Nikki kept glancing toward the door as if not sure how much time they had. Ravi suspected that Nikki had a plan, or at least something they wanted from Ravi, to have come in this quickly after Thomas and the other idiot left. Ravi had barely been alone ten minutes.
What was Nikki’s game plan? What did they want from Ravi? If they were aware the Jaeggi were not using Nikki for their own ends? If they were going through the risk of helping Ravi, did that mean they wanted to escape? Ravi didn’t think that conclusion was much of a stretch. He replied candidly, trying to give the answers Nikki needed and keep the dialogue open enough to figure out Nikki’s plan.
“Eh, couple of reasons. We can only form magical bonds with a mate, that’s the main reason. Second is that it’s impossible for us to have kids on our own, but through mages it’s possible, either body births or incubators. Really, we just like magic in our lives, and our mates give us so much happiness. Why wouldn’t we want to find that kind of joy?”
Nikki unwrapped the sandwich from the aluminum foil, taking all of this information in with a closed-off expression. Cautious, this one.
“You said earlier dragons are pansexual. You don’t care what gender your mate is?”
“Really, really do not care. I don’t think it’s actually possible for us to care less.”
“And once you have a mated mage?”
“Then it’s party time. And sexy time. And all sorts of other times. You have to understand, our mates are the highest priority. Like, literally nothing tops their wants and needs. In my clan, we spent five hundred years without any mates due to the damn Jaeggi, and we’re only now finding mages again.”
A wistful look crossed over Nikki’s face for a moment. “But it sounds like once you do find the right mate for you, it’s, like, an epic romance.”
“It basically is. All the hearts and flowers and fluffy kittens. All the best rom-com schmaltz.” Ravi paused for a moment, his face screwing up a little as he rethought what he’d said. “Well, for us dragons it’s normal. That’s how you treat your mate. But our mages tell us that this is not really the norm for relationships in the rest of the world. They’re really thrilled with our version of romance.”
Nikki leaned against the wall, their gaze seeming a million miles away as they took in the picture Ravi was painting. “Seems almost too good to be true.”
“It kind of does, but it’s true. Cameron’s arrival was the makings of an epic romance. I mean, you should meet our Fire Dragon King’s mate. Cameron is a kick, and brilliant with magic. He’s probably the only person in the world who can get right in my king’s face, tell him he’s being stupid, and force him to relax. I’d like him for that alone, but he’s really fun to pull pranks with, too.”
A shadow crossed over Nikki’s face again, there and gone. “Mages are valued, then? They’re not…”
Ravi didn’t like this pause. Pauses were always worrisome. “They’re not, what?”
“Used?”
Ah, damn. The urge to kill something was back.
Ravi fought to keep his tone level. “You know, every encounter we’ve had with the Jaeggi, they immediately tried to kidnap one of our mages in order to drain them of magic. Is that what they’re doing to you?”
Nikki’s face tightened into a grimace, and they couldn’t meet Ravi’s eyes, staring steadfastly at the floor.
“They’ve discovered if they do it in small batches, I magically recover in a week or so. They do that to all of the ones they’ve ‘adopted’ in. And they won’t let us use magic at all, if they can help it.
“It hurts like a bitch, like someone’s taken a scrub brush to your nerves. It destroys your core, eventually, and then you’re of no more use. I’ve seen several adopted mages go in and out over the past ten years. The oldest living one is barely thirty, but she can’t really do anything anymore. She disappeared last week. They said she was just moved somewhere else, but…I think we all know that’s a lie.”
“Shit,” Ravi breathed in horror. Nikki’s words churned in his gut, and he was glad he’d only had water. If his stomach were full of food, he would’ve hurled.
Nikki’s eyes came back up to study his face. “I don’t have much time left with these people. They’ll drain