“Then you aren’t giving yourself enough credit. You have that in common with your mate.”
“I believe you must have a hard head as well.”
“I think it goes with the territory. As dukes we are used to leading and not allowing anyone but our king or emperor to question us. It can create quite a struggle inside when we take to hurting ourselves with dark thoughts or anxieties because even if everyone around us believes we’re wrong, we have a difficult time accepting anything but our own conscience.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“We’re family. Ask away.”
“Did you consider yourself slighted when Zane was chosen to guard Elf?”
Costas grinned. “Tiri, I wasn’t even in Vegas when that choice was made. How could I argue? If I had been, he still would’ve been picked to do his job. I’m the numbers guy, I don’t want to be bogged down with coordinating the other dukes or maintaining schedules. If Damian or Zane ask me to help them, I’m all for it, but my expertise has always been financial matters. Each duke has a specialty, and that’s mine.”
“I understand you’ve been with Chrysander and Damian since they became dukes.”
“Yep. One day I was the only black dragon in my court and the next, two twin brothers who’d just shifted asked for entry into my king’s castle. They weren’t even titled yet—that came later that evening. All they wanted was to get away from their parents and do their sacred duty.”
“Zane doesn’t speak of their parents.”
“Zane and I have never met them. Chrys and Damian haven’t seen them in centuries. Before we left Europe, they only visited less than a handful of times and only when they wanted something—usually money. They always requested their audience be with their sons only. I’m sure they don’t consider us their sons’ family.”
Tiri wrinkled his nose in disgust. “They don’t sound like kind people.”
“From what I understand, they’re more concerned with petty squabbles than anything else. I was shocked when they refused to come to North America when Chrys took over the Council and we moved. They still live over there and have no court. The Consilium now has the legal authority to tell them what they can and can’t do, but from what I understand, they are ignored. All shifters are.”
“Their parents have a mate, right?”
“Yeah, I think they met him shortly before the twins shifted for the first time. I don’t know much about him. None of us do. They haven’t even completed their matebond with him despite it being so long. Last we heard, he was banished out to the guest house on their property. We had the Sentinel Brotherhood slip some of Chrys’s business cards under the door to see if we could help the guy, but we haven’t heard anything from him.”
“And yet Damian still dreams of having two mates.”
“Damian’s a competitive person, and he gets more irritated by his parents than Chrys. I think he feels the desire to prove a point. That if you trust Fate and try hard you can make any matebond work, even if there are three parties.”
“Do you disagree?”
Costas shrugged. “I don’t know what to think. We know that over half of the Council parties that have more than one mate have a permanent separation agreement filed with the Order of the Fallen Knights. I think it must be not only the right people but the right circumstances for it to work. I don’t think it’s so simple that just one person trying hard is going to make it work.”
“It does make sense that all three would have to be equally committed.”
“Exactly. I don’t buy that Fate gets it right every time. People are fickle, and they change. She cannot account for those changes after a matebond has been selected. It’s not that she is matching up the wrong people, it’s just that life alters us. Sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad, but it affects how we relate to others. Those three might have been perfect for one another at some point. However, a lot could have happened to change that by the time they came into each other’s lives.”
“It may have been difficult for the third person since he came along after a pair had been together for some time. There’s probably love between them, and they have a shared history you must on some level compete with.”
“Yeah well, from what I’ve heard, Chrys and Damian’s parents hardly like each other. That would also be a difficult situation to walk into. All that animosity and fighting isn’t really conducive to building a strong bond.”
“Would you wish for two mates, Costas?”
“No, I’d prefer just one I can lavish my attention on. How about you? It has only happened to shifters in the past but Zane’s one, so it can’t be totally out of the realm of possibility.”
“I will not share Zane. Not even if Fate believes I should.”
Costas let out a laugh. “I can see you making that crystal clear to any man who saunters into your life demanding Zane’s attention.”
“He would find himself in very deep trouble.”
“Perhaps you and I are just not open-minded enough to handle two mates.”
“Perhaps not, but I do believe it could work. It’s just not for everyone.”
