“What’s going on? I thought Jasper would have been out training longer?” Keirian looked between Jasper’s startled expression and Kade’s angry eyes. Jasper opened his mouth to speak. 

“I had planned on it, but Viktor–”

“Yes! Viktor!” Kade exploded as he dumped Jasper’s Dragongaurd parcel out onto a small table Keirian had just cleaned off. Keirian pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, but his annoyance was cut short when he sensed something dark radiating from the items sitting on his table.

Jasper noticed the sudden shift in his dad’s posture. Keirian stood up much straighter and focused on his husband. 

“Dad?” Jasper tried to get the mage’s attention, but his eyes were locked on Kade. It was worrisome that Jasper could not get either of his dads’ attention. He resided to looking down at the mess of Dragonguard items on the table next to them.

“Did Viktor say anything to you about Jasper?” Keirian asked, his voice low and serious. 

“He said something about Jasper becoming part of his collection.” A shiver ran down Kade’s spine as he repeated the strange choice of words Viktor used. 

Keirian’s stomach sank. 

“Did he say anything about you, Kade?” 

Kade shook his head. 

“We can talk about me later.” 

Jasper’s eyes darted back and forth between his fathers. It was as if his fathers were speaking a completely different language. Jasper tried to replay the interaction between him and Viktor over in his mind. Sure, Viktor spoke in an unorthodox manner, but Jasper didn’t exactly feel threatened by the man.

“He must know something,” Keirian sighed. 

“Hopefully he doesn’t, but I did not like the way he talked about Jasper being his possession versus an employee,” Kade responded.

“Viktor hasn’t seen Jasper since he was six. It wouldn’t make sense for him to be this interested in him. But then again…” Keirian trailed off and finally looked over at Jasper, whose mouth was slightly agape in wonder. 

“We can’t underestimate his dark magic.”

Jasper’s eyes widened as he followed his father’s gaze down to the spilled items. Keirian waved his hand slowly over the contents of the parcel and focused his energy. There was a slight pink glow radiating from his palm. With a flick of his wrist, the items shook and scattered onto the floor, except for one remaining vial.

Kade moved quickly to gather the contents that had fallen onto the floor. He set them all together on Keirian’s desk, and when he turned around, he found Keirian staring at the vial in disgust. 

“I can’t even touch it,” Keirian whispered. 

“Do you not want to touch it? Or…can you actually not touch it?” Jasper asked. He had never seen his father look so uneasy around a magical item, especially not something that seemed so insignificant. “Here, I’ll get it for you, Dad.”

As Jasper went to reach, Keirian instinctively smacked the top of Jasper’s hand. 

“No,” Keirian said firmly. 

“Do you want me to pick it up?” Kade asked with a gentle hand on his husband’s shoulder. Keirian shook his head. 

“No. Let’s just leave it here. It feels evil. I can’t explain it.”

If the conversation between his fathers was confusing, this was not any more clear to Jasper. It made no sense to him for the captain of the Dragonguard to give the up and coming knights something laced with dark magic.

“Wait. If we have this, then what about the girls?” Jasper asked. 

“Even if their parcels contained something of this caliber of dark magic, I doubt it would be of any worry. This was meant for us,” Keirian deduced. “A message.”

“But is everything else safe for Jasper to use?” Kade looked over his shoulder at the collected items he had gathered from the floor. Keirian nodded. 

“I believe so. My magic only picked up on this. Speaking of my magic, your father and I do have our own parcel to give you, anyway.” Keirian smiled softly. 

Kade nodded at Jasper and made his way to exit the office.  

“Let’s head into the main room for this,” Kade suggested, “The sun is setting, and you should be on your way soon. And Ryker should be in any minute. He knows tonight isn’t a night to be late.”