Page 41 of No Ordinary Drakeling
“Oh it is, so you will have to visit all the time,” Talfryn replied.
“I do not have a lot of say yet about my schedule, but I would certainly like to.”
“Has your head stopped spinning since you met Chrys?” Talfryn asked.
“Nope. If meeting my mate was not enough, I found out I was a drakeling, and now I am an emperor.”
“You can call and talk to us whenever you want. I was so scared when I met Cadlyr, I faked my death and we were apart for two thousand years. I don’t want that to happen to you,” Evlithar assured him.
“I will not have to fake mine—most people think I am going to die when I shift.”
Talfryn lifted his chin, every inch the chieftain Fate made him when she’d burned a barely glowing red sword below his collarbone. “No one realizes how strong we elves are.”
The other chieftain in the room with the lavender version of Talfryn’s mark nodded his head in agreement. “You’ll be fine.”
“I think so too,” Ellery confessed.
“Come on, let’s go introduce you to the rest of our family,” Talfryn invited. “And I’ll get Lorcan to show you his wings.”
“He has wings?” Ellery asked in surprise as he followed the elves out of the room.
“And they’re every bit as awesome as you’re thinking,” Talfryn promised.
* * *
There were thirty-five D’Vaires along with two small dragon familiars who belonged to the wizards in the family, Ellery learned. By dragon standards, it was a tiny court, but what they lacked in numbers they surely made up for in personality. Even the four sentinels seemed to stand above the ordinary in a race where they strived to be as similar to each other as possible. Ellery loved their home, the magnificent gardens outside, including a lovely memorial area every elf worth his or her salt preferred nearby, and he was fast growing fond of the people.
The three elven tribes went out of their way to assure Ellery that their memorial garden was open to him whenever he needed it. It was something that meant a lot to a man who lacked a tribe of his own, and he intended to make use of it. Talfryn reminded him he would need to have a ceremony there with his mate before they bound their blood, and Ellery made a mental note to mention it to Chrysander the next time they spoke.
Since arriving at D’Vaire, Ellery was delighted at the change in Chrysander. Gone was the man who oversaw the Council and the dragons and in his place was a relaxed guy Ellery hoped to get to know better. With that goal in mind, Ellery made his way out to the deck where most of D’Vaire was gathered for beer and steak. He found a chair near Chrysander and when their eyes met, he smiled. Ellery grinned back; then a dragon with orange scaly orbs dropped down next to him.
“I’ve made pajamas for you,” she announced. “Can I make a cloak for you in Chrys’s dragonskin? Elven D’Vaire will bead it for you.”
“Thank you, Larissa, but I am not sure Chrysander would be okay with that.”
“I’d be honored if you wore a cloak of my dragonskin,” Chrysander said quietly.
“Wonderful, it’s going to be awesome,” Larissa crowed. “I’m working on the net for your first shift too. It’s going to be massive, but I need to know how many people are going to be holding it, so I can make the handles. I’m having them stick straight out so they can be held while the guys are facing away from you. They can turn around after you’re in dragon form to hold you down better if need be.”
“I am not sure where it is going to be,” Ellery confessed.
“Wesley would prefer it be somewhere public, so all of Court Draconis can view your shift, but I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Chrysander said.
Ellery did not particularly like the idea of taking his clothes off in front of everyone, but he assumed Chrysander didn’t want it public to prevent anyone from watching him die. “Why not?”
His tone must have been more hostile than he intended, because Chrysander’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You’re an elf, I figured you’d want privacy.”
“I would, thank you,” Ellery replied, feeling sheepish.
“I think you should do it here,” Dra’Kaedan offered. “I could cast a spell to keep you calm or even heal if that becomes necessary. You don’t have to worry about the press. No one can get through our magical barrier.”
“And that would mean I’d get to meet Jeremiah in person,” Carter added. He was a drakeling like Ellery, though he had nearly eight decades before he’d be ready to shift.
“He is wonderful.”
“Would you like to have it here?” Chrysander asked.
“Yes.”
