Becoming D'Vaire (D'Vaire, Book 11)

by Jessamyn Kingley

  “Talk to Alaric yourself,” Delaney retorted as he pushed past Duff.

  As he resumed his journey to T’Eirick and Saura’s bedroom, he refused to allow Duff to ruin his mood. When he finally got to the right door, he rapped on it and a second later, it opened wide. Inside, the twins were all smiles as they hung long drapes over the windows. The Arch Lich was being instructed on where to place the throw pillows so they wouldn’t be in the way as the Lich Sentinel tucked the cord away on the vacuum cleaner. Under his feet was a dark area rug, and Delaney could hardly believe they managed to put it all together in a matter of hours.

  “This looks amazing,” he offered as he closed himself inside.

  “Mom’s going to love it,” Dra’Kaedan remarked. “Where’s your mate?”

  Delaney shrugged. “Not back yet, I guess.”

  Aleksander entered the room with Mac, Idris, and Vadimas, along with their familiars. They were going to be necessary to enhance their power. “Hey Alaric, Duff would like to request an escort to the club for the night,” the D’Vaire king said.

  “I am afraid he will have to sit this one out, I’m not calling up one of my men in the middle of the night so he can go,” the Lich Sentinel responded.

  “Yeah, that’s what I told him you’d say,” Mac replied. Delaney didn’t know why he was surprised Duff hadn’t given up after speaking to him, but he was.

  “Who are we missing?” Renny asked as he sauntered through the door with two of the other warlock familiars, Lucian and Brexton. “Del, where’s Grigori? He and Scher decide to stay in Vegas?”

  Before Delaney could explain once again that he had no clue, there was a knock and two more people entered the room. One was a warlock with a long ponytail and the other was the vampire who shared Delaney’s bed. Grigori smiled and strode over to his side. He offered Delaney a kiss. “You guys almost ready to start?”

  Delaney shrugged in response. He didn’t have a watch on, and his pants lacked any pockets for his phone. It was Aleksander who glanced over at the clock on the bedside table. “I think we’re close to twenty-four hours.”

  “It better be at least one minute past,” Dra’Kaedan said. “Otherwise I’m going to hear about it for the rest of eternity.”

  “Let’s start getting ready,” Chander instructed. “If you’re not a sorcerer participating in the spell, I’m going to ask that you take a seat or stand near the sitting area in front of the window. Dra’Kaedan, are we using the familiars?”

  Dra’Kaedan turned his attention to the Grand Warlock Familiar. “Renny, what do you think? My thought is that we don’t need that much power, so it’s not really necessary.”

  “Yeah, I think we should just chill. I was thinking some soothing or calming spell, but it’s only going to increase the pain of the dark casters. Not beneficial in this case.”

  “I’m guessing we’ll have Chand in the middle with warlocks on one side and wizards on the other?” Vadimas asked.

  “Works for me,” the Arch Lich responded. “Kiss your men and let’s go.”

  Grigori winked at Delaney; then their lips brushed. Along with the others not participating, he headed across the room and leaned against the window seat. Delaney waited for Chander to pick his spot and stood just to his left. Dre’Kariston strode over to his right, ready to pour his, Scheredin’s, and Dra’Kaedan’s power into the half-demonic leader of the necromancers—who unfurled his stunning two-toned wings from the special slits in the back of his loose tunic. The tips of his fangs appeared over his bottom lip, and the pewter of his eyes turned blood red.

  “We’re going to move quickly because it’s going to fucking hurt. When I count to three, let your magic out in a burst,” Chander ordered. He planted his feet, and his face grew intensely focused as he counted down.

  Lifting his arms to shove his power into Chander, Delaney’s back bowed as Vadimas and Idris funneled theirs into him. It was a shock to the system as Idris was an intermediate caster somewhere between light and dark while Vadimas was nearly as light as Dra’Kaedan. When it poured into Chander, the Arch Lich bared his teeth as he chanted out loud the spell he and Delaney carefully crafted.

  Taking his eyes from the agony Chander was bearing, Delaney’s attention was drawn toward the bed. A figure started to form on the mattress.

  “Give me fucking more,” Chander barked, and Delaney tugged harder on the pool inside him as did the others behind him.

