Page 11 of Heart of the High King
His only full-blooded sibling, Duke Argent Worthington D’Vairedraconis, whistled loudly, and the entire room fell into silence. “You’re welcome,” the brother who resembled Aleksander so much it startled people, including the High King, drawled.
“You make me wish I was an only child,” Aleksander’s half brother, Grand Summoner-mate Somerly, complained.
“You’re insulting our High King,” Worth reminded him.
“I’ve decided he’s to blame for your irritating behavior. He’s had full opportunity to punish you.”
Worth snorted. “For a whistle?”
“I’ll just sit here all night listening to you two bicker. It’s fine. Just let me go grab a beer so I can unwind,” Aleksander teased.
“We’re going to need something stronger than beer to deal with this crowd,” Brogan told him.
“You want me to start?” Aleksander asked his brothers, and they both nodded. “Great. Thanks for taking the time out of your schedules to be here tonight. I’m glad we’ve been able to maintain this tradition even as we’ve slowly grown. Let’s start with Royce. We finally have the new larger sink in so Chance can dine in there with his dragon buddies. How’s that working out?”
The newest addition to their house, High Arcanist Royce D’Vaire, smiled brightly, lighting up his reddish-brown eyes. “Very well. Chance loves being with Roger and Greggory.”
“Wonderful. I’m glad we were finally able to convince you to let Harley Griffinis put it in.”
“It was such an expense for you, but I simply couldn’t take Chance pouting because he had to wait to eat until they were finished.”
“Don’t worry about the expense. We still need to work out something permanent for your security needs.”
“I don’t really leave the estate much; I see no reason to bring in a person just for me. Brogan’s been able to assign either Mac or one of our great sentinels on the rare occasions I’ve left by myself, and I’ve only gone off to get books from the Spectra Library.”
“I’m okay with keeping it like that for now,” Brogan said. “But if you want to make more forays off D’Vaire, we’ll need to do something. I can’t expect Mac to spread himself over three different High Arcanists constantly.”
“That sounds kind of dirty,” Dark Indigo Duke Macardle D’Vairedraconis remarked.
“Moving on,” Aleksander said. “Let’s discuss the sanctuary. Dra’Kaedan?”
“Finally,” Dra’Kaedan exclaimed. The Grand Warlock gestured to his familiar, Renny, who grinned as he picked up a stack of papers and passed them around the room. “It’s our first dragon, you guys. His name is Kendrick Kestledraconis, and he’s new to the Council. His entire court just got here a couple of weeks ago, and he hardly knows anyone. Kendrick was raised mostly by a single mom who took a century to scrape up enough money to send him to culinary school. He was in his second term there when he found out she died.”
“That’s so sad. I feel horrible for him. Is he planning on finishing culinary school?” Seneschal Duchess Noirin asked. Aleksander had proudly given her the title he’d denied her for centuries, believing it was against the law, and he would always feel guilty, but she was too warm of heart to hold a grudge.
“He’s honestly not sure. His mom dying has thrown him for a loop, and he’s not comfortable around his father or his half brothers, who he hardly knows,” Dra’Kaedan answered.
“We spoke briefly to his father, who happens to be King Kestle,” Aleksander added. “We had to go through his son Duke Sullivan because apparently His Highness doesn’t give out his phone number. He admitted that Kendrick’s not fitting in and that his mother—for reasons he doesn’t comprehend—told him to keep his distance from him and his other children. King Kestle sounded really hurt by it, but he wants the best for Kendrick.”
“Kendrick was very nice when we spoke with him. I thought he was pretty open about not being sure what to do with his life with his anchor gone and that with this new opportunity in the Council, he found himself drawn to a place with many races,” Vampyr Lord Grigori D’Vaire explained. For each application they processed, a random D’Vaire was chosen to assist the Coven of Warlocks and Aleksander, who made phone calls to verify the candidate’s information, and Grigori had been thrilled to be part of it. “He and his mother were close, and he longs for a family again.”
“Noir, how would you handle another chef in the house?” Aleksander asked.
“You kidding? He went to school and I didn’t. I could probably learn a lot from him. I’m sure we can work out something if he wants to share any kitchen duties.”
“Does he believe in Fate?” Worth asked. “You know those fools in the Consilium teach ridiculous things like mates aren’t real or some such shit.”
“He does—he’s a young dragon born in 1906. His mother told him all about Fate and matebonds but wouldn’t speak ill of his father, so they kept away from the topic of King Kestle ignoring Chrys when he took over the Council and we came to North America,” Aleksander responded. “Chrys and Elf briefly met Kendrick when the Kestles arrived but couldn’t really offer much insight since they barely did more than say hello. King Kestle apparently ignored Elf, and so did a few of his sons, but not Kendrick, so at least he’s being honest about his desire to acknowledge races other than dragons.”
“How many sons does Kestle have?” Worth asked.
“I believe Kendrick has four half brothers,” Renny answered. “They’re a lot older than him, and he’s only semi-friendly with the eldest. That’s Duke Sullivan, and he doesn’t know him that well. His mother kept him away from them, believing it was better for him to be raised separately. Kendrick couldn’t go into any detail on that because he’s simply not sure. And I wasn’t going to press the guy because he just lost her, and it’s not relevant to his application.”
“Is he okay with people who aren’t heterosexual?” Lex D’Vairedraconis asked. “Your dad isn’t the only asshat in the Consilium who doesn’t like anyone who isn’t straight.”
“We posed that question to him and while he is heterosexual himself, he has no issue with anyone who isn’t,” Aleksander responded.
“It’ll give Aleksander someone to talk to besides Trystan for whatever straight guys discuss,” Dra’Kaedan teased.
Since it would be a cold day in hell before Aleksander even dared mention his true sexual identity while his mate wasn’t around for it to matter, he rolled his eyes. “Are we ready for a vote?” Once he was satisfied there weren’t any questions left, Aleksander grinned at all the raised hands and a minute later, Kendrick became the first-ever dragon to be accepted into their sanctuary, Dra’Kaedan’s Coven.
