Page 58 of Becoming D'Vaire
Grigori grazed his lips over Delaney’s hair and wrinkled his nose at the feel of the product the wizard had put in it. He preferred not only the normal way Delaney wore it, but the soft texture of its normal state. “Night.”
“Grigori?”
“Yeah?”
“The lamp?”
“Oh, for Fate’s sake.”
* * *
“I really appreciate how fast you’ve gotten everything ordered and are getting it into place,” Grigori told Harley Griffinis as they walked into the space where they were converting an empty room into a large laboratory.
“Anything for our favorite neighbors,” Harley said. “And Aleksander’s done all the supply ordering.”
“Actually, my brother Worth’s been handling it. He’s become a real asset when it comes to anything financial. The man must’ve been born with killer cheap instincts. Worth won’t pay one extra cent for anything. I like making money and there’s plenty to do around here at D’Vaire, but he gets pissed every time we pay too much for something. I have a feeling he’s going to have all kinds of forms and hoops for our family to jump through,” Aleksander replied.
“Sounds like you two make a good team,” Harley remarked. “I still can’t get used to how much you resemble each other.”
“Tell me about it—it’s like a mirror into my past. He looks remarkably like I did before I shifted for the first time, and Fate gave me the two-tone eyes and added the blue to my hair,” Aleksander commented. “Is there anything else you need, Grigori? Or are we on the right track?”
“We’re definitely on the right track. This is way nicer than the one I have at home. Of course I’ve been buried in it for the last dozen years, so it hasn’t really been updated.”
“While I’ve got you here, are you going to need any modifications to your room? Perhaps you were thinking about redoing the bathroom to something that you both pick out together? I’ll need to order those things too, so the sooner we can get designing the better,” Harley offered.
“I love the way our room looks now.”
“You don’t want to put your stamp on it at all?” Aleksander asked.
“I’ve always been surrounded by red roses. I’d like to add some of those but other than that, I’m fine with the room just like it is,” Grigori answered. There was a noise behind him, and he turned to find Delaney in the doorway of his new lab space.
“Hey guys, I wanted to come and check the progress. Harley, you move fast, this looks practically done,” Delaney said.
“Finished laying the floor tiles yesterday and we’ll finish up the paint tomorrow. Took longer for Aleksander’s brother to order the ventilation system than it did for us to install it. I understand the furniture will be here by the end of the week, then we’ll turn it over to Grigori,” Harley replied. “We were just talking with your man here about your bedroom and whether you’re going to need us in there.”
“I told him it was perfect and that we didn’t need anything,” Grigori rushed out. He did not want Delaney to think he didn’t like the space or that he was planning for their shared space behind his back.
Delaney smiled. “It’s all black, which suits me, but that’s not necessarily us. It’s fine if at some point when we’re ready, you want to change things around. We’ll get back to you, Harley, when we get to that stage of our relationship.”
Grigori’s mood plummeted at Delaney’s words. It was clear that he’d rushed headlong into love, and Delaney was still working on getting there. He wasn’t upset with him; they’d only known each other a couple of weeks. It was him and his desire to have everything before Delaney had the chance to fall for him that annoyed him. He would have his bags packed and be moving in if Delaney would give him permission to do so.
“Sure, just give me a call,” Harley replied.
When the gryphon shifter left the room where the three remaining men were standing—at least one of them awkwardly and stupidly miserable—Aleksander said, “Grigori, you mentioned roses. I know Dravyn has a few different ones in the garden. Did you have a specific variety in mind?”
“Vampires use different shades of red. I’ve always preferred the black magic ones. They’re the same ones I wear on my lapel when I’m in a suit or tux. They’re so deep red, they can appear black,” Grigori managed to mumble.
Aleksander nodded and reached out to give his arm a squeeze, then headed for the door. “I’ll let Dravyn know,” he promised as he left Grigori alone with Delaney.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Desperate not to make things weird between them, Grigori made up a white lie. “I just remembered I forgot to write down an equation I thought of this morning. Now, I’ve probably lost it forever.”
“No way, you’re too smart. It’ll come back to you. The best things always do,” Delaney assured him with a grin. “Have you always really worn black magic roses? I didn’t even know such a thing existed.”
Shaking off his uncharacteristic melancholy, Grigori focused on the man he was not clever enough to dream about before they met, and he returned his smile. “Absolutely. You can ask my parents. You named Greggory for me because you knew my soul was yours, and I was drawn to black magic. Do you think we were mated before in another life?”
“You kidding me? I don’t even know who my parents are—let alone who I was in the past,” Delaney joked.
