Chapter 8
Ravi sent a text first thing the next morning to Sora.
Have breakfast with me.
Should he have done so when he’d only gotten the man’s number the day before and still hadn’t made him that promised drink? Probably not. Was Ravi wise? Hell no. He avoided wisdom on a religious basis, and he had to say, that was working out well for him so far.
The answer came back within thirty seconds.
I’d be delighted.
See? Wisdom was totally overrated.
Ravi bounced into the shower with a wide, shit-eating grin on his face. Breakfast had never been so enticing.
Even as he washed his hair, the water sluicing over him, Ravi tried to figure out what it was about Sora that appealed to him.
There had been other mages who’d come into the clan, after all, and all of them attractive in their own ways.
But he’d never felt inclined to flirt with any of them.
It was as if some part of him could sense they were meant for other people.
Which, good instincts, they had been.
But Sora—something about Sora appealed to him.
Was it his too-sexy voice, so smooth and low, like a fine cognac?
Was it the intelligence in those dark eyes?
The competency the man radiated just standing there?
Sora had that air about him, as if he could handle whatever shit was thrown at him without flinching.
Ravi had a serious weakness for people like that. He adored the competent. He also liked doing things to shake them out of that calm, get them laughing. Was it years of doing it to Alric that had made it a habit? Ravi shrugged, not really caring to psychoanalyze himself on that level.
Anyway, he liked the look of Sora. He enjoyed the man’s company. Sora struck him as a touch shy, but he’d readily joined in on the teasing Tori had started yesterday. So, he had a good sense of humor, he just wasn’t the type to readily show it. It’s alright. Ravi would give him lots of openings.
He popped out, dried and dressed, then was out the door again in a flash.
The clan had often bemoaned that Ravi was the only one who didn’t need coffee in the mornings.
He couldn’t help it. He was a natural Energizer Bunny.
Someone had to be, right? Who else would start the coffee machines if everyone was anti-mornings?
Sora beat Ravi to the dining hall, but only barely. Sora stood near one of the tables, clearly waiting on him. He even looked awake! Most impressive. Ravi normally had to pour three cups of coffee down people at this hour to get them upright and sensible.
“Good morning,” Sora greeted with a smile.
Aww, such a cute smile. The man should smile more often.
“Good morning! Let me introduce you to a German breakfast.”
“It smells very enticing,” Sora agreed as he followed him to the buffet.
“Oh, we have great cooks. Except Gunter, he can’t be trusted. He walks off and forgets things are still cooking. He’s burned many a pan, let me tell you. Wait, have you met Gunter yet?”
“Yesterday, while I was treating the new mage’s burned hand.”
“Ahhh.”
Ravi regarded him, intrigued at this reminder.
He’d been told what Sora did yesterday. The mage had said a few times in his hearing that he was trained as a healer, and clearly those claims were not exaggerated.
He’d known precisely what to do. Lisette had been absolutely enthralled after spending the evening picking Sora’s brain.
She hadn’t yet ordered someone to seduce Sora. But it was coming. Ravi could see the writing clearly on the wall. Lisette absolutely did not want Sora walking back out of their gates.
Ravi had sooo many questions for Sora. About the man’s family, how he was raised, was he part of a clan like Tori?
But Sora clearly didn’t want to discuss that yet.
It was hard not blurting out questions. Ravi’s nature was to get his questions out there, satisfy his curiosity. But he held his tongue.
He was actually rather proud of his restraint. Rare moment.
Instead, he responded with, “Good, we missed Gunter during the tour. You need to tell me more about all of that, as Lisette was singing your praises and volunteering you for things, and I need more details. But first, breakfast! We have Bauernomelett—it’s kind of like a farmer’s omelet with bacon, onions, potatoes, parsley, eggs, and milk.
Good stuff and Melissande does a bang-up job with them.
Speckpfannkuchen, of course, which is bacon inside pancakes. ”
Sora regarded both dishes, then nodded decisively. “Both.”
Ravi put a hand over his heart, swooning. “A man after my own heart.”
He got a grin in return. “I’m going to need the energy, and I’m not sure if lunch will happen for me today. Your head mage is very keen on me teaching people.”
“Ja, doesn’t surprise me. Lisette was very vocal about your skills last night. She marched right into our DnD campaign.”
