Chapter 34
Gritting his teeth, Drexley wrestled against his constraints.
Images were bombarding his brain. They were terrifying.
Drexley was trapped in a nightmare. One that refused to allow him to wake.
But the most horrifying thing was the realization that none of the pictures were conjured.
They were memories. Of another Drexley. A sentinel summoned from a prison the necromancers called a compound.
By a sorcerer who had skillfully ordered Drexley into becoming someone else.
A person Adney wanted him to be. Without a single care for what Drexley wanted.
“For fuck’s sake, wake up,” Ducarius growled.
Drexley froze immediately as Ducarius’s fear battered his already-beleaguered soul. “Ducarius?”
“Are you okay?” Ducarius asked.
His throat was dry. Drexley swallowed thickly. A thread of calm seeped in. Nothing was binding him. Relief flowed into him next. The only things around him were Ducarius’s arms.
A loud bang made Drexley jump.
“Are you two okay in there?” Alaric shouted.
“Give us a minute,” Ducarius yelled. “Drexley, talk to me.”
Shaking, he bowed his head and grabbed Ducarius’s forearm as he trembled.
“They were not dreams,” Drexley whispered, unable to withhold the truth.
Every hour of his life in Adney’s realm was crystal clear.
He had even gained scattered recollections of sitting in his lonely cell awaiting visits from his lone friend, Alaric.
“The past five hundred years. I can remember them now.”
Alaric pounded on the door again. “I will come in there if you do not assure me you are both well.”
The Lich Sentinel was not exaggerating. Drexley dragged his gaze up to lock with Ducarius’s.
“I need to talk to him,” Drexley murmured.
“Let’s go out into the kitchen; we could use some cookies.”
“Is someone going to answer me?” Alaric demanded.
“We will be out in a minute,” Ducarius roared. “Calm down.”
“He is the one who took so long to answer,” Alaric said, though Drexley was not sure if he was speaking to his other half or the other people now gathered outside the bedroom.
“Ignore him, we can take as long as we need to get up,” Ducarius remarked softly as he pressed a kiss to Drexley’s forehead.
Shifting, Drexley turned to fully face Ducarius and was immediately tucked close to his mate’s chest. “Nothing is what I thought it to be. I am not who I was led to believe.”
“Do you understand why?”
“Yes,” Drexley replied as he clung to Ducarius. “My memories were bled. Like at the compound. But it was not as strong. You knew.”
“I felt the tug the second I arrived and recognized it.”
“You did not tell me.”
“Would you have believed me if I had?” Ducarius asked. His voice was calm, and there was no irritation in his heart.
Unable to lie, Drexley shook his head.
“Do not feel guilty, love. It is not your fault.”
Drexley did not fight his tears as they fell. His mind was a mixture of the past and the present. It was a collision of two versions of a story. Only one of them was true. And it would forever alter how he thought of Adney and his realm.
“I want to talk about it. Tell you everything.”
“You can do that when you are ready to go downstairs,” Ducarius replied, rubbing Drexley’s back as they huddled together in their bed. “Otherwise, you will have to repeat your entire tale.”
“I feel a need for them to know too,” Drexley confided as he pulled marginally away from Ducarius.
His mate offered him a smile and moved to gently brush away the moisture from his cheeks.
Drexley leaned forward, and Ducarius met him halfway for probably the tenderest kiss they had ever shared.
It was a beautiful reminder that although the past was a facade, the present and their future was undeniably real.
And their love gained strength every day.
Drexley’s spirits buoyed a little at the thought. No matter what he was enduring, Ducarius was there for him. A ready shoulder for him to lean on. In fact, their entire condo was filled with family. Men who cared for Drexley and supported him. Without demands or manipulation.
“Let’s go downstairs,” Drexley told Ducarius, who nodded and sprang into motion. The Skeleton Lord climbed off the bed, and Drexley scrambled after him. They locked hands, shared a grin as their love flowed freely between them, and left their bedroom.
They walked into a noisy hallway. The second floor was open to the large living area beneath, and Drexley had an expansive view of Larissa’s handiwork thanks to the Darays chatting in or around the kitchen.
