Turning to the warlocks Lorcan said, “I thought all your people were dead. Good job not dying. Can we please stop acting as if I am going with you of my own accord?”
“Aren’t you?” Talfryn said, still behind him.
Lorcan whipped around and sucked in a breath. He had forgotten how stunning Talfryn was; it burned through him and he wanted to weep for the young man that had once loved him so dearly. Looking into the pale lavender eyes that he had fooled himself into thinking had glowed with the devotion they had for each other, Lorcan realized Talfryn’s face was slack with shock. Talfryn seemed to recover whatever had disturbed him and took the three steps that separated them in a near run. Before Lorcan knew what he intended, Talfryn lifted trembling hands to Lorcan’s cheeks.
“Your eyes, anleydir. What happened to your eyes?” Talfryn asked, using the elvish word for beloved. Lorcan shook off his offending touch as he bristled at the term of endearment.
“There is nothing wrong with my eyes.”
“Blue. They used to be blue. Now they are purple and fucking red,” Talfryn said in what could only be described as a hostile tone.
“They see just the same. The color is unimportant.”
“Like I said, let’s get the hell home. We have a lot to talk about. You can start by telling me what the fuck happened to the blue-eyed, handsome elf I was mated to,” Talfryn said as the blond warlock began casting the circle that would return them to Arizona. Lorcan sidestepped Talfryn and grabbed the bag with his possessions in it.
“The elf you speak of died on a battlefield. One so deep with Acwellan blood that it soaked his boots and squished between his toes as he barely escaped with his head intact. He walks this earth still but his heart and his soul were pulled clean from his body. Your mate is gone, Talfryn, not that you ever cared for him to start with,” Lorcan said as he closed his eyes so he wouldn’t get dizzy from being teleported. Once the spell was complete, he opened the eyes that had shocked Talfryn and looked around to see a room so tall it took up two stories filled with large furniture.
He looked to his left and found Talfryn staring at him through furious lavender eyes. Lifting his chin, Lorcan schooled his face into an impassive expression and waited for his mate to say what was pissing him off now.
Seconds later, Talfryn pulled his lips up into a snarl before saying, “You’re angry and have a right to be, but if you accuse me of not loving you one more time I will slit my wrists and end it for both of us. As I’ve said, we have a lot to talk about, but both of us need to be willing to listen and stay calm.”
“You are boring me by repeating that over and over. You wish to talk. Go ahead. I will not promise to listen. I know all I need to know.”
“You’re pissing me off, Lorcan. Go take a damn nap,” Talfryn said before marching out of the room. Lorcan pursed his lips, not at all pleased that he had gotten the last word. This entire round went to Talfryn, and Lorcan had some serious ground to make up. Not only that, his entire plan was now in tatters, he thought in disgust. All was not lost, he reassured himself. After all, they were now under the same roof. Surely there would be ample opportunity to kill Talfryn and on Lorcan’s terms. Determination renewed Lorcan as he allowed the D’Vaires to settle him into a room. The privacy was welcome, but the comforts were not something he deserved, so Lorcan yanked the blanket from the bed and lay down on the wooden floor. Sleep was not going to keep him waiting, Lorcan thought as he yawned deeply. He decided that when he got up he would figure out a way to right his world again.
Chapter 16
“How long do you think it will take you to cast the spell?” Talfryn asked as he tried to quell his frantic thoughts.
“Now that he’s here and we can feel his essence, it shouldn’t take us long to turn our magical barrier into a Lorcan cage,” Dra’Kaedan said as he patted Talfryn’s lower back.
Looking down at the warlock, Talfryn said, “I don’t think it says much for me that I have to cage my own mate.”
“It is not your fault, Talfryn,” Aleksander assured him. They had gathered in his office for an impromptu meeting as soon as Lorcan was settled in the bedroom next to Talfryn’s.
“I just don’t think I want to go on another mate hunt,” Talfryn said as he all but fell onto the sofa behind him. He had barely slept for several days as his mind would not calm down in the few hours Dra’Kaedan’s mate insisted the warlock sleep to allow him to recharge his batteries.
