Chapter 15
Two days later, Sora found himself hesitating outside Ravi’s door, heart pounding. Eagerness to see the dragon’s smiling face was at the forefront of his mind, but nerves about the next step he needed to take with all the members of the Burkhard Clan predominated.
He’d finally gotten the approval from his mother.
He could come clean to all of them about his identity.
Especially Ravi—and that was a weight off his shoulders.
He could finally, finally be completely truthful with Ravi and no longer watch every word out of his mouth.
Sora felt like crowing, he was so relieved.
Firming up his resolve and silencing his worries, Sora knocked on Ravi’s door. The dragon’s grumpy voice called out, and Sora instantly smiled. From what he’d seen of the man, he was not normally grumpy by nature, but this injury was slowing him down, and Ravi was not a slow creature.
Of course, wind dragons weren’t typically slow about anything, not that he could explain how he knew. At least, not until he’d spoken with King Alric.
Ravi’s door swung open, and the man’s face instantly brightened when he locked eyes with Sora. “There you are! I was beginning to feel like you were avoiding me!”
Sora shook his head. “Never. How are you feeling today?”
Ravi shrugged one shoulder and instantly winced. “You know that phrase, your body is a temple? Well, mine’s a federation starship with critical hull damage and shields at twenty percent.”
As he backed up, letting Sora into his room, he lifted one side of his baggy shirt to reveal white bandages wrapped around his ribs, back, and shoulders.
“Lisette was here early this morning, getting my dressings changed and new salve applied.” Ravi dropped his shirt and gave Sora a little sad look. “I thought you were going to look it over.”
His eyes darted around as if he were checking for spies before he continued in a whisper, “You have a gentler touch than Lisette.”
Closing the door behind him, Sora laughed. “I’m sorry. I slept late this morning after someone kept me up for a movie marathon.”
“D’oh!” Ravi cringed. “I guess we shouldn’t have crammed in all three original Indiana Jones movies last night.”
After dinner the previous evening, Sora had stretched out on the pillows next to Ravi in dragon form and watched the first two movies. Before starting the third, he and Lisette had checked Ravi over, finally deciding to let him shift so he could sleep in his own bed.
The change from dragon to human had been slow and clearly painful for the dragon, and Sora had hated it even as he’d been grimly aware of the necessity.
He wasn’t sure who had winced more, he or Ravi, during the whole process.
But leaving after Ravi was back in human form, bones aching and exhausted, had not sat well with him, which was why Sora had readily agreed to watch the third movie with Ravi in his room.
Not only did he get to spend more time with the cute man, but he was able to keep an eye on him and make sure his injuries weren’t aggravated by the shift.
“When I finally got up, I discovered that Lisette had already checked on you, so I saw to our other explosion patients this morning. But if you’d like, I can look over your injuries now.”
Ravi seemed to think about it for a second before finally shaking his head, his smile a little wry. “Nah. I’m okay. Still tender in spots, but I’m healing.”
Sora chewed on his bottom lip for a second, and while he wasn’t much of a control freak, he didn’t know if he could trust the medical knowledge in this clan.
For his own sake, he asked, “Do you mind if I check you over anyway? You are, technically, my patient, and while I know Lisette has done a fabulous job, I won’t be able to relax until I see for myself that you’re okay.”
“Oh yeah! Of course!” Ravi instantly perked up and started pulling at his shirt, not caring about his injuries as he walked toward his bed.
Sora batted his hands away and took over carefully removing his shirt while Ravi sat on the edge of the mattress.
As Sora had expected, Lisette had expertly wrapped Ravi this morning, and he secretly prayed she never found out that he was double-checking her work.
He wasn’t trying to undermine her. It was more like he was making absolutely sure all was well.
With great care, he peeled away the new bandages to reveal mostly healed wounds and tender flesh.
But there were also incredibly strong shoulders and nicely molded biceps that were tempting Sora’s fingers.
He really wanted to pet and caress. He had to clench his hands several times to make them behave.
He stepped back and hurried over to the dresser where the salve they were using on Ravi was placed. “I think I’ll put on a fresh coating of salve. It’ll help ease some of your muscle ache.”
Ravi smiled up at him. “Whatever you say. You’re the hot male nurse.”
Sora smirked to himself. He couldn’t remember anyone ever flirting as outrageously with him as Ravi did.
