Sentinel's Dagger (D'Vaire, Book 2)

by Jessamyn Kingley

  “My family is dead. I have no memory of them.”

  “You see Latarian, we gotta be nice to him. His family is dead, and we know how that is because our families are dead too. The three of us, we should be friendly to each other because we’re all we have,” Idris said and his chin quivered as if he were about to cry. Latarian, too, felt like bawling, but it was at the thought that these two poor excuses for humanity were all she had in this world. Perhaps her best plan would have been to find a necromancer who was willing to resurrect her grandfather. Carvallius, with all his knowledge, would have solved her power issue and anything else she wanted. Unfortunately, she was a fugitive from the Arch Lich and his Order of the Fallen Knights. Here in the land ruled by the Consilium Veneficus, necromancers were scarce—if they existed at all since the majority had followed the Arch Lich when he had relocated the Council of Sorcery and Shifters two centuries before. Should Latarian stumble upon a necromancer, she thought ruefully, she would walk straight out of this house and never bother to return.

  Since that was highly unlikely, she needed to find a way to convince Edion to give her the information she desired. “Yes Idris, none of us have families to care for us, which is why we must care for each other. With the stones, we will be able to provide well for ourselves. We will have money to restore this house to the finery it deserves. We will have endless stores of food. We will have enough magic to make all our dreams possible. The only thing stopping us is you, Edion. You have the power to save us. To enrich our lives and be sure we will never lack for anything.” She would have promised them the sun above their heads if it got her closer to completing her plan.

  “It is not as if I do not wish for you to have those things. Surely there is another way to achieve your goals while still allowing me to keep my honor?” Edion asked as he began wringing his slender hands in earnest.

  “Your honor will not keep us from starving. Your honor will not allow me to get the revenge I deserve from Dra’Kaedan and all those dragons that have taken his side against me. Your honor is useless,” Latarian said with a sneer.

  “Latarian, honor is important to him,” Idris said.

  “I care not. I have told you what I want, elf. If you persist in keeping these secrets, then I am afraid we will no longer be able to help you. It is only our kindness that sees you fed each day. You certainly do not earn any of what we provide you. You sit in this chamber all day like a wasteful lump incapable of doing any of the most menial tasks.” Latarian’s voice had risen higher and become thick with anger as she gritted out each word. Idris and Edion cringed in what she hoped was fear and neither spoke for several minutes, so Latarian let out a loud sigh of disgust. “I did not want to resort to such measures, but if you fail to give me what I wish to know, I will be forced to use violence.”

  Idris gasped, jumped to his feet, and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a sound, Edion spoke. “I do not fear violence. I have known it my whole life. I have lived over a thousand years, and never has anyone given me anything in kindness alone. The chieftains took me in when I arrived at their village from a faraway outpost. I had been ill for some time, though I have no memory of it. The illness left me blind. Chief Aniernan and Chieftess Taliya had no children of their own, but I was never like a son to them. I was nothing more than a cross they had to bear. I know you have no kindness for me either. I can hear the hollowness in your words. The stones, they are for you and your purposes. My honor is all I have.

  “It is the only thing I may ever have in this immortal life of mine, but despite the small kindnesses you allow Idris to bestow on my humble self, I know your patience wears thin. I cannot starve to death should you withhold food, but I can feel hunger. I have felt it much in my life. The chieftains see things much as you do. I am not fit to eat that which I have not earned, but in this case, you have not given me the opportunity to work for anything at all. I am locked in this room each day. I do not wish to betray anyone, but you do make one point clear. I must do what I must to plan for my future. If I were to give you the location of the stones, would you use the vast power and wealth you speak of to provide me with a cottage, perhaps? It need not be much in size or beauty. I cannot see to appreciate it, and a smaller home would be easier to manage. If it came with a garden, I am capable of tending plants. Elven eat mostly fresh fruit and vegetables, so I would lack nothing at all in such a case,” Edion said in that soft voice of his and Latarian watched as Idris smiled at her.

