“Yes,” Talfryn replied with a smile. Lorcan had tried to rid himself of his mate’s presence, but Corwin would not hear of it.
“I find it hard to believe.”
“Be grateful you woke up in the company of warlocks who could help you adapt to modern speech with a spell,” Lorcan said.
“I do hope their cousin wakes.”
“You are certainly a great cause for optimism,” Talfryn said.
“This place is certainly nicer than the huts we once called home.”
Talfryn laughed. “No more freezing toes.”
“No more bathing in rivers.”
“Or feeling the burn of the smoke in your eyes.”
Corwin nodded enthusiastically. “Or sleeping on the floor.”
“Your brother still does.”
“Why would he do that?” Corwin asked, puzzled.
The question had not been directed at him but Lorcan answered it anyway. “I find it comfortable.”
That didn’t prevent Talfryn from replying as well. “I’m sure he considers it punishment because he blames himself for all the Acwellan dying.”
Corwin nodded. “That makes sense, but he couldn’t have known the Cwylld would find those rocks. We were doing fine before that happened.”
“It was a useless war. No one deserved to die because Talfryn could not remain at my side. It was my pride that cost them their lives.”
“I told you Talfryn would never leave you,” Corwin insisted.
“I’m pretty sure he’s never going to admit he was duped. That I didn’t write the letter and that Nyley and Heriell are the ones that really betrayed him. He never did like admitting when he was wrong.”
“That’s true. I’m not surprised they did that. They were jealous of you. Lorcan listened to you and not to them. They were always trying to hurt elves that called us mean names like demonspawn. They hated you because you were different.”
Lorcan was taken aback by his brother’s words. It was true, the pair did always go after opportunities to fight the tribes that looked down upon the Acwellan. They had been furious when he’d refused to go war after the death of his parents. He’d tried to explain to them that he didn’t even know which tribe had committed the atrocity. It was a full week before they even talked to him after that discussion, he’d set it aside because he’d been too thick with grief to bother with their childishness. He knew they didn’t like Talfryn, but he’d been sure that with time their objections had softened. Had he been wrong? Had they been lying when they told Cadlyr they had no wish for war or had that been their sole purpose all along?
“To be fair, the dislike was mutual. I didn’t like that they had Lorcan’s trust. I didn’t feel they deserved it. They were ever acting like children and picking fights with me.”
“You’re the one that didn’t want me to tell Lorcan what jerks they were being.”
That got Lorcan’s attention. “What?”
“Nyley and Heriell. They were always being mean to Talfryn. I saw it more than once, but Talfryn made me promise to never tell you.”
“Why would you ask my brother for such a promise?”
“Simple. I wanted everyone to get along. I was different, and I feared the Acwellans when I first arrived. They sensed that and pointed it out at every opportunity. It embarrassed me, and I didn’t want you to think I couldn’t handle their antics. I’m a chieftain’s mate. That means at times I must put aside my personal opinions and problems to focus on what is best for my tribe. I decided with time their objections to me would lessen as they became resigned to the fact that Fate had made you my mate.”
“Regardless, I should have been made aware. I was your mate and it was my duty to see that you were not maligned by my people.”
“Not was Lorcan. I am your mate.”
“Are you sure you did not take a blow to the head during the fight with the Cwylld?” Corwin asked.
“No, I didn’t take a blow to the head. What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t know what else could make you forget Talfryn is your mate.”
“I didn’t forget that Fate put us together. I also did not forget that he decided it was not to his taste and left.”
“Cadlyr, you were there. Did my brother have an injury of the brain?”
Lorcan didn’t miss the smile that Cadlyr quickly covered with his palm. “I could not really say; I was not near him for much of the day. I suppose it is entirely possible.”
Turning to Talfryn’s brother, Lorcan frowned. “I should have killed you yesterday.”
“Corwin, did your brother tell you how he and Talfryn came to be back together?” Cadlyr asked.
“He said he followed him here to Arizona.”
“Did he tell you why he wanted to get close to him after all these centuries?”
“Oh yeah, this is the best part. Your brother came here to kill me,” Talfryn said.
“You can’t kill your own mate.”
The two Cwylld elves laughed as Corwin looked at them with confusion. “It is easy to kill one’s mate. You simply stab them in the heart,” Lorcan said over their chortling.
“Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to go with brain damage.”
Chapter 27
The following morning, Dra’Kaedan found himself standing in the guestroom looking at another young man struggling to open his eyes. Brogan was yawning behind him and his twin’s gaze was laser-focused on Scheredin.
“Come on, you can do it,” Dra’Kaedan said to his cousin. He could see a hint of green through Scheredin’s thick, dark lashes and knew he was trying his best.
“That’s it, Scheredin. Open your eyes,” Dre’Kariston said as he laid his hand on Scheredin’s arm.
“Wh-what?” The rusty sound of Scheredin’s voice was music to Dra’Kaedan’s ears. His eyes were still fluttering from open to closed, but he was winning the battle with consciousness. Dra’Kaedan calmly spoke the words of a spell he’d created for himself when he’d first arrived in Arizona after centuries of being sequestered in a tiny cottage. It was the same one he’d cast the previous day when it had been Corwin fluttering his eyeleashes—it would allow Scheredin to understand and communicate in modern English.
