Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

W hen he'd heard the reward for returning the watch to Flume was to be a house in the best bit of paranormal London, Hyax assumed it would have been closer to a shed than the decent-sized property they'd been given. Technically, Gwil had been handed the deeds. He'd not intended to move in, but the idea of having a place of his own in the human realm was too good an opportunity to pass up. He'd thought about buying somewhere, but his parents would not have released the funds without an interrogation, this had been a much better alternative. He'd cope with the unrequited love, somehow, and it was made better by Gwil confirming he wouldn't be bringing home random shags.

Hyax let himself into the building. An excitement he'd not expected hit him hard. The idea of making this a home for them both seeping through him in all the best ways. He wanted to make this house theirs. He started with the downstairs office space first as it was one of the simplest to put right. The impact of the ley line on his magic brought a deep sense of satisfaction as he began to cast as if his magic was happy to show off and make this the perfect place for Gwil. He replaced the lurid office colour scheme with neutral tones and warm hues. The furniture was in a decent state and so required only a minimum of manipulation, and before he knew it the business areas were completed. Using magic came at an energy cost, but so far he'd witnessed a minimal drain that accompanied concentrated use. The ley line kept him topped up, and he powered through removing the stripes of lime-green and purple velvet on the hallway's walls and the orange carpet. Gwil wasn't a fan of stark white, and he would probably even bitch and moan about the cream colour which Hyax thought went well with the newly adapted deep red carpet, so Gwil could fuck himself.

His thoughts were to try to get the communal areas and two of the bedrooms into a state they could live in where the décor didn't induce migraines or nausea. The kitchen was the easiest, and he saw that several new appliances had been delivered and fitted, not a mean feat this close to the winter holiday some of the humans celebrated. A simple spell turned the off-white back to pristine.

There were stubborn patches that wouldn't let him change, as if his magic rebelled and didn't want to remove something. He gave up on the avocado suite in the main bathroom, and the fake fireplace in the living room. The previous occupants had left the odd piece of furniture that he transfigured into something better, and he made short work of the two bedrooms, and was happy with the quality of the beds and bedding.

He heard the front door open and close, and he decided to greet Gwil at the door. He raced to the stairs, but slowed up not wanting to look too eager.

"Oh, you're here. Shouldn't I be carrying you over the threshold? After all it is our first real place together."

Gwil huffed but refused to be goaded. "Just try it, sparkle ears, and I'll break your arms."

"So romantic."

Hyax would love to have been able to call this new house their home as a couple and not flatmates, but he needed not to get carried away by a fantasy that would not come to pass, apart from a cruel parody where they faked it in front of his parents. He could've suggested he not move in, but he'd already mentioned it to his parents as evidence of them being a devoted couple, and if he were not to go through with it, they'd assume their relationship was doomed and start parading the suitors.

He thought by the time he'd reached this age—several centuries in human years—he'd have figured out his emotions, but then he'd never thought he'd have fallen for a vampire and lied to his parents about planning a fake marriage.

Gwil began to climb the stairs and Hyax gagged as he got closer. "Fil's scrotum, what is that smell?"

"You know I went to see Copperpipe—he lives in the sewers."

Hyax waved an arm in his direction and he hit Gwil with a crackle of magic. "That'll contain the worst of it until you have a shower. You'll be happy to hear I removed the glitterball and Jackson Pollock-esque artwork from the bathroom. We're stuck with the green bath, but I did put in a proper shower."

"Excellent, but since I don't have anything to change into it's a bit of a fool's errand unless I sit around in my boxers."

"I could pop over to yours via a portal. Bring a few things back and we could make an evening of it here?" He would like to get used to being with Gwil more often.

"You'll need to feed Midnight."

"She's just a normal cat, right? Nothing magical about her?"

Gwil shook his head. "No, why?"

"I could bring her to her new home. I assumed she'd be coming sooner than later." He was pretty sure the portals wouldn't hurt her, it was Gwil's undeadness that he reckoned caused the problems. "I've heard you tell her that a house isn't a home until it's got four paws and a purr."

Gwil spluttered. "I… well…"

Hyax had thought it rather sweet that Gwil was so attached to his cat. It helped that the moggy was fond of Hyax too. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

He conjured a portal, stepped through and was in Gwil's bedroom at his old flat. For a moment he just stood there, acutely aware that he didn't come in here often, and not without Gwil. Last time was when Gwil had been flayed by a portal and he'd mooched about a bit while he'd slept. Gwil had an eclectic mix of things gathered over the two hundred-odd years he'd been alive and undead but now wasn't the time to snoop. He collected a fresh set of clothes, and hunted around to find whatever it was Gwil slept in and couldn't remember if he wore anything. The thought of Gwil naked made him swallow thickly so he needed to stop his thoughts from heading somewhere inappropriate.

From the kitchen, he collected a couple of packs of blood, cat food and a bottle of shiraz he found on the counter. He wrinkled his nose at the litter tray, he would need to do more than one trip.

Two trips later, Midnight was sniffing around her new home and Gwil was still in the shower, although he probably needed it considering he'd been wading in the filth of London. Hyax configured two discarded takeaway coffee mugs into glasses and poured the wine.

Gwil emerged in the fresh clothes Hyax had left in his room, his hair still damp. "Hyax, that shower is fucking amazing."

"You're welcome."

