Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84237 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 337(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“Then we have a chance of helping those who remain now,” Evora finished. There was a light in her dark eyes, one of determination and keen interest. She was all for diving into this. Of course, Dimitri had yet to meet a mage who didn’t love a magical challenge. And there had been nothing like the conundrum of the Jaeggi broken magic.
It was Thiago, listening to all of this, who seemed to catch what the women had yet to realize. His expression questioned Dimitri even as he cautiously asked, “Why is Sam here?”
Dimitri’s eyes closed, the pain too intense for a moment. He had to breathe in deep to settle himself enough to answer. When he did, he spoke with a carefully level tone. “Sam’s core is also broken.”
“Shit,” Thiago breathed in stunned sympathy. “The Jaeggi blood.”
Dimitri could only wordlessly nod, throat too tight.
Ha Na immediately came to him, hugging him tightly around the waist. He hugged her back, bending to put his head on top of hers for a moment. He needed the comfort just then.
“We’ll figure this out,” Ha Na promised. “The Abe Clan is already working on this. With the information we can bring from here, we can cure Samuel.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Dimitri told her, voice breaking a little. “It really doesn’t. As long as I have him, it’s fine. But Sam—it kills him that he can’t work magic. He’s afraid for me, if he can’t bind us together properly. Ha Na…”
“Shhh, we’ll fix this. I promise. You will not prematurely lose your mate. Kaiser Jaeggi has done quite enough damage to the world. He doesn’t get to take yet another mage from his dragon.”
Dimitri chose to believe her. He wanted nothing more than to believe her. She was so fiercely determined he could hear and feel it. Rodrigo watched them with his jaw set, equally determined. Dimitri had wanted to believe that as soon as he explained what was happening here, they would support him. His clan wasn’t one to abandon anyone. But fear had gripped him because there was also no erasing the centuries of pain he’d seen etched in the face of their king when the Valerii had lost so many dragons and mages to the Jaeggi. When they’d lost hope. When there were no more mages and they were just existing, waiting for a slow death.
Who wouldn’t want to make the Jaeggi suffer for that pain?
Thankfully, they’d had time to heal and find new reasons to hope. It was time for the suffering to end.
Ha Na kept hold of him even as she spoke with Rodrigo and Evora. “We should contact the Abe Clan immediately. Gunter as well. If there are records here, he’s the best to help us catalogue and sort them.”
Rodrigo nodded slowly, taking her point. “Yes. That’s a good idea. I’ll call Alric first, explain what we’ve found. He’ll want to know, and we can pull in specialists from there.”
No one questioned whether or not King Alric would help. Of course he would. Despite the very recent and personal enmity between him and the Jaeggi, King Alric hadn’t hesitated to take in the defecting Jaeggi. He clearly understood that the ones who kidnapped Cameron weren’t the same as the Jaeggi who had fled their own clan rather than continue the atrocities. King Alric accepting the Jaeggi after the battle was proof enough of that.
All of this was good, better than Dimitri had feared, but it didn’t relieve his primary worry.
Where the hell was Sam?
Did he have to figure out how to bust into that ward after all? Because he would. He’d dig under it if that’s what it took. Sam had been in there way too long.
Granted, more than five minutes was too long, in his opinion, but it was going on two hours. At this rate, Dimitri’s heart was going to explode from worry.
Where the hell was his mate?
Dimitri heard him before he saw him. Sam walked like no other, with this confident stride, as if he were always walking with a firm destination in mind. He appeared around the corner of the building at an easy gait, for all the world like nothing was wrong.
Dimitri’s eyes scanned him, eager to reassure himself that his mate was fine. It didn’t look like there was even a hair out of place on his head. And that smile—he had a thousand-watt smile on his face. The man was downright skipping, that’s how excited he was. Did that mean he’d found what he was searching for?
That expression told Dimitri all he needed to know. Whatever had happened, Sam had come out on top. He’d found what he needed, or negotiated with whoever was in there, and come through it with his usual brilliant flair.
Damn, he was sexy. Dimitri had a whole new appreciation for how much.