“I wouldn’t dream of taking the honor away from our newly elected president,” Grigori returned.
“Did you all drink an annoyance potion before you walked in here?” Aleksander demanded. The room filled with chuckles.
“You are not only the President of Sorcery D’Vaire, you’re a dragon king,” Dra’Kaedan countered. “It makes sense that you’d be the one to let our emperors know. Please don’t start your new job by not fulfilling your duties.”
Aleksander growled low in his throat. “Fine, but I still think this whole president thing is a bit much.”
“Personally, I think we need Sorcery D’Vaire uniforms,” Renny stated.
“You can work on your costume ideas when we fix Elf, how about that?” Aleksander hoped by then Renny would find some better use for his time.
“Consider it done,” the Grand Warlock Familiar replied.
“All right, this meeting is adjourned. Let’s get to work on fixing our Elf.”
Chapter 26
They’d hit the four-month mark of being apart, Chrysander noted as he shifted on his pile of pillows in Aleksander’s backyard. He had his laptop on a portable desk and part of a dragon head with pointy elven ears resting on his thigh.
“Let’s check my email and see how full it is,” Chrysander told Ellery as he clicked on the icon that would bring it up. It was early afternoon and the sun was warm on his face. With no surprise, Chrysander found there were plenty of messages waiting for him.
He clicked on the first one that interested him. “Harley’s finishing up work on our condo and hey, there are pictures.”
The dragon shifted so he could see the screen better as Chrysander flipped through them.
“The place looks great. I’m so glad you guys won the fight over having events at home—the only way we’ll ever have guests again is if you invite them. Your solarium is going to be amazing once you fill it with flowers. I hope you don’t mind me making the change to add it without talking to you. I just wanted you to have a place where you could garden whenever you wanted.”
Ellery nuzzled his shoulder and Chrysander patted him.
“I guess you’re okay with it,” he remarked with a chuckle. “Larissa and Harley designed some amazing furniture pieces. The one thing we now have in abundance is your dragonskin. I love all that white and black together. I’m excited about living there.”
Once Chrysander was satisfied that he had given Ellery enough time to view the pictures, he returned to the long list of messages.
“I was hoping to get something from the Arch Wizard. I did include my email address in my note to him, but I guess he has nothing to say to me. Hard to tell if he’s done anything with the information I gave him—he’s rarely if ever in public, and the Consilium isn’t open with the press. Oh, here’s a fun one. It’s a message from Jeremiah.”
Chrysander clicked on it so Ellery’s former dragon trainer’s email could be viewed. It was much the same as the other messages he’d sent Ellery since he had become trapped in his dragon. Jeremiah wished him the best and told him to remain strong. He reminded Ellery that he was the only elf to become a dragon, and he had an incredible spirit capable of everything. The dragon trainer was a kind young man, and Chrysander knew it meant a lot to Ellery to hear from him often.
“He’s so nice. I’ll reply a bit later after I check all this crap. I’ll send him your thanks and your love, okay?”
Ellery did the nuzzling thing against Chrysander’s shoulder for the second time. Turning his head, Chrysander leaned against his dragon mate and yearned for the ability to truly touch him. Chrysander set aside his despair and returned his attention to his computer. There were messages about upcoming Council bills which he read along with Ellery. Not once had Ellery skipped a day where he bypassed keeping up-to-date with their jobs.
Dra’Kaedan set up a magical screen on the outside of the office building that allowed Zane to enlarge any document Ellery needed to see. It was a step up from just viewing them on the computer. Together, the Ducblanc and Ellery were doing their best to adapt to the circumstances. Ellery couldn’t do more than nod, grunt, or growl over the bills, but at least they had some idea how he was feeling about a topic. The D’Vaires had done everything they could to make this whole thing easier.
Chrysander could find no fault with their home or the remarkable people who lived at D’Vaire. He’d grown attached to each one and enjoyed being able to spend time with them. He just wished it were under better circumstances. In the comfortable tent designed for him, Chrysander was plagued with horrible dreams.
It’d been a few weeks since they started, and they kept him from ever feeling fully rested. In them he was stuck for eternity by himself with Ellery trapped in his dragon. Not only did he wake up shaking and scared, it filled him with guilt because he didn’t want to doubt the efforts of Sorcery D’Vaire. He could soothe himself with the knowledge that Ellery’s elven side was no longer being sacrificed, but he still couldn’t have a conversation with him.
That always brought him back to how their relationship had started so many months ago. He had been so incredibly stupid not to follow elven tradition and have their ceremony right away. Instead, he’d allowed politics and supposed expectations of being an emperor dictate the timeline. He hadn’t listened to his heart when Wesley insisted he needed a full six weeks to plan something worthy of their titles.
Why that wasn’t the first clue that his office manager was going to impede their matebond, Chrysander didn’t know, but there were times when he wanted to punch himself in the face for how idiotic he’d acted. Wesley had probably hoped it would never take place. Luckily for Chrysander, Ellery was willing to be patient with him and barely took him to task for the delay. All that time he could have been with Ellery was now lost forever. If Sorcery D’Vaire didn’t figure out the puzzle of returning Ellery to him, it would always haunt Chrysander.
“You want to know something, Ell?” he asked the beast who’d returned to resting his head on Chrysander’s thigh. The dragon lifted his gaze to Chrysander’s. “I wish it was me stuck instead of you. I’d give anything…do anything to switch places with you. I would sacrifice myself a million times over to save you from this. I want you to know that.”
Ellery narrowed his golden eyes, then growled low in his throat. It was a menacing sound which meant he didn’t appreciate his words, but Chrysander could no longer keep them inside.
“I’m sorry. I know you don’t agree, but I’m yours. How could I not want to spare you all this? I love you, Ell. I always will.”
Chrysander wrapped an arm around Ellery’s neck as the dragon pressed their faces together. A teardrop slipped down Chrysander’s cheek but they both ignored it. The reality of their predicament was slowly tearing Chrysander apart. He managed to hold himself together and fight each day because he had to make sure he was the kind of man who always made Ellery proud. Without that motivation, he doubted he would be able to rise from his bed each morning. It was ironic that the dragon next to him was both the thing devastating Chrysander and giving him strength.
