Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

O ne of Gwil's many fantasies around Hyax was that he'd be taken out, wined and dined and treated as the most important being on the planet. Lathicha was one of the most exclusive restaurants and clubs for the paranormal in Europe. He'd never been here, there wouldn't have been a chance in Hell he'd have been let in on his own, but being Hyax's plus-one opened doors he didn't even know were closed.

They'd been seated for dinner at a table that had been placed for people to be seen and Hyax was dressed to thrill in a close-fitting navy suit with a burgundy shirt, and his long hair pinned back in a waterfall of blond braids. People were staring at how beautiful Hyax was but also incredulously when they spotted him.

"Is there something wrong with your food?" Hyax asked.

The food was excellent, and the blood a vintage and region he'd never had the opportunity to try. "No, it's great. I'm not used to the scrutiny. And to be honest, I didn't realise the circles you moved in."

Hyax leant forwards. "You knew my status."

They'd discussed how the evening would play out, they'd indulge in a bit of flirting, be seen and act like an obvious couple, but he hadn't expected the reaction.

"Yes, but to me you've always been Hyax, whenever we've been out as friends it's never been anywhere like this." He glanced around and saw several people avert their eyes. "There's a lot of people wondering if you've lost your mind being here with me."

Hyax took his hand and laced their fingers together. "Ignore them."

"Do you also get this sort of attention?"

"Pretty much." He smirked. "Are you going to enjoy pissing all these people off with them seeing we're together? You could play the jealous vampire boyfriend. Bare your fangs if someone gets too close."

If Hyax had really been his, he'd have been doing just that. "Sounds like you'd want me to."

"I'm all for a bit of verisimilitude." He smiled, a teasing edge to his tone. "Then if you've finished dinner we can take our seats in the lounge."

He wondered if it was possible to be jealous of himself. Or the version of him people thought was dating Hyax. He didn't scrub up badly, and the suit he was wearing did make him feel sexy on the rare occasion he'd worn it, but compared to Hyax he probably looked like a troll.

Hyax stood and Gwil did the same, Hyax's hand coming to rest on the small of his back, making it obvious they weren't meant to be there as friends. A hostess was quick to escort them from their table through to a lounge area that, like the restaurant, was full of beautiful people, several of them watched as they took their seats in an alcove. Hyax slid close to him, he smelt delicious. Tonight had already been one torture after another, and now he had to endure the warmth of being pressed up to Hyax, acting the dutiful boyfriend but not getting carried away.

He sipped a blood mixed with a fruit cocktail while Hyax had a nectar topped with champagne. "We've picked a perfect night to do this, I recognise several people who'll be racing home to tell my parents that they've seen us," Hyax said, lips almost brushing his ear. "I must say, that suit is great on you. Are you working your thrall?"

"I think you'll find the people are staring because of you, not me."

"You never give yourself the credit you deserve."

He shifted and found himself staring into Hyax's eyes, even in the low light of the club they seemed to glow with an intensity. It would be so easy to kiss him, to have a taste of what he'd craved for years but it was a stupid idea. He moved away, he needed to put some distance between them before he acted out one of his fantasies and lost his best friend. "I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be back."

A couple of fae caught his eye as he walked through the club, they were swaying in their seats, heads together and he was sure they were high. Most of these places had a modicum of drug use, and he thought it was a prime pitch for a dealer where the clients would be rich and likely not to be bothered by human laws.

Distracted, he didn't notice the hand until it landed and he was yanked sideways into a booth.

He struggled against two beefy security guards, they were vampires, elite and strong and could rip his head off without thinking. As far as he knew he hadn't pissed off anyone enough to be kidnapped or maimed permanently. "What's going on?"

"Calm down, brother dear." His sister sat next to him and her security melted away.

"Penelope, I should've known this would have been the sort of place you haunted. But I don't have time for siblings being shitty."

"Now, now, Gwilym, I am merely interested in my big brother and that he appears to be on a date with a fae prince. A fae prince, I might add, who he claimed was just a friend and had no interest in him at all."

