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)
Sora waded into the mound of pillows and carefully dropped his bag beside Ravi. There was a muffled clink of glass against glass from where the various healing ingredients in jars tapped against each other.
“Sounds good to me.”
Ravi laid his head back down on the pillows and closed his eyes so he could focus entirely on Sora’s gentle but firm hands as they explored him. Bandages were removed and replaced. New creams and poultices were applied. It wasn’t the pleasant exploration he would have preferred. There was still too much pain for that, but every time Ravi flinched or grunted, it was immediately followed by a soothing heat that pushed aside the pain. The delicious scent of mage filled the air, like lightning and cinnamon. Yes, Sora smelled like electric cinnamon, and it was amazing.
A hand landed on the top of his head and gently caressed him. “You’re healing nicely, but I’m sorry to say your wings need a little more time. If you shift before you’re fully healed, you may do permanent damage to them.”
Ravi tamped down a shiver. He knew what that looked like all too well, thanks to his precious Hoheit. Though, his incredibly talented consort was using that mechanical engineering mind of his to craft something that would one day put Alric in the air again. Ravi prayed that Cameron would succeed. He’d never gotten the pleasure of soaring in the air with his king like many of the other dragons, and he was desperate to know what it was like.
But until that happened, this was very nice, too. Sora continued to stroke his head, and Ravi let out a happy rumble of pleasure. He and his dragon were in perfect accord in that moment. They were happy and never wanted Sora to stop what he was doing.
“How are you doing? Aside from being hurt and stuck right in the middle of everything?”
Ravi cracked open an eye to find Sora smiling at him teasingly, but his dark eyes also looked worried.
“Bored. I’m really, really bored. The German police detectives have been in and out of the castle since yesterday, asking questions of everyone but me.”
“Well, you’re scary and intimidating.”
Ravi delivered his best skeptical look, which wasn’t easy because his dragon face wasn’t nearly as expressive as his human face. But he must had gotten his point across because Sora threw his head back and laughed.
“I don’t count. I—” He seemed to catch himself and rolled his eyes with a sigh.
It was clear that he’d barely stopped himself from saying something very revealing. Sora looked frustrated, as if he weren’t happy about the restrictions placed on him. Ravi was buzzing with hundreds of questions about who he was and where he came from, but he didn’t want to upset the mage even more.
“The point is that I’m not intimidated by you because I know you’d never do anything to hurt me,” Sora continued, and Ravi rumbled with pleasure again.
He scooted his head closer to where Sora was sitting on the pillows beside him, practically nuzzling the man’s thigh. Okay, he’d let that slip go if it meant Sora would continue to pet his head.
“Has anyone else stopped by, besides the police?”
“Lots of people have checked on me, but no one can stay long. There’s too much to do. Cassie brought me a tablet to watch movies on, but those stupid touch screens aren’t designed for dragon fingers.” Ravi lifted one hand and wiggled his long claw-tipped fingers at Sora, earning another chuckle from the mage.
“We can fix that easily enough.” Sora reached across the pillows to where a tablet had been pushed aside. With Ravi’s help, he logged into the device and queued up a comedic movie that would at least help to distract Ravi’s mind for a little while. “What about food? Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Not yet.”
“What are you in the mood for?”
Ravi huffed a heavy sigh. “Tacos.”
“Really? For breakfast? Do you mean, like, breakfast tacos?” Sora asked with a soft chuff of surprise.
“No, I mean regular beef-filled tacos with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, and just a little bit of salsa. I’ve had the worst craving for tacos for the past two days.” He moaned a little pathetically because he was feeling very pathetic. “But I can’t have tacos until I’m in my human form because tacos are too hard with these hands and this face.”
He hit his own snout with his hand, and Sora immediately grabbed his hand to stop him from doing it a second time.
“Hey, now. Enough of that. I happen to like this face.”
Sora released his hand and returned to rubbing the top of his head.
Ravi huffed and laid his head back down, though his chin might now be on Sora’s leg a little. Okay, so maybe he was playing up the pathetic just a little bit, but he was soaking up all this amazing attention while he could get it. He was like a cat getting head scratches, and he never wanted it to end.