  Saura’s blonde hair came into view; her body became corporeal as a shimmer of darkness radiated all around her. Delaney smiled through his discomfort as he recognized they’d come to the final words of the resurrection. When the last one was gritted out, Delaney heard a roar; then he flew backward into Idris and Vadimas. Seconds later, they were a pile of limbs, grumbling familiars, and curses on the ground.

  As he struggled to get up and help his fellow wizards do the same, Alaric moved with sentinel speed to pick up the Arch Lich, who was tossed into the long dresser behind him.

  “Fucking hell,” he heard Chander say. Only they were not angry words because of their fall, but ones of wonder.

  Grigori crossed the room, and Delaney took his hand to gain his feet. He leaned against Grigori as the vampire wrapped his arms around him. “What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you what happened,” Dra’Kaedan exclaimed as he gave Brogan a quick squeeze after he too was helped up. After releasing his dragon, he grabbed his brother and kissed him square on the mouth. “Can you believe it?”

  Delaney understood why he was so jubilant, but apparently the dragon shifters who were incapable of feeling the power of magickind were getting a little annoyed. Aleksander’s voice rang out in a dry tone, “We’re still waiting for the explanation, Squirt.”

  Dra’Kaedan’s eyes were sparkling with happiness as he faced his king. “It worked. It fucking worked. She’s what? As powerful as me?”

  “I’d say so,” Dre’Kariston responded.

  “I’m kissing Somerly,” Dra’Kaedan announced as he clutched Somerly’s arms and gave him the same smacking kiss he’d just given his brother.

  “Get off my mate, asshat,” Dre’Kariston demanded as he forcibly removed Somerly from Dra’Kaedan’s grasp. Then Dra’Kaedan smooched Renny, who shoved him away with a cheerful smile.

  “You’re supposed to be kissing me,” Brogan barked as he tugged the warlock close.

  “We’re going to do a hell of a lot more than kiss,” Dra’Kaedan promised with a leer.

  Chander was grinning as he stood next to a sentinel who was supremely pissed. Either the Arch Lich didn’t notice, or he was ignoring Alaric’s peeved expression, because he only asked one question. “Ready to rez T’Eirick?”

  “You want to take one fucking minute to recover from flying halfway across the damn room?” Alaric asked with a scowl.

  “Don’t need it. I’m fine.”

  “Well, maybe I need it,” the Lich Sentinel barked.

  Chander rose to the balls of his feet and slipped his fingers in the space between Alaric’s hips and his glowing daggers. Then he kissed him. It wasn’t a peck, and there was enough tongue that it was visible to everyone.

  “Damn, that’s hot,” Brogan said.

  “Ugh, I can’t think sexy thoughts with my mom in the room,” Dra’Kaedan complained.

  When the Arch Lich finally let his other half breathe, Alaric’s gaze was no longer annoyed. Grigori chuckled. “I guess that’s one way to settle a disagreement.”

  “We should choose that as our method of arguing,” Delaney responded.

  “Excellent selection.”

  “She’s waking up,” Daemon Lord Baxter stated. He and his mate, Benton, had guarded Chander since he was a teenager and were veterans of resurrections. Baxter went over and offered her the crackers and water sitting on the bedside table.

  “I need T’Eirick,” she whispered.

  “You heard the Lichpriestess. Let’s do this,” Chander directed. Delaney hugged Grigori; then the vampire
strode back across the room with the other men who’d charged over to check on them.

  “Try to avoid getting tossed across the room,” Alaric drawled.

  “No one said this shit was easy,” was all Chander replied.

  It took seconds for everyone to get back in position; then they counted down to three once again. Knowing how it would feel to have Idris and Vadimas giving him power helped, and Delaney barely reacted to it the second time around. He shoved everything into Chander, and the Arch Lich chanted the spell.

  Speaking faster since he didn’t have to ask for more power, the resurrection of T’Eirick was over in much less time. The result, however, was the same. There was a giant kickback and once again, Delaney found himself smashing his fellow High Arcanists into the wooden floorboards. But he soon found that the new Lichpriest was just as powerful as Saura.

  Dre’Kariston’s laughter flowed across the room. “Any clue why we’re smart enough to figure out how to create an entirely new magickind race, but not intelligent enough to cast it while sitting down?”

