She suddenly straightened and stepped away from her brother.
“I gotta go tell her about this one. She’s gonna die.”
The female mage darted away, her laughter echoing down the hall. Cameron shook his head and started after her, muttering something about finding more of that bubble wrap to pop.
Sora looked back to the sky to see Ravi carving circles and figure eights in the sky. Gunter was now hovering next to a balcony higher up on the castle, his massive wings flapping great gusts of wind to hold him in place. Opposite him stood King Alric. He could hear the king speaking but couldn’t make out his words. The dragon snarled and sent a blast of fire in King Alric’s direction, but the king didn’t move or flinch. The fire dragon flew off, heading higher into the mountains while the wind dragon made a pass by their balcony, waving one hand at them.
“What was King Alric saying to Gunter?”
Dieter chuckled.
“That it was for his own good.” Dieter shrugged again. “They go through this little song and dance all the time. Gunter gets lost in his work, ignoring his dragon’s need to fly. Ignoring his own human needs for sunlight and fresh air. Alric prods Ravi into stirring up trouble. Ravi irritates Gunter, and Gunter chases Ravi into the air. Gunter complains, but mark my words, when you see Gunter tomorrow, he’ll be a new dragon. Happy and spry.”
“He seemed pretty spry when he ran out of the hall,” Sora said with a shake of his head.
“Gunter trained for battle the same as Alric, Baldewin, and Ravi. He fought in the Dragon War beside Alric and Baldewin. He’s as much a brother to Alric as Baldewin, and he has always been at the king’s side.” Dieter paused and stared at the last place they’d seen the fire dragon in the sky. “Gunter can be as dangerous as any dragon. He just prefers the order and silence of his books. And he needs reminding, every once in a while, that he can have his order but he can’t ignore his dragon.”
“He’s lucky to have a family that takes such wonderful care of him,” Sora murmured.
Dieter nodded. “Thank you for helping with our little intervention.”
As Dieter returned to the interior of the castle, Ravi darted over to where Sora was standing. He clung to the side, his sharp talons digging into the stone and mortar. Like a gecko, he quickly crawled closer and shifted back into his human form as he stepped on the balcony.
“Wasn’t that great?” Ravi shouted. He launched himself at Sora, twirling them both around.
“That was pretty amazing.” Sora laughed as he clung to the dragon.
He’d never done anything quite like that. He’d played a couple small jokes on his parents and other kids when he was growing up, but nothing that had involved planning or co-conspirators. Ravi made him feel a part of something bigger, made him feel so very needed, even if it was just for a joke.
When he’d first come to Burkhard, he’d been faced with a clan that was struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds. They had little magic, few mages, dragons desperate for mates, and an old enemy determined to destroy them all.
But this afternoon, it had become clear how they’d managed to survive all these years. They protected each other, watched out for each other—whether everyone wanted to be protected or not. And it was all done with an abundance of love and laughter.
Now, Sora was faced with this wonderful, bright smile and shining eyes. He didn’t want to look away from Ravi. He was afraid that if they were apart for even a second, he would miss out on a stunning Ravi-filled moment of pure joy.
This was becoming addictive—Ravi’s company and the happiness he brought to Sora. He felt lighter whenever he was around the wind dragon. Hungry for more.
And, frankly, the idea of going home now was depressing. Sora was loath to leave. He needed far more time with Ravi. There were too many questions and feelings he had no answer for at this moment. And he wasn’t leaving until he’d figured it all out.
“One hour. I’m giving you only one more hour,” North reminded Ravi, for what had to be the third time.
Ravi smirked at the young mage. “Missing your dragon that much?”
North fluttered long eyelashes at him, soft purple eyeshadow giving his eyes a smoky effect while his pink sparkling lips tilted in a smirk. “I’m always missing my dragon.”
Today, North was wearing a white T-shirt that had a cartoon of a man hugging a red dragon while twin curls of smoke rose from the dragon’s nose, forming a heart. In bold pink letters it said, “Chief Dragon Cuddler.”
Ravi was pretty sure North had designed the shirt, since the man looked vaguely like him while the dragon had Warin’s color pattern. There was already talk of Cassie adding a shop to the new website so people could buy not only their health and beauty products, but also North’s adorable T-shirts.
“Has a certain mage cuddled you today?” North teased as he turned his attention to the next potential mage waiting to be tested.
Ravi didn’t even bother to pretend not to know who he was talking about. “We had a nice breakfast together.”
With about four other dragons at the table, his dragon mentally growled.
He loved his clanmates, but it was damn hard to get time alone with Sora. Not that he begrudged any of his clanmates the chance to find their mate, but couldn’t he call, like, finders-keepers with Sora? At least for a week? No, a week wouldn’t be enough. A month. Yes, he should get to keep Sora to himself for a month and then, maybe, he’d share.
Ravi watched closely as North placed the Noh amulet into a woman’s outstretched and trembling hand. The reaction was immediate—or rather, the lack of reaction was immediate. Nothing happened. No telltale green glow as the amulet reacted out to the mage’s own inner power.
No, the poor woman was not a mage.
In fact, very few of the people who’d been tested had proven to be mages, which wasn’t all that surprising. Even before the war, mages were only a tiny fraction of the overall human population. After the loss of the major clans and then the scattering of the remaining minor clans, the number of mages in the world had to have dwindled even more, but they weren’t gone.
North was proof of that. So were Cameron, Cassie, Ha Na, and Tori. They’d all come to the castle in the last year. A veritable surge in mages. That had to mean there were still many more out there in the world. And maybe there would be one out there for him.
Ravi’s gaze returned to the gathered masses stretched out in front of the gates to Burkhard Castle, only half-listening to North gently telling the poor woman that she was, in fact, not a mage, despite what her grandmother had told her.
Prior to being tested, everyone filled out a form giving basic family details, signed a release, and had their picture taken. North and Gunter were working on a massive database that would allow them to dig deeper into the genealogy and potentially locate more clans.
Between the people lined up outside the castle for the past few days and all the people taking the website quiz, Ravi felt sure that half the population of the world had claimed to be a mage. He couldn’t imagine how they were sorting through all this information.
The entire thing made Ravi’s head hurt and eyes cross. He didn’t do databases. He wasn’t even the biggest fan of computers. His smartphone was fine because it was loaded with games, but overall, he much preferred the job of protecting the royal family.