Sora paused in loading up a plate to give him a surprised look. “You play DnD?”
“Sure. Have for years. It’s great fun.”
“Who’s the DM?”
“Me.” Ravi reached for a plate to fill up for himself.
“I’m the one who can best keep the campaign moving.
Gunter tried it at first, but…yeah, he kept getting bogged down in the details.
The thing with DnD is, you never know which direction the game will go.
A roll of the dice can change the outcome. Do you play?”
“I do, with some of my cousins and friends. It’s great fun. Which edition do you play?”
“5e. We started with 3, which…” Ravi shuddered, only partially put on.
Sora looked at him blankly, but the expression was purely an act. “What’s edition 3?”
“I knew I liked you for a reason.” Ravi grinned at him, delighted.
Sora was definitely relaxing some around him; the joking was a sign of that. If he could get Sora to drop his guard a bit more, he’d be wicked fun. Ravi’s instincts said so.
Sora winked, then went for the coffee carafe at the end of the table. “And what do you do? I heard you’re one of the king’s retainers.”
“I most certainly am. My main responsibility is keeping everyone from being too serious.”
“You’d be very good at that.” Sora did not sound like he was kidding.
“I’m excellent at it. Seriously, though, part of the reason I’m a retainer is because I’m fast. My reflexes are such that I react to danger before the rest of them can.”
Ravi was proud of himself for it, too. That speed. He knew not everyone understood his appointment when they first met him. They mistook him as someone frivolous. And he didn’t want Sora to have that impression of him.
Sora glanced at him as he stirred in creamer and sugar. “I imagine that’s part of the reason you were chosen was your sense of humor. Having only serious types in a workplace makes for a very long day. Just one coworker to keep things lively helps the work go by faster.”
Oh. Ravi paused, looking at him with a sort of startled wonder.
No one had ever said that to him before.
He hadn’t even thought of it from that perspective.
Ravi knew Alric depended on him to jostle him out of bad moods and to keep him on task without being naggy about it.
But no one had ever said that. It was something Ravi instinctively felt was true.
For Sora to look at him and see the heart of the matter so keenly…was kinda awesome.
Maybe Ravi needed to up the flirting. Sora might be really fun to date. At the very least, he’d be interesting to get to know.
“I could use more of that personality trait myself,” Sora continued with a wry expression, his nose wrinkling. “Mage Lisette was very adamant about me teaching people today, but…in truth, I have no experience teaching anyone.”
Ravi indicated an empty spot at a table nearby and led the way even as he asked, “Really? Not at all?”
“I’m the youngest in my family,” Sora explained as he set his cup and plate down on the table. “I’ve never had the opportunity.”
“Ah, gotcha. Yeah, I’m one of the youngest in the clan, so I feel that.”
“Are you? I can’t quite put an age to you.”
Ravi’s head came up, proud as a peacock. “I’m eternally young.”
Sora snorted a laugh.
“You. Stop snickering.” Ravi stuck his tongue out at him, pleased that he already had Sora laughing.
Best way to start the day, laughter. “But, yeah, I was a baby at the end of the War. And we didn’t have many births afterwards.
I want to say, like, five. But I have ended up teaching people stuff.
Well, I’ve tried. It never really goes well.
I mean, I’ve been trying to teach Baldewin how to mix a drink for decades, and he manages to botch it every single time.
So, while I’d like to give you advice on good teaching methods, I can’t, sorry.
Unless you choose to use me as a bad example. Which would be totally fair.”
Sora calmly sipped at his coffee, watching him with those keen dark eyes. “I just noticed that you didn’t get coffee.”
“You do not want me on caffeine, trust me.”
“I’d actually pay good money to see that. You’d probably bounce off the walls for hours.”
A memory floated to mind, and Ravi grinned at the nostalgia.
“You’re not far off. I stole half of Alric’s coffee once, when I was still young and green.
I was spinning around like mad for hours.
Dieter took me flying. Then Baldewin. Sasha played tag with me for about two hours.
And I still couldn’t sleep. It was the best high ever, until I crashed the next day.
Slept all day, woke up rested. I thought the clan was going to kill me because while I was sleeping, they still had to work. ”
Sora shook his head in amusement. “I can so easily see that scene play out. You must have been fun to raise.”
“I was a fucking delight, thank you very much.”
