Chapter 21
Ravi didn’t take an easy breath until they finally pulled the SUVs into the massive courtyard of Burkhard Castle. While leaving the restaurant hadn’t exactly been easy, the drive from Munich to Sonthofen had proven to be quiet. Thank heaven.
Over the course of the two hours, Sora chatted with his parents, catching up on clan news and gossip about life back with the rest of the Sodalicium.
There had been marriages, births, dating mishaps, and other shenanigans, which painfully reminded Ravi that Sora had an entire life with the rest of his clan on the other side of the world.
Yes, they were dating, and when a mage dated a dragon, it was understood that the intention was they would one day become mates, but did it mean something different to Sora and his clan? Would Sora seriously consider staying with the Burkhard Clan so they could be mates?
Or was he expecting Ravi to leave Burkhard and return to the Sodalicium with him?
Just the idea of leaving his home, his family, and his king made his stomach queasy.
Burkhard was everything to him. Serving and protecting Alric and his family was everything.
With the appearance of new mages, he’d even begun to look forward to the day when Alric and Cameron would have their first child and he would get to protect their baby dragon as they toddled around the castle.
But to claim Sora as his own. To build a life with Sora. To have a family with Sora. All those thoughts made his heart speed up and his head get all fuzzy. He didn’t want to imagine a day when he wouldn’t get to see Sora’s handsome face.
Ravi gave his head a hard shake. Now was not the time to worry about what would happen between himself and Sora.
They’d suffered another attack by the Jaeggi.
He had to get two kings, their mates, and Sora’s parents to the castle safely.
They had a war to finish. It all needed to be done before Ravi could even think about a future with Sora.
And that was all assuming the mage wanted to keep him.
Outside the castle walls, there were decidedly fewer reporters and people claiming to be mages. In addition, Ravi noted that nearly every dragon who worked security was patrolling the walls and the skies around the castle to make sure the new arrivals were safe.
Near the center of the courtyard stood Alric, Cameron, Rodrigo, Dieter, Lisette, Baldewin, Tori, and Gunter. Everyone was in their fanciest clothes, and Ravi couldn’t have been prouder of his family. They might be small, but they were strong and impressive all the same.
As everyone got out of the car, Alric and Rodrigo stepped forward. Alric opened his mouth, likely prepared to offer a formal greeting, when Chalo’s booming laugh stopped him.
“My god! Alric, look at you. I remember seeing you and that friend of yours, Baldewin—” He paused and pointed at Baldewin, his smile growing even wider. “—running around the castle and driving your father crazy.”
Alric’s mouth hung open for a moment, but no sound came out.
Ravi had to slap his hand over his mouth to stop the laughter.
Cameron made a choked noise beside Alric, failing to hold in his own laughter.
Poor Alric probably had this beautiful formal speech prepared, and Chalo had stolen the words away.
“Dear, if he was that young when you last saw him, he probably doesn’t remember you,” Diya pointed out as she threaded her arm through his.
“No, I remember King Chalo of the Earth Dragons,” Alric quickly replied, regaining his power of speech. He turned toward the king and bowed his head. “I remember you fought bravely alongside my father.”
The earth dragon’s expression darkened, and he lowered his own head. “But I couldn’t reach him fast enough when he fell to that damn spell. Blasted Jaeggi. He was a great dragon. And your sweet mother, wonderful mage. It wasn’t right to lose them when the world needed them so much.”
“The world lost many great dragons and mages to the Jaeggi war,” Rodrigo added solemnly.
“And, somehow, the return of the Jaeggi has done the impossible,” Roca stated. “Mended fences between the fire and ice dragons.”
The old dragon smirked as his gaze darted from Alric to Rodrigo.
“I can’t think of two dragons who butted heads more back at the end of the war. Constantly arguing. Fire and ice.”
Rodrigo rubbed his chin, his narrowed eyes slipping over to Alric. Ravi recognized the playful mischief there. “Yes, well, Alric has become less of a stick in the mud now that he’s a bit older and mated.”
Alric snorted. “And you’ve become something less of a pain in my ass the older you get.”
“Actually,” Cameron said sharply, stepping in front of his mate and extending his hand to Chalo, “they were brought together because of me. Or, rather, the discovery of new mages. Hi, I’m Cameron Burkhard, mage and mate to Alric.”