Gwil landed next to him on the sofa, grinning. "The whole place looks great. But then I wouldn't have expected anything less from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Gwil grabbed his wine. "You've spent hours doing up this place, run around after my stuff and cat, and you look like you've stepped straight out of a fashion mag. There's no justice in the world."

Gwil had strange ways of paying a compliment. "Are you saying I'm pretty?"

"Yes, I've a pretty fae prince as my fake fiancé." He took a long drink of his wine. "So… on the subject of that. Are you sure you've thought this through properly? What happens when people start to hear about us?"

Hyax wondered how much overthinking Gwil had done while in the shower. "I'm waiting for the bouquets of congratulatory roses to arrive any minute. Or Gucci might call and offer to provide suits for the wedding—their paranormal matrimony range is very popular. They really should learn to keep it away from the human catwalk shows."

"Be serious, Hyax!"

Gwil sounded exasperated, and he knew he'd sprung this on him from nowhere. Hyax doubted he'd have been as good-natured if their positions had been reversed and a little bit of unruffling of feathers would be required.

"I'm sure many of my associates will think I've gone mad or somehow you've been able to put me under your thrall. Others might say I'm doing it to act out against my parents but a lot of people have more to worry about than who I'm fucking."

Gwil didn't seem convinced. "You aren't worried about it?"

"Why should I be? If someone says something to my face I'll tell them how great a guy you are, which is true. I'm not ashamed of fake-dating you." Hyax bit his lip. Maybe he'd got this all wrong, and it was Gwil who had the problem. "You're just as likely to get questioned. Are you embarrassed by me being thought of as your boyfriend?"

Gwil snorted. "Oh yeah, terrible slur that a fae prince would choose me. You've got to admit it sounds ridiculous. I don't think anyone is going to believe you'd have picked me over your other options."

"My parents accepted it, so other people will." He might have stretched some of Gwil's vampire credentials a little to make him sound more suitable but that was neither here nor there. "We'd be an unconventional couple, I don't recall there being a royal fae and a vampire before in my tribe. Not even in their harems."

" Harems ?"

"Yes. My mother has three concubines, used to be four when Chase was there." He thought he did well not sneering at the traitor's name. "It's tradition."

"So what you find the love of your life, marry then get a load of add-ons?" Gwil said, despite having lived through many changes to the human world, he still had a rather skewed Victorian moral compass at times.

"Most royal marriages are not for love, they're arranged. Surely it is best to be honest about taking lovers than hiding them."

"Then won't people think that I'm just the sad sack you're gonna marry and then you'd be off building a collection of who you'd actually want?"

Was Gwil jealous, or did he not like having his manhood challenged?

"We're not an arranged marriage. As far as my parents are concerned, we're deeply in love, so the harem thing needn't come up. There's lots of fae marriage traditions, but not all of them are used."

"Such as? Oh, fuck, what have you signed me up for?"

"To be honest I haven't given it much thought. I needed to stop them from making me pick someone." Which was true at the time, but there were also sorts of odd things that came to mind now. "The first real expectation is that they want to meet you, but that's nothing to do with traditions and more them just being parents. Anyway, we'd be visiting to investigate the stone, so hardly unexpected."

Gwil scowled. "You're deflecting. Everyone has to do the meet the parents thing, I almost choked on a cheese scone when I met Matilda's. What else?"

"Depends on the level of commitment we were to make."

"You've already said there's a difference for a love match."

That wasn't what he meant but he didn't want to explain the difference between being bonded and getting married. The topic had the potential to get complicated and, if they were really together, he'd have been more than happy to pore over all the little extra bits they could do. But there was no point discussing flower circles and sipping nectar at sunset to broker true love as it wasn't going to happen. "Fae customs are fluid. My mother called on a specific rite because she wanted to not because she had to. Most of them are like that, or to do with the ceremony, so would only be an issue if we actually got married, and we can hold off setting a date for years."

" Years ! How long are you thinking of stringing this out?"

"I hadn't thought of an end date. What's the harm of letting it run for a while?" He took a drink. "Unless you're thinking of dating someone."

"Yeah right," he snorted. "Come on, Hyax, we need to have an out."

"Look, please, Gwil. Once I'm officially single again I'm fair game for a political marriage. And I don't want that."

Gwil downed the contents of his wine glass and then topped it up again. Hyax waited for him to speak, not sure what was going through his head.

"All right. But after the stone business is done we'll need to come up with a proper plan, I can't keep pretending you're mine when you're not."

"I…" He wanted to ask what Gwil meant, the way he spoke made him wonder if he was missing something important but he couldn't find the right words to ask.

Gwil cleared his throat. "We should order dinner. I spotted a Korean place around the corner and I know you like it."

The moment passed and Hyax felt strangely bereft, as if he'd missed an opportunity. "You know I'm a sucker for bibimbap." He grinned. "Whereas you're just a sucker."

Gwil lobbed a cushion at his head. "Cheeky bastard."

"You say the sweetest things."

His phone beeped and he checked the message. "Oh, I've had my reservation moved up. I thought it would have taken longer with the waiting list."

"You off out then?"

Hyax smiled. " We are off out tomorrow. We need to start planting the public seeds that we're hopelessly in love. I had thought to put it off for a while but this is better."

"What?"

"I've booked us a table for dinner and seats for after at Lathicha. Usually, even for me, I have to book weeks in advance but they have a cancellation for tomorrow." Pure luck but not to be sniffed at. "You up for it?"

"Lathicha? I've never even tried to get in there before."

Hyax saluted him with his glass. "Nothing but the best for my fake fang fiancé."