  Dra’Kaedan thought his brother’s words were hilarious and hit the floor—this time in merriment, which made Brogan frown as he stood over him.

  “Someone write it down—Del’s heavier than he looks,” Vadimas griped.

  Delaney snickered as he once again found himself in Grigori’s embrace. He kissed his fanged smile and freed all the grief the morning had brought. The Darkfallen Court would change the world, and Delaney could not wait to witness the impact T’Eirick and Saura would once again have on the Council of Sorcery and Shifters.

  Chapter 36

  Grigori slid down the bench to make as much space as possible for the entire D’Vaire clan, who were invited to attend Council session in the Main Assembly Hall. The Emperor wouldn’t tell anyone why, but there was little doubt it had to do with the Darkfallen Court. He allowed everyone to sit out in public view except for T’Eirick and Saura. As for their family, they were relieved that the Emperor was all smiles when he learned what the group of sorcerers did two weeks before.

  Since the day of the resurrection, time had passed in a blur. The highlight was a quiet and beautiful ceremony for T’Eirick and Saura. They exchanged blood using the daggers Chander created for the fallen knights to bleed while renewing their vows to one another. When their mating marks became visible, it was apparent Fate had outdone herself.

  She put a silver-tinged skull sitting in a lotus flower in the perfect hue of Aleksander’s dragon. Their names were written in script just below the artwork, and Saura had worn a bevy of sleeveless tops since to show it off. They were often V-neck, so everyone could also see the blue-black half-moon trimmed in silver below her collarbone demarking her as a leader. T’Eirick had a matching one and asked for a few tunics to display it. It was a request Elven D’Vaire was only too happy to honor.

  “How do you think everyone’s going to react?” Delaney asked him.

  “I can’t imagine anyone being angry,” Grigori responded as he took Delaney’s hand. Greggory hopped from the ornate cloak on Delaney’s shoulder to Grigori’s.

  “Your parents just walked up to their table, your mom looks gorgeous.”

  “I can’t believe she’s waving at me, I feel like a dork waving back,” Grigori complained as he raised his free hand to acknowledge his mother.

  Delaney chuckled. “You certainly don’t look like one.”

  “You’re the one who looks sexy with your collar peeking through that cloak of yours.”

  “Don’t start talking about sexy stuff. I’m already half-hard thinking about going to the vampire club tomorrow,” Delaney whispered close to his ear.

  “I’m glad it’s just a couple of us going. I don’t want to feel like I need to focus on anyone but you.”

  A light came on above the oversized desk that belonged to the Emperor, and everyone in the room rose to their feet, including Grigori and Delaney.

  “Oh, thank goodness,” Delaney muttered.

  Grigori grinned. “Afraid we’d make ourselves into a public spectacle?”

  Delaney turned to him with wide black eyes. “Yes.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated,” Emperor Chrysander Draconis invited, and the sound of people shuffling into place reverberated throughout the large space. “I must beg your indulgence as I have an additional item to add to our morning’s agenda, and it’s not on the schedule. All of you know our rich history, but please bear with me as I refresh our memories. In the year 1367, Grand Warlock T’Eirick and Grand Summoner Saura of Leolinnia invited the leaders of four races to their castle. When they all arrived, they were asked to band together to benefit all their people. By the end of their stay, the Council of Sorcery was born.

  “Not long after, a war broke out and to the detriment of everyone, the Grand Warlock and Grand Summoner perished along with nearly all their people. Another man took up the helm, and for over four hundred years, he devoted himself to growing our government until he handed over the reins to me and I added shifter communities. Arch Lich Chander Daray not only oversaw the Council for all those centuries, but two weeks ago, with the help of some of the most powerful men on the planet, he changed the course of our future.” Chrysander paused for a few seconds as he rose.

  “Arch Lich, I’d like to ask you to stand along with Grand Warlock Dra’Kaedan D’Vaire, Grand Summoner Dre’Kariston D’Vaire, Prism Wizard Vadimas Porfyra, High Arcanist Delaney Volkov-D’Vaire, High Arcanist Idris D’Vaire, and Scheredin D’Vaire,” Emperor Chrysander requested.

  Delaney released his hold on Grigori, then stood next to Idris.

