Chapter Three
Vaia was exhausted, and the wound along her ribs had bled in the unit. Fortunately, the bedding had caught it.
She was slumped over in the chair as she tried to stay awake.
They got back to her room, and her sheets and bedding were clean and folded back as she was lifted and settled onto the surface.
The orderly tucked her in, and her guards both glanced in to check on her when she relaxed on her bed, fighting to stay awake.
She gave up the fight.
* * * *
Matthias had just gotten up and had been wanting to spend quality time with Leo, but Dorn had cleared his throat. “Mayor, Lord Azreen Maximus is here and wishes to discuss things urgently.”
Matthias kissed Leo’s shoulder, and she smiled. “I will clear some time in your schedule later on.”
He chuckled, and she kissed him. “Now go and tell him to divorce her. Vaia wants to start her life. She has promised me the title of auntie when she has kids. You know I love being an aunt.”
He grinned. “I am aware of your dedication to the role.”
He pushed away from her and was dressed in seconds. The young male pacing in his office was a far cry from the one who had registered the day before. He was stressed, desperate, and looked at Matthias. “How do I get her to drop the divorce?”
Dorn snorted. “She was abandoned for fifteen years. All she needed to do was notify our magistrate, but she wanted to do it formally. I am guessing that it was a mistake on her part.”
“She could heal herself if she just took in some of my power, but she won’t. She’s fighting me, and I don’t understand why. I mean, her finances were diverted by her family, but I am suing them for the spousal support I gave her over the last fifteen years.”
Dorn frowned and lifted his tablet. “Why did she get the first and not the others?”
“The first was given to her at the wedding. Cash. Apparently, her family kicked her out after the wedding, so she bought her own home.”
Matthias took a seat behind his desk. “You didn’t know?”
“I was sixteen. Her family said she would be fine, and my parents wanted to leave, and I just felt so good after the familiar link.”
“And she felt...”
“I don’t know. My family said she was fine.”
Matthias sighed. “And you were too dumb, actually, to check.”
“I was young, and I trusted my family. I see now that was a mistake.”
“Well, the assassin who was found in her hospital room surrendered information on your mother’s interference. She has decided that your public personal will be better served as a tragic widower than as a husband who neglected his wife.”
“Oh, shit. Wait, she definitely sent the assassins?”
“And is continuing, but we have our transport filters blocked with that particular signal. They will switch it soon, but for now, we can keep her safe while Vaia heals.”
“She won’t heal. Cursed bullets. They spread necrosis through anywhere they touched. She will go septic in another day, and she won’t take what she needs because it negates the familiar contract.”
A sleepy voice said, “So? Negate the familiar contract. Keep the marriage contract. She can still pull your energy through the legal link versus the mage-enforced link. The channel no longer has to remain open because you are a big boy now who can take care of his own output.”
He jolted and looked at Leo, who moved gracefully toward Matthias. “How will that make a difference?”
Matthias’s jaw clenched as Leo leaned against him and stroked his hair.
He muttered, “It won’t trap her for another ten years.
A marriage contract can be worked out any time, but one pull on your energies locks her into the familiar contract for another decade.
No options are available. No negotiations. ”
He blinked. “You think she will go for that?”
The assistant sighed. “Just fucking ask her.”
He nodded and glanced at Dorn. “Do you know what is needed?”
“I will have the mage guild send a contract mage. They will sever the familiar link.”
Azreen looked at him and nodded. “Please. Now.”
Matthias looked at him. “Is that it?”
“Yes. Being a young dragon, this sort of thing had not occurred to me.”
“I understand. So, return to your wife and wait for the mage.” Matthias curved his fingers around the dip in Leonora’s hip.
Azreen’s eyes widened as he understood clearly what he had interrupted.
“You had better get moving. He can move really fast when he’s motivated, and right now, he’s motivated.”
Matthias pulled Leo onto his lap and palmed her breast while pursuing a kiss that warmed his soul. Leo sighed and murmured, “You are going to miss your next appointment.”
Matthias kissed her neck. “What was it?”
She sent the order to the mage guild and chuckled. “Oh, look. Me again.”
He laughed, gripped her tightly, and got them naked and back to bed. It would never do to be late for his Leonora.
