Chapter 70
Chapter
Seventy
“I’m really sorry about zapping her with lighting.” Elias gestured with his goblet towards Umbra, who slept on a rug by the dining table.
“Don’t worry about it,” Wraith said.
They’d crowded together around the table in the dining room, which was designed to hold about half the number of people who currently squeezed around it. The sound of cutlery scraping and glasses clinking mixed with laughter and chatter.
“Umbra said it didn’t hurt her at all,” Wraith said.
“I suppose that’s a good thing.” Elias pursed his lips. “Although, it does mean my chances of winning a fight against a hellhound aren’t great.”
He frowned. “In fact, my lightning was not that effective against the undead army in general. It had no effect on the skeletons, and although it knocked out the reanimated corpses and dread knights, they’d just rise again a few moments later. It was all extremely vexing.”
Elias gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’ll just have to avoid battles with hellhounds and necromancers in the future.
” He took a sip of his wine. His countenance suddenly brightened.
“But I have to say, Umbra was magnificent! She was so big and so smoky. Then she kept biting people, but no one could touch her!”
Elias laughed. “And when I threw my lightning at her, it just zapped around her body before striking one of our own. Thankfully, the guard wasn’t too badly injured.”
“Honestly, I had no idea she could physically manifest and actually hurt anyone until then. She’d never done it before,” Wraith said.
“Well, it’s a brilliant trick!” Elias gazed down at Umbra. “I wish I could have a pet hellhound.”
Suddenly Luther stood. He swayed slightly. Onyx placed his hand on his husband’s elbow whilst smiling up at Luther.
Luther raised his goblet. “To us all being alive, despite quite a lot of attempts to kill us!”
Everyone laughed and raised their goblet. “To us being alive!” they toasted.
“And I am so glad we could all be together tonight to have this nice family dinner.” Luther sat.
Senta looked up and down the table. “I suppose it is a family dinner. And even though some are missing, it’s actually a good turnout for us.”
Wraith leaned towards Konrad. “Are Ash or Barrett related in any way?” he whispered.
Gerard, Senta, Luther, Konrad, and Leon were all siblings. Their spouses were related through marriage. Prince Matteo was Elias’s stepbrother. But Wraith could not see a link to Ash and Barrett, who sat together at the opposite end of the table to them.
Konrad cleared his throat. “Not by law.”
“What do you mean?”
“Barrett is our half-brother. An illegitimate offspring of my father.”
“Oh! I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” A half-smile played on Konrad’s lips. “Most people know. It’s a public secret.” Then he sighed. “My father actually had lots of illegitimate children. In fac—”
“And who knows when we’ll all be together again like this,” Luther said loudly, cutting Konrad off.
“That’s true,” Gerard said. “You and Onyx will be off to the Grey Mountains. Prince Matteo will be returning to the combined Kingdoms of Voltaria and Zephyrias. The rest of us will mostly be back at the Castle of the Dragons. What about you, Barrett and Ash? What are your plans?”
“We’ll head back to my property in Draconia.” Barrett and Ash shared a glance. “But we are not sure how long we’ll be there. We may end up in Botanial.”
Elias leaned back in his chair. “So when do you think we can finalise a new treaty? The one with no magic bindings.”
“And no monk involvement!” Onyx added, voice firm.
“Just parchment and normal ink,” Senta said. “No more signing our names in blood!”
“I’d like to think we’ve all learnt not to do that again,” said Konrad.
There were nods around the table.
“And we’ll show those monks! We’ll create a new and wonderful age filled with so much peace.
There will be peace everywhere. All around,” Luther cried out.
“In fact, there will be so much peace that people will complain and say there is too much peace. That’ll show those fucking monks that you don’t need blood magic to enforce peace on the kingdoms.”
Konrad chuckled and turned to Elias. “We’ve already started working on the new peace treaty. I think—”
“No! No! No!” Luther waved his goblet, droplets of wine spilling everywhere. “None of that talk tonight. We are alive. We beat the monks and the necromancers. We did some basic damage control and clean-up yesterday and today. Tonight is for celebrating. All that other shit can wait.”
“Fine.” Konrad held up his hands. “Have it your way, Luther. It can wait.”
More plates of food appeared, followed by more wine. They ate and drank. They laughed and talked.
Wraith looked around at the group, at this mishmashed family.
My mishmashed family.
Wraith’s eyes prickled, and he suddenly had a little trouble seeing, because it did feel like his family. A group of people who saw him for what he was and accepted him.
Wraith leaned against Konrad, placing his hand on his knee. Konrad wrapped his arm around Wraith’s shoulders. They sat together, listening to the others talk. Wraith finally had somewhere he belonged and was accepted.
They remained together well into the night, as if no one wanted to leave. No one spoke anymore about a peace treaty or the future.
The future would come, of course, as it always did. But they’d face it. Together. Tonight, they’d focus on their victory and the fact that they were alive and could celebrate it.