“Hey, come on. Keep your eyes open,” Dre’Kariston said and Scheredin promptly obliged.
“Dra’Kaedan. Dre’Kariston. You both are missing. How did you find me? Wait, where am I?”
“You were the one missing,” Dra’Kaedan said with a smile for his cousin who was struggling to sit up.
“I was not. I was at the castle when my parents…my parents are dead. Did Uncle T’Eirick and Aunt Saura tell you of their deaths? Or perhaps it was Klodjana that informed you.”
“Our parents have passed on. I don’t know what became of your sister. As far as I know, the three of us are all that is left of the Coven of Warlocks,” Dre’Kariston said softly.
Scheredin looked at his lap. “My dear sister, she had already left the castle before the murder of my parents. I wish I knew what became of her.”
“I’m so sorry. We haven’t found any more warlocks. We believe there are others still in hiding but it might only be wishful thinking,” Dre’Kariston said.
“How can we be the only warlocks? Do you think I can’t feel that Dra’Kaedan is mated? Who else would he be mated to other than a warlock?”
“I’m a dragon,” Brogan said holding out his hand for Scheredin to shake. “I’m Duke Brogan D’Vairedraconis.”
Scheredin laughed like a loon. “A dragon? Yeah, right. Did Dra’Kaedan tell you to say that? He was always obsessed with dragons.”
“So I’ve heard, but I really am a dragon. A dragon shifter.”
Dra’Kaedan’s cousin just continued to laugh. “Do you remember, Dre’Kariston? The way he would always carry on about dragons? He put them on everything and told everyone he was going to find one and make it his mate. I feared for his sanity.”
“First, my mate is not an ‘it,’ and he
is a dragon shifter,” Dra’Kaedan said as he put his hands on his hips.
Scheredin turned to Dre’Kariston. “Dragons are real?”
“Yes. We live in the home of a dragon king. The Council is now ruled by a dragon as well.”
Looking thoughtful, Scheredin tilted his head. “I really thought Dra’Kaedan was crazy.”
“I’m not saying he isn’t. I’m just telling you dragons are real,” Dre’Kariston said with a grin.
Dra’Kaedan glared at his twin. “I’m not nuts. And I was right about the dragons, wasn’t I?”
“Scary to think he’s the Grand Warlock now, isn’t it?”
“We’re doomed,” Scheredin said before falling backward on the mattress and Dra’Kaedan smacked his arm.
“Have some respect for your leader.”
“Will you have your dragon set me on fire if I don’t?”
“I doubt it. He’d just set you on fire like he did to me once,” Brogan said.
“You set your own mate on fire?” Scheredin asked, aghast.
“He deserved it.”
Scheredin turned to Dre’Kariston. “He’s nuts.”
“Pretty much.”
“I sense it has been more than a few months since I found myself in a coma. Your clothing is very strange.”
“Dear cousin, it has been over six and a half centuries.”
Scheredin’s mouth gaped. “That cannot be.”
“Do you remember the elves you ran into the day you ran from the castle?”
“I remember one. He had a tall spear and seemed regal in his bearing.”
“His name is Cadlyr. He is now the Chieftain of the Cwylld. He couldn’t bear to kill you, so he took you to his village and used a horrible magic sucking stone to render you unconscious. You slept in a cave all this time,” Dra’Kaedan said.
Scheredin blinked. “I can’t believe the Cwylld managed to kill so many of us. Are they still a powerful tribe?”
“No. They didn’t fare much better than we did. There are two living here with us. Cadlyr and his younger brother, Talfryn. The other Cwylld, about a dozen or so, have run off to find better lives. History has not looked kindly upon the Cwylld.”
With a mutinous look, Scheredin nodded. “Nor should it. They were quite evil to start a war with us. Tell me you know for sure Carvallius is dead.”
It was Dre’Kariston’s turn to bob his head up and down. “He’s dead. I killed him myself after he tracked me down using Dra’Kaedan’s magical necklace that our parents gave him when we were born.”
“I forgot you were missing, Dra’Kaedan. Where did you go and how did Carvallius get your necklace?”
“He abducted me and used dark magic to turn me into his nasty granddaughter’s familiar.”
“What happened to her? How did you get away?”
“Long story but eventually we were able to end her life too,” Brogan said.
“I should like to hear it someday.”
“No worries, we’ll tell you everything, but first you have some people to meet,” Dra’Kaedan said with a grin.
“And perhaps a bite to eat?”
“Shit, I can see the family resemblance more and more,” Brogan said after rolling his eyes. Dra’Kaedan laughed; he knew his mate was thinking about his own voracious appetite.
“Come along cousin, time to feed our faces.”
* * *
Talfryn walked through Dravyn’s blooms with Corwin and Cadlyr keeping pace. The family was celebrating again since Scheredin had shown up at the breakfast table just as Corwin had the day before. They were all grateful that once the stones were out of proximity that the two men had been returned to the land of the living. For his part, Talfryn was enjoying Corwin’s company. It somehow made him feel closer to Lorcan.
