“You’re a dragon?”
“I am. You’re a mage.” Ravi could smell that clearly. Interestingly enough, this person didn’t smell like a Jaeggi mage. They had the clear, pure scent of true magic about them.
A startled blink, as if they hadn’t expected Ravi to be able to tell. “I am. How can you tell?”
“I can smell it. Mages smell like a lightning storm that hasn’t quite struck yet. It’s ozone and power.”
“Huh.” They thawed enough to slip through the door completely. In their hands was a blanket and a basket of some sort that held—Ravi’s nose flared as he took in the scents—water, bread, meat, and cheese. Oooh, food.
“There’s all sorts of talk about you.” They came inside, shutting the door with a heel, and eyed Ravi warily. “I’ll drape the blanket over you and feed you, but I want answers to my questions.”
“Sure,” Ravi promised easily. “I’d love to talk.”
Talking meant possible answers about where he was and maybe how to escape. He flipped back down to his feet to make this easier, the blood rush to his head making him a bit dizzy for a second.
“Uh, just gotta ask first, I really can’t tell, sorry. Are you a man? Woman?”
“I’m an omen!” they answered with a grin of pure mischief. “All I have in my pants is doom. And possibly lint.”
Ravi’s instincts were dead on. This person was pure mischief, much like himself. He approved. The world could use more mischief makers.
“An omen? Excellent. I could use one right about now. So, which pronouns should I use?”
A startled blink, as if Ravi’s question was both entirely unexpected and welcome. “They/them.”
“Cool.”
“You’re, uh…” They hesitated and bit their bottom lip before asking, “You’re really okay with that? That I’m non-binary?”
“Sure.” Ravi wanted to shrug, but hands. Still in the cuffs. “We’ve got a dragon in the clan who’s gender-fluid. We never know from day to day which way they’re going to go. And dragons, you know, we’re pansexual. We take people as they are, however that is.”
“That’s really amazing. I’m Nikki, by the way.”
“Hallo, Nikki. I’m Ravi.”
Nikki put the basket down and stepped forward with the blanket, revealing two safety pins in the other hand. “I figured I could drape this around you toga-style and pin it in place.”
“Hey, any covering is welcome right now. Little chilly down here.”
“I thought dragons ran hot?”
“Eh, depends on the dragon. I’m a wind dragon, I don’t breathe fire. I run hot because I’m active all the time. Being locked in place isn’t conducive to heat. Colder than a hag’s tits down here.”
Ravi stayed still as Nikki draped the blanket around him, looping it around the shoulders and connecting it at the back of the neck. Having some sort of covering was a vast relief. And the blanket was a nice one, made of soft, plushy microfiber.
Nikki stepped back and looked their handiwork over. “Yeah, that works. I’ve got a roast beef sandwich and a bottle of water?”
“Water first, please.”
“Okay.” They turned to fetch the basket. “So, you’re from a wind dragon clan?”
“Not really? I was born to one, but the war pretty much decimated my family. I was adopted into a fire dragon clan, the Burkhards. They raised me.”
Nikki gave him an odd look. “You’re an orphan, too?”
Now, that was an interesting question. “Are you? Is that how you ended up here? I can tell from your scent, you’re not a Jaeggi.”
“No. No, I’m not. They found me after my parents died and adopted me.” Nikki’s mouth twisted up in a grimace that was more frown than smile. “Or, at least, that’s what they’d like me to believe. I suspect the truth is much darker than that.”
“When the Jaeggi are involved, it normally is.”
Nikki twisted off the cap and, smart person, they’d brought a straw. They lifted it up to Ravi’s mouth and he drained half the bottle in one long pull. It was nirvana on his parched throat, and he rumbled a moment, happy.
Withdrawing the bottle, Nikki regarded him with open fascination. “Dragons purr?”
“No, we make happy rumbling sounds.” Ravi grinned at them. “Sounds like purring, though, I agree. So, what would you like to know, Nikki?”
“They said outside that dragons like to mate with mages. Why?”
Nikki kept glancing toward the door as if not sure how much time they had. Ravi suspected that Nikki had a plan, or at least something they wanted from Ravi, to have come in this quickly after Thomas and the other idiot left. Ravi had barely been alone ten minutes.
What was Nikki’s game plan? What did they want from Ravi? If they were aware the Jaeggi were not using Nikki for their own ends? If they were going through the risk of helping Ravi, did that mean they wanted to escape? Ravi didn’t think that conclusion was much of a stretch. He replied candidly, trying to give the answers Nikki needed and keep the dialogue open enough to figure out Nikki’s plan.
“Eh, couple of reasons. We can only form magical bonds with a mate, that’s the main reason. Second is that it’s impossible for us to have kids on our own, but through mages it’s possible, either body births or incubators. Really, we just like magic in our lives, and our mates give us so much happiness. Why wouldn’t we want to find that kind of joy?”
Nikki unwrapped the sandwich from the aluminum foil, taking all of this information in with a closed-off expression. Cautious, this one.
“You said earlier dragons are pansexual. You don’t care what gender your mate is?”
“Really, really do not care. I don’t think it’s actually possible for us to care less.”
“And once you have a mated mage?”
“Then it’s party time. And sexy time. And all sorts of other times. You have to understand, our mates are the highest priority. Like, literally nothing tops their wants and needs. In my clan, we spent five hundred years without any mates due to the damn Jaeggi, and we’re only now finding mages again.”
A wistful look crossed over Nikki’s face for a moment. “But it sounds like once you do find the right mate for you, it’s, like, an epic romance.”
“It basically is. All the hearts and flowers and fluffy kittens. All the best rom-com schmaltz.” Ravi paused for a moment, his face screwing up a little as he rethought what he’d said. “Well, for us dragons it’s normal. That’s how you treat your mate. But our mages tell us that this is not really the norm for relationships in the rest of the world. They’re really thrilled with our version of romance.”
Nikki leaned against the wall, their gaze seeming a million miles away as they took in the picture Ravi was painting. “Seems almost too good to be true.”
“It kind of does, but it’s true. Cameron’s arrival was the makings of an epic romance. I mean, you should meet our Fire Dragon King’s mate. Cameron is a kick, and brilliant with magic. He’s probably the only person in the world who can get right in my king’s face, tell him he’s being stupid, and force him to relax. I’d like him for that alone, but he’s really fun to pull pranks with, too.”