“What? A look of transcendental bliss?”
Alric snorted. “Yes, something like that.”
“Well, I didn’t sleep much last night, but it wasn’t entirely Sora’s fault.”
A lot of it had been Ravi’s fault because he simply couldn’t get enough of his mage, but Alric didn’t need to know that. And from the side eye he was currently getting from the king, it was pretty clear Alric suspected the truth.
“We had dinner with Sora’s parents last night and told them that Sora is staying at Burkhard. Officially joining the clan.”
“And…?”
Ravi rolled his eyes. “We haven’t actually talked about the official bonding ceremony. We’re still figuring out how to get all of Sora’s stuff to Burkhard, as well as all the spellbooks. And how he’s going to start sharing everything he knows so we can keep passing down that knowledge to future generations. So many logistics.”
“There always are, it seems,” Alric said with a wry smile. The king would know since he’d moved Cameron, Cassie, and their grandmother from the United States to Germany. Something that hadn’t happened nearly fast enough, according to Alric.
“But when Sora stepped out of the room to get dessert, I did tell his parents that I’m trying to come up with a super romantic way to propose. His parents are planning to stay in Burkhard until we’re bonded.”
“Their reaction to all this news?” Something cautious entered Alric’s voice, and Ravi warmed. His king was getting preemptively defensive over him, ready to breathe fire at the Abe mages until they accepted Ravi. It was too sweet.
“Excited and sad. They’re excited that Sora and I are together. Sora’s mom was starting to worry he’d never find his dragon. Yuki seems to be struggling with the idea of Sora moving to Burkhard. She’s worried about his safety, particularly with the Jaeggi problem.”
“Would you like me to speak with her?”
Ravi was touched by the offer, but he shook his head. “No, I don’t think it would help. Until the Jaeggi are taken care of, she’s going to worry. But Sora will be safe in the castle, I don’t doubt it. Of course, my soon-to-be in-laws will be visiting often.”
“They will always be welcome here. Just like Sora is welcome here. And you’re welcome to go visit Sora’s family, as well.” Alric wrapped his left arm around Ravi’s shoulders and squeezed. “Cam and I are so happy for you.”
“Thanks. I—whoa!”
Ravi darted away from Alric, staring at his left arm. His injured arm. Alric had just used it. Hugged him.
“Your arm!” He shouldn’t be staring like a snake had just grown out of Alric’s shoulder, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Wow! I’ve seen your daily improvements, but that was the first time I felt some strength in it.”
“Sora has helped a lot.”
“Have you scheduled the first surgery yet?”
Alric’s smile dimmed, and he shook his head. “Not yet. With all the kings at Burkhard and the Jaeggi issues, I can’t afford to be laid up for a week. Not right now.”
Ravi snorted. “It sounds like now is the perfect time to get it done. You’ve got lots of help to cover things while you’re recovering.”
Alric said nothing and simply glared at him, which proved that Ravi was on the right track.
To stir the pot a little more, Ravi asked, “What does Cameron say?”
“Enough. It will be handled soon,” Alric grumbled, which sent Ravi into peals of laughter. He knew that Cameron would be pushing Alric to get the surgery done while Rodrigo and the other dragons were around to help fight the Jaeggi and deal with the humans.
Alric took a left and started up a staircase with Ravi jogging along behind him. He mentally skimmed through Alric’s schedule and couldn’t remember any meetings in this part of the castle at this time.
“While I’m loving the field trip, where are we going?” Ravi inquired.
“Up to Cassie’s study. She was banging on my door first thing this morning and shouting something about the Jaeggi.”
“What about the Jaeggi?”
“I’m not entirely sure. She and Gunter have been working to track down the Jaeggi’s path through Czechia. When I asked if I had time for pants and coffee, she kind of mumbled-slash-moaned something about coffee and disappeared.”
Ravi nodded. Cassie needed coffee in the morning like most people needed air.
At the top of the stairs, they came across Cameron, who looked like he was still trying to wake up.
“I thought I might run into you here,” he murmured.
“I just paused to shoot off a quick email and pick up Ravi,” Alric said before snagging a kiss. “Why are you here?”
“I figured I’d see what my sister thought was so important that she had to break into our morning snuggle time.”
Ravi’s mind might have drifted to a happy place for a moment as he remembered waking up wrapped in Sora’s arms. Sleeping with his mate was definitely becoming his number-one favorite thing in the entire world.
“Wow. Mate fog has seriously set in for Ravi.”
Cameron’s teasing voice had Ravi shaking his head hard. “What?”
“I asked how Sora was, but you’re so lost in mate fog that you didn’t even hear me. It’s cute.”
Ravi groaned. “It’s not cute! I’m supposed to be protecting you two. How am I supposed to protect you if I can’t stop thinking about Sora?”
“It’s alright, Ravi. It happened to Baldewin and Warin, too.”
“Oh, yeah, Baldewin had it bad for Tori. I think I even saw him walk into a wall once while lost in thought,” Cameron added with a chuckle.
“The point is that it gets easier. And I have complete faith that if there is any real danger, you will be on top of it.”
“Or the cause of it,” Cameron muttered.
Ravi poked Cameron in the shoulder. “Sure, because you’ve never caused any trouble on your own.”
“It’s been months—”
“Six weeks, Liebling,” Alric corrected. His lips twitched like he was trying so very hard not to laugh. “You and Cassie creatively repainted her study.”
Ravi cackled as a dark blush stole across Cameron’s cheeks. Cameron and Cassie had concocted a spell to change the color of the carpet in her study to an electric blue. Unfortunately, it had turned everything in the room bright blue. Including both Cameron and Cassie, as well as a castle cat, who had mistakenly chosen to curl up on a bookshelf for a nap.
Cameron sighed loudly. “Yeah, we misjudged that one a little bit, but magic is a learning process. We need to be free to experiment.”
“I agree, but for your safety, please run your experiments by Lisette.”
“Aren’t we meeting with Cassie and Gunter? I’m sure they have something important they need to tell us,” Cameron said, leading the way down the hall.
Alric’s shoulders shook lightly with silent laughter, and Ravi grinned. Cameron had definitely changed their world for the better when he appeared a year ago.
Cameron reached Cassie’s door first and briefly knocked before stepping inside. Ravi followed Alric and stopped just past the threshold. The room wasn’t blue anymore. None of it was. He thought he’d heard Cassie saying that she didn’t want to see the color blue for a long time.