“Nor do any of us,” Dra’Kaedan said with a sigh as he too sat, using Brogan’s lap for a cushion.
“Thank you for all your help. I certainly couldn’t have found him on my own.”
“Our pleasure and you know we’re willing to help in any way we can. I know this isn’t going to be easy. He has been through a lot; he is very angry and he’s had way too much time to sit and stew about it,” Brogan offered.
“I’m not sure what to do with the Cwylld stones. If they are going to leech his power, I don’t want them anywhere close.”
“I hate to have them destroyed. We don’t know if they will ever become necessary. Perhaps with Lorcan’s help, we can figure out how to protect him. It might be a simple matter of making the copper thicker,” Dre’Kariston said as he ran a hand through his midnight curls. It left them poking off his head in too many directions to count.
“Maybe but if we can’t, I will call Chander and have him incinerate them as he did the others.”
“How are you handling all this?” Aleksander asked from behind his desk. His blue-black eyes with their strange silver and gold rings near the center held nothing but concern.
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I was shocked by his appearance. He barely resembles the Lorcan I knew. His eyes are different. All his beautiful hair has been hacked off and now lays in a tangled, uneven mess. Those clothes of his are barely held together, and he’s in desperate need of a bath. If you could have seen him the day we met,” Talfryn’s voice trailed off as he remembered the raven hair of Lorcan’s tipped in red and brilliantly styled in braids. The black and crimson beads had gleamed in the sun and matched the intricate designs on his tunic. His face, now lined in deep grooves of misery, was flawless at the time. Pale skin had stretched over high cheekbones so often found in elven faces and the look in his icy blue eyes then was confident. Talfryn remembered well the sexy swagger of the Acwellan chieftain; he had been enamored of his mate the minute he’d clapped eyes on him.
“He has lived through a lot and as a chieftain, I am sure he blames himself for the loss of his people,” Aleksander replied after the silence in the room lingered for several minutes.
“The Acwellan had already suffered much before we met. They were hunted by other tribes for their differences. He took over as chieftain after his parents were murdered just six months before we got together. Lorcan was only around twenty-five at the time. Corwin was barely a year or two younger than me. That was his brother. Such an easygoing boy who worshiped the ground Lorcan walked on. His good friends Nyley and Heriell, they shadowed him and called themselves his guards, which annoyed him. Lorcan was young enough, I suppose, to still consider himself invincible. All of them are dead and it’s because of me,” Talfryn said as his eyes filled with tears.
“How can you say it is because of you? You were a victim just as Lorcan was,” Aleksander asked softly.
Raising his head, Talfryn looked Aleksander in the eye and willed away the tears that wanted to flow endlessly as he thought about the circumstances surrounding his mate. “Had he not met me. Had my parents not taken me from him. Without either of those two scenarios, he would have never led his people, his family, into battle with the Cwylld. They would all still be alive and flourishing. They might have been a small tribe, but they were shrewd. People feared them but paid large amounts of coin to buy their lavishly decorated clothing and tapestries.”
“Fate led the two of you together, and it was your parents’ decision to abduct you. Don’t take on the burden of their guilt. Wh
at matters now is that you do what you can to fix your relationship with Lorcan,” Aleksander said in a no-nonsense voice. Talfryn knew his king was right, but he wasn’t ready to give up all the blame. Surely there was something he could have done differently to prevent this disaster.
“I’m scared. I’m so scared. I don’t know if I can fix this.”
“I know you must be terrified, and I can’t promise you it will work out the way that it should. But I will say I don’t think he would still be so angry with you if he didn’t carry some deep emotions for you. One thousand years is a pretty long time to sit around and wait for the opportunity to kill someone. And when he had the chance, he didn’t take it. If all he wanted was revenge, he could easily start with killing what is left of the Cwylld. His focus has solely been on you. I find it difficult to believe that is because he blames you for everything. I think it’s because despite all that has transpired, despite whatever that note said that told him you were gone, he loves you still,” Aleksander replied. Talfryn offered him a weak smile in return. He wanted desperately to believe in Aleksander’s words, but there was too much at stake for Talfryn to merely rely on assumptions. He needed Lorcan back and he needed to hear that he still cared for him.
