What were you thinking?” Warin exploded.
“What—”
“He could be anywhere now. He could have gone straight to a bus station or a train station. That’s more than enough to buy a ticket to the ferry running to Tallinn, or Stockholm, or even St. Petersburg.”
“Oh Scheiße,” Baldewin whispered. It hadn’t even crossed his mind that the man might use it to run.
From the moment he’d spotted Tori seated in the park several days ago, Baldewin’s thoughts had felt scattered to the wind. His only drive had become about making sure the man was fed, warm, and safe. He needed to talk to him, convince him that he could be trusted. When Tori had agreed to converse, Baldewin’s only thought was relief that he was getting to talk and ensuring he had money to eat. He definitely wasn’t thinking clearly where Tori was concerned, and it was becoming more than a little disturbing.
Warin swung back in the direction they’d come from as if he could see through the trees to the café. There was no doubt Tori was long gone now. Maybe not from Helsinki, but he wouldn’t have lingered at the café with a pocket full of money and a belly full of food.
“We can call Cassie,” Warin said suddenly. He whipped toward Baldewin, his eyes wide and voice excited. “She can do the seeking spell just as easily as Lisette now. She can keep an eye on him for us. Make sure he doesn’t leave the city.”
Baldewin frowned. “But the seeking spell just barely reached Helsinki. If he moves north or east, we’re going to lose him.”
“Do you think he’d return to his clan in the north?”
Baldewin immediately shook his head. “There is little to no chance of that. It is clear he hates his clan almost as much as he hates dragons.”
“Then we only have to worry about him going east.”
With a small nod, Baldewin grabbed his phone and dialed Cassie’s number. He didn’t think she’d have a problem doing this favor for them, but she wasn’t going to make it easy, either.
The call rang only twice before Cassie’s joyful voice rose through the phone. “Hey Big B! How goes the mage hunt? Do you have him? Convinced him to come hang with the coolest dragons in all the world?”
He winced. “Not quite. The conversation went about as well as it did when we first told Cameron.”
“Ouch.” He could easily imagine her wincing.
Baldewin went on to tell her what he’d learned of Tori at the café meeting, including how the mage insisted on being called Tori. Maybe she could provide some insight to Tori, seeing as she was a mage and relatively new to all of this. She gasped and sputtered and made noises of indignation, but then, sweet Cassie was a staunch defender of dragons.
“If someone has screwed with his head that badly, I’m kind of shocked you managed to speak to him in the first place. Was it your sexy smile that finally won him over?”
Baldewin scrubbed a hand over his head. “Not quite.” Actually, not even close. “I had to give him five hundred euros to speak to me. Now we are worried he will use that money to run again.”
“Which is why you’re calling me,” Cassie finished with an evil chuckle.
Oh lord, this was going to be painful.
“Need me to cast that seeking spell, huh? Not wanting my sweet, amazing, trusting brother-in-law, the king, to find out.”
“I would rather not worry our king if it can be avoided. I am sure he has enough to occupy his mind.”
Cassie snorted. “He’s married to my brother. That’s enough to keep any man busy.”
“Will you help us?”
“Of course I’ll help you. What a silly question!” Baldewin had barely gotten out his sigh of relief when she continued, “But my silence is going to come with a price.”
Baldewin choked on air. “What?”
“Keeping secrets from Alric? I can’t do that without compensation!” Her tone of horror was completely ruined by her evil cackle.
“What do you want, Cassie?” Baldewin asked in a dead voice. He looked up to find Warin watching him with a questioning look. He mouthed the word “bribe.”
Warin snorted. “You started that.”
He could only roll his eyes at his friend. Maybe he shouldn’t have paid Tori for his time, but he couldn’t find it in himself to completely regret it. While he didn’t want the man to escape, he did feel better that the mage had some money on hand to buy food and shelter for a little longer. That thought alone proved that Tori had reduced his common sense to mush.
“I wanna come on a mage retrieval mission with you,” Cassie replied.
“What?” he squawked. Of all the things to come out of her mouth, he’d not expected that. “You can’t be serious. This is dangerous work, Cassie. What if the Jaeggi discovered you were away from the castle?”
“I know defensive wards now, and I would have my Sasha with me to watch my back.”
“Cass…” he pleaded.
“And if I was, say, closer to Helsinki, I might be able to get a better read on Tori’s clan’s location.”
Baldewin’s dragon growled, and he had a feeling it actually came out of his throat rather than staying in his mind. This was a horrible idea, but it would be good for their clan to know where those mages were hiding; if for no other reason, Baldewin wanted to give the leaders a piece of his mind. How could they tolerate one of their own looking so worn and ragged? And this idea that male mages were worthless? Yes, Baldewin would very much like to speak to those idiots.
“Alric makes all decisions on who to send on retrieval missions.” Baldewin paused and rolled his eyes at himself because he couldn’t believe he was going to utter these words. “However, I promise to put in a positive word for you and suggest that we would benefit from your onsite assistance.”