Page 27 of The Missing Sentinel
“And you have no other clothes,” Drexley correctly surmised. “I have plenty of clothing, and we appear to be the same size; would you like to wear some of mine? The skeletons launder my things and Adney’s. We can add yours to ours.”
“He will refuse,” Adney interjected. “The last thing Ducarius wishes to do is behave like a gentleman.”
It was tempting to accept Drexley’s offer just to spite the necromancer, but Ducarius’s main reason for deciding to borrow the other sentinel’s clothing had far more to do with not missing precious hours at his mate’s side. “Thank you, Drexley, I appreciate your offer. I believe if you could spare a robe or two, that would aid me greatly.”
Drexley’s smile bloomed, and it warmed Ducarius’s heart. “Wonderful, if you would like, you can accompany me to my room and pick out what you would like to wear from my trunk.”
“It is not appropriate for the two of you to be alone in a bedchamber,” Adney insisted.
“In the Council your Arch Lich joined, it has always been against the law to stand between two mates,” Ducarius drawled.
“This realm does not belong to the Council,” Adney snapped. “I created it, and I define what is acceptable behavior under my roof. As two resurrected beings, you should be grateful for my counsel and know better than to question my motives or rules.”
Infuriated, Ducarius had to take a second to gather his thoughts, and he glanced over at Drexley. The other sentinel had blanked his face, and Drexley carefully set his silverware on the table.
“I have studied at your side for the past five centuries,” Drexley stated in a calm voice with no inflection to give away what he was feeling. “You taught me to respect Fate. To honor the Arch Lich. He joined the Council, and they respect matebonds. They deeply value the goddess who granted them the abilities separating them from humans. I would be turning my back on everything I have learned if I chose now to shun Ducarius because he is an uninvited guest to your realm. Please respect that I have no desire to disregard Fate. My relationshipwith Ducarius is mine to navigate. I would appreciate the ability to do so without argument or obstacles.”
“You speak of honoring what I have taught you, but you have learned nothing if you seriously wish to pursue a relationship with a man who refuses to be seen as anything but a mindless killer. Even in this protected realm, he spends hours in the garden with his daggers. Weapons are forbidden here. But Ducarius is so entrenched in his desire to be an assassin, he snubs my rules. I am beginning to wonder if you are the evolved man I believed you to be. Perhaps resurrected beings have greater limits than I was willing to admit until this afternoon.”
Drexley blew out a breath, and hurt blazed in his light brown eyes. Ducarius ached for his pain.
“I am sorry you feel that way. All I wish to do is discover whether Fate has paired me well. Ducarius is not the same as me, but that is to be expected. He has not had a teacher like you in his life. But I hope that despite our differences, we might find some accord.”
“I believe we have gotten along well in the past week,” Ducarius added softly. He hated that his growing friendship with Drexley was affecting the other sentinel’s relationship with Adney. But it was Adney’s decision to rebuke Fate and try to interfere in their matebond.
“I agree,” Drexley concurred.
“Then I suppose it does not matter what I think,” Adney snapped. “But this is my realm, and I ultimately decide the rules. I want it to be known that I am against this relationship. Fate’s choice be damned, Ducarius is not good enough for you, Drexley. Have you asked him how many people have died by his hand? He clings to the barbaric ways you were smart enough to put behind you. I do not understand why you want anything to do with him.”
“I have killed,” Ducarius stated. “In fact, hundreds have died at my hand. But none of those murders were my choice. It was a sadistic necromancer with a black heart who ordered me to add each death to my memory. He demanded that I end the lives of innocents. It stripped me of my humanity. My skin peeled from my bones. The compound where I was imprisoned walled me in when death finally came for that horrid man. I was happy I could not save him. He called me a monster. Perhaps he was right. But he was a monster too.
“Now that I am free and will never answer to another necromancer, I am proud of my heritage. The weapons I carry are a badge of honor, and I have healed. I am no longer a skeleton like the ones you summon here to work for you without considering what they have left behind on the other side of the veil. I train because I love it. And to ensure my skills stay sharp so I am never at the mercy of someone else again.”
“I am sorry for what you have suffered,” Drexley offered, compassion swimming in his lovely eyes.
Ducarius offered Drexley a small smile. “Thank you for your kindness. I have been lucky. Thanks to the Lich Sentinel, the Sentinel Brotherhood, and my family, I have healed. My scars remain, but my past will not define me.”
“It never occurred to me that a necromancer would order the deaths of innocent people,” Adney offered quietly. “Nor was I aware that a sentinel could be stripped of his skin.”
“Unfortunately, I was not the lone skeleton, but at least our number was small. Just five of us were pushed to that point. But there were many more who became partial skeletons thanks to the orders they could not refuse. Sentinels have banded together not because we wish the world to see us as assassins but because we are grateful to be gifted weapon-wielders. We can use the skills granted to us to protect the innocent. To hopefullyensure that they are not at the mercy of dishonorable men like the necromancers who gave us such cruel orders.”
“I am grateful to know you have not lumped all necromancers into the category of cruel overlords,” Adney replied. Ducarius nearly rolled his eyes. While he had not ordered Drexley to kill, he appeared to control every other aspect of the sentinel’s life. His methods were no different to Ducarius than those of the man who’d demanded he take hundreds of lives.
“I must admit sentinels do not hold many necromancers in high regard, but there are a few we like. They are family, and I would protect them with my life. What I have learned is to judge a person for who they are instead of judging them by their appearance or race.”
Adney’s face grew mottled with color, and he stood. “Your past is regrettable, but it changes nothing when it comes to your relationship with Drexley. You are proud to be a warrior of sorts. Drexley is a scholar. He has vowed never to hold a weapon again. From my vantage point, you are too different to have any hope of success in a matebond. My objection is to protect you both and to save you from future hurt. Consider that carefully. I need to rest.”
The ailing necromancer shuffled out, and Ducarius was more surprised that Adney believed his necromancer had been cruel than by his decision not to lift his opposition to their matebond.
“It would be foolish of me to dismiss Adney’s opinion without weighing it carefully,” Drexley said.
Disappointed, Ducarius pushed his plate away. His appetite was gone. Although he had been positive he was not prepared to have a matebond and was happy to wait to be paired by Fate, everything had changed when he met Drexley. They had barely had a chance to build a friendship, let alone a romance.
“Would you prefer to pretend Fate did not match us?” Ducarius asked. He needed to hear Drexley say that their matebond did not suit him. It was the only way he could crush every scrap of hope still blooming in his chest.
“No, I did not say that,” Drexley replied, his brown gaze narrowing. “I cannot be that flippant with Fate’s choice for me. That would be foolish and the opposite of what I have learned. But I must also respect my teacher. I will keep Adney’s words in mind if we find any insurmountable differences. It would not be good for either of us to pursue a matebond that is destined for failure.”
Ducarius grinned. Drexley wasn’t ready to call it quits. “Thankfully, we have not found any hurdles in our path.”
