Rodrigo frowned. “I like her, too, but shouldn’t we get one of those serious news journalists?”
“I doubt that we’ll be able to keep this to just one interview,” Alric replied. “We will probably need to make a list of our top choices and work through those. What about our search for mages? Would it be dangerous for them if we say that we’re looking for them?”
Cameron touched Alric’s chest, drawing his gaze back to his face. “I think we could say that dragons are coming out into the world because they’ve discovered that they’re not the only magical beings left. That mages are still out there and we’re trying to find each other.”
“But how? It’s not like we want to drop the address to Burkhard Castle on TV or hand out Alric’s cell number,” Ravi said.
“Definitely not,” Alric snapped.
“An email address where they can contact the clan?” Rodrigo suggested.
“Or maybe a website. Cassie is handy with building websites, and I think North has done web work in the past for his parents,” Cameron added.
“AreYouAMage.com,” Ravi said laughingly, but to his surprise, Cameron wasn’t laughing.
“Why not? Cassie could set up a quick survey form for people to submit information about themselves, and we could use it to run background checks. We could also post some basic information about Alric and even Rodrigo. Who doesn’t want to know about royalty? Especially dragon royalty.”
“You’re dragging me into this now?” Rodrigo gasped.
“Of course.” Alric looked more than a little smug. “If I’m going to be interviewed, I think it’s only fair the world knows I’m not the only dragon leader out there.”
Rodrigo waved a dismissive hand at him, and Alric laughed. “Fine. Fine. But we must find a picture that shows off my best side.”
“Dragon or human?” Ravi asked before he could catch himself.
Rodrigo grinned broadly. “Both.”
They continued brainstorming ideas for the interviews and journalists, and how best to use both to draw more mages to them without putting them at risk. Cameron eventually dropped down behind Alric’s desk and started making some notes.
Ravi sat beside the Ice Dragon King, barely able to keep from bouncing. Announcing to the world they were real was a huge step, but one that could get them closer to finding more mages.
And that could get Ravi one step closer to finding his own mage to love and protect.
Sora felt his eyebrows steadily rise as he watched the interview play out. It was almost abnormally quiet in the living room, the other people with him glued to the screen. The two men being interviewed were poised, confident, and charming in different ways.
One of them was clearly German; he spoke fluently and easily, oozing confidence even as he sat there with a smile.
The man sitting next to him was not German—and Sora didn’t say that because he looked distinctly Asian. More that he recognized the translating amulet hanging around the man’s neck. He did not know German, and the woman interviewing them failed to realize it, as magic was so scarce in the modern age.
The journalist, Slomka, was an attractive woman—blonde hair kept short, her jawline strong, smile kind. She leaned a little forward in the armchair, asking a question. Via the translating amulet on top of the TV, it came through as Japanese, so Sora and his parents could understand it.
“Do you mean to tell me that the dragon clans and mages have been alive all this time?”
Alric, King of the Fire Dragons, dipped his head in a nod. “Correct. After the Dragon War, we were so decimated. So…lost. Entire ancient families destroyed so quickly. We returned home, too focused on healing our wounds, on taking stock of what we had left, to really consider the outside world. It was many years before I realized the world thought us dead.”
“Wait, you realized?” Slomka interrupted him, her eyes wide. “You’ve lived since the Dragon Wars?”
“Dragons live to be a very old age,” Alric returned, eyes twinkling. “Surely you remember that from your history books in school?”
“I don’t remember them telling me that.” Slomka looked in danger of falling out of the chair altogether, but she kept calm enough to continue. “But please, go on. You realized that the world thought you all dead, and then…?”
“After such a great toll—both physical and emotional—we thought it was best to leave the world ignorant. I speak not only for myself, but for the Ice Dragon Clan as well. This was a joint decision.”
“But this has obviously changed, as I’m interviewing you now. You were the one that requested this, in fact. What’s changed?”
“Us.”
The camera switched to the Asian man, and when it did, a caption at the bottom of the screen read, Cameron Burkhard, Consort. His smile was broad, and there was a twinkle in his eyes behind his glasses, as if he was secretly laughing at some bit of knowledge the audience didn’t have.
“Hoo,” Sora cried out softly in surprise, lips pursed in a soundless whistle.
The dragon king had taken a male consort? Well, the outside world would definitely have mixed feelings about that. Sora’s family wouldn’t blink an eye, though.
Cameron continued. “We mages burst on scene and kicked up the dust. I think the dragon clans were resigned to mages having died out with the Dragon Wars; I was the first they found in modern times. And we’ve been finding more mages ever since.”
His royal husband had a soft look in his eye as he grasped Cameron’s hand, holding it on his thigh. The consort’s returning smile was just as tender.
“The old stories are true,” King Alric said, picking up the thread smoothly. “Dragons can mate only with mages. My dragons have been without even the possibility of finding the other half of their hearts for far too long. Centuries. With mages once again being discovered, our hope is restored. We’ve decided to step back out into the world, to reveal ourselves, so that other mages might know where to find us. So that we can once again live as we did.”
This time, Sora did whistle. “Wow. Talk about a public coming out.”
His mother smacked him on the arm. “You’re not funny.”
“I’m hilarious, and it’s true; they’re both coming out—as a mage and a dragon, respectively—and establishing themselves as a gay couple. All in one shot. Takes nerves, that.”
He looked sideways at his mother, who was sitting on the couch with him. She’d lost her formal clothes at some point, wearing joggers and an oversized sweater she’d probably snitched from his father’s wardrobe, but her makeup was still on, hair in a tidy bun at the top of her head. She looked aggravated with him, but that was likely more because of the huge step the dragon clans had just taken. She did not like surprises, and this one was enormous.
His father coughed slightly, then rumbled from the other side of the couch, “This does say something about how the world has changed. If both Fire and Ice Clans are willing to step back into the light, then things have changed a great deal. More than we had ever believed.”
“They’re revealing that all of the other mage clans still exist, too, Ryu!” his mother protested, high color spotting her cheeks.