Chalo chuckled and eagerly shook Cameron’s hand. “Yes, that makes much more sense.”
Introductions were made all around, and then they were ushered inside.
Lisette took the mages off to her quiet sanctum for mage refreshments that she claimed would soothe the mind and replenish the soul, which Ravi took to mean a couple of bottles of wine from Alric’s private reserve.
The bodyguards split up to check out Lisette’s rooms, as well as Alric’s study, before they were shown to their own chambers.
Ravi was a little surprised that Sora’s father, Ryu, went with Lisette while Yuki remained with the kings. Sora didn’t seem surprised as he walked with his mother to Alric’s private study.
As everyone entered, Ravi hesitated just inside the door, not sure if he should stay or leave. The castle was well guarded, and Alric wouldn’t need him on hand for protection at the moment. Ravi wasn’t technically present for most of Alric’s meetings until Alric specifically requested he be there.
“Hoheit…” Ravi started, drawing Alric’s gaze to him.
Alric waved him in with his right hand. “Ravi, please stay. I think your insight will be invaluable. You’ve been present for many of the Jaeggi attacks, and you are close with our newest mages.
Plus, you and Cameron know what Cassie can do with her hacking and her Google-fu,” he said, finishing with a small wrinkle of his nose.
Grinning, Ravi quickly crossed the room and stood behind Cameron’s chair, which also put him close to where Sora was sitting with his mother on a leather loveseat.
Across from him, Roca sank heavily into the cushions of the sofa while the king of the Earth Dragons wandered over to Alric’s desk.
His fingertips trailed across the top of the shiny surface for a moment.
Deep sadness bowed the old king’s shoulders, and everyone remained silent as they allowed him to get lost in memories that likely included Alric’s father.
Ravi had no memories of the old Burkhard king. His earliest memories were of Alric and Baldewin. Both dragons had watched over him, played with him, raised him within these castle walls. They were his family.
He couldn’t imagine what it was like for Chalo and Roca, returning to Burkhard for the first time in five hundred years. How many ghosts of old memories traveled down these halls? Were they both being forced to relive a bloody war that never should have happened in the first place?
After less than a minute, Chalo turned away from the desk. He flashed Alric a weak smile and patted him on the right shoulder before moving to join Roca on the sofa.
“To begin,” Alric said, shoving his left hand into the pocket of his slacks, “I wish to apologize for the attack you suffered upon arriving in Munich. We underestimated the Jaeggi, not even considering that they would move so quickly. I—”
“No. No apologies are necessary.”
“It was not your fault,” the two kings said in near unison.
“Besides, it gave us a chance to see your amazing retainer in action,” Yuki added when the two men stopped talking over each other.
She smiled at Ravi before turning her attention back to Alric.
“Ravi not only managed to get a pair of dragon kings and their entourage through a busy airport, but he got them happily fed and protected them from those bastard Jaeggi.”
Alric huffed out a soft laugh. “Yes, Ravi has proven quite effective at herding kings.”
Rodrigo stretched out in his leather chair, crossing his ankles. “He’s been quite good at keeping us on schedule whenever I visit Burkhard.”
Ravi scrubbed a hand over his burning face. “I never thought my chief accomplishment in life would be championship-level king herding.”
Someone patted his arm gently, and he looked down to see Sora smiling at him. “You’re also an amazing friend and protector.”
Ravi lifted his chin. “Okay, that’s good, too.”
“Returning to the Jaeggi,” Alric started again.
Ravi had to admire his attempts to keep their conversation on track when it seemed they were all so good at traveling off on weird tangents.
“Yes, the Jaeggi,” Chalo agreed. “And more to the point, I need to apologize to you—”
“We need to apologize,” Roca corrected. “We never should have left you out in the cold the way we did.”
Rodrigo shook his head. “It was understandable at the time. The major mage clans had been decimated. We lost thousands of mages in the war. And with them, we lost thousands of mated dragons. We lost more to the fighting. The wind dragons were nearly wiped out. Fire and ice were massively reduced. You left to protect the few of us who survived. I took my clan to Brazil to protect what was left of the ice dragons. Only Burkhard remained standing in its original home.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Alric admitted softly.
Ravi’s eyes widened as he looked at Alric.
