Chapter 25 #2
As the sun steadily sank below the horizon, they swam and splashed in the water.
Even swimming, Ravi was the fastest creature Sora had ever seen.
He cut through the lake with the same ease that he zipped across the sky.
Sora could only marvel at him. He looked stunning, too, the water only highlighting his golden skin, and doing little to disguise that lithe body.
If it weren’t so damn cold, Sora would have reacted to the sight alone.
Everyone reverted back to childhood, splashing at each other, trying to dunk each other’s heads underwater.
They played for a while before the cold got to North and he started snuggling with Warin, not willing to get out yet and enjoying the excuse of wrapping himself around his mate. That was how Sora read the situation.
Ravi, apparently, thought it a grand idea, as he promptly did the same to Sora, wrapping himself around the man and snuggling in, his wet, naked skin a delight in many senses. Sora held him close with a hand at the small of his back, stealing a kiss.
The couples drifted apart, the distance giving them some privacy as they enjoyed a little time with each other. Sora found himself talking in quiet tones with Ravi, speaking of important things and nonsensical things with equal ease. It was a perfect, pristine moment.
But they couldn’t stay too long. The water really was cold, and the fire dragon could only warm it so much without endangering the fish swimming around them.
If he hadn’t been shivering, Sora would have argued that they should remain in the water a little longer.
He’d not been skinny dipping since he was a teenager, and never with dragons.
More than that, he knew that once they got out, it would be time to head back to the castle. He didn’t want this momentary escape to end.
On the shore, North pulled four towels out of a bag and passed them out. They quickly dried off and put their clothes back on, but found themselves lingering, sitting on the soft grass along the shore.
“Are you liking it at Burkhard?” North suddenly asked.
“I am. Very much. Everyone is incredibly nice.”
North hummed his agreement, his eyes darting back toward the water, which had turned into a black pool in the growing darkness. “They are. When I went searching for dragons, I never expected anything like this.”
“You mentioned before that you didn’t grow up around magic, right?”
North shook his head. “No, not really. Definitely not like Tori or you. Only my Gramps believed in magic. He taught me a couple small spells, but that was it. When I started out, I didn’t even know if dragons really existed anymore. It was just sort of a wish or a dream.”
Warin wrapped his arms around his slender mage, pulling him back into the circle of his body.
“A very good dream,” he growled.
“Yes, the very best dream.”
“Do you miss your family?”
North gave a little laugh and shook his head. “My family never believed in magic, and I don’t think they’ve ever cared much for me. Well, except for my Gramps. He has always believed in magic.”
“And Earl loves you very much,” Warin added.
“I still talk to him every day, but I don’t really talk to the rest of my family. Burkhard has become my family. I always feel welcome and useful here. I belong here.”
A low rumble came from Warin, and Sora couldn’t decide if the man or the dragon had made the noise. It was warm and possessive.
“You definitely belong at Burkhard, and you are never, ever leaving.”
North tilted his head up and sweetly kissed his mate. Sora looked away to give them a private moment and found Ravi smiling at him.
“You know, Burkhard would be a great fit for you, as well,” Ravi said, nudging Sora with his elbow.
Smiling, Sora inched a little closer to Ravi. He wrapped his arms around the wind dragon and laid his head on his shoulder. “Do you think so?”
“Oh, definitely. Think of all the things you’ve already done here. All the adventures you’ve had. You have been able to help and share so much healing knowledge, but there’s still lots you can teach the other mages.”
Sora made a noise of agreement in his throat. “That’s true.”
“Plus, if you stay, you’ll get to take part in more Ravi pranks,” North tossed out.
“You know you don’t want to miss out on any of that,” Ravi agreed with a wicked grin. “You have not lived until you’ve seen Cameron react to being pranked. He makes these hilarious noises and chases me around the castle, threatening to turn me into a chicken.”
Ravi shook his head and chuckled as if reliving the memory of his last joke on the consort.
“It’s a lot of fun.”
