Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Sora prayed they were, at least. He’d like the chance to at least try dating. He honestly couldn’t recall liking anyone else like this.
“I’ll move quickly,” his mother promised, and she sounded as if she were already moving in a hurry. Her skirts flapped loudly as she half-jogged. “I want to meet him. Just wait until I give you the all-clear before revealing who you truly are.”
“I will. But work fast, Kaa-san. I want to come clean before it gets any more awkward.”
“I will. Be safe, and for god’s sake, ward your room! I don’t want you taking any chances before we can get up there.”
“I will. Keep me updated. Bye.”
Sora hung up, letting his head fall back. With the promise of his family coming, he felt some of the tension that had been riding him fall from his shoulders. It left him exhausted in its wake.
A good night’s sleep would restore him. And he’d need the energy if he was to keep a bored wind dragon still for the next two days. The thought made him shake his head, even as he turned toward the bathroom. A hot shower, then sleep.
And hopefully, nothing else bad would happen until his family could get here.
Bored.
Ravi was so bored. And he hurt.
Which was a bad combination.
He was stuck in the main foyer on a giant mound of pillows in his dragon form. And it was grumbling about being stuck in place and not moving. Normally, if he was in this form, Ravi was flying. His dragon was not happy about being grounded. He felt like a strange mix of cherished prince, dragon sacrifice, and sideshow freak. Not that his own family was making him feel like a freak.
It was more the human police and detectives who had come tromping through the previous day and early that morning. No matter how professional they attempted to be, they all still ended up passing through with their mouths hanging open and tripping over each other at the sight of him.
He got it. Not one of them had seen a real dragon in the flesh before. As far as they had known, up until a week ago, all dragons had been extinct.
But, come on! He was in pain and bored. He didn’t want to be gawked at. It might have been better if they’d at least stopped over to say hi or ask how he was doing. But, nope. They stared and gave him a wide berth as if they expected him to leap up and swallow them down whole.
Not a chance. He wasn’t going to be leaping anywhere for another day or two, at least.
If he was going to be stuck healing, he would have preferred to do it in the privacy of his own room, or at least somewhere that wasn’t a main thoroughfare for the entire castle.
His friends were trying to keep him occupied and happy, but they were also trying to clean up the mess from the explosion, deal with the police, hold back the reporters, and soothe their new mages so no one would bolt, all while looking out for more attacks from the Jaeggi. Ravi couldn’t be a priority in the middle of that chaos.
“How’s my favorite patient?” Sora’s playful inquiry instantly lifted Ravi’s spirits.
His head jerked up from where it had been resting on a pile of pillows and he looked around until he spotted Sora striding purposefully toward him from the far staircase. The mage had a knapsack hanging from one shoulder, and he was comfortably dressed in a pair of worn jeans and a slouchy sweater that seemed to offer up a few tantalizing hints of warm fawn skin around his shoulder and chest.
God, he was such a good-looking man. He had all that dark hair begging for Ravi’s exploring fingers. Would it be weird if he asked one of the female mages to teach him to braid hair? He wanted to spend a lot of time playing with Sora’s hair. Assuming Sora would let him do such a thing.
Sora’s low, throaty chuckle drew Ravi out of his thoughts. “You must not be feeling too bad, considering the smile that just stretched across your face.”
Ravi could feel his face burning and was extremely grateful that Sora couldn’t see him blushing. He’d totally gotten lost in thought, daydreaming about Sora and his hair, and nuzzling that wonderful neck so Ravi could get wrapped up in the scent of him. He wanted—NO! He had to stop and focus.
Huffing a breath and popping out his bottom lip as best he could around his fangs, Ravi pouted. “Your patient is feeling very impatient. I want to be healed already. But I’m better now that you’re here.”
“How about I check you out and see if you’re any closer to being able to shift to human? At least then we can move you to your own room to finish recovering.”