"Things can change."

She gave a look that she thought he was being an arsehole. "Then there's the rumours that you're betrothed to the said fae prince. I would have liked to have been told in advance, even asked my permission since I am a countess, rather than hear it tonight from a broken-tooth harpy passing on her congratulations."

"As much as I'm not usually on first-name terms with the treasurer of the Vampire Council, I'm pretty sure Mari would take exception to being called that."

She slammed her hand on the table, her fangs bared. He had the good grace to be scared of Penelope. Her sire might have been lower down the pecking order but he'd been a powerful bastard and had passed down his gift. "Don't change the subject."

They were secluded in the booth, even her security had backed off far enough. "It's not real. Hyax needed to stop his family from setting him up, so I agreed to play the role of boyfriend."

Her fangs retracted and the anger replaced with pity. He didn't know which was worse. "You fucking twat. Why are you doing that to yourself?"

"I couldn't say no to him without him asking what the problem was."

She shook her head. "The problem being you're in love with him, and he considers you a friend."

"I don't need you to tell me that. But there's more to it than I can go into. Sooner rather than later we're going to be summoned to the fae world so I can meet his parents."

"I didn't think you did well with their portals."

"He says travelling into the fae realm proper is different than using the portals in fae intra-space, the energy drains are different or something, and he can cast spells to make sure there's no feedback."

"I'm sure that makes sense to someone, but my applied degree in fae physics must've got lost in the post."

He didn't pretend to understand it himself, just that it was like travelling in a tunnel and it was easier if were straight with no curly bits. Hyax had tried to explain the difference using the inside of a toilet roll and a bendy straw but it hadn't helped.

"I heard that daylight is different there too, you might be able to see the sun again." She sounded almost wistful. "Without the suncream and welder-level sunglasses."

"Really? Hyax didn't say anything about that." The daylight issue was one of the biggest changes when he'd been turned, blood lust was one thing but he'd found a way to deal with that. But there was no getting around the fact that prolonged exposure to the sun would turn him into a pile of ash. The sunscreens and specialist clothing couldn't protect him for long. Some vampires could stand more but he would resemble crispy bacon relatively quickly and as such he had embraced the world after sunset.

"Not many get to experience the fae realm, but it can't be that unlike our world or the fae wouldn't thrive here, and there's clearly enough of the pointy-eared sods about. Then there's the Calanti."

They were the seventh fae tribe, the ones who didn't play well with others and Hyax rarely mentioned them. "What about them?"

"Their king also sits on the Vampire Council, he's the Dark Earl of MacLove…"

He knew very little about the MacLoves, nobody did. "Are you insinuating that a Dark Earl is also a fae?"

"James doesn't attend many of the main Council meetings let alone the receptions or sub-forums so I haven't met him, and I've not had much of a chance to investigate. His wife, Queen Hylei, is described openly as a powerful fae in her own right."

The Calanti were not well-liked by the other fae tribes, and if there was some vampire and fae love-in going on with their leader then it would be no wonder Hyax's parents objected to their son bringing home a vampire.

"Doesn't your husband know? As a Dark Earl he must have dealings with James."

"As I understand it, the MacLoves tend to limit their interactions in this realm, they socialise with the others of the House of Cartwright but the rest not so much. And I can hardly ask Philip about it when I have no reason to." She smirked at him. "Although now my big brother is dating a fae prince that might give me an angle to explore."

Gwil wasn't sure why Penelope cared, but she did like to know things others didn't. "I'll ask Hyax about it. I don't want to be caught unawares, but he's not likely to tell me much."

"He might not know either. The schism between the Calanti and the others goes back a long time. There is a rumour of James being a vampire-fae."

Gwil scoffed. "Come off it, that's a fairytale… if you pardon the pun."

"Such things have a grounding in truth, and James is a fae king and a Dark Earl. The ostracising of Calanti pre-dates James as king but if he is vampire-fae then would explain why the tribes remain apart and some of the hostilities between the tribes and general dislike of vampires."

