Chapter 24
They burned the stew. But that did not keep Drexley from enjoying his portion.
Ducarius scooped out every spoonful from his bowl as well.
However, Adney took a few bites and fell into a deep sleep.
Drexley had checked in on him several times before dragging Ducarius into their now-shared bedchamber, but Adney had not awakened.
It was horrifying and saddened Drexley. Adney was slipping away.
Drexley’s grief was already a heavy burden, and there would be far more to endure soon.
But Drexley refused to focus on that part of himself so he could care for his mate.
The last thing Drexley wanted to do was ignore the budding love wrapping stealthily through his heart.
Drexley trusted heavily in Fate, and his devotion had resulted in Ducarius’s presence.
Fate had peeked into Drexley’s soul and brought him a partner who fit him.
One with a broad chest that made a perfect pillow, and a surprising sweetness.
They were lying in a bedchamber illuminated only by the fire in the hearth and the glow of Ducarius’s weapons.
They were both naked, and Drexley’s desire was sated thanks to the exquisite way Ducarius had made love to him.
Now, the man he adored was dropping small kisses on Drexley’s head and sweeping a hand down his back.
It was a beautiful moment in a realm being torn asunder thanks to Adney’s dissipating magic.
“Did I mention that I love you?” Ducarius asked.
“Yes, in the kitchen. It was not the charming scene I imagined I would have when you first declared your heart.”
“An expert on love could argue that it did not matter where it happened so long as it did.”
Drexley shifted and lifted his chin so his eyes met Ducarius’s satisfied gaze. “Tell me about modern matebonds. In my romances, it is a small, quick ceremony celebrated with family.”
“I cannot speak for everyone, but the ones in my extended family are long affairs that include many traditions from different communities. While I applaud any couple eager to combine their lives, they take forever. Everyone is dressed up, and we must sit through floral wreaths, rings, at least one gift, speeches with explanations of why things are happening as if we have not gone to every damn previous one, necklaces, and mating marks as a usual minimum. Each part has people assigned to assist, and if you exclude someone, they could feel slighted. It must be stressful for the couple involved. Someday, you and I will slap smiles on our faces and likely be forced to endure it. I love you, but I am not excited about the ceremony.”
Drexley bit his lip to hold in his laughter at the consternation on Ducarius’s handsome face. The Skeleton Lord clearly had not enjoyed the ceremonies he had attended.
“What if we chose something different for ourselves?”
“What do you mean, love?”
Scooting up to kiss Ducarius, Drexley took a gamble.
“I want to know that I can speak to you no matter where you are. When we are in a room together, I want to feel your emotions. I am not against following the traditions of your family, but must we wait to bind our souls? I welcome the chance to belong to you now.”
“Drexley, if you are asking me if I want to bind myself to you now, the answer is yes.”
Drexley grinned as relief and love filled him. “I want to be your fully bonded mate.” Tugging on the covers, Drexley scrambled up so he was seated. “Grab your daggers; do you have to remove the green poison to ensure we can be cut?”
To his delight, Ducarius mirrored his position. But instead of getting his weapons, he rubbed Ducarius’s thigh through the covers.
“I know your feelings about weapons, but I have a suggestion. If we use your daggers, it would turn them from weapons into athames. Many in my family display their athames as a reminder of that important moment in their lives. We could do the same with your daggers.”
It made Drexley sad that he could not honor the request, because Ducarius’s idea was lovely. “I wish we could, but I do not have my weapons any longer.”
“Where are they?”
“I do not know. My memory does not stretch that far back. I cannot recall the last time I trained or what happened to them. But my belongings are not so numerous that I could lose two curved daggers among them. They are not in my trunks, and Adney would not allow weapons to be stored anywhere else in the house. I must assume that I rid myself of them somehow. Perhaps Adney aided me.”
“I see.”
“Do you think it was wrong of me to destroy them?”
Ducarius caressed Drexley’s cheek. “That is not up to me to decide. They were your property, not mine. I already know you have no interest in training, so it makes sense that you would not want to keep blades lying around.”
“I wish I had kept them; having them as athames would have been nice.”
“We could wait and have an athame made if you want.”
Drexley shook his head. “No, I think it will please me to use your weapons, knowing they are always with you. It will be almost like a piece of us goes with you too.”
“You are right. I hope it does not make it harder to attack others knowing that my blades have bound us together for eternity. That would be horrible.”
Given how diligent Ducarius was about his training, Drexley had no fear that his other half would hesitate in battle no matter what important events including his daggers. “Get your weapons, Ducarius, and let us be about our business.”
“One thing I love is the words my extended family have all used in their ceremonies. Would you mind saying them with me?”
“It will be lovely to include something traditional from your family. I would be honored.”
Ducarius picked up a dagger and changed the poison to the black one alone. Once the task was complete, Ducarius handed it to Drexley. Then he repeated the action with his second blade.
“Do you want to cut me first?” Ducarius asked.
“I have no argument with that order.”
Their eyes locked as Ducarius held out his left hand. Drexley smiled. Ducarius winked at him. Swallowing thickly as his emotions surged, Drexley blew out a breath.
“Cut swiftly across the palm,” Ducarius reminded Drexley gently.
“It will hurt you.”
“So would an eternity without you, and the pain of the cut will last only long enough for the wound to heal.”
Drexley cupped Ducarius’s wrist and whipped the dagger as quickly as he could manage through Ducarius’s skin.
Blood welled and pleased Drexley. He set the dagger aside and held out his arm.
His jaw flexed as Ducarius cut him. The pain from the poison was intense, but Drexley would have endured anything necessary to be with his other half.
“Repeat after me: Chosen by Fate, and accepted by my heart as true, I accept you as my mate.”
