Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
It might not have been so nerve-wracking if Sora weren’t so awesome. Everything Sora had done for him so far had been amazing. He was always so incredibly supportive and fun. Being around him made Ravi’s dragon want to roll over and present for belly rubs. And the sweet things that fell from the man’s lips melted Ravi.
Seriously. Melted. Him.
Sora deserved to melt, too. Ravi could be romantic. Well, he’d never honestly tried to be romantic, but he’d seen some movies with romance in them. And he’d watched other dragons being romantic. With the influx of new mages, it was beginning to look like a competition of who could be the most romantic.
But he could do this. He had a plan, and dammit, it was a good plan. Probably. He’d cleaned out one of the top rooms in a turret no one bothered to use. He had a comfy nest of blankets, pillows, and a picnic dinner with candlelight all set up. The goal was to stargaze, eat delicious food, drink good wine, and hopefully get his game on.
He had to act quickly. With all the new dragons and mages in Burkhard Castle, it was becoming more and more difficult for them to have a moment alone together. Alric had kept him busy running errands and entertaining the dragons over the past twenty-four hours. Naturally, Sora was busy catching up with his parents and meeting with the mage queens to discuss the needs of the Burkhard and Valerii mages.
Ravi needed to get his hands on his mage!
Buying himself some time off from duty, he placed three poor dragons in Alric’s path as his replacements, and he started lurking outside the mage workshops.
The moment Sora stepped outside by himself, Ravi grabbed his hand and made a run for it. Sora’s laughter echoed down the hall, but he didn’t question it. He ran with Ravi, their fingers laced together. It had to be a sign that Sora was eager for this stolen time together as well.
“And where are we going tonight, my handsome dragon?”
Ravi gave him a quick glance over his shoulder as they climbed the spiral staircase. Good thing Sora was in shape, actually. Having him arrive out of breath and panting wouldn’t be conducive to romance.
“To a secret place.”
“A secret place, is it? Alright.” Sora’s dark eyes were warm, and he kept in step with Ravi.
Ravi, on his end, was being very careful to maintain a pace slow enough so Sora could easily keep up. Sometimes, when he got really excited, he moved faster than everyone else and left them in his dust without meaning to. Tonight, he was very, very excited, making it hard not to sprint up the stairs.
Don’t sprint.
Don’t run.
For god’s sake, don’t speed up.
“Oh, I think it’s raining.” Sora’s head tilted as he listened.
Ravi focused so hard on his mantra that it took him longer than it should have to realize what Sora meant. Then, the full impact of those words hit, and Ravi’s mind did the math without any conscious prompting. Open window plus rain equals ruined things.
“SHIT!”
Ravi let go of Sora and raced up the stairs three at a time, his hands gripping at the stone walls in order to gain purchase as he practically flew upwards. He was at the top in record time.
It did not help him.
The picnic dinner he had so lovingly laid out was soaking wet. The bedding he’d stacked up was damp, only the bottom of the nest dry as it hadn’t been hit by the raindrops pouring in through the skylight. Ravi rescued the bedding first, dragging it out of the way, then went back to stare at his plates of food with mourning.
“Noooo, food. You were once so tasty, and now you’re gloopy.”
Sora managed to catch up at that moment, and his eyes swept the area. Being a smart man, he put it all together in a moment.
“Ah. A romantic candlelight dinner with some stargazing?”
“Rain wasn’t in the forecast,” Ravi whined.
“Don’t despair; it’s not all lost.” Sora pulled out his phone and started tapping.
“Unless you have some magical app that turns back time, Plan A is a total loss. And I have to be frank, I have no ready Plan B.”
Ravi stared at his efforts with a groan. He’d thought this plan pretty foolproof, actually. For one of his plans, it was actually tame, so he’d given it a higher success rate.
Music suddenly trickled out from Sora’s phone. The ballad twirled and soared around the small room, hauntingly seductive as it pulled Ravi to Sora’s side. The mage put the phone down on the floor next to the door before catching Ravi in his arms, smoothly spinning him into a dance as if he’d done it a million times before.
Ravi, always quick on his feet, went willingly enough. A slow grin took over his face. Sora did not look upset at the ruined date, but rather had a hint of mischief in his expression.