Reigniting the Dragon's Flame(Love)

And he offered me a choice between Aldric and Baron Drenvar. Aldric, who had already declared at the meeting that he would not tolerate any light on his lands on a permanent basis, because we, the light, did more harm than good.

In addition, the springs usually went out no more than once a month, so he would be quite satisfied with a visiting light. Of course, there were exceptions, otherwise the meeting would not have decided to send healers for permanent residence in different corners of the kingdom.

If you think about it, Cedric's boss really screwed me over: if any other light one were in my place, she would have gone to the baron. After all, Aldric would have simply refused to have a light one on his lands.

But I was an exception. In a way, lucky, because I had worked with this immortal dark dragon before. And I knew what to offer him to finally get into Thornvale's territory under his control.

Aldric Blackthorn.

Dragon. Immortal. Dark.

Even one of the above promised problems. The condescension and pride of the dragon. The arrogance and indifference of the immortal. The cruelty and intransigence of the dark one.

Now put it all together and you get a tyrant who is absolutely indifferent to the troubles and suffering of others. Well, at least that's what they said about Aldric.

Many things were attributed to him: the secret destruction of enemies, the death of civilians, and even the murder of his own kind. If there was any evidence, it was purely circumstantial. Or maybe no one tried to find it—why make such a powerful enemy for yourself?

In short, evil itself in the flesh. A necessary evil that had to be tolerated, and whose terrible atrocities had to be turned a blind eye to.

Because Aldric is the one who alone was able to cope with the trouble of our world: monsters, demons, and other creatures that penetrated the weakened gates between the worlds.

Not with all the creatures, of course, but only those that passed through the largest gap in the barrier of our world. The gap was on the border of the empty lands and the territory of Thornvale, which was ruled by Aldric. Most often, this gap was "dormant"; the mages "patched" it, but it was not enough for long: literally for two or three years, and then there was another surge of energy and an invasion of monsters. Aldric stood in the vanguard more than once, and there were cases when he sealed himself inside a place where there was only a rift and monsters. He still could not die—no risks.

So, despite the sincere desire of some righteous to hang on Aldric all sins and crimes (both his and others'), nothing happened. The power of this person was needed too much to continue a peaceful life. There was no one to replace Aldric.

No, there were other creatures that were almost as strong as him, but they also protected certain faults in their territories.

All this Aldric was well aware of, which did not add positive features to his character, nor kindness to his essence. Therefore, ignoring the instructions of the general meeting for him is a trifling matter.

For my position, his character was both a plus and a minus. Minus—it is difficult to agree; plus—in general, perhaps. I knew that Aldric more than anything in the world hates two things: weak helpless people and problems.

Any problems that distract him from important things—increasing his own strength, studying magic, training, and books. When he has to choose between two problems, he will choose the one that will cause him less trouble.

Choosing between a relatively unobtrusive doctor (he himself said it!) and a dispute with a general meeting demanding he agree to keep a doctor on his territory, Aldric would definitely prefer me as a less significant and more manageable problem in terms of future dealings.

Therefore, I forced him after some event. To say that I surprised him is to say nothing. Well, not every day does the main tyrant of the kingdom, evil in the flesh and so on, have a cute girl begging to give her five minutes.

We can say with confidence that when Aldric, grinning, agreed, all the spectators had already made bets on what he would do with me: kill, send to the dungeons, or prefer to do something more interesting.

The latter, by the way, was not the most unlikely: Aldric did not shy away from female attention of this kind, although it was difficult to call him a womanizer.

After listening to my proposal, which I really managed to state in five minutes, mindful that this dragon hates a vain waste, Aldric asked:

"Isn't it scary at all?"

"It's scary," I didn't deny the obvious. And even if I hadn't agreed, who knows, wouldn't Aldric have proved to me, out of his dragon pride, that I'm wrong not to be afraid of him? "But I really don't want to hand my body to the baron on a platter."

"And me your soul?" Aldric chuckled. Seeing my surprise, he explained: "Isn't there a legend among you fair-haired ones that I suck out other people's souls, and that's why I'm immortal?"

I thought for a second and answered honestly:

"I don't remember anything like that. It was exclusively about experiments and dismemberment."

"How honest," Aldric chuckled. "Funny. Well, Lysandra, your offer is not so bad. I would definitely not take an unknown light one, and especially a full-fledged healer.

Then the council would eat my brains out, wondering why my healer either ran away, got injured, went to get treatment from a nervous breakdown, or died. And I don't want to deal with their complaints about my people. This problem will not arise with you.

But it will not arise either if the light one is visiting."

"What do you want?" I asked directly.

Aldric really valued his time. If he wanted to refuse me, he would have done it immediately, without any reasoning. And that means he wanted to add some conditions. There is only one question—what?

"Something else," Aldric smiled. "Offer me something else, Lysandra, so that I will consider you useful and agree to shelter you on my territory."