  “We could do that for Edion, couldn’t we? The lands here are big enough to build a small cottage with a private garden,” Idris asked and his eyes pleaded with her to agree. As far as Latarian was concerned, she would promise the elf whatever he wanted. She had little intention of ever following through on the promises she made, but it was not as if these fools could read her mind.

  “All will be well, Edion. Idris will pick out the perfect corner of his family’s land to build you a place with all you need to survive. All you must do is give us the information we seek.”

  “Thank you. I have come to realize how important your plans are to you, and I am most fortunate to have your aid,” Edion replied.

  “Yes, you are most fortunate. Now, where do I find the stones?”

  “You have been to the hut of the chieftains. Take twenty steps out from the door and turn left. Take forty more steps to a small hut. Inside are the stones. Cadlyr is the only guard left. He checks on them twice a day. At the morning meal and again after dinner.”

  “Surely you can give us something of note that sets that hut apart from the rest?”

  “Latarian, he’s blind,” Idris admonished.

  She looked down at Idris where he once again sat next to Edion and snapped, “I know that, but it is not as if I can wander to the door of the chieftain’s hut any time I please. Edion, what time of day do the leaders leave their home?”

  “They rarely leave the confines of their shelter. Food and fresh linens are brought to them. Everyone in the village must provide first for the chieftains before themselves or their families,” Edion explained.

  “We will go after nightfall. It is the only way we will be able to count our steps freely in the village,” Latarian decided and rubbed her hands together.

  “Tread carefully. The hut with the stones is between that of the chieftains and Cadlyr. Cadlyr is a great warrior. A survivor of two great wars.”

  “A hardened warrior of a hundred wars is no match for Idris’s power combined with my spells should it come to that,” Latarian boasted.

  “I do not doubt that, but Cadlyr can easily use a great many stones against you.”

  “He’s right, Latarian. We gotta be quiet or he’s gonna throw them at us. We could probably even explode.”

  “Stupid boy, we will be powerless, but there would be no harm to us.”

  “Except for that of Cadlyr’s spear,” Edion pointed out, and Latarian did not think his information was all that helpful. For the first time since she had come up with this plan, she began to wonder if she were not instead creating the perfect formula for her demise.

  “Very well, we will do our best to grab all the stones without waking Cadlyr or your spoiled chieftains. I did not feel a power drain until Chief Aniernan gave me the first stone. The hut must be lined with a copper protector. Idris, you will need to give me enough magic to cast a teleportation circle as soon as we enter, and do not touch any of them. You will be drained immediately. We will port into the room we have prepared at the bottom of the house.”

  “When are we going to go?” Idris asked.

  “There is little point in wasting time. We go on the morrow,” Latarian said, and with a swish of her skirts turned on her heel and left the elf’s small room. She heard Idris speaking excitedly to Edion, but Latarian didn’t bother to listen closely enough to hear the words. Soon, she would have the ability to drain any magical being of her choice. It would not take long before the Cwylld stones once again brought the Grand Warlock and t
he Grand Summoner to their knees. Her grandfather must indeed be smiling away at her from the afterlife, she thought with pride.

  Chapter 9

  Grand Warlock Dra’Kaedan D’Vaire was a man on a mission, and he was not alone. At his side was his brother, Grand Summoner Dre’Kariston D’Vaire. After being separated for centuries, the twins tended to stick together now that they were reunited. Behind Dra’Kaedan was his familiar, Grand Warlock Familiar Renny D’Vaire. Dre’Kariston’s familiar was nowhere to be found. He had called their task boring and set off to find some way to amuse himself. Dra’Kaedan couldn’t care less.

  When Dra’Kaedan had first arrived at Court D’Vaire, he had spent centuries locked up in a small cabin while believing himself a familiar to fellow warlock Latarian. King Aleksander and the rest of this family had encouraged Dra’Kaedan to spread his wings. Being true to his nature meant loosening the reigns on his often-volatile temper. Combined with his temper and lack of people skills from all that isolation, meeting your mate could be quite a roller coaster ride.

  Of course, Duke Brogan D’Vairedraconis had spent almost the same amount of time tucked away with only five other dragons. While he had traveled and made contact with the outside world in more modern times, he had exactly the same amount of experience as Dra’Kaedan did in an actual romantic relationship. Add to the mixture Brogan’s own quick temper, and suffice it to say Dra’Kaedan still thought it was a miracle they hadn’t killed one another.