“My brother is stubborn, but he is fair. He just needs time to make sense of everything he has learned since he found you again,” Corwin said as if reading his mind about Lorcan.
“I wish I had your confidence. Over and over he’s repeated his intention to kill us both. I know he feels guilty about the war and needs to blame himself for all the lives lost. I just don’t know if he can ever get past that, even if he does figure out a way to forgive me for what he thinks I did.”
“He just needs to realize that even if he had not believed you had left of your own accord, the result would be the same. Lorcan would have declared war on the Cwylld to get you back. They would have gotten those stones and killed the Acwellan,” Corwin said.
“I thought that was why he declared war in the first place. I figured he knew we had taken you from the village. I guess I never imagined he would believe you would willingly come back to our parents. You didn’t have a healthy relationship with them—they didn’t have a healthy relationship with anyone,” Cadlyr added.
“I did get a little mad at you. I thought if they had you locked up that you were smart enough to figure out how to get away. I kept waiting for Lorcan to come home with you at his side. That’s why I decided I had to start coming to the battlefield. I was going to look for you,” Corwin said.
“I like to think that if I had all my faculties I would have escaped. Thanks for always having faith in me. I loved your brother then, and I love him now.”
“Just don’t stop. He’s always been the one to blame himself for everything. He needs you even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”
“I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to and even though he’s being a royal jerk, I still want to be with him. I will do anything to be with him again.”
“I’ll help however I can. I can talk to him. He’ll listen to me. He always has.”
“I know it. He trusts you. He loves you.”
“He loves you too.”
“But he trusted Heriell and Nyley more,” Talfryn said sadly.
“No, he just needs to remember how things were back then. He’ll think back to the issues he had with them both before and after you came to live with us. They were fine if they got their way, but they could act awful when they didn’t.”
“I might not be able to help much since I hardly know him, but anything I can do to help I will do.”
“Thanks, Cadlyr and you too, Corwin. I have a feeling I will need you both to get my Lorcan back.”
Chapter 28
Lorcan was lying on the floor when he heard the knock. Believing it was his mate coming to bother him, he ignored it and concentrated on marshaling his thoughts. He had no idea where to begin, and it hardly mattered since whoever wanted his attention was now banging on his door.
“What?” he yelled.
“Let me in,” his brother replied.
Thankful it wasn’t Talfryn, Lorcan stood and allowed Corwin to enter the room.
“Why didn’t you answer when I knocked?”
“I thought you were Talfryn.”
Corwin frowned. “If I had a mate, I’d want to talk to him.”
“If you had a mate he or she would not betray you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Corwin, you are far too good of a person to be betrayed.”
“So are you.”
Lorcan scoffed. “I know that for a lie as my mate has a heart blacker than night.”
“That’s not true. Talfryn loves you. Don’t you remember how the two of you were together?”
“What I remember is the note he left when he returned home.”
“He didn’t write it.”
“You would have me believe Cadlyr’s story?”
“You have doubts about Talfryn’s guilt. I know you do. His story makes sense. Nyley and Heriell were always making trouble, and they never liked Talfryn. They were selfish.”
“You were barely more than a child then, Corwin. You think you know the hearts of men, but you have no experience in these matters.”
“I had to grow up fast. Our parents were dead, and we don’t know who killed them. Your friends were pleased to have you as chieftain.”
“Are you ins
inuating that Nyley and Heriell not only crafted a plot to remove Talfryn but had something to do with the deaths of our parents?”
“I cannot say for sure, but it is not something I would discount either.”
“They were my closest friends. I trusted them to advise me in all tribe matters,” Lorcan said.
“I know. But should you not trust your mate above all others? Is that not what Mother and Father taught you?”
“I know well what they taught me. They instilled in me the need to care for the tribe. They understood that as demonic elves, our lives were always in peril and that I must be prepared to lead should anything happen to them. What would they think of their son now?”
“They would think you were betrayed. That the two friends you had known since you were a child had schemed to deprive you of your mate and that led to an unnecessary war. They would have still loved you Lorcan, no matter what.”
Lorcan was growing weary of this conversation and its implications. “Can you not leave me be?”
“Are you saying you didn’t miss me all these years?” Corwin grinned and Lorcan knew he spoke in jest.
“I have suspended my plan to murder Talfryn; obviously I have some affection for you.”
“It’s not suspended. It’s canceled. You can’t kill Talfryn and even if you could, I am not giving up my brother.”
“I don’t care for the idea of leaving you alone either. I suppose Talfryn gets a reprieve.”
“I think it is important for you to forgive yourself for what has happened and realize that Talfryn has been a victim the same as you.”
“Corwin, you are over a thousand years old, but your mind is that of a boy of sixteen; how can you be so sure of what I need?”
“Who knows you better than me and Talfryn?”
“Why do you trust him so?”
“Easy. I love him. He’s my brother. He has been since the first day he arrived at our village and made it a point to include me in everything. He was kind, and I could see how much he loved you. How could I not love someone who cared for you?”
Vengeance From The Dark (D'Vaire Book 3) Page 19