Reigniting the Dragon's Flame(Love)

"As a true dragon, I would kill too-impudent people, but, for your happiness, you are still useful. So as a reasonable immortal, I will not pay attention to excess noise. Well, get down to it." Aldric sealed the door with magic and leaned against the wall, folding his arms over his chest.

I sighed and asked Veyra to approach and take my hands.

"Not sitting?"

"I will sit; you will feel only warmth from my blessing, but I'm not sure that I will not overspend strength and will not faint. I do not want to meet the floor," I answered frankly.

However, I overestimated myself. As soon as Veyra took my hands, and my magic activated, I clearly realized: this blessing will be far from easy for me.

"It's so warm," I heard Veyra's voice as if she was in another room. "Did it work?"

"Do not doubt," I answered hoarsely, not feeling any strength in myself. I would lie down…

The body, a real traitor, decided that lying down where closer is a great option. And the moment when I tilted to the side and began to fall from the chair, I practically missed.

I just felt that Aldric, cursing through his teeth about unreasonable mortals, managed to grab me before I hit the floor. And then—darkness.

I woke up in someone's soft bed. Definitely not my own, because I had no silk linen, the texture of which was hard to miss.

Like a luxurious canopy, furniture as in the estates of the nobility, paintings in gilded frames, the latest medical relics designed to improve sleep, health, mood.

And of course, men in my bedroom, reclining on the couch, were also not found there.

"Woke up?" asked Aldric, not looking up from reading. "How is your health?"

I listened to myself for a moment and in surprise realized—excellent. Not even so—excellent! As if someone had treated me very high quality, but I did not feel any effect on myself. I told all this, not even hiding my bewilderment.

"Who would have doubted it?" Aldric closed the book and returned it to the shelf with magic. "You slept for more than three days. I assumed that the blessing would not be easy to obtain, but I did not think that everything would be so deplorable. Does the anti-curse really take so much strength from a light mage?"

"Where from?" I was surprised. "Did you overhear?"

Aldric rolled his eyes and snorted.

"I'm good at putting things together. Shane and Veyra are longtime friends, so that's to be expected."

"What does Shane have to do with this?" I was completely confused—too much information after sleep. "Is he cursed?"

"Exactly. And for quite a long time. He himself practically does not suffer—his magical resistance is higher than mine—but everyone around him, very much so. Shane is terribly lonely; even immortals are not so lonely," Aldric grinned. "Or do you think that he does not return to his city after the destruction of the statue because he is careless and irresponsible? As soon as he returns, his curse will immediately affect the townspeople, who are no longer protected by the artifact."

So that's why the artifact in the square was so strong! Usually they are twice as weak, and this one, even after being poisoned by magic, was able to partially preserve itself. And Aldric lied to me so that I would save my strength, it turns out? Or did he want to mock me?

"But still, there is something strange about all this," the man noted.

"What?"

"It's strange that Veyra asked me about the light mage only after the meeting. She also tried to hide the essence of the blessing from me. However, mortals were not always distinguished by logic," Aldric muttered thoughtfully. "I am very wary of the strength of the blessing's recoil. Either Shane's curse has become stronger, or he himself has become stronger. It shouldn't be possible to be overcome by one person, am I right?"

That's right. No, not from one, but I granted protection from two damned ones! But why would Veyra hide this from Aldric? What was she planning? She clearly wasn't taking risks for some trifle.

I wasn't under any illusions. Even though the girl had promised me help in the future, right now my main and only ally was Aldric. As long as I was useful to him, I certainly had nothing to fear, but with Veyra this simple calculation didn't work.

"You're right, it shouldn't be from just one," I muttered, feeling the magic bristle in warning—I couldn't talk about this secret anymore.

However, judging by Aldric's grin, he didn't miss my slip of the tongue.

"That's an interesting scenario. Strange," said the dragon. "And I don't really like strange things."

All I could do was wish from the bottom of my heart that Aldric would never notice my oddities.

"What's going on in Ashmoor now?" I asked one of the most important questions.

"Nothing. Oh! You mean how the population feels after the artifact went out? Not bad; two squads of light mages were sent from the capital to Ashmoor, one of which consists entirely of healers. They will work hard for a week until a new artifact is brought."

"So fast?"

If all artifacts were created at such a speed, there would be no problem with their failure.

"A spare for Shane. Considering that it is impossible to predict whether his curse will strengthen or weaken, it was made for him several years ago," Aldric answered.

I watched the man, who was relaxedly reclining on the sofa, and… I was surprised. No teasing, no giggles, nothing, just polite communication. If I hadn't felt his special aura, I would have suspected that this wasn't my employer at all, but someone disguised as him!

Aldric stood up and buttoned his shirt like the most exemplary and noble man.

"Well, rest, and I'll take a walk here; maybe I'll run into someone on our walk…"

Poor things, I would wish them luck, but it's dangerous for my own health. Someone will be very unlucky today.

"Here? Where are we anyway?"

"In the part of the residence that belongs to Veyra," Aldric answered and surprisingly willingly told about everything.

The main residence of the thieves' guild was located on the territory of Ashmoor. The entrance was that not-very-pleasant pub in the slums where Aldric took me. Not the most pleasant in terms of the contingent, otherwise it became clear that it was not so simple: excellent food, good drinks; on the second floor in a separate wing, there are very decent rooms. But the most important thing is something else—a magical passage in the basement of the pub, which led to the residence of the thieves' guild, where we were now.

"This is the third floor; it's better if you don't walk around on the second and first floors alone; after all, not everyone in the thieves' guild is as smart and noble as Veyra."

"Noble?" I was surprised.