Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“And I’m never letting you go,” Salem replied. “You’re mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”
Gregori had never been so happy to be claimed in his life.
Ever since Cameron had been found, the Fire Dragon Clan had started celebrating a new holiday completely—the anniversary of when mages had been found. When Gregori told Salem this, his mate just quirked an eyebrow at him and said something along the lines of, We were always here, you just didn’t know.
Which was true, but to the dragons, the mages hadn’t been part of their world anymore. It had been a devastating loss. Cameron bursting out onto the scene and ripping the blinders off people’s eyes had done the world a favor. No one disagreed on that point. So to them, it was worth celebrating.
Rodrigo had quickly joined in on this celebration. Probably in part because of Ha Na, but he was just as enthusiastic about the anniversary celebration as everyone else. Hence why the Ice Dragon and Fire Dragon Clans got together to celebrate. So far, the fire dragons had hosted the event, but there’d been talk about the ice dragons taking turns every other hosting.
Gregori was over the moon to go this year. Not only to show off his mate—because let’s face it, with Salem there was a lot to show off—but because it was one hell of a party. He’d gotten to be good friends with the fire dragons over the whole Jaeggi debacle. He liked seeing those friends and catching up.
There was another, unspoken goal with this trip, though. Salem was still studying under Amaru and Sora, but in the past three months, he’d caught up very, very quickly. In fact, Sora had already cleared him to treat a number of ailments and do several basic surgeries. Salem had performed them all on a dummy Amaru had made up for practice. He’d done so flawlessly and could give you a full lecture on why he’d used the spells, potions, etc. that he’d used. He fully understood what he was doing.
He’d been so excited upon getting a stamp of approval from Sora, he’d been like a giddy child. Gregori may have taken twenty or thirty pictures of his expression. Salem had been cute, okay; he couldn’t help himself.
They arrived at the castle late in the evening, having started the journey very early in the morning. Gregori wanted to introduce Salem to people, take a shower, and dress up for the party, so getting in the day before said party had been critical. Upon arrival, they had been shown a room and immediately crashed. It wasn’t until the next morning he’d been able to introduce Salem to people and show him around the castle, which he’d done extensively until it was time to get ready.
Salem explored their room in the castle, looking about with his eyebrows rising. “Damn. Never thought I’d be in a German castle. It’s truly beautiful.”
“It is.” Gregori had always thought so too, but he could see Salem really liked the place. “Do I need to build a castle?”
Without looking his way, Salem pointed a stern finger in his direction. “No.”
“Why won’t you let me spoil you?”
“Because you go overboard.”
How dare he. Salem was entirely correct, of course, but how dare he be so observant and figure Gregori out.
Just for that, he dragged Salem into the shower. Not as if sex had ever worked in Gregori getting his way, but it was really, really fun to try.
ANYWAY. That was how they ended up losing about two hours of time, which meant they had to scramble to get ready for the party. King Alric and Cameron had requested they come meet them ten minutes before the party officially started.
Somehow, they managed to get into tuxes and looking presentable—well, Salem looked edible, Gregori was presentable in his opinion—and out the door just on time. Gregori knew where to go, having been around in this castle for months at a stretch, so he led the way to the small waiting room behind the big ballroom.
Baldewin stood just outside the door, and as they approached, he gave a wave. “Perfect timing, Gregori.”
“I do try.” He slowed to a stop and clasped arms with the dragon. “How are you, man?”
“I can’t be any better.” He beamed the brightest smile Gregori had ever seen him have. “We got our number, we’re in the queue now.”
With all the dragons finding mates, the list of who wanted kids was ever growing. But there were only so many incubators and only so much magic that could be poured into it. Now, people had to apply for a position in line and wait. No one really grumbled about it. Frankly, after five hundred years of waiting, a year or two seemed like nothing more than a passing breeze.
Gregori and Salem had already talked kids—and agreed on at least two—but Salem had begged to wait for five years first. He wanted to be thoroughly caught up with his training before bringing a kid into the chaos of their lives. Which was completely fair. Gregori suspected it was also because of Salem’s paranoia. What if their child was born but there was an injury, or complications? Salem wanted to be able to immediately fix it. Personally, Gregori felt the same way about it.