Page 55 of Worthy Promises
“Your Excellency, I will check with His Grace and see if that date and time work for him,” Oliver said, already formulating believable lies in his head as options for declining. There was no way Oliver wanted to spend an evening with his leader, and he refused to expose Worthington to the greedy man.
“Do not be absurd. Of course he will be available, I am a Council leader. The purpose of this formal dinner is to coordinate the new relationship between Count Scandiacus and the High Draconis Court of D’Vaire.”
Oliver couldn’t believe the temerity of the man and found it ridiculous when he referred to himself in third person. “Your Excellency, my brother and I are joining the D’Vaires, not the entire Scandiacus population. My matebond has nothing to do with your title. Fate paired me with His Grace, and that is our private business. I apologize, but we will be unable to attend on Wednesday.”
“You misunderstand, Mr. Toivonen. Fate made me your leader, and it is not your place to do anything but obey my orders. Now, I will see you and His Grace on Wednesday. Fate has favored the snowy owls with a connection to the D’Vaires, and I will not allow you to stand in the way of that. They have connections and wealth that will be beneficial to every snowy owl, myself included.”
“Your Excellency, as I previously stated, my brother and I are becoming D’Vaires. We are proud to be snowy owls, but our connection to my mate’s family is private. We are not available on Wednesday. Good evening.”
Without allowing the rude Count to get in a word of complaint or argument, Oliver hung up. His feathers ruffled and his owl angry, Oliver marched to his bed and zipped his empty suitcase shut. The other side of the veil would have to solidly freeze and stop allowing souls to pass before Oliver would allow Count Scandiacus near Worthington to further his personal goals or weasel his way into a meeting the High Kings or any other D’Vaire.
∞∞∞
Despite Oliver and Orion being teleported to D’Vaire for a couple of hours during the week, Worth was desperate for his mate’scompany. Hopefully, Oliver hadn’t heard again from Count Scandiacus. Their phone call on Sunday had had Oliver fuming for days. Worth had soothed him as best he could with words and had inwardly glowed at Oliver’s protectiveness. Oliver’s immediate defense of him and his family was swoon worthy.
It was Friday, and Orion and Oliver were set to arrive soon for a D’Vaire weekend. Worth had already donned a pair of owl wings and, with some help from Aleksander, had coaxed Asteria into wearing a tiny set of her own.
Although she’d only cautiously allowed them to secure the Velcro straps, she was now sitting proudly on Worth’s shoulder, showing off her new appendages. It was adorable, and Worth was glad his little pet was pleased.
“Now I’m wondering how we’re going to get the wings off of her,” Aleksander mused from Worth’s side.
“Well, Worth’s other half is an owl, so it’s not really weird if she keeps wearing them whenever she wants,” Rafe commented.
“She’s nearly as attached to Owliver as I am,” Worth remarked.
Aleksander grinned and reached up to offer Worth an affectionate shoulder-squeeze. “We’re all fucking happy you have Oliver.”
“Worth should’ve left the house more,” Brogan stated as he and Dra’Kaedan joined them in the living room.
“Please, you can’t say shit. I walked up and knocked on the door,” the Grand Warlock retorted. “Not that you were even home that day.”
“I know that, baby, but Oliver met Jeremiah many times before Worth finally got his shit together.”
Worth rolled his eyes. “I went to opening night for every one of Jeremiah’s shows. It’s hardly my fault Owliver waited until after I left to show up. He’s not a man to waste time, Isuspect it was purposeful. Oliver wanted to speak to Jeremiah without crowds of people surrounding the artist of the night.”
“If you’d stayed instead of running out the door at the first opportunity who knows how long ago you would’ve met Oliver,” Brogan argued.
Irritated that he’d missed out on the opportunity to meet Oliver sooner, Worth scowled. “What do you propose I do about that now?”
“Nothing you can do,” Brogan replied. “But if you’d listened to everyone, we’d have Oliver and Orion here permanently already. You wouldn’t be sleeping alone or feeling lonely any longer. We love you; we want you happy.”
“The important thing is that Worth and Oliver know each other now,” Aleksander stated pragmatically while Worth continued to frown. It was unfortunate that he hadn’t met Oliver earlier, but he couldn’t worry about the past. His goal was to get to know everything about Oliver and soon share every aspect of his life with the remarkable owl—being together would please both man and dragon.
“I wish Oliver would hurry the hell up and text someone so I could go get him and Orion,” Dra’Kaedan muttered.
“Because you want him reunited with Worth or because you want to herd everyone to dinner so you can have some of that owl-shaped cake, Squirt?” Aleksander asked.
“It can be for both reasons, Skyscraper,” Dra’Kaedan retorted, his navy gaze narrowed.
A blur of white rushed into the room, and Worth’s mood changed from irritation with himself to joy as Zarasha came to a stop in front of them.
“How do I look?” she asked with a twirl. For their D’Vaire weekend, they’d chosen an owl theme, and Daravius had outdone himself with Zarasha’s outfit. Inspired by Rorie’s love of onesie pajamas, Daravius had designed a pair for Zarasha withlong lace at the cuffs and an adorable set of wings made from wire and ruffles. To keep it uniquely Zarasha, it was trimmed with purple-and-hot pink ribbons.
“Stunning,” Worth answered. “Give us another spin.”
Happy to oblige, Zarasha spun in a quick circle as the men around her smothered her in compliments.
“Hugs now,” Zarasha demanded. With a chuckle, Worth embraced her, careful not to crush her wings, then let go so the others could take a turn offering her affection. Used to his shifting positions, Asteria balanced herself easily, and Zarasha complimented thellerka’irroon her pretty costume. “When is Orion coming?”
