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Was something burning?
No, that was just the smell of his brain blackened like burnt toast. Sex with his mates was quite possibly destroying his brain, but he wouldn’t give it up for anything.
After a quick cleanup that thankfully didn’t require Amaru to move a single inch, he was joined in bed by both of his loving mates. They cuddled on either side of him, their skin comfortably cool against his own heated flesh. With Luka spooning behind him, Amaru rested his head on Vasily’s chest, getting lost in the happy purring of both dragons and the soft crash of the ocean waves. They seemed a bright promise of the long nights he had ahead in their own bed within a home he couldn’t wait to see.
This time, when sleep overtook him, it did so easily and without a fight.
Vasily couldn’t tell who was more excited for this day to happen—Sam, Amaru, or absolutely everyone else gathered here. They had taken the precaution of throwing translation amulets over everyone sleeping so there would not be any mass confusion upon waking. There were drinks, snacks, and fresh clothes waiting up top.
Finally, finally, they were ready to wake up the Sousa.
Magic technobabble was flying hard and fast this morning. Vasily spoke six languages fluently and couldn’t begin to decipher a third of it. Still, things seemed to be going well? The earth dragons had cleared out the entrance down into the grotto, so everyone trooped down there, people carrying different items. Vasily somehow acquired a box of anhanga’s hair to take down, the almost translucent strands not phased at all by the dim lighting of the cave.
Amaru flew about like an Energizer Bunny on speed. A well-rested Amaru was apparently a force to be reckoned with. Good thing he had Luka as backup; if Vasily was on his own, he’d be screwed.
“Hey, babe, set that there,” Amaru directed him, pointing to a spot near the main controls area.
He dutifully set the box down, got a kiss as a reward for his efforts, then Amaru buzzed off again.
Luka joined him—also setting a container down—smiling fondly. “He’s really excited. I can’t blame him.”
“So many family members and friends to see again, after all.”
He looked around the grotto again. Lots of dragons and mages down here. Well, more mages than dragons. They’d talked it over before dispatching people and decided mages would go over better than dragons. After all, when the Tupã went to sleep, dragons were still highly territorial. The lightning dragons, upon awakening, would not take it well if there were ice, earth, and fire dragons here.
Because of that, they’d drawn in more mages from the different clans. Well, that and Amaru said point blank he needed more power to overwhelm and shut off the mechanics. It apparently had taken two dozen mages to set it up, so he needed at least three dozen to shut it off again.
Vasily trusted him to know what he was doing. Irany didn’t seem to find any fault with that assessment, and he was just as busy running around tinkering with things.
Sam had two cameras in his hand, and, without explanation, he passed one to Vasily, the other to Luka. “Spread out.”
“Got it,” Luka said.
Vasily gathered the distinct impression he was coming in on act two. “Uh, camera? Someone explain?”
Sam blinked up at him from behind his glasses. “Oh, right. I forgot you weren’t there for that conversation. Basically, we want to record all of this. Not only for posterity and historical records, but also for future teaching. This is one of the major workings of our generation and it’s been hundreds of years since mages came together to do something like this.”
“Ahhh. Got it. Where do you want me to stand?”
“Not near Luka and this machine. Uh, how about over there?” Sam pointed to the far corner. “Just pan it around from time to time, catch as much as you can.”
“That I can do.” Actually, Vasily felt better about having something to do rather than stand there and look pretty. Not that he couldn’t look pretty with the best of them.
He took the camera, dutifully went to the corner he’d been pointed to, and started it up. Might as well start recording now. After all, the setup leading to the event was just as important.
Setup kept happening for another twenty minutes or so. It honestly looked to Vasily like a bunch of chefs in the same kitchen. Thankfully, Amaru had been granted head chef position, as no one argued with whatever he said. Not even Irany. (Well, Irany tried once and got a karate chop to the head for his efforts, and he didn’t dare say anything after that.)
Finally, they seemed ready. Mages came into a circle around the machine, joining hands, all focused on the console. Considering how long and narrow it was, it took a bit of stretching for the mages to surround it completely. Even with thirty-six of them here.
