Page 162 of Heart of the High King
“I’d rather shove in additional calories than stop.”
“Okay, but I meant what I said. Gain some weight. Rafe, you’ve overcome insurmountable odds more than once. I know you have it in you to conquer anything, but give yourself a chance to feel too. Don’t bottle everything inside.”
“Rafe hide all feelings except from Aleksander.”
“No one asked you, Mortis. Thanks, Dr. Suricata. I’m doing my best.”
“Good, take care of yourself and I’ll see you in a few weeks.”
“I want to go home,” Rafe said the minute she was out the door.
“You have to schedule your next appointment, so you need to wait for the nurse to come in here,” Brogan replied.
Irritated but knowing he was right, Rafe patiently waited for the nurse to appear. The card she handed him had the date and time, and Rafe wondered if Aleksander would be up to go with him. It was too damn depressing to think about, so he shoved it into his pocket when he was on his feet.
“I’ll talk to Noir about having food ready for you every couple of hours.”
“I can feed myself. I don’t want her to have to go out of her way to fix me extra stuff.”
“She’ll kill you if you dirty her kitchen,” Dra’Kaedan warned as they traveled toward the teleporting area.
“We have a kitchenette in our room. I’m going to order some shit online, okay?”
“We should’ve put one in ours,” Dra’Kaedan told Brogan.
“No, because I don’t want to constantly smell burnt cupcakes.”
The Grand Warlock got them home, and Rafe headed straight for his room to update Aleksander. And beg him to wake the fuck up.
∞∞∞
The only duchess who’d ever received a title on her merit in dragon history sauntered into the Royal Den to find the other dukes already waiting for her, so she took a seat at the round table in between her brother and her cousin.
“What’s up?” Noirin asked the Grand Duke who’d put together their meeting.
“We need to discuss Rafe.”
“He looks like shit,” Worth complained. “So, what do we do besides throw rocks at Aleksander’s granite skull until he wakes up?”
“The reality is, some of us know what the fuck Rafe went through. I still don’t understand how he’s even alive. He walked through our doors determined to die, and instead he gets talked into being healed. Luckily that worked out, but his whole world must feel like a revolving door. He barely gets a chance to accept a situation before there’s something else he has to adjust to. There’s been good shit obviously with him and Aleksander, but he’s understandably worried about his mate,” Brogan said.
“Aleksander damn well better be as fine as they keep telling us,” Noirin retorted.
“Dra’Kaedan swears he’s fine, but if it was your other half, you’d be crazy sick not knowing when he was going to wake up. We have no idea how long he’s going to continue to be in bed. So, how do we lessen the burden on Rafe?” Brogan asked.
“Well, for one there’s no reason we need to stress him out with every issue in the house Aleksander normally manages. People can filter issues through us and only if we can’t find a resolution do we bring it to Rafe’s attention,” Mac suggested.
“If he finds out, he’s going to argue,” Worth surmised.
“Which is why he wasn’t invited to this meeting. We aren’t trying to hurt him and if it’s something small, why add it to his plate?” Brogan said.
“I feel horrible for him. You can see the unease whenever he walks into a room. He was nowhere near being adjusted to living here when he and Aleksander went through with this. I know they wanted to give Mortis his mate, but I think Aleksander was so confident that he’d be asleep for a day or two that he didn’t consider the alternative. Imagine walking through that door and trying to be a High King. Even if you set aside whatever happened to him, it’s still a daunting task, especially when your other half is Aleksander. We adore him,” Noirin replied. “And let me tell you, I’ve got all kinds of love for Rafe, but I can’t say that I feel confident that he knows that.”
“Yeah, I must say, the timing for Nox was poor. The wolf himself is awesome. Ridiculously large, but no surprise given my brother’s dragon. Rafe only interacts with us during his sword classes, and can we talk about that for one minute?” Worth asked.
Brogan shook his head in amazement. “You know what I want to see? Him go against Conley. I bet his balance and ingenuity would be a match for Conley’s unnatural speed.”
“He’s so good, it’s intimidating,” Mac remarked with a laugh. “He better make me as good as him someday.”
