your amazing retainer in action,” Yuki added when the two men stopped talking over each other. She smiled at Ravi before turning her attention back to Alric. “Ravi not only managed to get a pair of dragons kings and their entourage through a busy airport, but he got them happily fed and protected them from those bastard Jaeggi.”
Alric huffed out a soft laugh. “Yes, Ravi has proven quite effective at herding kings.”
Rodrigo stretched out in his leather chair, crossing his ankles. “He’s been quite good at keeping us on schedule whenever I visit Burkhard.”
Ravi scrubbed a hand over his burning face. “I never thought my chief accomplishment in life would be championship-level king herding.”
Someone patted his arm gently, and he looked down to see Sora smiling at him. “You’re also an amazing friend and protector.”
Ravi lifted his chin. “Okay, that’s good, too.”
“Returning to the Jaeggi,” Alric started again.
Ravi had to admire his attempts to keep their conversation on track when it seemed they were all so good at traveling off on weird tangents.
“Yes, the Jaeggi,” Chalo agreed. “And more to the point, I need to apologize to you—”
“We need to apologize,” Roca corrected. “We never should have left you out in the cold the way we did.”
Rodrigo shook his head. “It was understandable at the time. The major mage clans had been decimated. We lost thousands of mages in the war. And with them, we lost thousands of mated dragons. We lost more to the fighting. The wind dragons were nearly wiped out. Fire and ice were massively reduced. You left to protect the few of us who survived. I took my clan to Brazil to protect what was left of the ice dragons. Only Burkhard remained standing in its original home.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Alric admitted softly.
Ravi’s eyes widened as he looked at Alric. For the first time in his life, Alric seemed to shrink just a little bit. He stopped being the unstoppable force who always had the answer to every problem, and he became a young man suddenly faced with the daunting task of keeping his clan alive when they had nearly no mages and no hope of finding more.
He opened his mouth, intending to tell Alric that he was an amazing king, that they’d all survived and even thrived because of him. He wanted to tell Alric that all his people loved him and appreciated every sacrifice he made.
But Chalo was already moving. He stood in front of Alric, lightly gripping both shoulders. His expression was somber but sincere, eyes warm.
“Listen to me, Alric. I knew your father, called him friend and ally in a time of war. Griswold was a stubborn bastard with a brilliant mind and an enormous heart. You’ve been fighting under some near impossible conditions, and your clan has survived, grown even, since you’ve managed to find more mages after all this time. Your clan is alive because of you. And if your Ravi, there, is a fair example of your clan, then you’ve done an amazing job. I know your father would be so damn proud of you.”
Alric nodded and swallowed hard twice before he managed a soft, “Thank you” in a low, rough voice.
Even Ravi had to swallow hard against the sudden knot in his throat. He was proud of his clan and king. They had survived against the odds and built something amazing. He wanted the world to know how remarkable Alric was.
Fingers brushed his, and Ravi smiled as Sora twined their fingers together. He squeezed the mage’s hand, a deeper sense of peace and happiness starting to sink into him. There was no explaining it. Touching Sora gave him a feeling of calm, a feeling that everything was going to work out.
“Your father would also be damn angry at us for cutting off all communication. It was wrong. We wronged both of you,” Roca said, pausing to look over at Rodrigo, who had been watching Alric with a worried expression. “We are sorry. We acted to protect our people, but we turned our back on the Fire and Ice Clans. We all suffered in that war, and we should have stuck together.”
Rodrigo smirked at him. “And what are you planning to do to make up for this poor decision?”
Roca snorted, and Alric rolled his eyes. Chalo gave Alric’s shoulder one last pat before dropping back onto the sofa. He met Rodrigo’s lazy gaze with a steely one, but a hint of a smile played on