Page 166 of Heart of the High King
“Sure.” She snatched a spoon from a container and yanked a pot out of the cupboard, which she hit soundly with the utensil. The lively room went dead silent. “Your High King wishes to speak to you,” Noirin told the shocked residents of D’Vaire.
“Noir goddess hurt ears.”
“Thanks, Noir,” Rafe said, ignoring his wolf. “I just wanted to announce that Nox and Mortis have completed their matebond. And well, Nox wants something shiny. I thought they could get collars in Sander’s dragonskin, but I don’t know how to make it impressive enough to please him. Any ideas?”
“That’s so wonderful,” Noirin enthused. “Congratulations, my pretty boys. I’m going to make you something extra special tonight for dinner to celebrate.” The wolves preened as she loved them.
“It’s a matebond, so what if you put a blood lock on the front of the collar?” Grigori suggested.
“Excellent idea,” Madeline responded. “It’s become a tradition of D’Vaire, and it could be designed for them. Maybe the D’Vaire crest with a paw print in the center?”
“Like it.”
“They like it,” Rafe told them. “Could we maybe add a dangling charm like some of the familiars have with their names on it?”
“Oh, cool. We could really make that fancy and shiny. Grigori, if you could handle the blood lock, I can attach it to the dragonskin and add the charms,” Madeline suggested.
Grigori pulled out his phone. “On it.”
“Should they have an athame to mix their blood on the lock?” Larissa asked.
“Want to use Rafe’s sentinel blade.”
“Mortis, I’m not a sentinel. I don’t have one of their blades. I have a dagger designed for the D’Vaires.”
“Used for sentinel training. Dagger yours and it’s sentinel.”
“They’re insisting on using one of the daggers I use to train with the D’Vaire sentinels,” Rafe explained. “I think they deserve their own athame.”
Mortis chomped on the hem of Rafe’s jeans. “Rafe not listen. Want Rafe’s sentinel dagger.”
“Would you calm the fuck down? Okay.”
“Is he going to bite you?” Kendrick asked, backing up and smacking into Noirin, who wrapped her arms around him.
“Mean dragon stupid. Mortis never hurt Rafe.”
“Be nice,” Rafe murmured to Mortis while he petted him. “No, he wouldn’t do that.”
“He is a sentinel. It would not be honorable,” Gavrael supplied.
“Gavrael the best.”
“Yeah, I agree, Gavrael is the best,” Rafe said. The sentinel in question offered him a rare smile.
“The jeweler says he can have the lock done within the hour. It’ll take him no time to use the pattern he already has and add the paw print instead of Aleksander’s dragonhead,” Grigori said.
“Good thing I’m done with breakfast,” Madeline remarked, getting to her feet and taking her and Larissa’s plates to the dishwasher. “I can have the collar done by then, too.”
“Let’s go decorate the outside. Evlithar, did you want to help?” Dravyn asked.
The elf’s face lit up with a bright smile. “I would love to.”
People went back to their conversations, and Rafe guessed there was going to be a ceremony for the wolves within the hour. “Let’s eat,” he told his furry friends. “Afterward we’re going to have a kickass ceremony for you.”
“So hungry.”
Nox let out a woof, and Rafe didn’t have to ask if he was annoyed with Mortis’s statement. Rolling his eyes at his goofy wolf, he filled a plate with as much food as it could hold. Dr. Suricata hadn’t been kidding around about his weight, and he didn’t want to wind up in a situation where she was forced to do something drastic that wouldn’t please either of them.
