Page 42 of Worthy Promises
“Owliver, it’s about time you arrived,” Worthington said.
Amused at the sexy pink dragon grinning at him, Oliver rested his palm on his brother’s back. “Worthington, this is my brother, Orion.”
As Brogan had done, Worthington lowered himself so he was closer to Orion’s height. Worthington held out a hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Orion.”
Orion looked up at Oliver with confusion. Oliver was about to explain to his sibling that Worthington just wanted to shake his hand, but a blur of black and pink charged forward and landed on the Duke Argent’s shoulder. With a gasp, Oliver realized he inexplicably recognized the strange animal found nowhere on Earth. Above his bed was a Fae-inspired painting by Jeremiah, and on the canvas was the same little animal with the big, heavily lashed eyes sitting between two tall gray trees.
“So much for Aleksander holding on to you until Owliver and Orion got inside the house,” Worthington muttered as he lifted a hand and rubbed her little head between her slightly curled ears.
“I-I’ve seen her before,” Oliver managed.
A furrow appeared between Worthington’s brows that took nothing away from his beauty. “How is that possible? She is a replica of a Fae animal called allerka’irro. Noble Protector Drekkoril D’Vaire of the Fae sacrificed a tiny sliver of his soul to give her to me. She is one of a kind.”
“She’s so pretty. I like kitties,” Orion said. “What’s her name?”
“Asteria,” Worthington replied, never taking his eyes off Oliver. “You can pet her if you’d like. She’s quite friendly.”
“Unless she considers you a threat to Worth,” Brogan drawled. “Then she morphs into a lion-sized cat and will eat you.”
Dra’Kaedan glared at Brogan. “Wow, what a great thing to say to a kid.”
“What? Orion isn’t a threat to Worth. He’ll be fine.”
Ignoring the byplay, Worthington kept his gaze locked on Oliver as Orion lifted a trembling hand to pet Asteria.
“Brogan’s right. She won’t hurt you, Orion,” Worthington promised.
The littlellerka’irrosniffed Orion and preened as he touched the long ruff around her head. Orion grinned and shuffled closer to Worthington and Asteria.
“I have a painting done by the Magister Duke,” Oliver explained. “Your Asteria is in it. I wasn’t sure why I had to have that particular painting, but…well, I guess it makes sense now.”
“Of course it does,” Worthington replied, his confusion disappearing and his smile reappearing.
“I never imagined I’d actually lay eyes on anything close to a Fae animal.”
“Wait until you meet the Faedrekans,” Brogan said as Orion stepped away from Worthington and Asteria.
A man with a startling resemblance to Worthington appeared behind him. The only differences between the two men were the thick layer of navy hair at the newcomer’s nape and his dark eyes of black and blue with the distinctive silver and gold rings around his irises.
“Oh, good, Asteria didn’t scare anyone,” said the man Oliver recognized as High King Aleksander D’Vairedraconis.
Worthington rose to his feet, and Oliver noted that an inch or two separated him and the High King in height. “You’ve done an abysmal job caring for her,” Worthington retorted. Oliver was impressed with the way Asteria never bobbled on the Duke Argent’s shoulder as he switched positions.
“Nothing was going to keep her from meeting your mate,” the High King replied. “Would you be so kind as to introduce me to him and his brother?”
“Fine,” Worthington said. “Orion and Oliver, this is Aleksander.”
Aleksander stuck a hand out toward Oliver. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine, Your Highness,” Oliver responded as they shook hands.
“Did you tell him to use titles to annoy me?” Aleksander asked his brother with one dark brow raised.
“No, but you deserve it since you failed at the single duty I assigned you,” Worthington retorted.
With a massive eye-roll, Aleksander ignored the Duke Argent and bent to greet Orion. “That looks like a pretty cool book you have there,” Aleksander said to Orion.
Orion had his arms locked around it. “I’m excited that Oliver’s mate is a dragon. A pink one!”
