Page 69 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 29
While it was rare for anyone outside of the immediate D’Vaire family to attend their weekly meetings, Aleksander had been asked if some of their extended members could join in the past. So he took no issue with the Reverent Knights, Arch Lich, and Lich Sentinel sitting in his living room as he walked in to get started. Aware that they had worked with an applicant to the sanctuary, unlike every other one they’d received, the contact information and most everything else was missing from his form. The four men were here in the guy’s stead, and it was odd to Aleksander that someone would want into his protected home without even allowing him to chat with him first.
“I want to thank everybody here tonight, including Drystan, Conley, Alaric, and Chander for being a part of our meeting. I’m going to turn things over to the Grand Warlock so he can get you guys up to speed on what’s going on,” Aleksander said.
“We have a new applicant to our sanctuary, but I’m not going to give you copies of it because there’s not much on it to read. His name is Dermot Draconis, and he’s our second ever dragon to apply. I understand he would not be coming alone. There’s apparently a pet named Mortis?”
“He’s not a pet,” Alaric stated. “He is a wolf sentinel.”
“What is a wolf sentinel?” Gavrael asked his leader.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Chander suggested. “Six months ago, I got a call from a hospital in Nashville. They had a patient there in critical condition who needed surgery immediately, and they couldn’t get near him because of an agitated wolf spirit. I’ve never seen a ghost on this side of the veil before, but he was impossible to miss. We later found out that the wolf aided Dermot in getting to safety, and that the animal died in the process. Alaric suggested we resurrect him as a wolf sentinel. Essentially the only thing he doesn’t have is the daggers, since he’s on all fours.”
“Okay, that’s awesome,” Brexton enthused. The warlock familiar avidly trained with his daggers and worshiped at the altar of the Sentinel Brotherhood.
“Dermot Draconis? So he wants sanctuary from Their Majesties’ court?” Noirin asked.
“I don’t want you guys to freak out, but there are going to be things we can’t tell you about him. Dermot Draconis is not his real name. If he should get sanctuary, we will reveal his identity when he arrives,” Drystan stated.
“Why does he need an alias?” Brogan asked. Aleksander could tell by the hard set of his best friend’s jaw that he was already lining up the reasons why it wouldn’t be a good idea to let anyone who had to have their identity concealed under their roof.
“Because he was attacked, and the case is still open,” Conley confided.
“That certainly poses a danger to D’Vaire,” Brogan argued.
“Sanctuary records are sealed. No one will know he’s here, plus even if someone found his application somehow, his real name isn’t on it,” Drystan reminded the Grand Duke.
“So, he’s being sent here to hide from whoever hurt him?” Kendrick asked.
“No,” Conley said. “We suggested he apply because we think this would be a good place for him.”
“We need to talk about his condition,” Alaric stated.
“His condition?” Dra’Kaedan asked.
“Yes. You see, he didn’t come out of his attack unscathed. When we can release his records to the public after we get the justice he deserves, everyone will realize the historical first he accomplished and what that means for shifters everywhere,” Conley remarked. “He carries the last name Draconis, but he is not one any longer. His dragon has crossed the veil.”
“So he’s like Marcus was? Maybe we could help him get better. I mean, if Marcus can survive heartbreak, then surely someone else can too,” Renny said.
“His dragon is not partially gone; he crossed the veil many months ago,” Drystan responded. “I’m telling you, this guy has survived some serious shit, and I’m still not sure how.”
“I’m trying to wrap my head around how that’s even possible,” Aleksander confessed. It was impossible to imagine losing the beast that shared his soul. Although his differences had deemed them both cursed, he’d never been sorry for their connection.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve learned from Dermot is that without a dragon, you’re stuck somewhere between human and shifter. We can’t be sure if his ability to heal was still heightened when he got to the hospital. What he endured left him with too many wounds to count, and the severity of it left him in a bad state. Even after months of dutiful work by doctors, his hips are covered in large open sores. They will not heal now,” Drystan said.
When he let out a sigh, Conley leaned against him. “In recent weeks, Dermot was finally getting to the point where he could get out of his wheelchair and use a walker. I think we all thought he’d turned a corner and was going to get better, even though we knew he was aging rapidly without his dragon. We were wrong. He has end-stage metastatic pancreatic cancer. Doctors are giving him maybe three to six months as a best-case scenario.”
“Why didn’t anyone call Sorcery D’Vaire?” Dra’Kaedan demanded. “We can fix him. Dammit, we can do anything if we put our heads together.”
“One percent of the shifter population is intolerant to magic,” Chander said. “Dermot is in that small category of people who can’t handle spells. They learned this when the druids unloaded their power on him and left him with cataclysmic damage. Those sorcerers unwittingly contributed to his poor state of health.”
“Shit, that’s terrible,” Killian responded.
“He just kept swelling and swelling. It was awful,” Chander revealed. “I would’ve certainly gathered Sorcery D’Vaire if I thought we could’ve helped him, but without magic the doctors are the only ones with the tools to help him. He spent some time in Nashville at the hospital. I’m not sure I have the highest opinion of his physician there, but the reality is, with his rapid aging, nothing was going to prevent this outcome.”
“Just a quick question,” Saura interjected. “Can we determine he’s intolerant to all magic based upon his experience with druidic?”
“Druidic is derived from warlock; so are necros, wizards, and mages. Every sorcerer in the Council comes from the same set of ancient ancestors. Our magic is related,” Chander argued. “Even the two of you as darkfallen were found to be related to necro, wizard, and warlock.”
