Page 104 of Becoming D'Vaire
“Your Majesty, I’m afraid you neglected to mention our most recent addition,” Chander said. “King Aleksander D’Vairedraconis is now a permanent part of our little group.”
“Arch Lich, I appreciate you pointing out my oversight,” the Emperor replied. “Your Highness, please rise.”
Leaning back slightly, Grigori spied Aleksander getting to his feet. The D’Vaire king was not any more comfortable around attention than Grigori was, but his face revealed nothing.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the Council of Sorcery and Shifters, these men have changed the course of our history. Two weeks ago, they cast a spell with their power combined. It was a resurrection spell which created a new type of magickind, one that those of you with the senses capable to detect it will find a mix of necromancy, wizardry, and warlock. They are also undead with weapon capabilities close to what the Sentinel Brotherhood and Order of the Fallen Knights were granted at their creation. They call themselves Darkfallen Court and are capable of healing dark sorcerers painlessly. I’d like to invite them to join me,” Emperor Chrysander stated.
The door behind him slid open, and two smiling faces appeared. They were resplendent in their long dragonskin cloaks that didn’t flow behind them as magickind usually wore but stopped at the floor. There were long slits in the sides to enable them to grab the short swords strapped to each thigh. Every stitch of their clothing was the blue-black of D’Vaire, embellished with silver beading courtesy of the elves who shared their home. Gasps sounded as people got a good look at who the Emperor had in his booth. The majority of them only had paintings or artist renderings to give them some idea of what the former Grand Warlock and Grand Summoner had looked like, but their resemblance to their well-known sons made them instantly recognizable.
When they were at his side, he grinned. “The men standing in this room have returned our creators to us. Please allow me to present Lichpriestess Saura D’Vaire and Lichpriest T’Eirick D’Vaire of the Darkfallen Court.”
Grigori didn’t know who started it, but applause thundered through the room. Rulers of every race hopped to their feet as did the D’Vaires packed around Grigori. It was a brilliant spectacle acknowledging two incredible people.
The Emperor’s voice rang out above the noise. “On behalf of the Coven of Warlocks, the Order of Necromancia, the Order of the Fallen Knights, the Court of Draconis, the Spectra Wizardry, the Vampyr Clutch, and the Sentinel Brotherhood, we offer you a petition to vote upon making the Darkfallen Court our newest race with a seat and full voting rights in the Main Assembly Hall. Does anyone have any questions for the Lichpriestess and Lichpriest before I call for the vote?”
“Just one question, Your Majesty,” Alpha Artair Ursus Arctos, the leader of the brown bears called out. “Lichpriestess and Lichpriest, when can you start?”
Laughter rang out as people finally stopped clapping. The Emperor called for a vote, and it only took a few seconds for the Darkfallen Court to become an official race.
* * *
“Can you believe the Emperor put together this ball for us so quickly?” Saura asked. Her hair was piled high, and she was wearing a sleek dress in the darkfallen and Court D’Vaire signature color mix of blue and black.
“He certainly wasn’t going to let the addition of the Darkfallen Court to the Council go without any fanfare,” Dra’Kaedan replied.
Grigori let the conversation flow around him as he tried not to sweat. As if sitting all morning in a Council session wasn’t enough, the entire D’Vaire clan was attending the lavish party Chrysander had insisted upon. His palms were a little damp, but it had no effect on Delaney. As he often did, he kept their hands snugly clasped and weathered the storm of Grigori’s bodily reactions to stress.
“You can tell we don’t get out much—we’re all standing here in a clump,” Aleksander’s brother, Worth stated. He was at Aleksander’s side, and if he wasn’t wearing a pink tie for his dragon and missing a silver crown, they could almost be twins.
“Who cares? We’re probably way more fun than half the people in here,” Carter retorted.
“That’s true,” Duke Dravyn responded quietly.
“You guys gotta live a little,” Duff urged. “I’m going to go mingle.”
The Kellas cat shifter strode off, and Grigori lost sight of him in the ballroom. Even though there was always the threat of danger due to the missing Latarian, there was a plethora of fallen knights and sentinels attending. Since the Emperor was in attendance, there were also tons of black dragons floating around. No one was going to come to any harm as they rejoiced over the new darkfallen.
“Hey, don’t these things suck?” Chander asked as he joined them in their corner of the room.
“The room looks lovely,” Saura argued.
“I am afraid Chand has zero decorating sense,” Alaric confided. “You should have seen his apartment when we met. It was hideous.”
Chander shrugged. “I can’t really argue with that. You were the only good-looking thing in it.”
“Excuse me, I was there,” Daemon Lord Baxter interjected. “So was Ben, and nothing’s hotter than him.”
His mate, Daemon Lord Benton Daray, rolled his eyes. “He’s never going to agree with you.”
“What the fuck?” Chander blurted out.
At Grigori’s side, Dravyn’s back stiffened as they all turned to figure out what had the Arch Lich’s attention across the room.
“Oh, he came,” Saura said on a sigh.
“How in the hell did you get Killian the Dwyer out of his tree?” Chander demanded.
She leaned closer to Chander and grinned. “Easy. I invited him.”