“And how many times were you told not to touch the coffee?” Sora asked pointedly before taking another sip of his own.
“I can’t begin to tell you. Hundreds, probably. I had very poor impulse control when I was a kid.” Ravi shrugged before cutting into his breakfast. “I’m told we’re all like that on my father’s side.”
“And how is your father’s side?”
“It’s doing much better, thank you.”
Sora gave him a droll look. “You say that you had poor impulse as a child, but I doubt it’s improved much as an adult. You hopped on a perfect stranger’s bike.”
He gave Sora points for not pressing the question of Ravi’s parents. Sometimes, it was hard to talk about his birth parents. He took the conversational gambit and ran with it.
“Excuse you, reporters are scary. Wait, how did you know I was a dragon, anyway?”
“I did do some research before coming here. And your story of rescuing the plane is everywhere on the internet.”
“I didn’t know they were filming,” Ravi complained into his plate. “It was really, really foggy, okay?”
“Okay,” Sora agreed mildly. “You got raked over the coals for this, didn’t you?”
“Oh, so much.”
Ravi had to admit Sora was dead-on about his impulse control. It had not really improved that much since he was a kid. He’d just gotten better about foreseeing the consequences of his actions.
“But didn’t it turn out for the best? With dragons no longer in hiding, mages have a better chance of finding you.”
“Yeah. I mean, in that sense, it’s great.
I think we needed something to pull us out of hiding.
I just hope it goes smoothly. Alric’s already put his foot down.
He’s not getting embroiled in politics. He said he’s got enough to manage with his own clan, which is fair.
And he and Cameron are really keen on maybe having kids in the next two years, so they want to get the clan’s affairs stable enough that both of them can be hands-on with the day-to-day care. ”
“You have enough mages to do a magical incubator?”
Seriously, was there anything about medicine this man didn’t know? Ravi once again nearly blurted out questions and barely kept them in check. He had to bite his tongue before one of them escaped.
“We’re partnering with the ice dragons to manage it. Taking turns, if you will.”
“Ah. That would be glacially slow, though. You’d only be able to have one child a year.”
“Yeah, hardly a baby boom, I guess. But it will feel like one to us after so many years of not having any.” Ravi shrugged and moved them on to a lighter topic. “So, yeah, more mages, kids, this place is going to feel like a nonstop party soon!”
“You are hereby banned from being the fun uncle.” Lisette joined them at the table, although she didn’t sit, clearly just stopping by for a moment. Her warning look at Ravi was not entirely in jest.
Ravi put a wounded hand to his heart, rearing back, aghast. “But there’s so many fun things to teach them!”
“Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of. No. I’m forbidding this right now. And Sora, please do not get sucked into his pace. We’re due in my workroom in twenty minutes.”
Sora blinked, then flipped his wrist over to check the time. “I’m so sorry, I have no idea how it got to be this late. I’ll be there.”
“Good.” She gave them a nod before beelining for the coffee.
Aww, party pooper. Ravi was enjoying his Sora time, thank you very much. He made a face at her back.
Perhaps Sora felt the same way about it. He gave Ravi a slight smile, eyebrow cocked in a hint of challenge. “You know, you still owe me a drink.”
Ravi perked up. Oh? Oh yeah? So that’s how this was going to go, eh. Ravi was completely on board. “I do, don’t I? How about you meet me for dinner, and I’ll mix you something excellent.”
“You’re on.” Sora chugged the rest of his coffee, standing.
Ravi waved him off before he could bus his own dishes. “I’ve got that. You don’t have a lot of time to get over there.”
“Thanks. I’ll catch up with you later.” Sora opened his mouth, closed it, unsure of how to leave and apparently unwilling to.
Awww. He really did like this man. Apparently, if Ravi was reading the mood right, the feeling was mutual. “Have a good day at work, honey.”
Snorting, Sora shook his head. “Yeah, you too. Don’t do anything crazy?”
“Why would you be mean like that?”
Sora refused to rise to the bait, just shook his head again and grinned at Ravi before turning to leave.
He watched him go, ideas and wants swirling through his head. Yeah, Ravi might need to get his hands on that. The more time he spent around Sora, the more enticing the man became. And Sora seemed to take Ravi’s antics and energy in stride, which was rare.
Dinner, a simple dinner. So that Ravi could sound this out a bit more. Yeah. That would be good.