Ravi smiled up at him. “Whatever you say. You’re the hot male nurse.”
Sora smirked to himself. He couldn’t remember anyone ever flirting as outrageously with him as Ravi did. Their brief foray in dating was on hold, but he hoped that they’d be able to pick back up where they’d left off once Ravi was well again. And Sora intended to make it clear they were dating, not just assume they were both on the same page.
As he smeared some of the salve onto his hands, he whispered a word, calling up a little heat from his personal core of magic. The combination of warmth and salve would sink deep into Ravi’s muscles, removing aches and tightness. The trick was that he couldn’t apply too much pressure as he massaged Ravi.
Apparently, he found the right combination because the dragon moaned loudly and went almost completely limp under his hands. Sora silently worked his way lower, rubbing away tension while inspecting each cut and angry red area on his body. His fingers were begging him to explore other areas, places that weren’t wounded, but that would be wrong. No exploring. No more touching than necessary.
He was Ravi’s healer. His sexy nurse. Not his lover. Yet.
He blamed the sexy noises coming from Ravi’s mouth for making his brain go off in entirely the wrong direction. Although it was good to know this was a sure-fire seduction technique.
“Wow,” Ravi exhaled. “You are so good at that.” His words were sleepy and slightly slurred as if he were drunk under Sora’s touch, which was definitely encouraging. “You can touch me any time you want.”
Sora peered around Ravi’s shoulder, smiling broadly at him. “Really, now?”
Ravi blinked, and his mouth hung open for a moment, as if his brain were replaying the words that had just fallen out of his mouth. “I suffer from this syndrome where I say really inappropriate things at the right moment.”
Sora threw his head back with a laugh. “That you do. But I’m glad to know that you like my hands.”
“Your hands should be illegal. Feel free to put them back on me.”
“When you’re healed enough for me to manhandle,” Sora agreed with a smirk. “Which is not today, sadly.”
“Now you’re just being mean.”
Reaching out, Ravi snatched up his discarded shirt and placed it in a wad in his lap as if he were trying to hide something from Sora. That was fine with him. Sora found that he’d developed the same problem while running his hands over all that warm, soft golden skin and strong muscle.
Ravi was staring up at him with such open hunger in his bright brown eyes. His lips were soft and parted. All he had to do was lean in a few more inches and he could claim those plush lips, steal away his breath with kiss after kiss.
Sora’s heart sped up as he leaned down a little, but with each beat came the refrain in his head: Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar.
He couldn’t kiss Ravi yet. Not while he was still withholding important information about who he was, who his family was, why he was here. It was all wrong. Ravi trusted him so completely. What if Ravi hated him for withholding such information? It would have been made all the worse because he’d kissed Ravi, taken advantage of his trust. It took willpower that Sora didn’t know he possessed to stop himself from accepting the clear invitation in Ravi’s eyes.
This moment crystallized his resolve. He needed to talk to King Alric. Now. Because there was no way in hell he could be alone with Ravi again without giving in to his own desires. Sora burned with impatience and frustration as it was.
With a great deal of reluctance, Sora straightened and started toward Ravi’s bathroom.
“Let me wash this stuff off my hands and I’ll help you back into your shirt,” he called over his shoulder. He tried not to see how disappointed Ravi looked, as that would strip him of what little willpower he had left.
Sora studiously avoided his own reflection as he washed his hands. He was busy enough hating himself over the off-balanced tone in Ravi’s voice when he replied with an unsteady, “Okay.”
This hammered home the fact that he had to speak to King Alric now. He’d tell the truth and, if Ravi didn’t despise him, he’d grab that kiss and many more.
“What are your plans for the day?” Sora inquired as he wandered back into the room. He snatched up some clean bandages and set about carefully wrapping his patient up again.
“Ugh. I’m so bored,” Ravi groaned, sounding more like himself. “Hoheit and Baldewin have me on rest for at least another day. I’m allowed to do stuff, but no real exertion. And no shifting. Gunter offered to send up some books.”
Ravi quickly gazed over his shoulder at Sora.
“Not that I don’t like reading. It’s just—”
“You don’t strike me as the type to sit still for too long,” Sora finished, and Ravi relaxed again.
With the bandages in place, Ravi handed over his shirt, allowing Sora to carefully pull it back over his head.
“Really, don’t tell Lisette I said you’re so amazing. She’s great, too.”
Sora winked at him. “Trust me, I don’t want your head mage finding out I went back over her work. She’ll kick me right out of this castle.”
Ravi made a show of zipping his lips together, locking them, and tossing the key over his shoulder.
“Since you’re not too busy, would you be able to help me with something?”
“Of course!”
“I need to make an appointment to speak with the king.”
Ravi’s brow furrowed for a moment, as he looked at him like he had slipped into a language his translator spell couldn’t handle.
“An appointment?” Ravi repeated. Sora opened his mouth to explain more, but Ravi was already shaking his head and laughing. “You don’t make an appointment to speak with Hoheit. You just go talk to him.”
Now it was Sora’s turn to look at Ravi in confusion. “But you can’t…the entire clan can’t just pop in on the king whenever something occurs to them. He’d never get anything done.”
Ravi rolled his eyes a little and tilted his head to the side. “Well, I mean, people go to Hoheit for Hoheit-type things. If a mage or dragon has a magic question, you usually go to Lisette. Or if you have a security question, then Baldewin is your guy. And people are now driving Cassie and North crazy with computer questions.”
“And what’s a King Alric-type thing?”
“Big clan-related issues or even Jaeggi problems.”
“So, I shouldn’t ask him about my clogged bathroom sink.”
Ravi cackled and gave Sora a little shove toward the door. “No, I totally dare you to. It would be hilarious. I seriously doubt Alric would know what to do with a clogged sink, but I swear he would try to fix it himself.”
“My sink is not clogged, and there is no way I would ask your king about such a thing,” Sora quickly replied, horror coloring his words.
Moving toward the door, Ravi carefully pulled it open without wincing. “Come on. I’ll show you where his office is. You can see if he’s available now.”
Sora followed Ravi down the hall. Even injured, the dragon kept a brisk pace.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. He doesn’t usually have meetings at this hour, but with reporters, new mages, and the recent Jaeggi attack, there’s no telling what he’s doing right now. We can just stick our heads into his office and see if he’s free.”