"A general dislike of vampires is normal for most species, but doesn't mean the Dark Earl of MacLove is a sparkly vampire with heightened magical skills."

She rolled her eyes. "But back to speaking the truth, you need to be careful with what you're doing with Hyax. I am surprised you'd be meeting his parents so quickly though."

"They probably want to see who their son's got himself tangled up with."

He hoped she wouldn't press for the other reason, but if he were a betting man, he'd put his money on her already knowing something about the Stone of Ljin.

"It's still dangerous, and then you'll be there with his family pretending to be love's young dream. Which to be fair, you won't be acting, but I never took you as a masochist."

"It's complicated."

"No—quadratic equations are complicated, this is just a bullshit scheme that you should have known better than getting involved with. At least tell me you know when it's going to end."

Tonight, their fake relationship had felt real, and what he wanted was Hyax to take him home and fuck him, not stop things. Hyax feared he'd be married off if they broke up and, despite his misgivings, he hadn't been able to say no.

"It will depend on what happens with the associated case we're working."

"The stone, right?"

So she did know—no surprises there. "I can't answer that."

"You don't appear to have answers for anything tonight. You need to be careful." She had moments of being protective of him, but this seemed to go further than that. "This is high-level shit you've got yourself involved in. The fae don't ask for outside help often, the Paranormal Branch of Scotland Yard are involved, as are the intelligence branch of the Vampire Council."

Something from their previous conversation struck him. "If the Vampire Council knows, then surely the Dark Earl of MacLove is aware too? I'm pretty sure Queen Talia would not like that."

"No, this has not been tabled as general Council business yet, but it will only be a matter of time. I am aware because of my connections, the executive search branch received some intelligence around a rogue fae who was trying to sell some information."

He wasn't privy to the details of her dealings with the elite security wing of the Vampire Council, but she must be referring to Chase, and if he didn't want to end up in deep shit, he thought he'd better inform her what he knew.

"I see. Then I should probably tell you that I heard it from the same source. I stopped a certain ex-Queen's Concubine from having the shit kicked out of him and he stayed with me overnight."

She scowled. "This is the sort of thing you should not wait to tell me, Gwil."

"Well, I know better now."

"And a word of advice, don't fuck flower fairies who have banged the mother of the prince you're in love with."

"I didn't fuck him! You're as bad as Hyax—I have some sense." Why did some of the people in his life think he was an idiot?

She took a sip of her blood and stared at him over the rim of the glass. "Jealous was he?"

"I wish."

She laughed. "Hyax is a good man, and you could do a lot worse than him as a partner if you both got your heads out of your arses. Now I'm sure he'll be worried about where you've got to, so don't let me keep you. Send him my regards."

That sounded like a threat. "Leave him alone."

"I'll behave as long as he does. But if he breaks your heart, I'll drain him dry myself, and we'll see if he makes a pretty, sparkly corpse."

God, she was melodramatic at times. "There's absolutely no need for that."

She smiled. "We'll see, and I hope you haven't forgotten about our other little chat."

"It's underway, when I hear back I'll let you know."

Penelope waved him off and he was keen to get back to Hyax, if nothing else to see if he had been aware the Vampire Council was involved in his family's business. They'd known about the police, Goya's visit and the recent raids had been searching for the stone not a relic, but the vampires getting involved was a whole different matter, especially considering the MacLove angle. As he approached where he'd been sitting he saw Hyax was no longer alone. Instead, another fae was sitting next to him, a bit too close if he were honest, and they were having what he'd describe as an earnest conversation. He had jet-black hair, the sides woven with red ribbons, making his features even more stunning, and then Gwil realised it was Metra, and his heart sank. The ex-boyfriend Hyax had been dating when they'd first met. Another royal from a different tribe, who at the time hadn't been on good terms with Hyax's lot, and it'd had been like fucking Romeo and Juliet , but with less death and more drunken monologues.