  “These men cast a spell I’m excited to tell you about, but it would be remiss of me not to include the rest of the people who make up Sorcery D’Vaire, who get together to problem-solve. As I call out your name, I’d like you to stand as well. Lich Sentinel Alaric Daray, Grand Warlock Familiar Renny D’Vaire, Grand Summoner Familiar Lucian D’Vaire, Duke Brogan D’Vairedraconis, Duke Macardle D’Vairedraconis, Grand Summoner-mate Somerly D’Vairedraconis, Vampyr Lord Grigori Volkov-D’Vaire, and Brexton D’Vaire.”

  Grigori got up, and Delaney interlaced their fingers as everyone stared at them. He did his best not to allow it to make him nervous.

  “I guess the Emperor went ahead and named us,” Delaney whispered, not sounding at all displeased.

  “Your Majesty, I’m afraid you neglected to mention our most recent addition,” Chander said. “King Aleksander D’Vairedraconis is now a permanent part of our little group.”

  “Arch Lich, I appreciate you pointing out my oversight,” the Emperor replied. “Your Highness, please rise.”

  Leaning back slightly, Grigori spied Aleksander getting to his feet. The D’Vaire king was not any more comfortable around attention than Grigori was, but his face revealed nothing.

  “Ladies and gentlemen of the Council of Sorcery and Shifters, these men have changed the course of our history. Two weeks ago, they cast a spell with their power combined. It was a resurrection spell which created a new type of magickind, one that those of you with the senses capable to detect it will find a mix of necromancy, wizardry, and warlock. They are also undead with weapon capabilities close to what the Sentinel Brotherhood and Order of the Fallen Knights were granted at their creation. They call themselves Darkfallen Court and are capable of healing dark sorcerers painlessly. I’d like to invite them to join me,” Emperor Chrysander stated.

  The door behind him slid open, and two smiling faces appeared. They were resplendent in their long dragonskin cloaks that didn’t flow behind them as magickind usually wore but stopped at the floor. There were long slits in the sides to enable them to grab the short swords strapped to each thigh. Every stitch of their clothing was the blue-black of D’Vaire, embellished with silver beading courtesy of the elves who shared their home. Gasps sounded as people got a good look at who the Emperor had in his booth. The majority of them only had paintings or artist renderings to give them some idea of what
the former Grand Warlock and Grand Summoner had looked like, but their resemblance to their well-known sons made them instantly recognizable.

  When they were at his side, he grinned. “The men standing in this room have returned our creators to us. Please allow me to present Lichpriestess Saura D’Vaire and Lichpriest T’Eirick D’Vaire of the Darkfallen Court.”

  Grigori didn’t know who started it, but applause thundered through the room. Rulers of every race hopped to their feet as did the D’Vaires packed around Grigori. It was a brilliant spectacle acknowledging two incredible people.

  The Emperor’s voice rang out above the noise. “On behalf of the Coven of Warlocks, the Order of Necromancia, the Order of the Fallen Knights, the Court of Draconis, the Spectra Wizardry, the Vampyr Clutch, and the Sentinel Brotherhood, we offer you a petition to vote upon making the Darkfallen Court our newest race with a seat and full voting rights in the Main Assembly Hall. Does anyone have any questions for the Lichpriestess and Lichpriest before I call for the vote?”

  “Just one question, Your Majesty,” Alpha Artair Ursus Arctos, the leader of the brown bears called out. “Lichpriestess and Lichpriest, when can you start?”

  Laughter rang out as people finally stopped clapping. The Emperor called for a vote, and it only took a few seconds for the Darkfallen Court to become an official race.

  * * *

  “Can you believe the Emperor put together this ball for us so quickly?” Saura asked. Her hair was piled high, and she was wearing a sleek dress in the darkfallen and Court D’Vaire signature color mix of blue and black.

  “He certainly wasn’t going to let the addition of the Darkfallen Court to the Council go without any fanfare,” Dra’Kaedan replied.

  Grigori let the conversation flow around him as he tried not to sweat. As if sitting all morning in a Council session wasn’t enough, the entire D’Vaire clan was attending the lavish party Chrysander had insisted upon. His palms were a little damp, but it had no effect on Delaney. As he often did, he kept their hands snugly clasped and weathered the storm of Grigori’s bodily reactions to stress.