Page 26 of Heart of the High King
“I’m your superior.”
“I’m not trying to fight with you, Sully. You could’ve easily handled this, but you decided to give the task to me. I don’t even know why.”
“Because I don’t have time to be someone’s buddy, Paunchy. I have Father breathing down my neck, wondering when we’re coming home. He’s at the house trying to run a court without any help.”
“Then let’s go home.”
“Why can’t you understand how important it is for us to have allies?”
“I text more with Aleksander than I speak to his face. I can do that in Virginia, Sully.”
“You do have a point.”
“We can come back in a couple of weeks. We’ll know better if I can stay friendly with D’Vaire, and we can be home doing what needs to be done.”
Sullivan walked to the closet and pulled out his suitcase. “Good, we can go for breakfast to say our farewells, so this doesn’t seem abrupt. We don’t want anyone thinking there’s an emergency at Kestle. I will talk to Kendrick and make sure things are good there, but I don’t want to continue playing nice with a brother who abandoned us and sees no problem living in a home with a bunch of queers and freaks.”
“Aleksander says they like being freaks.”
“He should. It’s no secret why he’s the leader of them. That dragon of his? And the blue hair? Ridiculous.”
With a frown over Sullivan’s words, Rafferty glanced at his screen and found a new text from Aleksander.
You okay? I didn’t mean to offend you. I just see great potential in our friendship. I think we can get past the awkward stuff. We just need to be a team.
It was a mistake to let those words make him happy, but there was promise in their rapport. Admitting to himself that he was going to miss D’Vaire and being around its High King, he hoped the next time he would handle everything better.
∞∞∞
Aleksander was still disappointed a week later that Rafferty had already returned to Virginia, but he’d never let on to him. The D’Vaires weren’t so lucky, and he complained to whoever was around with great frequency. It wasn’t purposeful; he just couldn’t keep it inside. With barely any time with his mate before he was scurrying back home, Aleksander was told there hadn’t been an emergency. Kendrick was equally baffled as he’d had a tiny visit with Sullivan too, so they were all left wondering why.
It wasn’t a question he posed to Rafferty though—he didn’t want to give the wary man any reason to pull away. So, Aleksander spent much of his day texting with him. They spoke of mundane things as they ventured through their daily routines. Rafferty trained with weapons often, and it appeared most of his life was tightly controlled by King Kestle. There was one television, and Rafferty’s father kept it tuned to old movies. The man hated news programs, so Rafferty tried to keep up with books but again, the ones brought into the house were approved by either his father or brother.
It was an arrangement Aleksander understood as his parent had exerted the same restrictions on him and his brothers growing up. Aching for Rafferty, who was being deprived of so much, Aleksander also wanted to go to Court Kestle and smash some faces in for forcing his mate to live under those conditions.
Setting aside his desire for vengeance, Aleksander got comfortable on the sofa in his suite and pulled out his phone. With the three-hour time difference, it was getting late for Rafferty, but the man didn’t sleep much. Confessing that he found it hard to settle at night, if Aleksander had to venture a guess, he would say it had to do with the dragon that rarely got released.
Whatcha up to, Rafe?
No one’s called me that in over a century.
Want me to stop?
No, it’s fine.
You didn’t answer my question.
I’m reading. I wanted to know more than the primer given to us when we arrived explained, so Sullivan found one at the library that is supposed to have extensive information on Council structure. You’re in it.
Aleksander grabbed his beer from the coffee table and although he was by himself, he rolled his eyes.The irony is, I could give a shit less about my role in Council structure. I have a family to keep happy, which is how I wound up roped into things like the advisory panel.
Isn’t that by invitation of Their Majesties?
Yep, and they’re family so I couldn’t say no, but the reality is I don’t want to take the time to become politically savvy. I prefer the business side of raising money for D’Vaire.
They’re family? How?
We’ve been through a lot together and love grew between us. That’s the best kind of family to have. Chrys and Elf as well as the entire royal family are incredible.