  Now they had a larger family and an emerging sanctuary to develop their social skills, and Dra’Kaedan believed both he and his mate had done a great deal of maturing. They would always be hotheads, but they had united goals. One of them was making Renny’s life fun and purposeful. While living with Latarian, Dra’Kaedan’s life was lonely, boring, and his choices were not his own.

  Brogan and Dra’Kaedan encouraged Renny to be exactly who he wanted to be. Dra’Kaedan knew his familiar was bratty at times. But then, so was Dra’Kaedan, and since Renny had been summoned from Dra’Kaedan’s magic, it was not all that surprising that he would have some similar character traits. What amazed Dra’Kaedan the most when he thought about it was how dissimilar he was to his brother’s familiar.

  Not that Dra’Kaedan and Dre’Kariston were exactly the same. Dra’Kaedan was the fiery one, while Dre’Kariston tended to be quieter and more reserved. Dre’Kariston was thoughtful and had a darkness within him Dra’Kaedan lacked. One would expect that Derwin, Dre’Kariston’s familiar, would have a personality that mirrored his warlock. Derwin did not.

  At the best of times, Dra’Kaedan found him trying. He had attached himself to Renny, and Dra’Kaedan often wondered if Renny truly valued their friendship or if because they were the only two warlock familiars known to exist, he just tolerated Derwin. Often petulant and always demanding, Derwin felt any idea or task he himself had not thought of was either beneath him or so boring it was, in his words, pointless.

  Dra’Kaedan had no idea how Dre’Kariston put up with him any more than he understood Renny’s desire for Derwin’s company. However, despite not liking Derwin, he included him in everything. This morning when Dra’Kaedan decided it was time to figure out what in the world was going on between Gedeon and Gavrael, Derwin had turned his nose up and left the office set up for their sanctuary in a huff because Renny did not have the same disdain for Dra’Kaedan’s plan.

  Brogan had been invited as well, but he just rolled his eyes and told Dra’Kaedan to mind his own business. Since Brogan was now in Aleksander’s office having one of the little chats the two of them were so fond of, Dra’Kaedan was marshalling his troops. Heading for the kitchen, he was currently searching for Blodwen. After all, it was her sentinel and her mate’s sentinel that were suddenly not spending all day and night together.

  As soon as Renny closed the back door of the house, Noirin turned from the counter where she was chopping up a mixture of bright orange, red, and yellow peppers and asked, “Hey guys, what’s up?”

  “You seen Blodwen?” Dra’Kaedan asked. He didn’t have time to chitchat; he had sentinels to interrogate.

  “Check Larissa’s workshop; those two had their heads together about something when I saw them last,” Noirin said with a quick smile in their direction.

  “Awesome. Gentlemen, off to Larissa’s workshop,” Dra’Kaedan ordered and then pulled his lips into his mouth so he wouldn’t laugh when Renny clapped his feet together and gave Dra’Kaedan a sharp salute. The threesome left the large kitchen behind them and headed left past the throne room and quickly found themselves sauntering through the large doorway of Larissa’s two-story tailoring workshop. And just as Noirin had thought, Blodwen was sitting with Larissa at the large round table that sat dead center in the large space.

  With no preamble, Dra’Kaedan said, “Blodwen, there is something up with the sentinels. We’ve decided to find out what’s going on. Care to join us?”

  “Definitely. It’s so weird. They seemed so friendly, but now they don’t even sit together at meals,” Blodwen said as she stood up, and with a wave to a smiling Larissa, headed out of the room with the warlocks and familiar. Dra’Kaedan didn’t exactly know where to find Gedeon, but he had seen Gavrael outside training with his hologram. So it was out the back door where he led his hunting party and sure enough, Dra’Kaedan found Gavrael wielding his daggers with deadly intent and focused brown eyes.

  Before Dra’Kaedan could offer any type of greeting, Gavrael dismissed his hologram and released his weapons so they would drift back to their homes on either side of him. He then turned to Dra’Kaedan and offered a short nod in greeting.

