jerked upright, his eyes widening. Maybe he was struggling to not bounce on the balls of his feet, but Sora had gotten him a surprise.
“What is it?”
Threading their fingers together, Sora pulled Ravi down the hall, heading in the opposite direction. “Let me show you.”
Ravi picked up the pace so he was now a step ahead of Sora, and maybe he bounced just a little. The mage had gotten him a surprise!
“You can’t give me a hint?”
“Nope.”
“Does Alric know about it?”
“Yes.”
“And he approves?”
Sora’s smile grew even wider. “Yes, he does.”
“And this is why he gave me the day off?”
“Yes.”
“Is it possible to die from excitement? I can’t believe you got me something! Is it bigger than a bread box? Well, it has to be if you’re not carrying it.” Ravi stopped his rambling only long enough to look around and see that Sora was leading them toward the side entrance of the castle that led to the open courtyard. “Is it being delivered? Did you get me a car? Or a motorcycle? A hot-air balloon? No, is it a motorcycle like the one I found you on? We can ride together!”
“You can ask all the questions you want, but I’m not going to say anything,” Sora taunted.
“Evil mage. I’m dying here. You’ve got to give me a little hint!”
Sora chuckled and pushed open the door. He stepped into the courtyard with Ravi directly on his heels. He poked his head around the taller man, eyes scanning the area, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Guards stood at their regular stations, a handful of reporters at the gates, and the usual line of would-be mages waiting to be tested.
“I don’t see anything. Where is it?”
Sora placed his hands on Ravi’s shoulders and pulled him into the center of the courtyard. He then moved behind him and wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tight. “Look up.”
Ravi’s heart fluttered as he gazed up at the bright blue sky. There were only a few wispy clouds about as the sun was still rising. It looked like it was going to be a perfect spring day.
Had Sora gotten a dragon and a mage to write a sweet message in the sky? Or maybe a dragon had one of those banners tied to his tail, and it held a loving message from Sora to Ravi? That had to be it. Sora was all kinds of sweet, thoughtful, and romantic.
He definitely needed to come up with something just as romant—
A brilliant blue blur streaked across the sky, and Ravi’s breath caught in his throat. He blinked, unsure if he’d actually seen what he thought he’d seen. Coul—
Two more blue blurs followed the first over his head, and Ravi’s knees went weak. Could it be? With a shaking hand, he reached up and clasped Sora’s hands, squeezing tightly as he stood, unmoving, staring up the sky, willing the blue blurs to return.
They did. Oh, god. They did.
Only this time, they didn’t speed by. They flew back with a lazy grace, their massive blue wings spread wide as they caught the morning breeze. Their long bodies winked and glistened with shades of blue. The largest of the trio was a deep, murky blue that bordered on black in places. The second was a sky blue, barely discernable from its surroundings. The third, smaller dragon was a pale steel blue-grey.
Wind dragons.
“You…you did this? Wind dragons for me?” he whispered, the words getting caught against the lump in his throat.
Sora’s arms tightened around him. “Yes. They’re from the Sodalicium. When you told me you didn’t know any wind dragons, I called them and asked them to come meet you.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Ravi said. He wanted to turn and wrap his arms around Sora, but he was frozen, unable to tear his eyes away from the dragons as they slowly circled the courtyard, dropping lower and lower.
The largest of the trio dropped to the stone courtyard first and shook his head before shifting into a man in colorful robes. His thick black hair was braided into a queue down his back, and his face was delightfully round, splitting into an excited grin when his eyes fell onto Ravi.
Behind him, the sky blue dragon dropped next, shifting into a young man who stood at almost the same height as Ravi. His bright blue eyes sparkled in the early morning light as if with laughter.
The final wind dragon landed, but she held back, remaining in her dragon