Page 111 of Becoming D'Vaire
“Had you spoken with Dugan during this time? Was he concerned about you?” Drystan asked.
“I didn’t talk to him. I was still mad as shit at him and Verly.”
“What happened after you got to D’Vaire?”
“They told me there weren’t really young people there but when I arrived, I met Idris and Del. Honestly, I didn’t want to like them, because they were wizards, but at first we got along,” Duff said. He rolled his eyes. “I mean Idris would make friends with a crack in the sidewalk and Del’s hot as fuck. I made up all kinds of lies so they’d think I was just like them, freaks and shit. I pretended I was a virgin and only liked dudes. I took a vow of chastity along with them to wait for my mate. Such shit. I was so glad when Mac showed up, and at least Idris was no longer virginal. I figured Del would change his mind about sex and let me fuck him. But you know, he acted like his ass was a temple and wouldn’t let me near it. Honestly, those black eyes of his creep me the fuck out, and I think magic’s a bunch of garbage, but his ass is on a level of its own, you know?”
“So things started to unravel a bit from there?” Drystan inquired.
“Yeah, and I started realizing I was stuck out in the middle of fucking nowhere. They’re all about learning and books. I don’t want to be in school forever. I hate it. I started missing my old life, even though I was ignored. Dugan and Verly may not have made the time for me I deserved, but at least I had freedom. I mean I could go out to a club, but I had to have an escort like I was a fucking child. I decided to give my brother a call.”
Drystan met criminals all the time, but those who were as self-centered as Duff always pissed him off, but he kept his tone even. “What happened when you called Dugan?”
“He gets on the phone and he’s all bitching because I ran away. I was apologizing and shit while trying to explain where I was. He put me on speaker so Verly could listen and when she heard the name D’Vaire, she got super excited. She said her cousin, Jael, knew someone who needed to get revenge on D’Vaire. Verly told me the D’Vaires were cruel to a woman named Latarian, and I might be able to help her get some justice. I’d heard about Latarian plenty, but I figured there were two sides to every story. Maybe she wasn’t all bad, because the D’Vaires are always trying to be goody-goody and seriously, that can’t all be real. No one’s like that. So, we talked a few times, and Dugan promised things would get better if I helped Verly and her cousin.”
“Plans started to form about how to get her revenge, I’m assuming,” Drystan prompted.
Duff stretched back against his chair. It was clear he’d gone from being scared to enjoying the attention. “Yeah, when they heard about Del, they thought he was perfect. They could steal his magic and give it to Latarian. By then, I was completely pissed at him for being such a jerk and not letting me fuck him, so I was on board.”
“You’d already started a new social life beyond Del and Idris,” Drystan said.
“Yeah, I mean I was having fun too. I enjoy clubbing and sex. I started going out all the time. We thought it could work to our advantage, we could nab him in a public place—but fucking Del. He continued to sit home and wait patiently for his mate. Verly told me Jael was getting real frustrated, but what the fuck was I supposed to do?”
“When Del met Grigori, did that affect things?” Drystan asked.
“We all thought we were fucked at that point, and we were scrambling to figure out what to do. Then Del and Grigori rushed into their ceremony. I thought our plan was over. I was ready to go home, but Latarian told Jael they could figure out how to get Carvallius back. He had a spell to hide a matebond. Apparently Latarian was pissed at her grandfather for going to D’Vaire, but Jael thought it was best because he was a skeleton, and they had no clue how to fix his ass.”
“How was anyone going to cast these spells? Carvallius and Latarian were both warlocks in life but after resurrection had no power,” Conley said.
Duff shrugged. “Their problem, not mine. I don’t know shit about magic, and I don’t want to know. I just wanted to hurt Del. He rejected me—I would’ve been good to him.”
“Vampire club. What happened?” Drystan prompted.
“Finally, Del decided to go out again. He went to a club before I called my brother, but it was his first and only time. He’s so lame. We hatched a plan for me to get him outside. Verly was going to use her magic to trap him.”
Drystan barely refrained from rolling his eyes. It was laughable that they all thought Delaney would have been so easy to take down. There were few people on the planet who had his kind of power. “Then what? You had Del trapped. You were going to take him where?”
“Verly was supposed to call Jael. He’d teleport over with a car.”
“Where would you drive?”
“Jael had that all worked out. I didn’t need to know all those fucking details. I did my part, and I was going home.”
From Drystan’s point of view, Jael had gotten rid of a big mess on his hands. He doubted the wizard had intended to teleport out of Europe. The club was in the middle of Las Vegas, and it would only take seconds for Latarian to be identified and caught. Jael was probably laughing his ass off. The former and now-dead Arch Lich Sigimund had resurrected the pair, then saddled Jael with Carvallius and Latarian.
Somehow, he’d convinced Carvallius he needed the D’Vaires to help him, and he had tricked Latarian into getting herself caught. His cousin Verly was safe, and the troublemaker Duff was also going to be taught a stern lesson about criminal behavior. Drystan was thrilled they had finally taken down Carvallius and Latarian, but he was going to have a long talk with Alaric. Jael Giles was the son of the former Arch Wizard Egidius.
The Arch Wizard hadn’t been a kind man. He’d held the body of Drystan’s mate hostage for centuries and had hated the Council. Was his son grateful to be rid of Carvallius and Latarian after being sucked into the situation by Sigimund, or did he have a larger plan to create havoc in the Council? He was worth keeping an eye on.
As for Duff, he would be punished for his role in trying to kidnap Delaney. Then Drystan would happily put his ass on a plane and send him back to his conniving brother and his wizard mate. They had zero hope of getting their hands on Jael, Verly, or Dugan, so he’d have to be satisfied with nabbing the woman at the center of it all. He could only imagine the partying going on at his son’s home. Carvallius and Latarian would face their final justice, and there was a pair of darkfallen who deserved a few minutes alone with them to say good-bye.
Chapter 40
While the mood was jovial as Delaney found a seat in the D’Vaire living room with Grigori at his side for their weekly meeting, the excitement of capturing Latarian was tempered by Duff’s betrayal. The Reverent Knights gave them the details they could about Duff’s real history, and he was sentenced to several years behind bars for his role in Delaney’s attempted kidnapping. It was hysterical to Delaney that the shifter and his shitty cohorts thought they could take him down. Fate might have made Delaney strange, but she was generous when doling out his power.
Delaney reached up and petted Greggory, then kissed Grigori as the room grew quiet. Aleksander had arrived, and it was time to begin. When Delaney turned his head to give his king his attention, he was surprised to find Chander and Alaric taking a seat alongside Aleksander.
“Thanks, everyone, for being here tonight,” Aleksander said. “We’re going to start with Chand, who has a few words he’d like to say to all of us. Chand?”