  “Hey Gavrael,” Dra’Kaedan said.

  “Good morning to all of you,” Gavrael replied. Dra’Kaedan was pretty confident those were the first words he had spoken today. This morning at breakfast, he had been as quiet as a mouse. That was unsurprising; the sentinel was always a man of few words.

  “Hey, do you know where Gedeon is?” Blodwen asked with an air of nonchalance.

  “No.”

  “That’s odd. I thought the two of you trained together every day,” Dre’Kariston said. Dra’Kaedan thought his voice conveyed just the right amount of confusion.

  “No.” At the sentinel’s reply, Dra’Kaedan had to concentrate very hard in order to avoid rolling his dark blue eyes. They were getting absolutely nowhere, he thought with disgust.

  “Well, I was just talking to Larissa and she gave Gedeon some fabric samples for his room. I just saw them and I don’t know how he’s going to decide. They’re all gorgeous, what did you think?” Blodwen asked as she shifted her weight to her left leg and casually twirled a dark red strand of hair.

  “I have not seen them,” Gavrael said and his eyes briefly wandered to the ground. Dra’Kaedan thought for just that tiny moment Gavrael appeared sad, but the sentinel was so good at remaining stone-faced, he could not be sure. Blodwen met Dra’Kaedan’s eyes and gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Dra’Kaedan twisted his lips; they were quickly running out of questions.

  It was Renny who broke the silence. “So Gavrael, are you thinking about switching to jeans and shit like Gedeon?”

  “I am not.”

  “That’s a relief. I mean he’s a sentinel, right? You guys have the whole intense gray thing happening. Warlocks, we have cloaks and shit, but we only wear them at Council events. Sometimes I walk around my room in one just to feel cool and you know, mysterious,” Renny said.

  “You only wear the cloak? I put on my crown and conjure up a scepter,” Dre’Kariston said, and they all shared a laugh except for Gavrael who did one of his nods that Dra’Kaedan had no clue how to interpret. He decided it was time to let Gavrael get back to his training and hunt down the other half of this little mystery. Gavrael was a very private person, and though they all wanted answers, Dra’Kaedan was unwilling to alienate him in his own home to get them. So they said their good-byes and headed back to the house.

  In the kitchen, Noirin once again
aided their investigation by revealing she had seen Gedeon heading downstairs after breakfast. In the basement, they found their prey in a room not far from the stairwell doing exactly what his counterpart had been doing outside. Training.

  “Well now, why wouldn’t our sentinels be training together?” Dre’Kariston asked before Dra’Kaedan pushed open the door. Renny shushed him and the foursome was barely in the room before Gedeon dismissed his hologram.

  “Hey, did you guys need this room for something?” Gedeon asked as his daggers came to rest at his hips.

  “Nope, we were looking for you,” Dra’Kaedan replied.

  “What’s up?”

  “We were looking for Gavrael, you seen him?” Renny asked before Dra’Kaedan could speak.

  “Nope, not since breakfast. But if I had to take a guess, he is probably outside. You should check there first,” Gedeon supplied helpfully.

  Dra’Kaedan decided it was time for a more direct approach, “Well then, why aren’t you with him? You guys were training together until a couple of days ago.”

  Gedeon gave a half shrug and replied, “I guess we are so used to working out on our own that sometimes we miss the solitude and want to do our own thing.” While it sounded plausible, Dra’Kaedan’s gut was telling him there was more to the story.

  “Guess that’s why you’re working so hard to get your new room ready, it must be even weirder sharing a room. Like really awesome having company at first but then you discover your roommate likes to do weird shit like sniffing your underwear,” Renny said and Dra’Kaedan looked at him like he was nuts.

  “Renny, you’ve never had a roommate.”

  “I know; I was talking about Brogan. Your bedroom door was open, and he was putting away the laundry. Before he put them away, he sniffed a pair of yours. And for the record, you could wear some with a bit more material because I was halfway into the room before I realized it was not a folded-up handkerchief.” After Renny’s little speech, Dra’Kaedan glared at him while the others laughed.