The words were beautiful, and Drexley hoped they would be fully committed to his often-faulty memory as he spoke them back to Ducarius.
They sealed their wounds together, and Drexley kept his gaze fixed on Ducarius’s face.
In his mind was a crystal-clear vision of two souls wrapping snugly around each other.
A heartbeat later, a surge of emotion joined his own joy. Drexley grinned as he realized he was experiencing Ducarius’s happiness.
Then he heard Ducarius’s voice in his head. “I love you.”
Tears fell unheeded down Drexley’s cheeks. Although he had imagined how lovely it would be to belong fully to Ducarius, they were just moments into their completed matebond and he was already delightfully overwhelmed by the experience.
“I love you too.”
Ducarius yanked Drexley close and banded his arms around him. Clinging to him, Drexley wept and thanked Fate for old magic and curious Skeleton Lords.
“I hope you heard me,” Ducarius said aloud.
“You told me you loved me. Did you hear my returned vow?”
“Yes. Did my words make you cry?”
Nuzzling closer to Ducarius, Drexley clung to him. “No, it is your heart. I feel it. Words are one thing, but this bond—it is so beautiful that I can feel what is resonating within your soul.”
“I have already grown addicted to this connection. How will I ever convince myself to leave a room if you are in it?”
“By consoling yourself with our ability to speak like this to each other,” Drexley said through their new mindlink.
“Use this power for good, Drexley, and do not allow mischief to guide you. The last thing I want is to find myself humming some tune in your head or have you painting me a picture of how aroused you are while I am engaged in a task like training. Remember that the blades I carry are poisoned and sharp, and if I accidentally cut off my shaft because you have distracted me, it will displease us both.”
Chuckling through his tears, Drexley ran his fingers through Ducarius’s tangled hair. It was sticking up thanks to Drexley’s habit of yanking on it as they made love, and that did not suit his handsome Skeleton Lord.
“I will do my best not to irritate you or remind you of how much you have grown to appreciate my body.”
“I worship every inch of you, but there is a time and a place for everything.”
“Let us not speak of the kitchen again today. I am in far too good of a mood.”
“Hush, Drexley.”
“Thank you for agreeing to bind our souls.”
“It is I who should thank you for suggesting it,” Ducarius replied as he coasted his hands along Drexley’s back. “Do not be surprised if the Darays insist we have some kind of ceremony so they can celebrate our matebond with us.”
“Do we need to do the long ceremony you described? I do not want you to be bored during the event.”
“We may have to negotiate for something far quicker. More emphasis on a party and less on what I consider stodgy tradition. I will insist that we wear rings. That was started by dragons, and I believe I would like the look of it on our fingers.”
“It is a good thing I know you to be a secret romantic or I would despair that you had no tender feelings in your heart. At least you want these rings you speak of.”
Ducarius kissed his earlobe and jaw, and a fresh burst of joy swept through Drexley. “Plus, you can feel what is inside me.”
“Your happiness is rewarding.”
“I already knew you were sweet, but I did not know it reached straight to your soul. Experiencing your emotions reminds me how important it is to care for you and do nothing to cause you pain. I wonder if that is why Fate gave this power to sentinels. We were trained to kill and follow orders we could not refute. Perhaps if I had not been locked in a cage and kept from my mate, I would have held on to some fragment of my humanity in those years when my skin was stripped from my bones.”
The import of Ducarius’s words made Drexley stiffen. “Adney is over two thousand years old.”
“Yes, older than the Sentinel Brotherhood. You were assigned to him the minute we were created. Like you, I was one of the original sentinels created the day our spell was first cast.”
“You and I lived in the same building for centuries. Longer than I even spent here in Adney’s realm,” Drexley exclaimed, outraged at the thought of Ducarius being so close while simultaneously being hopelessly out of reach.
“But each sentinel was confined to a single cell and never encountered another of our kind, which ensured we did not meet as long as we were at the compound.”
Drexley’s head spun as his fury raged. “The thought of being robbed of nearly two thousand years with you is no easy thing to endure.”
“Be grateful that is how it worked out. If not for that decision, your necromancer would have summoned you, and I would not have been able to follow. Either way, we would have found ourselves separated at some point in the last two millennia.”
Although Drexley wanted to argue that Adney would not have kept him in his realm if he explained that his mate was back at the compound, it was no use.
Both Drexley and Ducarius knew that Adney did not approve of their relationship.
Adney would have been no less understanding five centuries earlier.
“I must not think about what could have happened,” Drexley stated aloud, more to remind himself than anything else. “What is important is that we are together now.”
“And no one will ever fucking separate us again.”
“No. No, that cannot and will not happen,” Drexley said, gratified by the surge of protectiveness and confidence pouring into him courtesy of his mate’s emotions. They mirrored exactly what Drexley was feeling.
Ducarius cupped Drexley’s face in his hands and gave him a firm kiss. “Neither of us would allow it. I adore you and am committed to being at your side.”
“I love you too,” Drexley replied, brushing their mouths together again.
Ducarius’s eyes narrowed as Drexley yawned. “Now, we need to rest. The last thing you should do is add fatigue to your concerns.”
“I wanted to discover if we will lose consciousness when we make love now that we are bonded, but I suppose it can wait until tomorrow.”
“Perhaps if we are not exhausted, we can avoid passing out and can brag to the sentinels that we conquered something they could not.”
“I like your competitive spirit.”
“Good, now help me fix these covers; they are hopelessly tangled. And do not even think of looking at the dressing gown I threw to the floor earlier.”
With a chuckle, Drexley stole plenty of kisses as they straightened their bed. Then Drexley snuggled close to Ducarius, laid his head on the Skeleton Lord’s chest, and drifted away wearing a smile as he reveled in the tender growing love emanating from the other sentinel’s stalwart heart.