Page 37 of Killian
Kaedan hopped to his feet and propped his hands on his hips. “Do you think I did not already try that? Damn and blast, Chand, why must you share my preference for being buggered? We could see to each other without worry.”
Chander laughed harder. “Blame Fate. If she had not put Dravyn in Killian’s path, we could both have a Dwyer seeing to our needs.”
With a roll of his eyes, Killian shoved aside the unfamiliar sensation of nagging guilt at ignoring Dravyn’s letter, even if it was only for a few hours. “I would not bed either of you. Too headstrong by far. I have no wish to be ordered around as I’m taking a man.”
Grabbing a small cake from a tray, Kaedan lifted it and smiled. “I will not apologize for being headstrong.”
“Neither shall I,” Chander added.
“Good for you both, I already have much concern for your mates. Fate needs to take her time to match you. You need an opportunity to be shown the errors of your ways.”
“While I shall think about what words to use as I compose a letter to your Dravyn in case you should decide to pick up a correspondence with the man,” Kaedan replied. “He needs to be warned about what he is taking on.”
Unsure of everything regarding Dravyn and how to settle his soul after receiving the unopened letter, Killian shook his head at his friend and did not bother to offer a response. The future of his matebond was no more certain today than at any other point in the past century and a half.
Chapter 14
For several nights, Dravyn had snuck out of the modest home he shared with his family. In the three years that had passed since their escape from Castle Draconis, the D’Vaires had done their best to rebuild their lives. Thanks to Marcus’s decision to wipe away their land from the map, no one bothered them, and peace was slowly settling into Dravyn’s family. Both Zane and Marcus had pledged fealty to Aleksander, and His Highness had granted titles to Marcus and Noirin.
It went against draconic tradition and law to appoint a woman as a Duchess in her own right, but Aleksander paid no heed to what other dragons did. He refused to allow any formality in his household, and although he was present for every decision, he kept his distance from everyone. Aleksander no longer looked like the bedraggled man they’d found in the dungeon, but one only needed to look in his eyes to know he was far from the intrepid young Prince who had been kicked from his father’s land.
Dravyn gave his cousin plenty of space and focused on building a vast garden to feed their family and still have plenty leftover to sell. Since they wanted nothing to do with dragonkind, their buyers were human. Among their new allies,they passed the word that if anyone stumbled upon any rogue dragons searching for an escape from the lawlessness and cruelty that began with Imperial Duke Bernal’s rule, those men and women could find refuge with the D’Vaires.
Thus far, they had encountered none of their kind, and it pleased them. Dravyn thought immediately to write to Killian, but he had to be practical. They’d escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs and a few gold coins Zane and Marcus had pocketed. It was necessary to build a home and create a foundation for feeding themselves.
At night, as Dravyn lay on his pallet, he thought of Killian and wondered what to say to the man he’d met so long ago. As he weeded, watered, and cultivated vegetables and fruits, Dravyn rewrote a letter in his head countless times. When he finally put ink to paper, he’d gone with honesty and simplicity.
Killian the Dwyer,
Allow me to begin with an apology for any injury or worry I have caused by my long silence. It would take far too long to explain the circumstances of my life and my court on parchment, so I hope to someday stand in your presence again and tell you everything. I kept hidden the paper you gave me, and I am grateful for whatever impulse spurred me into that important action.
I know naught of magick and must confess that it causes both me and my dragon fear. However, I praise it too, for if you had not so cleverly produced this page, I would have no way to correspond with you. I have little in the way of grace or fancy words, so I will speak plainly, as it is my only choice.
Fate led me to you. I seek to honor that gift, but I understand if you prefer otherwise. Despite finding myself living now among my family, I have no confidants. I have told none of you. It is not because I feel shame. It is my fear that ifI boasted of the handsome man I met a century and a half ago, any words of a matebond would be a lie, for you may be unable to excuse my reticence and may have decided to be done with me.
I suppose my purpose in writing is to beg of you a second chance…perhaps to start anew as if we have just encountered each other and not so many years ago. The truth is, I yearn to know about you, your life, and anything else you wish to share with me. In turn, I will answer whatever questions you may have for me to the best of my ability.
I am undeserving of a response. This I know. But I dream of holding something you have touched and want desperately to learn aught of you. If my silence has caused you to firmly put our meeting into a closed book of history, I cannot say I blame you. Yet if you are tempted to write, I would ask that you send me correspondence at night lest I must explain to my family members how I have made a friend like you.
Yours,
Dravyn D’Vaire
He had received no response from Killian despite working in his garden until the sun gently rose above the horizon each morn. Exhausted, Dravyn would take off flying each afternoon and curl up in a nearby cave to nap. It was such a boon to have built a strong relationship with his beast.
Dravyn’s dragon had forgiven him for the lack of shifting during the long years when they had been stuck at Castle Draconis, and Dravyn thanked him daily by spreading his wings and soaring through the air. It pleased them both. Despite having a mate, his dragon remained more afraid of Killian and his magick than interested in building a relationship with the gorgeous dark-haired man.
Despite the terror rooted in his dragon’s heart, Dravyn believed that if Killian wished to communicate and they had the chance to learn about one another, his beast would eventually settle. Dravyn no longer believed magick was evil, as he’d once feared. Along with the other D’Vaires, Dravyn had vast experience with maliciousness, and it had nothing to do with whether the person was human, dragon, or gifted with magick.
Wickedness was rooted in the soul, or perhaps the heart, of those tempted to follow dark desires that harmed the world around them. In Dravyn’s experience, the only people he’d learned to distrust were his own kind. The D’Vaires didn’t have news traveling to the wide wooden door of their home daily, but the humans spoke of the ongoing travails of anyone caught in the path of dragons preying upon villages and people alike.
Thanks to men like Bernal, the earth was scorched by a century and a half of dragon-led terror. Dravyn oft wondered how many druids had died. Should he have apologized on behalf of those horrid dragons? Was his lack of apology the reason Killian had decided not to respond? Or had too much time passed for Killian to consider granting Dravyn an opportunity to know him?
With a heavy sigh, Dravyn gave his throbbing leg a break and lay between the rows of potatoes. He propped his head on his hands as he stared up at the stars bravely shining between clusters of clouds. Maybe he did not deserve a mate. It was not as if he’d offered the world much. He was free now to expand his garden and allow it to flourish, but how precious a gift was that beyond the food on their table that his sister prepared so deliciously?
While Aleksander had made him a Duke, Dravyn knew nothing of swordplay, so he was incapable of defending anyone. Nor could he offer any counsel. What did he know about anything? Very little. His life had consisted of hardly more thanservitude. And loneliness. Crushing loneliness so vast, Dravyn wondered if he lacked the ability to fill the gaping hole inside himself. Was it wrong to wish for someone at his side to talk to? A person who might share his interest in gardening? A person like Killian the Dwyer?
As if he’d summoned it, a tightly rolled scroll suddenly blocked Dravyn’s view of the night sky. Too stunned to even realize he was smiling, Dravyn lifted an arm and clutched it. The paper crunched in his fist, and he relaxed his fingers so swiftly for fear of crushing it, he nearly dropped it.
