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Luka did his best to look innocently surprised. “He is. But I can’t blame him. I am sex appeal on two legs.”
“Is he trying to lure you to his secret lair for some dragon nookie?”
“Oh, he didn’t try. We totally made it inside the cave, and we had this seed that was special—”
“Ewww, gross.” Vasily was still smiling, enjoying the banter, but he also sobered a little. “Seriously though, the man I remember from the dream is pretty amazing. I get the sense he is a very intelligent and capable mage. I dearly hope we find him soon so we can meet him.”
The familiar thought I don’t flashed across Luka’s mind, and he suppressed it by habit, though it was becoming harder and harder to ignore. To not think about the possibility of finding their mate—or only Vasily’s mate. To ignore the fear that lived inside him, stronger than the hope he always portrayed for Vasily.
“Okay, so he’s not evil,” Sam interjected, dragging his focus back to their main topic. “What’s that got to do with the Sousa Clan site?”
Luka blinked up at Vasily to see the dragon staring at him in concern. Luka managed to smile at him in reassurance. Regardless of mates, whether this mystery mage was one or not, he did need rescuing, and that was most important right now. Looking at Sam, he said, “That’s the starting point.”
“When he’s leading up to where he is, he always starts at the Sousa site. Except it’s different,” Vasily added.
Sam’s face scrunched up. “Different how?”
“New. Or rather, it looked like it was just built rather than the crumbling ruins we found.”
Sam was not an overly athletic guy. Sure, he’d trained to hike up a mountain, but he preferred his books and dusty artifacts over hiking and running.
But that did not stop the mage from vaulting over the back of the sofa and climbing across the coffee table to land in front of Luka and Vasily. “New? You mean like how it was five hundred years ago? You saw it when all the Sousa were alive? What did it look like? Did you see other people? Did you see their devices? Them casting magic?”
Sam was firing questions at them as fast as he could speak, each one coming out ragged and breathless because the mage wasn’t bothering to breathe. He was vibrating in his excitement.
Dimitri walked over and wrapped an arm around Sam’s waist, pulling him back a couple of steps. “Breathe, Sam-a-Lam. You gotta remember to breathe.”
“Who the hell needs air? This is more important! They saw the Sousa when they were alive. Or rather, dreamed it. But that still counts!”
Vasily shook his head and Luka had to bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing. He got Sam’s excitement, but the man looked like he was about to explode.
“I’m sorry, but it was only a flash of the place. There were some bright colors from woven fabrics and the buildings looked intact, but I don’t remember seeing any people,” Vasily explained. “We spent only a second there and then we were zooming out across the continent.”
“What about the man? His name. Did he tell you his name?”
“No, I don’t remember him saying his name.”
“What about his clothes? What was he wearing in your dream?”
Vasily reached up and shoved a hand through his dark brown hair, his lips flattening into a thin, hard line with thought. “Um…it’s fuzzy. But he was wearing this kind of long skirt that tied at the waist and a shirt that also tied to one side. It had interesting geometric designs along the hems. I mostly remember he had a lot of tattoos, especially along his arms. The shirt did not have sleeves, so they were very visible.”
A high-pitched squeal leaped from Sam and he broke free of Dimitri to launch himself at Vasily. He grabbed a handful of his shirt and lifted up on the tips of his toes. “Sousa! You’re actually talking to a living member of the Sousa!”
“What? How? How is that even possible?” Luka demanded. His heart had jumped into his throat. A sudden lightheadedness swept through him, forcing him to grab Vasily to steady himself. Was it even possible? The Sousa were supposed to be extinct. Lost centuries ago. How…how could they be talking to them in their dreams?
“I don’t know!” Sam admitted with a wild cackle. “But isn’t it brilliant? And possible. Totally possible. There are mages walking around here who were alive before the Dragon War. Why couldn’t he be alive still? It would probably mean he’s mated to a dragon, right? Unless the Sousa have some other technology that allowed them to vastly extend their lifespans.” Sam started pacing back and forth, his steps nearly as fast as the words tumbling from his lips. “I haven’t encountered any notes so far about any devices that extended their lives for centuries. Or anything showing how they could enter a person’s dreams. This is all so fascinating, but we need more information. So much more.”
