“Just you?”
Sora chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. “The Abe clan is quite reclusive and hesitant to reach out to anyone outside of our clan.”
He hesitated. King Alric and the others definitely didn’t need to know that he’d become bored and restless with his own clan. That he’d come here not only wanting to speak to other dragons and mages, but that he needed to see more of the world, find…something to give him purpose.
“With the approval of the leaders of the Sodalicium, I came here as a sort of scout. I wished to assess whether it would be safe for more members of the Sodalicium to reach out to the rest of the world, to other dragons.” He bowed low to King Alric. “I pray you will forgive my deception.”
“Of course, Sora,” King Alric said immediately. “I recognize that you meant no harm. You were only protecting your people.”
Sora straightened. “Thank you, King Alric.”
“Speaking of your people, how big is the Sodalicium now, if you don’t mind me asking?” Dieter broke in.
“There are about 400 dragons and roughly 2,000 mages across at least a dozen different clans.”
Gunter slumped in his seat, looking a little wide-eyed and pale. If the dragon hadn’t already been seated in a chair, he probably would have ended up on the floor again. “Oh, dear heaven.”
“That’s amazing,” King Alric added. “To know there are so many dragons still in the world, and mages…I never would have guessed.”
“Yes, that’s why I find it all the more infuriating that your clan is dealing with the Jaeggi once again, but this time you are doing it alone.”
“We have had help recently from King Rodrigo and the Valerii Clan.”
“Ravi has also told me that they are roughly the same size as the Burkhard Clan and struggling to find mage mates.” Sora shook his head. “I’m sorry, King Alric, but that just won’t do. Not when the Sodalicium can help. It’s our duty to stand by our own kind. And it would be our honor, if you would let us.”
King Alric’s mouth fell open, and no words came out for a second. “What are you saying?”
“I’ve contacted my clan. I’ve told them how you are battling the Jaeggi and about their dangerous attacks on mages. The leaders of the Sodalicium are coming here now to help you.”
Unshed tears glistened in King Alric’s eyes for a moment before he rapidly blinked them away. He drew in a ragged breath and swallowed hard.
“Thank you. Thank you so very much, Abe Sora. We greatly appreciate all the allies we can get for this battle.”
Reaching over, King Alric tapped a couple of buttons on the phone sitting at his right. The room was filled with the sound of ringing for a moment before the call was answered.
“Alric! Your timing is impeccable,” a warm, lilting voice said. “I was just preparing to head down to the beach. Ha Na is adamant about stretching herself and sunning for a while, and I’m inclined to indulge her. While I always appreciate your hospitality, it is good to be home again, listening to the sound of the waves kissing the sand.”
“I need you to return to Burkhard Castle.”
The man, who Sora assumed must be the king of the Ice Dragons, laughed deeply. “Very funny, my friend.”
“I’m not joking, Rodrigo.”
“I’ve only been home a few days!” King Rodrigo shouted, his voice losing all amusement.
“The Lost Clan is coming to us here at Burkhard,” King Alric said, and Sora looked over to see Ravi do a little wiggle of happiness at the announcement.
A long silence followed, and King Alric smirked. It seemed he was enjoying dropping such a bomb on his friend. When King Rodrigo spoke, there was no playfulness in his tone. His response was simple and straightforward.
“I’ll be there before dawn.” He hung up.
Ravi threw his arms up in the air, wincing a little at the movement, but he didn’t let the pain stop him. “Whoo-hoo! Now we’re gonna kick some Jaeggi butt!”
Ravi practically vibrated with the need to drag Sora away. He’d had to sit still—okay, he might have fidgeted, but his ass stayed in the chair, that counted as sitting, right?—for hours before he could finally drag Sora away. And it was painful. To his soul.
What Sora had just dropped on them was huge. Here they’d thought the Lost Clan exactly that—forever lost. No one had heard a peep from them since the war. The fact that Sora had appeared without warning blew Ravi’s mind. The Lost Clan. The. Lost. Clan. Was coming. To Burkhard.
All because Sora had advised them to.
Ravi’s brain kept misfiring, trying to take this in. It was hard for him to reconcile the sweet, soft-spoken man he’d been (hopefully) dating with a mage from a legendary clan that was more myth than anything. Sora was incredibly intelligent, and patient, and thoughtful. He was terrifically fun to date. Even after Ravi had gone down, Sora had focused entirely on healing Ravi and keeping him occupied so that he didn’t go stir crazy. He’d done it with a smile on his face and without a single word of complaint. Ravi owed him for that alone.
And it didn’t even touch the other things Sora had done since his arrival, the way he’d readily pitched in when things had gone to shit.
Although, it did explain why he was so knowledgeable about healing. Abe. The Abe family was famous—so famous, in fact, there were still legends about Abe no Seimei in Japan. He featured often in films and stories, even today.
The Abe family was the authority on all things medical. Losing them had hurt the Burkhard Clan in a way that would take volumes to explain. If they’d had access to the Abe family when Alric went down, odds were, their dragon king would still be able to fly. That was how impressive their skills were.
For his clan’s sake, Ravi was thrilled Sora was here and apparently adamant that his clan come out of hiding. The knowledge they could regain would make a world of difference.
On a personal level, Ravi really wanted to know what Sora had been doing here for the past week. He’d come to see the clan; he’d been honest enough about that. But to what aim? He’d never said what his goal was.
Since his arrival, Sora had been very friendly with him—flirtatious—and they were borderline dating. If he’d done that just to get Ravi to drop his guard…even as the doubt flickered through his mind, Ravi dismissed it.
Sora might have lied about his last name, but he’d been honest about basically everything else. In fact, he’d told Ravi whenever he couldn’t discuss something rather than lying.
Ravi had to believe that everything Sora had said to him, everything he’d done, had been sincere.
He just had a lot of questions. A lot, a lot. Ravi was cornering the market on questions.
As soon as Alric made noise about taking a small break, Ravi grabbed Sora by the arm and whisked him out of the office. The nearest private spot was an outdoor balcony at the end of the hallway, and he aimed for that.
Sora, surprisingly, didn’t offer one peep of protest or ask a single question about where they were going. He went along amiably.
Once they were on the balcony, he shut the glass doors behind them, his entire attention on Sora.
Sora glanced at the mountains all around them. It was a breathtaking view, no doubt about that. Ravi had always found it picturesque. And the wind was sharp and clear today, a delight to breathe in.