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)
Prior to being tested, everyone filled out a form giving basic family details, signed a release, and had their picture taken. North and Gunter were working on a massive database that would allow them to dig deeper into the genealogy and potentially locate more clans.
Between the people lined up outside the castle for the past few days and all the people taking the website quiz, Ravi felt sure that half the population of the world had claimed to be a mage. He couldn’t imagine how they were sorting through all this information.
The entire thing made Ravi’s head hurt and eyes cross. He didn’t do databases. He wasn’t even the biggest fan of computers. His smartphone was fine because it was loaded with games, but overall, he much preferred the job of protecting the royal family.
And helping the new mages get adjusted to the castle.
Like Sora.
He needed to find Sora, to check on him again. Not that he needed checking on. The mage was clearly comfortable around other mages and dragons. Sora had talked about growing up around magic with his family and clan, but he hadn’t given many more details than that. Of course, his magical prowess spoke for itself.
It was a shame he wasn’t willing to talk more about his people.
Maybe Ravi could get Sora to relax. A smile grew on his face. He was good at getting people to relax and laugh, but then he was fairly easygoing. Most people were intimidated by Alric because he was the king, or Warin and Baldewin because they were monstrously big. And Gunter…well, Gunter was just Gunter. That dragon was just weird.
Easing Sora’s concerns was a good step toward convincing his family to come out of hiding. Ravi appointed himself, by authority given to him by himself, to be the ambassador for this particular diplomacy mission. He’d work on winning the Vo family over via Sora. Yup, no problem.
It wasn’t like it was going to be a horrible hardship. Sora was an amazing guy with a pleasant smile.
Okay, so he was hot as hell, and Ravi wanted to wrap himself around the man’s body, but Ravi did not want to scare him off. That would be bad. Alric would be mad. Lisette would be furious. And Ravi would likely be heartbroken. The mage seemed far too interesting to lose.
It didn’t hurt that Sora seemed quite happy with his visits. For the past four days, they’d had most of their meals together. That first date had gone very well, and Ravi was pleased as punch that Sora felt the same way about it. They were coordinating their schedules as much as possible to spend even more time together. Even with errands, like when Sora needed to get his things from the hotel. Yes, they’d also wrangled Warin into the trip because the edict was two dragons per mage, but at least Warin already had his own mate. Warin had no designs on the sexy Sora, happy to leave him to Ravi’s antics.
“Whoa! Excellent! Congratulations, you’re a mage,” North was saying excitedly.
Ravi tore his attention back to North to see an older woman’s mouth fall open as the green light from the amulet started to fade away. Ravi cursed his lack of attention span. He hadn’t even seen the last applicant walk away or this new one walk up.
He needed to keep his mind on the task at hand, which was protecting North and keeping an eye on all the people gathered in front of the castle.
As it had happened the last time a mage was identified, camera flashes started popping and the rest of the media, who were hemmed off several yards away, jostled a couple inches closer to get a good view of the newly identified mage.
Ever since the interviews had started, there had been a horde of reporters camped outside the castle walls, trying to get an interview with anyone who lived inside.
As Ravi had experienced firsthand, there were even more in the town, lurking around every corner and hiding in the shadows, waiting for someone from the castle to stumble across their path.
Alric was maintaining his ban on anyone speaking to the press without his approval. For now, he was trying to carefully guide the message from the dragon and mage camp as well as protect any mages.
A week had passed since the first television interview, and the crowd of people outside their gates hadn’t waned. People would leave, but more would show up to take their place each day.
The first couple of days had been hectic, but Cameron and Lisette immediately organized a way to gather information about each person before they were tested, and then the rest of the mages were assigned shifts to conduct the tests.
Baldewin wasn’t thrilled about it. He’d doubled the number of dragons guarding the entrance and making rounds of the castle walls. It had been centuries since this many people had been close to the castle. Hopefully, Tori was somewhere soothing the frazzled dragon.