Page 52 of Becoming D'Vaire
“They should have a theme song or matching jackets,” Mac teased.
“If it helps, whenever I see the Arch Lich with the Lich Sentinel and the Skeleton Seven the “Imperial March” plays in my head,” Grigori replied without thinking, which made him immediately want to retract his words. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way like they’re evil or anything. Just awesome and intimidating.”
Idris shifted in the booth and yanked his phone from his pocket. “I’m so making that the ringtone for all of them,” the wizard responded as he fiddled with the device.
“That’s awesome, I’m going to do it on my phone too,” Delaney said. “But unlike some people, I’m going to wait until I get home because it’s rude to have your phone out at the dinner table.”
Idris stuck his tongue out at Delaney but did put away his phone. “I wanted to get up and dance when T’Eirick and Saura started talking about being resurrected permanently.”
“I know, I don’t think it’s really set in yet for anyone, or we’re all bummed because we still have to get through their crossing back over first, but I’m super excited. They’re really great and I’m glad they want to stay with us,” Delaney responded with a smile.
Their food was laid out and Grigori reluctantly let go of Delaney’s hand so he could devour his burger. After a few bites, he asked, “Do you guys think you can really figure out how to keep Carvallius and Latarian from being resurrected again?”
“This group hasn’t only reunited two fallen knights with their dragons but have also successfully crafted an immortality potion,” Mac confided in a low voice. “Trust me, they can do anything.”
“Wait, immortality potion? For like shifters and sorcerers without enough power for it?” Grigori whispered back. Neither one of them needed to use a hushed tone; the restaurant was not busy and the tables around them were empty, but Grigori was awed enough that he simply followed Mac’s lead.
“Idris found a scroll and built the spell,” Delaney informed him as if this were the sort of life-altering thing they did daily.
“It was Del who crafted the spell to not only reunite Drystan and Conley with their dragons, but to allow fallen knights and now sentinels to be resurrected as shifters. It won’t be used for a few years yet because the Sentinel Brotherhood is still immersed in training, but it’s going to be awesome,” Idris said.
Mac gestured in Grigori’s direction. “And this one invented synthetic or almost-synthetic blood. At least I’m past the magic primary books. I’ve got that going for me.”
Idris leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You have tons going for you.”
“Of course I do. I have you, sweetheart.”
“I wish I could tell if you guys were happy,” Delaney joked.
“Did Del tell you I asked Fate for you? Del wanted to find his mate and since when I asked, she gave me Mac, he told me I should let her know he was ready too,” Idris said.
“Confession time—Idris, I didn’t think it would work,” Delaney replied.
“No, I don’t believe that. I think you just wanted it so bad, you were afraid to wish for it because you didn’t want to be disappointed or sad if she didn’t answer,” Idris argued.
“If I recall correctly, he wanted someone who wasn’t an idiot,” Mac informed them.
“He told Fate he wanted a guy who didn’t have to be super gorgeous or a genius—obviously she’d already paired him with Grigori, so she ignored that part—but she did get the nice part right,” Idris supplied.
“Thank you, Idris, I think you’re nice too,” Grigori responded, then turned to face Delaney. “So what’s wrong with geniuses who are handsome because there’s no way they couldn’t be with such beautiful parents?”
“Hey, Idris asked for a nice dragon who wanted to live at D’Vaire that wasn’t too stupid. I was just following his example of low-balling Fate,” Delaney countered. “If I could talk to her right now, I wouldn’t have one single complaint.”
“I don’t either, Delsaurus.”
Chapter 18
Several days after Grigori sweated bullets over having dinner with his closest friends, Delaney fully understood how his nerves could overtake him. He’d shoved quite a bit into his young life and he was not easily intimidated, but having dinner with your mate’s family certainly fell into the category of scaring anyone shitless.
After taking a deep breath, he tugged on several strands of hair that refused to lay artfully tousled like a stylist once arranged them. Though Grigori claimed to be okay with his normal zero-maintenance look, the Volkov family was a graceful bunch of swans, and Delaney believed he should make an extra effort to look if not nice, at least decent.
He was cursing at his reflection when Grigori found him. As always, his tresses were laying perfectly, and his handsome face was cleanly shaved.
“What’s up with your hair?”
“Hey, I tried,” Delaney snapped.
Grigori’s pale blue eyes darted from one side to the other. “Did I do something?”