Taking in a deep breath Talfryn said, “My goals remain the same. I will do what I can to get Lorcan to listen to me. With luck, we can salvage our relationship. After that, I am more determined than ever to make sure Cadlyr and my parents pay for all the havoc and pain they have caused in Lorcan’s life and my own.”
“Let’s worry about Part B when we finish Plan A,” Brogan said with a small smile and Talfryn offered him a nod. Lorcan was what mattered most, and to deal with him Talfryn needed to be at top form. That thought in mind he said his good-byes and headed out of Aleksander’s office to return to his own room for a nap long overdue.
* * *
Emperor Chrysander Draconis raised one regal black brow as King Aleksander D’Vairedraconis finished telling the assembled group about the two elves that now lived in the exotic looking king’s home. “Let’s get the easy part out of the way. I see no problem with adding Lorcan to your home and registering him in the Council. However, I believe it should be handled as Talfryn was, add him as an elf with no tribe listed. The Acwellan do not belong to the Council and at this point, it doesn’t sound like he would be willing to go through the process of adding them.”
“He’s not even there of his own accord,” Aleksander said.
“I’m going to pretend I don’t know that,” Reverent Knight Drystan Kempe said. “The fallen knights don’t condone abducting someone and holding them hostage.”
“He didn’t leave us much choice,” Dra’Kaedan stated as he wriggled slightly on the black dragonskin couch he was sharing with Brogan.
“Like I said, I don’t want to know. The only reason I’m not going to intervene is because the Council doesn’t allow mates to be separated by force.”
“Talfryn would cry foul even if Lorcan isn’t prepared to,” Aleksander replied.
“So, let’s talk about the second part of this,” Chrysander’s twin brother, Imperial Duke Damian Draconis said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Talfryn’s desire to get vengeance can wreak havoc on an already complicated relationship between the Council and the Consilium. The Consilium Veneficus is still pissed off about the last time you guys were in Europe.”
“That’s true. Latarian’s death, the fact that she even existed at all, wasn’t known to very many people. It was easy to keep that a secret. Talfryn’s existence is also something the Consilium knows nothing about. But our young wizard, Idris, belonged to a once powerful family. The Consilium is still crying foul over what they feel is his abduction and our refusal to turn him over to them,” Chrysander said. “It is Idris’s wish that he stays within the Spectra Wizardry. I’m fine with the Consilium feeling burned if Idris is able to make his own choices.”
“They certainly paid him no intention when his family was a part of the Consilium. They could care less about him in truth, and it’s not like our relationship with them has ever been an easy one. We don’t know if the Cwylld belong. While they generally have little use for any magickind incapable of spell-weaving like elves, they would be perfectly willing to avenge what they would consider a crime committed against any magickind in Europe whether they belong to the Consilium or not,” Arch Lich Chander Daray said.
“I prefer that this is handled without bloodshed, but I understand how that might be asking too much not only of Talfryn and Lorcan but of you and your brother as well,” Chrysander said while meeting the eyes of Dra’Kaedan.
“My brother practically has his bags packed,” Dra’Kaedan said.
“Believe me, I sympathize. The Council will turn a blind eye if your vengeance goes undetected by the Consilium. But if it does not and it further strains our relationship with them, I can’t guarantee the Council will allow Court D’Vaire to remain unscathed,” Chrysander said.
“And the sanctuary?” Aleksander asked.
“You know that not everyone is crazy about the idea of multi-race sanctuaries; it would be giving those leaders a perfect opportunity to begin making noise about closing the doors of Dra’Kaedan’s Coven. With it closed, don’t expect the idea to get approved again any time soon. I’d prefer that not to happen. I want your sanctuary to be the first of many like it,” Chrysander said.