Cookies and treats were already on plates, and the fresh aroma of coffee tickled Drexley’s senses.
A quick glance at the clock told him it was two in the morning, but the Darays were prepared to stay awake no matter how long it took to ensure he was fine. Drexley was incredibly touched and grateful to have them in his life.
Arvandus caught his eye and grimaced. “Memories came back?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“The screaming was a reminder of a night many years ago when my own memories caught up with me,” Albrecht said. For the first time, he was uncloaked. His eyes were green, but what surprised Drexley was that his reddish-blond hair was short. Every other sentinel wore it long.
“You did not mention that Albrecht kept his hair cut similarly to mine,” Drexley said to Ducarius.
Ducarius’s brows drew together in confusion. “You did not ask about Albrecht’s hair.”
“I assumed it was long. Every other sentinel wears it the same way.”
Albrecht shrugged. “I do not know how they do it. Nothing annoys me more than having my hair hanging in my eyes.”
“Which is saying a lot considering he is mated to a fallen knight,” Alaric drawled.
Chander elbowed his mate in the stomach. “Don’t start. Drexley, how are you feeling?”
Shoving Cassius out of the way, Ducarius urged Drexley to sit at one of the barstools. Brynnius set a cupcake in front of him. Next to it, Samson placed a cup of coffee.
“Overwhelmed,” Drexley said after thanking Samson and Brynnius. He took a sip of his coffee to brace himself. “My life was not what I believed it to be.”
“How far back do you remember?” Alaric asked.
Drexley gave his leader a sheepish glance. “I do not recall meeting Adney or the day I was resurrected, but I have memories of the compound. Of talking to you. You listened to me confess that I believed myself to be a failure and assured me I brought my people honor.”
“You still bring your people honor,” Alaric replied. “Nothing you have done or will ever do can change that. We are incorruptible.”
“We are now,” Drexley corrected. “But there was a way to force us to comply with whatever a necromancer wanted. It was how I was led to believe that I disliked training. That weapons were a bad thing. And that Alaric was not our actual leader.”
“The question all these sentinels are going to ask next is how that worked,” Teverild said, leaning against Cassius as the Skeleton Lord helped himself to cookies.
“It was not quick,” Drexley revealed. “And I did not do it willingly. Adney ordered me to stop training. Demanded I cut my hair. I remember the chill as I sat, and he cut it himself. My skin crawled. I did not want him touching me. But the worst day was when I had to hand him my blades. He destroyed them in front of me. His realm tore those memories from me. I thought they were my decisions. That I wanted to be a scholar.”
“Because you like reading,” Chander surmised. “On some level, you enjoyed educating yourself, and he exploited it.”
“Yes,” Drexley replied.
“What I cannot figure out is how he knew to drain your memory,” Brynnius commented.
Drexley sighed. “Ducarius met Adney. The real one. The irascible man who complained and was often unpleasant. But that is not the Adney I encountered in the first few decades. We built trust. I was the one who told him about the spell at the compound. At some point, he recreated it. Played with my mind. It remains a smooth transition in my head. Maybe he started off lightly and increased it? I have no notion. But I remember him blaming Alaric for the spell at the compound. He was convinced you manipulated some necromancer into creating it, then murdered them. That was how you lacked one. According to Adney, you claimed you were our ruler and assumed the mantle of leadership in a compound where no necromancer could go to dispute your claims.”
Alaric rolled his eyes. “It is almost ironic that I was summoned for the sole purpose of caring for the sentinels so the world could soothe themselves with the knowledge that we had a leader and should be fine. That they could forget we existed. To ensure Albrecht forgot how he was abused, all our memories were drained to keep us from remembering them. As if we wanted to.”
With a heavy sigh, Drexley frowned. “Strangely, I remain grateful to Adney. I had freedom while few other sentinels did. For a time, I could even live much how I wanted. My mate was locked behind the walls of a prison five centuries ago. I cannot think of myself as a victim. I was lucky. It could have been far worse.”