“This potion is frustrating the hell out of our sorcerers. They’ve never seen the like, and Elf’s blood is reacting to it uniquely, but I’ve never met a group of people more determined,” Aleksander commented.
Chrysander lifted the bottle to his lips and finished off his drink while he watched Ellery sprinting over to bounce the ball off his head. He was worried about what Ellery was feeling and could almost see the serene expression he wore when he got overwhelmed. His own feelings were impossible to calculate, but he was weary of being without Ellery, and every day he missed him more.
* * *
Imperial Duke Damian Draconis waited to make sure his twin was inside before he approached the dragon panting in the D’Vaire backyard. For hours he’d chased after the ball thrown to him, and Damian hoped they’d helped Ellery keep his dragon under control by expending some excess energy. Ellery noticed him walking toward him and loped over to greet him.
“Hey Elf,” he said as he petted his magnificent face. “Did you have fun?”
The beast nodded, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth. Damian laughed at the silly look on such an elegant dragon.
“I need to talk to you. Actually, I want to be sure both you and your dragon are listening. I have some things to say to you and I want you to you know, I’m as serious as death. It feels like we’ve been worried for you from the start. Shit Elf, I wasn’t sleeping at night wondering if you were going to survive your shift. All I could see was you being torn apart and my brother succumbing to heartsickness. He’s my twin. We’ve never spent a day apart, and I could tell from his face how captivated he was by you the moment you met. It was probably the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life.
“You were mad. I know you were. All you asked for was our belief in you and as much as we tried, we couldn’t honestly do that. It’s not that we didn’t think you were strong enough, we just thought it was something Fate wouldn’t allow. No hybrid had done it before. I think the consensus was, we would’ve preferred if you were simply an elf. That’s not what you wanted, though. You yearned for dragonflight and there was that irritated glint in your eye whenever we’d refer to you as Elf. His Majesty wanted to be a fucking dragon. I was so confused. Fate never makes mistakes, so why were you there in Chrys’s life just to die on us a few weeks later? Boy did you shock the shit out of us.” Damian couldn’t help the wry smile at his utter disbelief the moment Ellery became the beast in front of him for the first time. That day he’d been a wreck beforehand and had nearly pissed his pants in fright. Not a great state of affairs for one of the most revered dukes in the realm.
“You didn’t let us down, and we aren’t going to do that to you either. Whoever did this, wewillfind them. No matter how long it takes. No matter how much distance we need to travel. This potion inside you, it’s eating you up slowly, and these crazy sorcerers, they’re going to fix you. But in the meantime, I need you to be strong. Chrys, he deserves to be mated to the man he wants. The hybrid, not a full blood dragon. I know the name Elf annoys you, but that’s who you are to me and the rest of us. The Draconis Elf. The only elf to ever fly as a dragon. I need that elf. We all do. You’re special and unique and Elf, you worked damn hard to be. That’s why none of us ever wants anyone to overlook your accomplishments. That’s why we call you Elf. It’s why we always will. So, you remember that strength you found to become a dragon, and now you use it to fight him. Otherwise he’ll destroy you. Tell that beast of yours I demand he give you back to us. Chrys needs you, he can’t be mated to just your dragon side. It’ll devastate him, and he’ll wind up nothing more than an empty shell too stubborn to give in to heartsickness. He’s too dedicated to his duties to even allow himself the release of death.”
Damian rested his hand on Ellery’s head, and the dragon’s golden eyes slid closed as he stood stock still. “And he’s going to be out here in a few seconds, so I have to wrap this up. Don’t you worry too much over Zane. Tiri’s got him and he’s healing. I almost slapped him into next week when he started blaming himself. I don’t have to ask you what you think. I know you’d never even for a moment suspect him. Would you?”
Ellery shook his head dramatically from side to side, pulling another smile from Damian. “Elf, you’re in a battle where there can only be one victor. It’s either dragon or hybrid. We’re going to do everything we can to help you, but you need to stay on the attack. Your beast is aggressive, so you must be too. Okay?”
A dragon tongue licked Damian’s cheek. “That’s nasty, Elf.” His Majesty didn’t seem to care, because he did it a second time, so Damian pushed his face gently away. “Save that shit for Chrys.”
“Save what shit for Chrys?” his twin asked from behind him.
“Are you trying to sneak up on me?”
“Why? Are you doing something you shouldn’t?”
“Yes, I’m being assaulted by a dragon and his scratchy tongue,” Damian countered as Chrysander leaned into Ellery’s side and one wing came around him in this strange facsimile of a hug thing that the pair did. He’d waited for centuries for Chrysander to find his other half and even with Ellery stuck in dragon form, it warmed him to see the pair in sync.
“Ell’s free to do whatever he wants.”
“How about you save your tongue luvin’ for Chrys?” Damian asked Ellery, which earned him a third stripe of dragon saliva on his face. Backing up, Damian decided the only tactic which would save him was to stay out of range.
“What were you doing out here with my mate anyway?” his astute brother wondered.The damn man always was too inquisitive, Damian thought.
“I was watching him pant after the little exercise he got playing with that ball.”
Ellery growled, which Damian took to mean he didn’t like him turning three hours of running into a “little exercise.” Chrysander turned his body and wrapped his arms around Ellery’s neck. He leaned his face against Ellery, and a little part of Damian broke at the sight. This was the best they could do under the circumstances. For two people in love, it had to be absolute hell.
“Ignore my idiot brother, Ell,” Chrysander crooned to him. Damian had to get away from the pair before he did something mortifying like start bawling over what had been done to them. Without a word, Damian turned on his heel and headed to Aleksander’s mansion. He needed a damn drink, then he was going to offer whatever help he could to Sorcery D’Vaire. This nightmare had to end.
Chapter 20
“Where do we begin?” Skeleton Lord Ducarius Daray asked. Like Alaric, he had his cloak on and was ready to go to Europe to track down the wizard that poisoned the Council ruler.
“According to Chand, Jael Giles is a troublemaker. We know where his home is, we went there when we were searching for those missing resurrected warlocks,” Skeleton Lord Cassius Daray replied.
Albrecht nodded under his hood. “I remember the place we teleported.”
Alaric imagined the entire trip was etched forever in Albrecht’s mind. They’d thought they were tracking down some criminals and instead, Albrecht had learned the truth about his horrible past. All five men standing with Alaric were once skeletons—stripped of their humanity by necromancers and of their memories by a dark warlock. Slowly the evil they’d been forced to commit was resurfacing in their minds.
They were forced to kill innocents, and Alaric would do anything to help them overcome the demands of their former captors. He understood all too well how excited each of them were to start this journey to discover who hurt Ellery. Not only was it an honorable quest but it was also a way to give back to the Council who’d fully embraced Alaric’s army of undead assassins.
“Go and send us a picture so we can follow you,” Alaric ordered.
Without a word, Albrecht shimmered away. Seconds later, the phone in Alaric’s hand vibrated and he received the photo. The men around him yanked the hoods of their cloaks over their eyes and disappeared. Alaric did the same and moments later, he was standing in the large yard of an old castle that was beautifully kept. Since there was no one around, he allowed his invisibility to drop and his men followed suit.