“You know I can’t get involved; my fallen knights have no jurisdiction. The Consilium have no equivalent of my people and they are not big on checks and balances, so it’s the ruling wizards who handle enforcing their laws,” the Reverent Knight began. “From a personal standpoint, there is no law that I protect with more vigilance than the one that protects mates. If I had this case on my desk, I would gladly take care of the Cwylld myself.”
“I see no reason you can’t go to Europe, kill the three elves, destroy any evidence, and get out. I would certainly be willing to help in any way I can,” Chander said.
“Not happening, Chand,” Drystan said.
“I agree with our Reverent Knight. There’s no way you’re going. They hate you. Not only that, the last time you went over there you disappeared and still won’t tell us what the hell you were doing while you were gone. I’ll personally order Drystan to put you under house arrest until the deed is done if I even think you are planning on going,” Chrysander promised as he leaned over his desk and met the annoyed pewter eyes of the leader of the Order of the Necromancia.
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t even need to get Council approval to do that. I could just go straight to your elder council and tell them what you were planning. They hold enough sway that it would be easy to keep you under lock and key. I doubt very seriously they even know about your last ‘vacation’ in Europe,” Drystan said as Chander glared at him from beneath his silver and black crown.
“Fine, I have no desire to be chained to my couch. Expect me at D’Vaire when this is all over. I can’t wait to meet Lorcan and learn about his demonic abilities.”
“We are, of course, delighted to have you offer your help. However, I think the smaller the group is that goes, the better,” Aleksander said. “We’ll discuss all of your concerns with Talfryn and our entire family when the time comes to pursue any plan. I’m not going to let anyone go unless all the D’Vaires are aware of all that could go wrong and what it can mean to all of us. This is something the entire family is going to have to agree upon. And Chander, you are always welcome at D’Vaire.”
Chrysander rose to his feet before replying, “Good. Make sure that whoever goes has a damn good plan. I don’t want this to come back and bite any of us in the ass.”
* * *
Once they were back home, King Aleksander looked down at the short blond warlock who had first come up with the idea of turning their home into a sanctuary and said, “I want those elves to pay for what they’ve done.”
“But?”
“But I think we should postpone any discussion a
bout plans and possible repercussions. Right now, we need to do all we can to help Talfryn and Lorcan heal the rift between them.”
Dra’Kaedan pulled his golden crown off before nodding at his king. “That works for me. I have a feeling nothing about that is going to be easy.”
“It wasn’t easy for us to figure our relationship out, but we eventually got our act together,” Brogan said to Dra’Kaedan. “I’m sure Talfryn and Lorcan will mend their matebond given enough time and support.”
“Let’s just hope they do it with less yelling than the two of you…well, I was going to say did but you both still have your discussions at the top of your lungs,” Aleksander said.
“Whatever, beanstalk. Wait until your mate shows up. I’m sure she’ll be screaming at you constantly. Unless she is a giant like you, it will be unavoidable. Otherwise, you won’t be able to hear a damn word she says.”
“Okay, pocket warlock. Is that big dome of yours actually going to keep Lorcan from escaping before Talfryn gets him to listen?”
“Yeah, it’ll hold. Dre’Kariston put a bubble inside my bubble.”
“I can still fly through it though, right?”
“Yes, your big-ass dragon can comfortably pass right through. It only shocks elves and demon-elves.”
“I like the idea of keeping D’Vaire in a bubble. We should think about making it a permanent method of defense, especially now that we are housing such unique people,” Brogan said.
“Works for me; Aleksander will probably need it for when his mate shows up anyway,” Dra’Kaedan said. Aleksander didn’t even bother to reply. He just rolled his blue-black eyes and yanked his silver crown off to get changed before dinner. The entire family was going to be curious about the meeting today, and Aleksander was going to have to dance politely over the parts they weren’t ready to share. If nothing else, he thought with some humor, he could just shove enormous amounts of food in his face as Dra’Kaedan did at every meal. With his mouth full, he couldn’t be expected to talk.
Vengeance From The Dark (D'Vaire Book 3) Page 10