For the first time in his life, Alric seemed to shrink just a little bit.
He stopped being the unstoppable force who always had the answer to every problem, and he became a young man suddenly faced with the daunting task of keeping his clan alive when they had nearly no mages and no hope of finding more.
He opened his mouth, intending to tell Alric that he was an amazing king, that they’d all survived and even thrived because of him. He wanted to tell Alric that all his people loved him and appreciated every sacrifice he made.
But Chalo was already moving. He stood in front of Alric, lightly gripping both shoulders. His expression was somber but sincere, eyes warm.
“Listen to me, Alric. I knew your father, called him friend and ally in a time of war. Griswold was a stubborn bastard with a brilliant mind and an enormous heart. You’ve been fighting under some near impossible conditions, and your clan has survived, grown even, since you’ve managed to find more mages after all this time.
Your clan is alive because of you. And if your Ravi, there, is a fair example of your clan, then you’ve done an amazing job.
I know your father would be so damn proud of you. ”
Alric nodded and swallowed hard twice before he managed a soft, “Thank you” in a low, rough voice.
Even Ravi had to swallow hard against the sudden knot in his throat. He was proud of his clan and king. They had survived against the odds and built something amazing. He wanted the world to know how remarkable Alric was.
Fingers brushed his, and Ravi smiled as Sora twined their fingers together. He squeezed the mage’s hand, a deeper sense of peace and happiness starting to sink into him. There was no explaining it. Touching Sora gave him a feeling of calm, a feeling that everything was going to work out.
“Your father would also be damn angry at us for cutting off all communication. It was wrong. We wronged both of you,” Roca said, pausing to look over at Rodrigo, who had been watching Alric with a worried expression.
“We are sorry. We acted to protect our people, but we turned our back on the Fire and Ice Clans. We all suffered in that war, and we should have stuck together.”
Rodrigo smirked at him. “And what are you planning to do to make up for this poor decision?”
Roca snorted, and Alric rolled his eyes. Chalo gave Alric’s shoulder one last pat before dropping back onto the sofa. He met Rodrigo’s lazy gaze with a steely one, but a hint of a smile played on his lips.
“We’re sending mages to the Burkhard and Valerii Clans to help increase your security and protection over your clans,” Chalo stated.
“We’re also sending dragons to help beef up your security and to help take the fight directly to the Jaeggi,” Roca added.
Yuki slid to the edge of her seat and tipped her chin up proudly. She looked the part of a leader in her soft grey suit, her black hair pulled severely back in a low ponytail. Her expression was determined, her thin mouth almost flat with it.
“We’re also going through our spell and history records across all the mage clans of the Sodalicium. We will complete a full knowledge transfer between all of our clans. I want to make sure none of our magic has been lost thanks to this stupid war.”
Ravi didn’t even realize his legs were giving out on him until he felt Sora’s strong arm wrapped around him.
Sora helped him onto the loveseat. His gaze darted from Alric to Cameron to Rodrigo.
They all wore the same speechless, stunned expression.
Ravi could swear unshed tears were sparkling in Rodrigo’s pale blue eyes.
Alric dropped down onto the arm of the chair Cameron was sitting in and kissed his mate’s hand while blinking back his own tears.
This was it. This…this was everything.
If the Sodalicium was even half as big as Sora had indicated, then they would finally have the resources they needed to wipe out the Jaeggi.
They would be able to grow and thrive as a clan.
The Sodalicium might even have new and better ways to find mages.
All of the Burkhard Dragons would have a chance at finding mates, at finding love and happiness.
It was amazing. It was…
“Holy shit,” Alric breathed, finally breaking the silence that had stretched long.
The visiting leaders laughed, and Alric shook his head. Ravi laughed because he’d never seen Alric looking so utterly flabbergasted—though Cameron’s attempts to fluster Alric had come close over the past year.
“Sorry. I—holy shit,” he repeated breathlessly.
Rodrigo laughed and gave Alric a teary, crooked smile.
“Welp, we’re definitely going to kick some Jaeggi ass now,” Ravi announced.
He looked up at Sora to find the mage smiling warmly at him. If they could take care of the Jaeggi mess, maybe that meant he could figure out what the future held for him and this handsome, wonderful man who’d brought them the world.