Page 19 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 9
Aleksander understood that his fear was irrational, but that didn’t make it dissipate, so he took a deep breath and left his brother’s office to find a few startled dukes waiting for him.
“What the fuck just happened?” Brogan demanded. “Those two guys left the estate.”
“I can explain, but I’d prefer to do it only once. Can you get the whole family to meet me in the living room?”
“You look pale; are you okay?”
Closing his eyes, Aleksander nodded. “I think I’ll be fine.”
“You’re freaking me out.”
“The sooner you get everybody together, the quicker I can answer your questions.”
“Right, let’s go gather the troops,” Worth said, and moments later Aleksander was standing alone, wondering how his family was going to react to his announcement. They were accepting people, but he was going to have to explain why he’d kept a secret of such magnitude and the truth was, he wasn’t sure he had a good excuse. If that terror wasn’t enough, Aleksander had to somehow navigate what was likely going to prove to be a minefield of a matebond.
A duke in another court wasn’t going to willingly walk away from his duties, even with the promise of a kingdom, especially when he didn’t want to reveal to his family that he was gay. The attractive dragon with the gruff voice and sexy scowl might not be interested in trying to find a way to move forward, but Aleksander wasn’t going to give up before they’d even started. Somehow, they would have to find some common ground. However, Aleksander had his family to face first, and so he walked purposefully into the living room, where curious D’Vaires were already gathered.
“Killian’s on the phone. He and Dray will be here in a minute,” Worth said. “Everyone else is here.”
“That was fast.”
“Oh gee, I could stare at my computer waiting for a good application to Dra’Kaedan’s Coven or Elven D’Vaire to pop into my inbox or run in here to figure out why Kendrick’s brothers have already left,” Renny remarked. “Guess which is more exciting, considering how often we’ve gotten viable candidates?”
“Elven D’Vaire doesn’t have any yet, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty to do,” Dra’Kaedan pointed out as Aleksander grabbed a seat as if it were a Monday night meeting.
“I wish I’d known Sullivan wasn’t going to travel by himself,” Kendrick complained. “I know our policy on unannounced visitors.”
“No one is blaming you. Don’t worry about it,” Brogan responded. “We’ll get the situation figured out.”
“Sorry,” Killian called out as he and Dravyn walked through the back door. “I was on the phone.”
“None of you had to run in here. I know it’s the middle of the afternoon, and you have plenty of duties,” Aleksander answered as the pair found seats.
“So, what happened? Why did my brother bring a guest and then both leave a few minutes after arriving?” Kendrick asked.
Aleksander forced his shoulders to relax and took a moment to calm himself. “Before I get into explanations, I’m going to need to ask that for now none of this goes past this room, okay? We have a large, extended family, and I have good reason to believe at some point the time will be right to make this common knowledge, but for now only High Court of D’Vaire members.”
“Our loyalty is to you first, Aleksander,” Noirin assured him while heads bobbed in agreement around the room.
“I know it’s a lot to ask. Many of you have close relatives that don’t live here, and I hate to make you keep secrets but trust me, it’s necessary for now.”
“That’s fine, we can tell them when you give us the go-ahead,” Trystan answered.
After dragging his hands over his jeans to dry the moisture they’d accumulated, Aleksander found a spot on the massive fireplace to stare at since he wasn’t up to eye contact quite yet. Needing another minute to get there, Aleksander promised himself he wouldn’t be anything less than the High King the emperors had made him. “Like you, I was unaware that Duke Sullivan was traveling here today with his brother.”
“For a minute I thought you did, because you took Duke Rafferty into Worth’s office immediately,” Brogan said.
“When Duke Rafferty walked into the room, I realized he was my mate, and I wanted to speak to him alone,” Aleksander stated quickly. The room was so silent, Aleksander jumped a little when the air conditioning kicked on.
Brogan lifted a hand and turned his head away as if he couldn’t bear to look at Aleksander. “I’m sorry,whatdid you just say?”
“I apologize for not being more forthcoming about my sexuality, and I know that it’s been a topic of conversation for some time, but I never said I was straight. It was an assumption that I chose not to correct.”
Jumping to his feet, Brogan’s eyes met Aleksander’s, and they were bright with fury. “I’ve been your best fucking friend since we were teenagers. How could you keep that from me? What else don’t I know about you? I mean how the fuck did you think I would react? I’m gay!”
“I know that, but I couldn’t at first. Not while we were at Court Ethelin. My father could barely stand me as it was, and if he knew, I would’ve been out. I’d probably be dead by now.”
