“That’s it, you no longer get to talk to Zane. His bad habit of blaming himself is rubbing off on you, and I really can’t deal with this shit coming from you,” Damian snarled from Chrysander’s other side.
“Dame, I did hire him.”
“Did Fate give you the gift of foresight?”
Chrysander glared. “I’m a dragon, I don’t have that ability.”
“Then with all due respect, Your Majesty, shut the fuck up about hiring Wesley. We may never know why he chose this route. He showed no inclination to explain himself, but it’s on him. It washisplan andheset it in motion. That wizard was all kinds of fucked up, but he didn’t even intend for this to happen.”
“Chrys, your brother’s right. This is Wesley’s crime. He’s the only one that should pay for it,” Drystan said. “Although if that wizard were Council, I would see that he was brought up on charges too, but I can still sleep at night knowing this crime won’t be repeated. I hope Oklin has learned to be more responsible with his fucking potions.”
Chrysander shoved aside his guilt, remorse, and all the other dark emotions inside him. It wasn’t going to go away that easily, but time would heal his wounds. “Can you believe I have a Consilium wizard to thank for helping us solve this thing?”
“What are you going to do, send him a note?” Conley teased.
“You know, I think I will. I’d send one to the Arch Wizard too if I didn’t think it would wind up biting Oklin in the ass.”
“Let Oklin get bit in the ass. Maybe the Arch Wizard will do more to police his damn sorcerers,” Drystan growled. “If he enforced his fucking laws, we wouldn’t have these guys taking money from evil dragons to make potions.”
“You may be right. If I send a very official letter thanking the Consilium for their help in solving this crime, I can maybe get the Arch Wizard to do something to keep his wizards from doing this in the future. And I do it without starting a war between us. I’ll ask Ell about it first. I want his okay on something like this.”
“It’s been what, two weeks now? Is he able to keep up with anything going on in the Council?” Conley asked.
“Zane works hard to make sure he can read the bills. We use a tablet with a big font so he can see it and Zane scrolls for him. Sorcery D’Vaire offered to come up with a different solution, but I want them solely focused on keeping Ell from being eaten alive by his dragon.”
“Any progress?” Conley asked gently.
Chrysander let out a heartfelt sigh. “No, not yet.”
“They’ll get there,” Drystan assured him.
“The one thing I cannot afford is to give up hope. I believe they’ll fix him too,” Chrysander replied. “Speaking of which, I need to relay this whole thing to him. I should head back to D’Vaire.”
“Hey, if you need anything, let us know,” Drystan offered.
“Absolutely.” Chrysander strode out of the interview area, and Damian arranged for Dra’Kaedan to meet them at the magical teleportation area closest to the Order of the Fallen Knights Headquarters. The Grand Warlock was waiting for them when they arrived and seconds later, Chrysander had a white dragon racing toward him. He spread his arms wide and wrapped them around Ellery as best he could the second he was close enough to touch. Chrysander held his tears at bay—they always threatened when he saw Ellery—and reminded himself for easily the thousandth time that someday he’d have his mate close to him as an elf again.
* * *
One month after Wesley Draconis slipped a potion into the coffee mug of Emperor Ellery Draconis, Skeleton Lord Gavrael D’Vaire walked into one of the small conference rooms in the Sentinel Brotherhood’s headquarters. Just behind him was the man who taught Gavrael what it meant to love—his mate, Skeleton Lord Gedeon D’Vaire.
“We got here first,”Gedeon said to him through the mindlink every pair of sentinels whose life forces were bound was given.
“We had a shorter walk, Geddy, and there are still five minutes until our appointed meeting time.”
“That’s my Gav, always a stickler for details. How do you think we should pass the time?”
Gavrael strolled over and pulled a chair out for his other half.“By choosing our seats.”
“I can think of something far more interesting to do than that.”
“You know very well sex will have to wait until after your bath this evening.”
“I love you and your schedules.”
A rap sounded on the door; then it opened to reveal Juris Knight Mitchell Brooks. His smile was bright as he entered and greeted Gavrael and Gedeon. As the Skeleton Lords in charge of overseeing the Shadow Lords who normally decided punishments, the D’Vaire men had their work occasionally overlap with that of the fallen knights, making them familiar with the small number of Juris Knights. Mitchell was easy to smile and friendly in addition to being good at his job.
Only seconds after Mitchell found the seat he preferred, Juris Knight Pierson Murphy arrived. More reserved than the other Juris Knight, Gavrael found Pierson to be an incredible resource. His brain was practically a computer, and he could rattle off laws and precedents easier than anyone Gavrael knew. The fallen knight offered a quick hello to Gavrael and Gedeon, then turned to Mitchell.
