Page 164 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 62
“We’re so glad you’re here,” Rafe told Jeremiah. The tall blond arrived exactly as described. His eyes sparkled more like diamonds to Rafe than glitter but either way, they were incredible, and his dragon form had to be remarkable.
“Thanks, I can’t tell you what it means to me that you guys approved my application. And I might steal your wolves.”
The supposedly intimidating animals were rolling over each other to get closer to Jeremiah’s hands while he sat on the floor, loving the pair.
“I think that’s the first time someone has arrived determined to steal something other than one of our dragon familiars,” Delaney mused.
“Oh, I’m taking them too,” Jeremiah assured him with a grin.
“I’m excited about your room,” Larissa said. “We’re going to make it so beautiful with your dragonskin and Worth’s.”
“Pink is my favorite color. I used to put streaks in my hair, but they washed out so fast I got annoyed and stopped.”
“I can put them in for you permanently,” Dra’Kaedan offered. “Just tell me where you want it and what shade.”
“Really? Awesome. A light pink and if you could do the whole underneath like Aleksander’s got his blue, I would love that.”
Dra’Kaedan got out his phone and sat next to Jeremiah to find the exact color. Seconds later, the spell was cast, and Jeremiah was handed a magical mirror. “You know I could’ve done this for you years ago. Of course, you could’ve also become a D’Vaire…”
“I’m going to hear about that for like a thousand years, aren’t I?”
“Count on it,” the Grand Warlock told him.
Rafe sat awkwardly in the living room with the D’Vaires as they chatted with Jeremiah. His nightly jog was done, and his plan was to tell Aleksander about his whole day as soon as he could conveniently sneak off to his bedroom.
“You know what I’ve always wondered about this place?” Jeremiah asked, pointing to a spot near the hallway that led to Larissa’s workshop. “What’s behind those double doors?”
“The throne room,” Delaney said. “We don’t really use it because it’s bland.”
“Kind of ugly if you ask me,” Grigori muttered.
Jeremiah laughed. “Why keep it ugly? Can I see it?”
Happy to help, Rafe stood as did the wolves and they led the young dragon to the space Rafe had only seen once. It simply didn’t have a purpose in the D’Vaire household. “Here it is,” Rafe said, pushing the doors open.
“It really is awful,” Larissa commented when she joined them.
“We were originally going to make it two stories like the workshops next to it but didn’t bother. It’s just dead space above it,” Madeline remarked.
“No one’s ever thought about fixing it up?” Jeremiah asked. “Seems kind of sad that the only High Court has this plain, uninteresting throne room in this otherwise gorgeous house.”
“Well, perhaps if we had someone…an artist perhaps, that wanted to tackle a project like that, he might get some volunteers,” Madeline responded.
“I think that’s a great idea,” Rafe said. “It might be a nice surprise for Sander to have a decent throne room.”
Renny raced over. “It sounds to me like we’ve got another Team Rafe forming.”
“Wouldn’t it be expensive to redo it?” Kendrick asked.
“Aleksander has set a rather large household budget we never come close to spending. You’d virtually have an unlimited amount to use if you wished to start the project, Rafe,” Worth stated.
“Jeremiah, did you want to be the project leader? You can pick your team. I’ll call Harley in the morning and see if he can come back to work with you,” Rafe suggested.
“I’m intimidated as hell, but yeah. I’d love to do this. But can I ask that it be done in secret? I don’t want anyone besides our little Team Rafe to know what’s going on. We’ll reveal it to the High Kings first.”
If Sander ever wakes up, I might get to see the end result, Rafe thought. “I can live with that. Who is going to be on Team Jeremiah?”
