Page 50 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 20
Two months later
Worth climbed onto the barstool next to Aleksander, and his brother rubbed his back. While it might be devasting to lose your mate so suddenly, the one thing Aleksander had always been able to count on was his family. The three baby dragons belonging to the D’Vaire wizards were swarming the countertop in front of Aleksander, and he dutifully fed them cookies while Kendrick and Noirin debated about what they wanted to prepare for dinner that night.
“Settle down, Greggory,” Worth chided Delaney’s dragon, who’d just knocked over Roger and Chance with one well-placed swipe of his wing. “There are enough cookies for everyone to be satisfied.”
Aleksander chuckled at the disgruntled harrumph from Greggory but made him wait his turn for the next treat after his brother picked up the little indigo and red familiars and handed them treats. They gobbled them and didn’t appear to hold anything against their pal, who relented and offered them licks of apology.
“This is the elegant lifestyle of the High King that the media so wants to see,” Noirin teased, refilling the bowl in front of Aleksander so he could continue to feed the bottomless pits in front of him.
“Yeah, my life is so enviable,” Aleksander remarked. “Not even my mate wanted to stick around and enjoy it.”
“I’m kind of glad you brought him up,” Kendrick said, which had Aleksander lifting his gaze to Rafferty’s youngest brother.
“Why?”
“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you something since last night.”
“Whatever it is Kendrick, just tell me. What did you learn about Rafferty now?” Aleksander asked. Ceasing to use the nickname that he had once referred to his other half, he saw little point in holding on to those small intimacies that had made them feel like they were almost a couple.
Kendrick glanced at Noirin and she leaned on the island on her elbows, so she was at eye level with Aleksander. There was a wealth of compassion in her violet gaze. “Honey, he’s got a girlfriend. He met her online. Sullivan didn’t even know he’d made an account. Their father and Sullivan have both used several of them to find women and apparently, Rafferty was inspired to do the same.”
“I just asked where he was last night, and Sullivan told me he was on a date. It was very offhand, and that’s when I started asking questions. I had to be careful though, since Sullivan doesn’t know you two are mates,” Kendrick added.
For Aleksander, it was the final piece of the puzzle. One thing he knew Rafferty had struggled with was his sexuality, and it seemed he simply couldn’t handle his attraction to a man—or at least revealing it to his family, so he’d gone in a direction that wouldn’t expose his matebond. “I guess I should’ve seen that coming.”
“I think we should move,” Worth said.
Aleksander turned from the little dragons to his brother. “Move? Are you nuts?”
“No. Mates keep showing up here. I’ve decided I don’t want mine.”
“Shut right up. Just because things didn’t work out with Rafferty doesn’t mean it’ll be the same thing for you. All the other matebonds in our household became extraordinarily happy ones.”
“Maybe I should go to Court Kestle. I could visit with Sullivan and maybe get a chance to talk to Rafferty,” Kendrick suggested.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aleksander told him. “You don’t like your father and the reality is, Rafferty’s free to do what he wants. We’re not going to corner him or bully him into doing anything. Okay?”
“I can be right pissed,” Worth stated.
“I’m pissed myself.”
“What’re you going to do?” Noirin asked.
“What can I do?” Aleksander responded. “It’s going to take time to let him go. We had a great friendship, and I still care very deeply for him, as much as it pains me to say it. I’m also very angry and hurt. But I can’t help this little part of me that still has some flicker of hope. Perhaps when I convince myself it’s truly over, I can quietly go about having separation papers drawn up. I mean, that’s a big step.” Although knowing Rafferty was with a woman was tearing Aleksander apart, he didn’t want anyone to know how broken he felt. They worried enough about him. Stopping his texts to Sullivan right after his visit, Aleksander hadn’t wanted to learn that kind of news but was glad his family hadn’t kept him in the dark when they were told. The last thing he wanted was distance built into the relationships under his roof.
“Will you have your matebond demonically broken?” Worth asked.
Sensing his distress perhaps, the three familiars stopped looking for cookies and offered Aleksander’s hand little dragon kisses. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that yet,” Aleksander replied. Smiling, he petted Greggory, Roger, and Chance. Cold and lonely inside, he wasn’t sure he could handle the idea of severing his matebond.
“Don’t rush into that decision. It’s only been a few months, and Rafferty’s been hiding from his attraction to men for his entire life. Maybe this is simply overwhelming for him, and in time he’ll come to terms with things. Everyone deserves a second chance, and I would think as his mate you’d want to give him that,” Noirin said.
Aleksander shrugged. “I just wish I knew why he decided to go this route. If he’d told me that, I would’ve been happy to give him the space he needed. I mean I certainly wouldn’t have been okay with him dating, but not talking for a while…yeah, I would’ve been amenable to that.” It was tearing him apart to think of Rafferty with anyone but him, and he hated that his other half was possibly willing to share himself physically with a stranger. Aleksander hugged the familiars as he forced his mind elsewhere. Those thoughts were not going to help his broken heart, and he had to find a way not to hurt at every waking moment.
“I just know deep down you’ll have the chance to ask him yourself someday,” Worth remarked.
“I hope to hell you’re right.”
