“Does he feel different to you?”
“Yes. Once he was peaceful and his presence was reassuring. Now he is aggressive and only concerned with what he wants. He loves to fly, and he loves you. That is about the extent of his thinking. I hope someday he will once again warm me instead of exasperating me.”
“Well, he’s been pissing me off for the last six months.”
Ellery lifted his hands to Chrysander’s face and their lips met. The elf-dragon lowered Chrysander’s head to lean their foreheads together. Chrysander’s heart lurched because he understood Ellery’s time was running out.
“One rule, Chrys.”
“What?”
“Promise me we will have one rule.”
“I’ll promise you anything.”
Pulling away, Ellery’s eyes were filled with unshed tears as he extricated himself and stood. Chrysander wanted to drag him back against his chest and demand he stay, but it was useless. He sat and stared up at him, fighting against his own desire to weep.
“When I go…when I return to dragon form do not ever say good-bye, okay?”
“I won’t ever leave you, Ell.”
“Still, can you say ‘See you later’ or ‘I love you’? Never good-bye.”
“It’s a promise.”
Ellery didn’t get to respond; he ran to the other side of the changing shed and seconds later, a roar cut through the still air. Then a white dragon emerged and trotted over to Chrysander. “You had an hour this time, Ell. Plenty of time to talk to the sorcerers.”
He didn’t need to add that it wasn’t nearly enough for the two of them; they both knew that already.
* * *
Grand Warlock Dra’Kaedan D’Vaire walked into the conference room as several globes of the darkest magic exploded in the air. Curse words followed, and the dragons in the room all wore hangdog expressions that Dra’Kaedan had grown weary of months ago. Faced with what had become an epic battle, they were frustrated and tormented. He understood Chander’s guilt over his matebond—it was difficult to be with your own other half when you knew somewhere inside was the key to fixing Ellery so he could rejoin his.
But Dra’Kaedan also understood that without hope, there would be no progress. It was time to soothe some hurt and bandage their wounds. He grabbed a seat next to a yawning Brogan, who tugged him a little closer once he realized who was at his side. For years they’d been together now, and their love had only grown. It was up to them to give Chrysander and Ellery the same opportunity. His mother’s pep talk had helped for a bit, but they needed to be reminded of what was at stake.
“Okay, everybody. You ready to get started?” Aleksander asked. The D’Vaire King had taken to his new role as president with unsurprising aplomb. If there was ever a man meant to lead over a court, or anything else for that matter, it was Aleksander.
“One thing we learned this afternoon is that we have to give Elf the potion intravenously. His stomach cannot handle drinking it,” Vadimas stated.
“He threw up in his water dish,” Renny remarked with a disgusted face.
“At least it wasn’t on me,” Dra’Kaedan commented, and he mentally called each one of his family members who snickered asshats.
“Is getting nurses over here going to be a problem?” Brogan asked.
“No, we always have some available at the Spectra Wizardry during the day to handle collecting DNA or other experiments we have ongoing. It only takes a small amount of time to borrow one. I know it bothers you to allow strangers to visit, but I can assure you he or she will never be unsupervised,” Vadimas replied.
“I’m not going to make a fuss about it. This is about Elf, but I appreciate your assurance they will stay with someone while on our land.”
“I want more than an hour for him,” Dra’Kaedan commented.
“Chieftain Fen-Lynthi didn’t respond to Chrys’s request for blood, but we shouldn’t let that deter us. This potion is working, we just have to keep refining it,” Idris said.
“I agree. His side effects aren’t increasing exponentially when we up the dosage. I vote we move up in ten percent increments instead of five. It’s a faster route to giving them more time,” Dre’Kariston suggested.
“Is there anyone who has an argument for why we shouldn’t be more aggressive?” Aleksander asked.
No one said a word, much to Dra’Kaedan’s relief. They were going to give them enough time, no matter how long it took but the quicker they could manage it, the better.
