Page 19 of Worthy Promises
“I didn’t think to ask him anything,” Noirin said. “I don’t know why. He must’ve been around when they died. I don’t remember him evernotbeing around.”
“My first clear memory is of him carrying me out of Boian’s office. I can’t remember why I was in there, but he was telling me everything was going to be okay. I was crying. I think I missed you,” Dravyn told his sister.
“In all these centuries, you’ve never said a word,” Noirin commented.
“We made a pact to essentially walk away from Court Ethelin and not look back,” Dravyn responded.
“Wait,” Worth insisted, his mind spinning. Not once had it occurred to Worth that Drogo was harboring information about the past, but Drogo’s allegiance had been to Boian. If King Ethelin hadn’t wanted something discussed, then Drogo would’ve kept silent. Now that Drogo served another King, perhaps he’d be able to tell the D’Vaires some of the secrets he’d kept. “Wait one fucking minute. If Drogo knows about your folks, what does he know about our mothers? What the hell is wrong with us that we never asked?”
“He was working for our father my whole life. I did ask him,” Somerly countered. “He told me he couldn’t tell me anything.”
“Which doesn’t mean my dad doesn’t know stuff,” Lex stated. “You know how he is. He’s, like, the noblest man ever. He wouldn’t have broken Boian’s confidences while he worked for him. Dad might still think it’s not appropriate to gossip about him, though I think you deserve to know about your mothers and what happened to Noir and Dray’s folks.”
“What are you doing?” Somerly asked Lex.
Lex wiggled his phone between his fingers. “Calling him. He’s an extended part of this family, and I’m going to invite him to our meeting. Okay, Aleksander?”
“He doesn’t have to drop everything to come; we can meet with him at his convenience,” Aleksander said. “I don’t want him to feel like he needs to go against his code of honor though.”
Nodding, Lex called his father to invite him over. “Dra’Kaedan, can you pick him and Mom up?”
Within a minute, Dra’Kaedan had returned with Drogo and his mate, Emmeline, and Aleksander found the pair seats.
“What’s going on?” Drogo asked. He was dark haired like his son, but his flat gaze was markedly different from Lex’s friendly brown eyes. Worth could read Lex’s expression easily, but he’d never decoded how to reliably tell what was on Drogo’s mind with a mere glance.
“I want you to know, you don’t have to answer anything, but we thought of a few questions about your time at Court Ethelin,” Aleksander stated, back in his own chair.
“What’s taken you so long to ask?” Drogo asked. “I’ve been waiting for this since I arrived at our Council. I don’t think I have every answer you want, and you might not like the ones I do, but Boian had no right to keep any of you in the dark about everything.”
Perhaps it was Drogo’s unswerving loyalty to Boian that had kept Worth’s mind from even wondering what secrets the Duke had held onto, or maybe he couldn’t picture himself interrogating the man. Whatever the reason, Worth and his family had the chance now to learn something about the past, and he refused to squander it.
He was suddenly eager to have any information about the past he’d thought long dead and forgotten. However, this was Aleksander’s court and Killian’s idea, so he’d wait for his moment to start framing questions for Drogo.
“Where do you want to start?” Aleksander asked Killian.
“I just wanted to get the ball rolling. How, what, where…that’s up to you guys.”
“Good, let’s start with the obvious,” Worth replied immediately, jumping at the opportunity that had been handed to him on a platter. “Do you know who gave birth to Aleksander and me? We had the DNA test done; we know it was the same woman.”
Drogo blew out a breath. “Her name is Ismay.”
Aleksander’s eyes widened, and Worth shared his shock. “I wasn’t expecting you to have that information. We knew she was Noirin and Dravyn’s mother’s sister,” Aleksander said.
“The story is a little complicated. Duke Sorin—that’s Noirin and Dravyn’s father and Boian’s brother—he met a woman called Onora who was his mate,” Drogo explained. “Boian was obsessed with her and convinced that somehow he could persuade her to sleep with him.”
“Another man’s mate?” Saura asked, looking appalled.
“Yes, that didn’t bother him. He and Sorin never got along well. I have no idea why he made the man a Duke. But Boian never consulted with anyone, so I had to figure out a lot of things on my own. I don’t know how Sorin met Onora or what court she came from. After they were mated, her sister came to visit. That’s Ismay. She was a drakeling. That was a long time ago, and there weren’t things like legal ages to bed someone.”
“She was a teenager?” Worth asked, feeling rather sorry for the young woman who had likely been manipulated by Boian. When Worth’s father wanted something, he refused to consider obstacles in his path.
“My guess is she was fifteen or sixteen,” Drogo replied. “The one and only time I saw her on her first visit, she was playing with her dolls in the Great Hall. Boian seduced her and sent her home when she got on his nerves. She returnedbecause she was pregnant. Soon after she had Aleksander, she was shuffled into a cart with a large sum of gold and sent on her way.”
“That’s horrible,” Saura commented.
“I learned most of these details after the fact, mind you. Ismay’s departure changed Onora. For a time, Onora was content with begging him to bring Ismay back in private. She agreed to his demand of only allowing you kids to play together when he was around, and Onora never revealed Aleksander’s parentage to either Noir or Dray. I believe she thought if she played his game, he would relent and allow Ismay to become an Ethelin. But when he decreed that Ismay was forbidden to return, Onora went from tolerating Boian to screaming at him like a banshee at mealtimes because she wanted her sister to have a chance to raise her son. If there’s one thing you don’t do, it’s embarrass him. It wasn’t long after that when Sorin and Onora died.”
“Do you think Boian murdered our parents?” Noirin asked, her violet gaze widening in shock.
