Page 76 of The Missing Sentinel
Amused and having a wonderful time, Drexley followed the group to the fitting room. Gone was any fear that he stuck out among Ducarius’s family. They had apparently accepted him the moment he arrived, and he was grateful for that kindness. What he wanted most was to find a place where he belongednow that his former realm was destroyed. Everything thus far pointed to the realization that the task was already completed.
∞∞∞
The next day, Drexley’s mood was less buoyant, but it had nothing to do with his highly successful shopping trip or his fading fear that he stood out awkwardly among Ducarius’s family. It was the past bothering Drexley. Or more correctly, the odd dreams that had plagued him the previous night about his years in Adney’s realm.
Ducarius had already noticed that Drexley was quieter than normal. And Drexley could not hide his moods. So, he had opted to stay at the Daray condo instead of accompanying Ducarius to the office. Drexley had wanted some space to sort his thoughts, but he had spent the day alone and come to no conclusions. Except that he had disliked being parted from Ducarius for no reason except a weird series of nightmares.
Once Ducarius returned, they had sat down for dinner, and Drexley had allowed the conversation to flow around him without contributing anything.
“Can we go upstairs and talk?” Ducarius asked through their mindlink.
“Yes, please.”
They excused themselves from a Daray movie night it saddened Drexley to miss and ventured to their room. It had been impossible to stay focused on his reading, so Drexley had used his time wisely and boxed up much of Ducarius’s things since Larissa was working feverishly to transform their space.
Ducarius shut them both inside and hauled Drexley into his arms.
“What’s wrong, love? Did something happen? I thought you enjoyed your shopping trip yesterday.”
Drexley had spent hours picking out clothes and now owned enough to fill nearly half of the giant closet he shared with Ducarius.
“I loved yesterday afternoon.”
“Then what is wrong? You are sad. I can feel it.”
Plucking a nearly full box from the couch, Drexley sat heavily. “I did not sleep well. Nightmares or bad dreams are not unusual. I have them, and I am sure most people do too. But for some reason, I cannot shake off the things from last night.”
Ducarius took a seat at Drexley’s side and caressed his nape. “Tell me about them.”
“I was back in Adney’s realm. Only, it was not the same somehow. I was different. My hair was longer. I remember that. It was messy too, as if I did not bother to comb it.”
The corner of Ducarius’s mouth lifted. “Like mine?”
His mouth twisting, Drexley nodded. “Not that I dislike your hair. I love it, and it suits you. But I have always worn mine short. That is how gentlemen wear it. So, why was my hair long in the dreams? In some of them I even wore gray. Not exactly like your uniform. The style was different, but the color was the same. Adney hated gray clothing. Ducarius, there were daggers at my sides.”
“Could it be that you dreamed of the day Adney summoned you?”
“I did think that, but it was more than a single moment. Longer than a day. But nothing flowed properly, as dreams sometimes do. Sometimes I had on a robe with daggers. Or I had short hair in a uniform. In each one, I was angry or irritated with Adney. But I was also somehow hopeless. I do not know why I had those emotions. Adney was there, but I could not hear his words. I woke up disoriented each time and felt horrible that mymind was taunting me with images of quarreling with Adney. We did not squabble. He was a necromancer, and I am a mere sentinel. But I have also learned rather swiftly that Chander does not hold himself above sentinels. You were right. Chander thinks having sentinels following him around is foolish, but they offer him no choice. Adney would be shocked by the interactions between Chander and every sentinel.”
“Chander was chosen by Fate to be the Arch Lich,” Ducarius replied, his brown eyes staying locked with Drexley’s. His emotions were also mixed. But he was predominantly calm and confident. “He sets the example for his people. Is it possible Adney was wrong about how necromancers and sentinels should behave?”
“Already I have read several books since I arrived. None of them speaks of the history in Adney’s library. It is as you described it. The elders were not respectable, nor should they have inserted themselves into Chander’s life as they did. But it is not Adney’s fault that his education was incorrect. He did not have the vast resources of the Spectra Wizardry library as I do,” Drexley reasoned. “And none of that explains why I cannot shake the odd feeling left behind by my unsettling dreams.”
“The compound was altered by magic to bleed our memories. When Alaric ended the spell, all our memories returned, first through dreams. Is it possible these are memories, but maybe they are not in the correct order yet?”
Drexley bit his lip and considered Ducarius’s suggestion. “I do not know; I left the compound five hundred years ago, and I still have a poor memory.” A moment later, a strange feeling filtered through Drexley, and he cocked his head as he studied his mate. “I recall thinking after we arrived here that something was different. There is no magic in the air. Is it possible that because Adney’s realm was made by a sorcerer that the spell at the compound draining my memory stayed in place?”
Something flickered in Ducarius’s gaze, and his emotions were stifled somehow.
“I suppose anything is possible.”
“Ducarius, you cannot lie. Tell me why you are trying to stop me from feeling what is inside you.”
“Right now, the fact that you are highly intelligent is annoying me. That is what I am feeling.”
“Yes, I know. But you also want to hold something away from me. You carry guilt. Why?”
“Drexley, I love you, and I believe strongly that nothing should interfere in what I believe are fragments of your vanished memory returning to you. The last thing I want to do is influence your feelings about Adney or his realm. Everything that happened there is a part of you, and I was only there for weeks. You lived there for five centuries, and you have lost a lot of that time. I think it was inevitable that, away from magic and spells, you would get some of what slipped out of your mind back.”