* * * *
Azreen got out of the office, walking with long strides. He saw the servant who had seen him into the office and frowned. “You are her lawyer?”
“Yes, sir. You are her husband?”
“Correct. I am going to petition to dissolve the familiar contract. We will deal with the marriage after that. Do you know of any real estate agents? I would like to purchase a home if this is the place Vaia feels comfortable.”
“I have just such an estate agent.” He produced a card and handed it over.
“I will contact her while I wait with Vaia for the mage guild representative.”
“She is frequently available for nights. Her fiancé is on night shift at the XIA, just in case he escorts her to the listing.”
“Right. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Miss Vaia wishes to start her life and plan for a family. That is currently with or without you.”
Azreen paused. “Why do I think that if I say the right thing, you would try and ease her to my side?”
“Dragons are wise, and her requests are simple. She has remained in a solitary situation for the last fifteen years, and now her peers are all pairing off and having families, and she’s stuck with you.
So, either cut her free so she can pursue her future, or you can become part of it. Decide quickly. Her patience is done.”
Azreen nodded and looked at the card. “Right. Thank you. Oh, I am suing her family for the missing funds.”
“Yes, you mentioned.”
“Right. I never meant to leave her in this state.”
“Intention or not, here we are. I will be speaking with your representative soon.”
Azreen nodded, walked out of the mansion, looked around, and nodded. It was a nice area. Perhaps there was something comparable somewhere. Vaia deserved a good space.
He nodded and portalled back to the hospital parking lot. He had the feeling that the mage would be arriving any moment, and he wanted to be there when it did.
He was in the lift when he felt the energy signature arrive. The mage was here.
* * * *
Vaia was relaxing when Azreen returned and walked right past the guards outside her room. There went her relaxation.
“The mage is on the way here to dissolve our familiar arrangement.”
“And the other pesky entanglement?”
He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “I am insisting on couples therapy.”
She snorted. “Well, taking out the familiar link is the most important thing.”
“Indeed. Then I can give you strength, and you don’t need to restart the clock for the next ten years.”
Vaia huffed. “Why would you? I am very obviously not content with the situation.”
“Well, your family forced you into the situation, and my family was just happy to find someone with compatible energies. You don’t know how rare you are.”
“I have a pretty good idea.”
A soft knock on the doorframe got her attention. She smiled. “Archmage Artemis. What are you here for?”
“Oh, no one knows about the familiar mage-creature connection like I do. Well, my familiar does, but I distracted him by sending him for pizza. He doesn’t need to be here for this.”
Vaia was wary. “I thought your specialty was portals?”
“What is a familiar link but a connection between two points. A gateway for power.” Artemis grinned.
Vaia snorted. “Nobody else wanted to come.”
“Bingo. He’s dragon-sired, and you are a Depford. That is a lot of raw power that can go wrong. Fortunately, I am confident.”
She pulled a scroll out. “Now, here we go. This is an acknowledgement that you both want the familiar link dissolved. Now that you are both adults, it is binding.”
She created a lap desk, and it settled over Vaia, keeping her legs free. The archmage patted her own backside and found a pen. “There we go. Read it. Read it carefully.”
Vaia read it and blinked. “Oh. No way.”
“Way. Keep reading.”
Azreen frowned but kept silent. He waited for his turn.
Vaia looked at the final line, took a deep breath, and signed it. She turned the scroll to Azreen and said, “Please.”
He took it and found the same clause that had startled her. He nodded and signed the agreement to break the contract.
Artemis grinned and scribbled her own signature with an enormous flourish. “Nice. There go the formalities.”
The archmage looked at both of them. “I am going to open a vortex between you two, and it is going to take the off-gassing that Vaia has been building up over the last decade.”
“Put your hands out, Vaia’s over Azreen’s palms, close but not touching.”
Artemis adjusted their hands until they were the right width apart. She smiled and said, “The link is now severed. Boom.” She snapped her fingers.
Vaia felt nothing for a moment, and then a tether that kept tension on her broke, and her energy roared into all the hollow spaces. The space between their hands lit up, and that was where Artemis had put the portal. It was taking the extra.
When Vaia’s energy stopped its surging, she lay back, shivering. “Oh, that feels better. How do you feel, Azreen?”
He looked around and frowned then stepped toward her and picked her up.