Page 189 of Heart of the High King
“How is your father?” Boian asked Lex politely as they were there for tea.
“He’s great,” Lex remarked. His father, Duke Drogo, had served Court Ethelin faithfully until he’d learned that Boian had tried to sell his only child to a wizard so he could experiment on his dragon blood. “Still pissed at you but not as much as my mom, I think.”
Boian gazed at everyone but Aleksander. As a drakeling, he’d never measured up to Boian’s exacting standards, and when he’d tossed Aleksander out, it was nearly a relief to no longer answer to him. But he’d also been terrified and too young to understand the way his father could warp his future. If he’d known, Aleksander might’ve gone on the offensive. In hindsight, if he’d defied former Imperial Duke Bernal and waited for Emperor Chrysander instead of allowing himself to be kicked out of Draconis castle, Boian wouldn’t have had the opportunity to spread his lies so far and fast. “I’m not going anywhere,” Aleksander finally said. “So stop pretending like I’m not in the room.”
With an audible gulp, Boian glared at Aleksander. “What do you want me to say? I’ve got ten years to rot in this prison; then they’re going to monitor me with an ankle bracelet until the day I die. All I did was open my home to a fellow dragon. I didn’t know anything about Kestle. I had no idea what he did to his son. I don’t condone it, and I have to pay the price anyway.”
“Your sentence is long because you lost your battle in court to get the testimony of your previous crimes taken out of consideration,” Aleksander refuted. Thanks to Juris Knight Brooks, who had already proved himself invaluable to the D’Vaires years ago, the new law had held up in court, pleasing everyone who’d taken part in crafting it or had voted for its ratification.
“Yeah, my dad was able to give his testimony regarding the deaths of Duke Sorin and Duchess-mate Onora. You had Noirin and Dravyn’s parents murdered and turned their children into servants,” Lex accused.
“And Oklin Mivorn was happy to add his testimony regarding the sale of Lex to him. He’s still pissed that you backstabbed him,” Somerly said. The wizard was himself still in legal trouble for the unrelated crime of making a poison that nearly trapped Ellery for life in his dragon.
“Somerly, you didn’t need to testify against your father. Why did you tell them I fed you potions?” Boian demanded.
“Because you did. Hello, I’m five foot five and my brothers are like twelve inches or more taller than I am. You thought if I drank it, I’d have a small dragon, but you got it from a shitty sorcerer who didn’t understand it would make my human side small, not my beast,” Somerly retorted. “And the Spectra Wizardry has the test results to prove it.”
“Why doesn’t anyone understand the danger of Aleksander’s beast? No dragon was meant to be that large,” Boian demanded.
Dra’Kaedan shrugged. “Hey, don’t judge. Maybe Rafe’s a size queen.”
Rafe’s laughter filled the room, and Aleksander smiled at the beauty of it.
“I understand you lack respect for anyone not a dragon, but I’m going to tell you who I am anyway. My name is Lichpriestess Saura D’Vaire. In my previous life, I was Grand Summoner Saura of Leolinnia. Now that title is shared by your youngest son, and he gives it honor each day.” Saura winked at Somerly. “The people in this room are my family. Although I met them after they were grown except for my twins and, of course, my handsome mate, Lichpriest T’Eirick, I tend to think of everyone else as my children. I guess once a mother, always a mother. I’m protective of them, and I will do whatever it takes to make them happy. It’s a parenting instinct you seem to be lacking and something you share with the former King Kestle. There isn’t a D’Vaire you haven’t hurt, because when you wound one of us, you inflict pain on us all. I had to keep quiet to give Rafe the opportunity to tell his father and brother to go fuck themselves because he needed that. He had to regain control, but you have none, though you covet it more than anything else. I’d pity you but it would be a waste of my time, so allow me to just assure you that these wonderful people are better off without you.”
“Thank you, Saura, that was beautiful,” Aleksander told her.
“And it chaps his ass coming from me because he doesn’t respect women any more than that asshat down the hall,” Saura shot out, glaring at Boian.
“What the fuck do you want from me?” Boian demanded. “Am I supposed to apologize?”
“No, because you’d have to mean it,” Worth retorted.
“You’re only interested in speaking with us because you thought there was some way we might be able to impact your sentence, right?” Rafe asked. “It finally dawned on you that by aligning yourself with a name as powerful as D’Vaire, it might work in your favor.”
“The D’Vaire name has always been honorable, though you tried to strip that from me,” Aleksander told Boian. “You spent centuries robbing me of peace and telling anyone who would listen that I was a freak. You were right. I am a freak. What you never understood—and still don’t—is that being a freak is a beautiful thing. Something to be celebrated, not tossed aside, insulted, abused, or harmed in any way. I won’t help you. When I needed it most, you were the one who tried to break me. I’ve learned a lot about courage in the last few months. My other half is overflowing with it and you are, in fact, the opposite. You lack it, and I know you’re afraid of me, but what I failed to understand when I was young was that it’s not my fault. It’s yours, and not one person in this room is going to forget what pain you’ve inflicted on us.”
“Enjoy your ten years of rotting behind these bars, fucker,” Worth taunted, flipping him the bird. “Are we done with this piece of shit yet?”
“I guess. I wanted to tell him off, but you guys did it better,” Dra’Kaedan groused. They marched out while Boian watched them silently.
Noirin wrapped her arm around the Grand Warlock. “When we get home, I’ll make a cake.”
“Yum! What kind?”
“White cake with coconut frosting. Rafe’s favorite.”
As soon as the door was shut, Aleksander grabbed Rafe into his arms and sealed their mouths together. It was time for Aleksander to put his past where it belonged and help his mate do the same. When Rafe melted against him, Aleksander lifted his head but kept him securely to his chest. “Ready to go home and get some cake?”
Rafe blinked slowly, but there was still a haze of lust in his eyes. “Okay…sure.”
“Mortis mad. Mortis want to bite people.”
“Your wolf’s angry,” Aleksander told Rafe.
“Let me guess…he still wants to bite somebody?”
Gavrael kneeled next to Mortis and rubbed his head. “More than once in my life, I wished to stab someone when I could not. I know you to be too noble to give in to your urges as well.”
“Guess who we’re going to hire to wolfsit?” Aleksander teased.
“We never leave the house,” Rafe replied. “Speaking of which, can we go back now?”
“Close your eyes, people. I’m feeling criminal and want to break the rules,” Dra’Kaedan instructed. “Sorry, Killian, I’m not walking to no Dérive station, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Aleksander simply kept Rafe in his arms as the Grand Warlock wove his spell. His plan was to spend his afternoon stripping his mate out of his well-tailored suit and enjoying the gorgeous body it covered.
