Page 75 of Soar

“It’s not worth it. My job and shoebox apartment are not worth trading his life for. I spent the whole flight down here thinking about it, and honestly speaking, trying to maintain my lifestyle isn’t worth his life. Nothing’s worth that. I do need to have a proper sit down with someone to figure out the logistics. It’s only the finances that worry me. But if I’m a doctor of the Valerii Clan, I get paid just the same, and it’s cheaper to live down here, so I think it’ll work out.” He glanced at Sam only to find his twin looking at him with this proud expression. “What?”

“You really have grown up. Putting his needs above your wants.”

“Are you deliberately getting on my last nerve?”

Sam threw an arm around his shoulders again. “I’m praising you! This is huge for you and I’m so proud.”

“Yes, well, as I said. I spent the entire flight down here thinking. I promised I’d meet him halfway and I’m going to do my damnedest to live up to my promise.”

Uncomfortable, Salem tried to shrug Sam off, but he only clung harder.

“I will absolutely help you pack up everything and ship it down here. I know you don’t want to leave him right now. For that matter, I feel like it’s a good call. Gregori needs you and his clan for a while before he’s back to normal.”

“Yeah. Exactly.” Relieved his brother was so willing to help, he relaxed a little. “I’ll make a list of all that needs to happen. I, uh, I know we talked about this briefly earlier, but are there seriously no pediatric surgeons at all?”

“Think about it. Up until last year, we didn’thavekids in the clans.”

Oh. Fuck, right. Only the Sodalicium did.

Sam shrugged and kept talking. “We’ve got a lot of kids incoming—all the clans are going to be having quite the baby boom—so a pediatric surgeon on hand will be super helpful. You know kids get into crap. It gets worse when said kids have wings and the ability to blow elements.”

Salem winced at the mental image. “Oh god. What am I signing up for?”

“Magic,” Sam answered promptly, grinning. “Magic, wonder, and shenanigans. It’ll be worth the ride, I promise you. You’ll have incredible teachers here, and if you tell Amaru what kind of equipment you need, he’ll make it for you.”

Now that was a great idea.

“Don’t tell Gregori yet,” Salem requested. “I need to…I just need to figure shit out before talking to him.”

“Need to let the idea of living in a whole different country settle in your head, you mean.”

“Yeah. I know, logically, it’s the only possible answer. I just need to wrap my head around it.” Salem rubbed his forehead. “I’ve been so focused on one single goal my entire life, it’s hard to make a sharp pivot and do something else. Just let me sleep on this.”

Sam hugged him again. “It’ll be fine. At least tell Gregori you won’t leave Brazil until you two figure everything out. He needs the reassurance.”

“Sure. I can tell him.”

Sam made a good point—he wasn’t arguing that—it was just really hard admitting he’d been so incredibly wrong. Salem had to come to terms with it before he could force the words out of his throat. Also, his urge to beat sense into Gregori still ran strong.

One thing was for sure, though—Salem would do absolutely everything in his power to prevent this from happening again.If things started going sideways, he’d stop it immediately. He’d drag Gregori’s ass to a counselor if that was what it took.

This scare would never happen again.

Escaping a horde of mages determined to examine every freaking scale and beat of his heart was not an easy task. But when his health steadily improved with every second he stood within the halls of the Valerii compound, there really wasn’t much for the mages to see any longer.

With a promise to stop by to be poked, prodded, and inspected again the next day, Gregori snagged Salem’s hand and dragged him out of the room.

“I know you want to start studying everything you can about medicine and magic, but you look like you could use some sleep,” Gregori said the moment they were alone in the hall.

Salem held up one finger and affected a stern expression. “Normally, I would argue with you.” That finger wilted along with his shoulders and stern expression. “But I’m not as young as I used to be. In college and throughout my residency, I lived on caffeine and ramen. Who needed sleep when I had so many things to learn? Now…fuck…I can’t remember the last time I felt so tired.”

It was understandable. While he’d slept on the roof, Salem had remained awake, waiting for Dimitri and the others to show up. And then, while they were waiting for Thiago, Salem had stayed up most of the time, swapping stories with Sora and soaking up as much magical knowledge as he could. Of course,he hadn’t slept on the flight down to Brazil. At this point, Salem had probably grabbed only a couple of hours of sleep over fifty-two hours. The good doctor had to be running on pure adrenaline, which was running out fast.

“Um…I can let you crash in my apartment. I don’t know if your rooms are ready yet. If you want to wait at my place, I can track down someone who might know,” Gregori offered.

Salem snorted and wearily shook his head. “After weeks of squatting in my place, refusing to move, you’re just going to toss me aside now? Nope. I think I’ll crash in your room tonight. When I’ve had some sleep, we can figure out sleeping arrangements.” Salem swayed a little on his feet and bumped his shoulder into Gregori’s arm. “Besides, it’s not like I haven’t been in your room, right?”

Very true. Their first time together after Sam and Dimitri’s bonding ceremony, they’d fucked on his bed.

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