“Sounds amazing,” Sora hedged, his heart squeezing. It really was a temptation. He could easily imagine the years stretching out in front of him, filled with laughter and insanity because of a certain wind dragon.
But more than the fun, he could see himself so easily fitting in among the mages and dragons that filled the halls of Burkhard Castle.
He worked so easily alongside the other mages, and they were eager to learn everything he had to share about healing and other everyday spells that had filled his life almost since birth.
No one looked at him as an interloper or an unwanted know-it-all.
They soaked up the knowledge and demanded more.
They understood that every new thing they learned only helped the clan.
Sora was also learning new and interesting things.
The mages of Burkhard had been forced to craft new spells and learn alternative ways of doing things when the knowledge had been lost during the war.
So many of their spells and techniques were better, smarter than the old ways.
He was eager to spend his days in their workshops, learning and understanding all they’d done in the past five hundred years.
But beyond the spells and the tight-knit family he’d found at Burkhard, there was Ravi. The dragon’s smile lit his day with a glorious light. Leaving Ravi would be like giving up the sun.
Ravi could so easily come to the Sodalicium and find brotherhood among the dragons there, but would his light dim without his family? Would Sora be enough for him?
Never had he thought his path in life would lead him away from his family. He’d traveled plenty over the years, but always returned to his base, his clan, his parents. When he found his mate, he’d assumed that they would be joining his clan.
But that thinking now felt like a thorn stuck in the side of his brain, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Could he really leave his family and remain at Burkhard Castle?
With a grunt, Warin shoved himself to his feet and started to fold up his towel. “We should head back. I’m sure someone has noticed that we’re missing by now. I’ll need to explain to Alric why I took two mages outside the castle without the proper complement of dragon escorts.”
“Do you want me to smooth it over with him?” Ravi asked, not moving from where he was snuggled in Sora’s arms.
Warin shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I figured I would blame it on Sora.”
“Hey!” Sora said, his head popping up while North and Warin laughed.
“Ignore him,” North said with a playful sigh. “Warin just needs to tell Alric when Cameron is there and mention the secret lake.”
“Ahhh…” Ravi commented, slowly climbing out of Sora’s arms.
Sora accepted Ravi’s hand and let himself get pulled back to his feet. “What’s that mean?”
“It means Cameron will get that wistful look in his eye because he and Alric have gotten Baldewin to sneak them off to this spot plenty of times for a quiet afternoon picnic.”
“Cameron will then pull Alric away to their bedroom where they can act like newlyweds, making Alric forget all about being angry,” North explained.
“And Alric knows that we’ve got a web of spells all around the lake to warn us if the Jaeggi get close to it,” Warin added as he prepared the harness for North.
Sora lifted an eyebrow. “The same spells around the castle that warned us about the Jaeggi bomber?”
Ravi snorted.
“We had to take those down when reporters and people claiming to be mages started showing up. All that noise was interfering with the spells.” He leaned up and brushed a kiss to Sora’s chin. “We’re safe here.”
Sora turned his face and kissed Ravi back, sinking into his warm reassurance. It wasn’t so much that he was worried about his safety as he was worried about Ravi’s. The dragon had already been hurt once. He wouldn’t be able to take it if Ravi was injured trying to protect him.
With more reluctance than he expected, Sora climbed back into the harness and secured himself before Ravi pushed off the ground, carrying them back to the castle.
The sky was turning a deep midnight blue, twinkling diamonds surrounding them.
He hadn’t realized how much he needed this stolen moment with Ravi.
While Burkhard Castle was huge and there were significantly fewer clan members than at the Sodalicium, there always seemed to be someone around.
It was too hard to have those secret moments where it was just the two of them.
Even with Warin and North there, they’d felt alone.
He’d heard stories about everyday life and silly mishaps.
While lazily floating in the lake, Ravi had told him about life with Alric, Baldewin, Warin, and Gunter.
He felt like he’d learned more about his gefreogen in the past two hours than he had in the past several days.
And it left him all the more unsure of whether he should remain in Burkhard or take Ravi back to the Sodalicium.