Their brief foray in dating was on hold, but he hoped that they’d be able to pick back up where they’d left off once Ravi was well again.
And Sora intended to make it clear they were dating, not just assume they were both on the same page.
As he smeared some of the salve onto his hands, he whispered a word, calling up a little heat from his personal core of magic.
The combination of warmth and salve would sink deep into Ravi’s muscles, removing aches and tightness.
The trick was that he couldn’t apply too much pressure as he massaged Ravi.
Apparently, he found the right combination because the dragon moaned loudly and went almost completely limp under his hands.
Sora silently worked his way lower, rubbing away tension while inspecting each cut and angry red area on his body.
His fingers were begging him to explore other areas, places that weren’t wounded, but that would be wrong.
No exploring. No more touching than necessary.
He was Ravi’s healer. His sexy nurse. Not his lover. Yet.
He blamed the sexy noises coming from Ravi’s mouth for making his brain go off in entirely the wrong direction. Although it was good to know this was a sure-fire seduction technique.
“Wow,” Ravi exhaled. “You are so good at that.” His words were sleepy and slightly slurred as if he were drunk under Sora’s touch, which was definitely encouraging. “You can touch me any time you want.”
Sora peered around Ravi’s shoulder, smiling broadly at him. “Really, now?”
Ravi blinked, and his mouth hung open for a moment, as if his brain were replaying the words that had just fallen out of his mouth. “I suffer from this syndrome where I say really inappropriate things at the right moment.”
Sora threw his head back with a laugh. “That you do. But I’m glad to know that you like my hands.”
“Your hands should be illegal. Feel free to put them back on me.”
“When you’re healed enough for me to manhandle,” Sora agreed with a smirk. “Which is not today, sadly.”
“Now you’re just being mean.”
Reaching out, Ravi snatched up his discarded shirt and placed it in a wad in his lap as if he were trying to hide something from Sora. That was fine with him. Sora found that he’d developed the same problem while running his hands over all that warm, soft golden skin and strong muscle.
Ravi was staring up at him with such open hunger in his bright brown eyes. His lips were soft and parted. All he had to do was lean in a few more inches and he could claim those plush lips, steal away his breath with kiss after kiss.
Sora’s heart sped up as he leaned down a little, but with each beat came the refrain in his head: Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar.
He couldn’t kiss Ravi yet. Not while he was still withholding important information about who he was, who his family was, why he was here.
It was all wrong. Ravi trusted him so completely.
What if Ravi hated him for withholding such information?
It would have been made all the worse because he’d kissed Ravi, taken advantage of his trust. It took willpower that Sora didn’t know he possessed to stop himself from accepting the clear invitation in Ravi’s eyes.
This moment crystallized his resolve. He needed to talk to King Alric. Now. Because there was no way in hell he could be alone with Ravi again without giving in to his own desires. Sora burned with impatience and frustration as it was.
With a great deal of reluctance, Sora straightened and started toward Ravi’s bathroom.
“Let me wash this stuff off my hands and I’ll help you back into your shirt,” he called over his shoulder. He tried not to see how disappointed Ravi looked, as that would strip him of what little willpower he had left.
Sora studiously avoided his own reflection as he washed his hands. He was busy enough hating himself over the off-balanced tone in Ravi’s voice when he replied with an unsteady, “Okay.”
This hammered home the fact that he had to speak to King Alric now. He’d tell the truth and, if Ravi didn’t despise him, he’d grab that kiss and many more.
“What are your plans for the day?” Sora inquired as he wandered back into the room. He snatched up some clean bandages and set about carefully wrapping his patient up again.
“Ugh. I’m so bored,” Ravi groaned, sounding more like himself. “Hoheit and Baldewin have me on rest for at least another day. I’m allowed to do stuff, but no real exertion. And no shifting. Gunter offered to send up some books.”
Ravi quickly gazed over his shoulder at Sora.
“Not that I don’t like reading. It’s just—”
“You don’t strike me as the type to sit still for too long,” Sora finished, and Ravi relaxed again.
With the bandages in place, Ravi handed over his shirt, allowing Sora to carefully pull it back over his head.
“Really, don’t tell Lisette I said you’re so amazing. She’s great, too.”
Sora winked at him. “Trust me, I don’t want your head mage finding out I went back over her work. She’ll kick me right out of this castle.”