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“What? What do you mean ‘all?’”

“‘All’ as in the entire clan All the dragons and all the ether in the castle”

Tori wobbled a little on his feet, and Baldewin held hi him

“You live here?” Tori whispered

“Yes”

“And the es?”

“All the es live in the castle If you join our clan, you would live here, too”

“Oh htly choked voice “I think…I think I need to sit down”

Baldewin chuckled “How about I show you to the rooot to be exhausted from all the travel You can rest for a little while before dinner”

“Yeah, rest would be really good” Tori tilted his head up to look at Baldewin “Do I need to meet the clan today?”

Baldewin shook his head “We can wait if you want to take some time to rest from your journey I’m sure Alric and the others will understand that you’re tired”

“And you’ll be around, right?”

Baldewin’s heart gave a happy skip as they started toward the castle “Yes, I’ll be right by your side as long as you want me there”

Baldewin frowned at his email There were two hundred and sixty-three unread es for the first few days he’d been out of toith Warin In the evening, he’d caught up on emails and read reports

But as soon as Tori joined them full time, it had becoely stepped up to keep the worst of the chaos in line, and Baldewin hadn’t been too worried about the security in the castle The Jaeggi had yet to become so bold and reckless as to direct an attack on the castle

For now, the gi in the iuards available for es who needed to run errands in town

With a heavy sigh, Baldewin dug into the e a pile of reports that he needed to review He was also starting to complete his final expense report for the year If the security tea to need more money than usual