Chapter 30

CHAPTER THIRTY

H yax stared at the ceiling, Gwil still deep in sleep, which was normal for him as his hours were in the main nocturnal, while fae days were longer and he didn't need as many hours of sleep. They were going to have to work out the best sleep pattern to see each other. It hadn't been an issue when they'd been friends, but now he wanted to make sure he got as much of Gwil's time as he could. Winter would be less problematic but in the summer months Gwil's useful hours outside the house were shorter, unless he found a way for his parents to become more accepting of his relationship choices, he couldn't whisk Gwil off the fae land when he didn't want to be cooped up during the day.

Their future dating habits weren't the only thing bothering him, and he couldn't shake the fact they'd been in the British Museum not that long ago due to the job Gwil had agreed to take, and now the Stone of Ljin was supposedly being hidden there. He wasn't a fan of coincidence. It was no good, he would need to talk to Gwil because the idea he had formulated was either brilliant or it'd make him sound like he'd snorted too much of his own fairy dust.

They'd ended up spending most of Christmas Day in bed alternating between sex, drinking champagne, and eating the food he'd liberated from the palace's kitchen on an emergency run because while he had a waif-life figure, he didn't eat like one. Gwil was in a deep sleep, his mouth slightly open and drooling. He tried to rouse him from his slumber using a soft caress but it was useless so, using a concentrated jab to Gwil's ribs, he unleashed the undead monster in his bed.

"Fuck off," came Gwil's mumbled response.

He poked him again. "I need to speak to you. You can't sleep too much longer as we need to get to the museum."

With much grumbling Gwil pushed back the duvet. He was far cuter than Hyax had imagined, his hair sticking out at angles, a grumpy pout and blurry eyes. "It's still light outside."

"I know, but based on what Goya told us yesterday, the warlocks are only giving me a specific window to check over the museum so we need to be ready to go at four—that should be dark enough for your delicate constitution."

Gwil stretched, the duvet sliding away and Hyax appreciated the view, but he couldn't afford to let himself get distracted. "Gwil?"

"Hmm?"

"I've been thinking."

"It is a terrible habit of yours, perhaps you should try to stop."

He poked Gwil again and received a slap to his hand for his trouble. "This is serious," Hyax insisted.

Gwil struggled to sit up but he did so and leant against the headboard. "Go on, I'm listening."

"Don't you think it a bit of a coincidence that we've located the stone in the same place Flume asked you to steal the watch from?"

Gwil wrinkled his nose and scratched his belly. "I don't know, what are you thinking?"

"Doesn't it seem a little odd that he just happened to notice a watch that he wanted back, that had been missing four hundred years, around the same time the Stone of Ljin was being hidden there? Then calls you in, knowing you'd ask me, a prince of the family that is missing the stone?"

"Are you suggesting he knew the stone was there already, and furthermore expected you to find it when he asked us to get the watch?" Gwil sounded a little incredulous, and Hyax couldn't blame him.

"Present company excluded, but I'm not sure any vampire is that direct in their actions." Even Gwil could be a bit circuitous in his thought process. "Perhaps he wasn't thinking we'd find it but that I'd sensed there was something going on that I'd pick up and run with."

Gwil made a low humming noise, which usually accompanied his deeper thinking. "He is the type to like to meddle and shape the outcomes of things. I'm not sure what his motives would be here though."

"If he was linked back to finding the stone, he would have been able to claim a favour from the fae."

"But why be so coy if that were the case? It doesn't add up."

Hyax still couldn't leave the idea alone and was sure they were missing something. "How well-connected is he?"

"He's not a Council member, but he is a named member of the House Devereaux, which makes him pretty influential and is known to consult on Council matters. I mean, if you want something doing, he's one of the people you'd ask to get things moving."

Hyax wasn't sure that would be enough. "I can't imagine a vampire influencer would be that important."

Gwil snorted. "He'd not the selling-face-cream-on-Instagram type of influencer. More the type to hide a body and convince the authorities the individual never existed."

"I know that, but what is it he actually does?"

Gwil looked stumped. "I don't know what you mean. He knows people, opens the right doors."

"But how?"

Gwil shrugged. "He's really old and knows a lot of people. But he's not going to have done anything for an altruistic reason."

Hyax was getting frustrated, Gwil wasn't buying into this and he needed him to. "Was he aware of the Stardust situation? Maybe someone he cared about was affected."

"I'm not sure he's capable of caring about someone," Gwil said but sounded thoughtful. "Having said that. I did mention Stardust to him, but at the time I wasn't sure if he already knew, or just pretended he did."

"Could he have been trying to help in a subtle way or doing this on behalf of someone else?" Hyax might be putting two and two together and getting five, but Flume gave him the creeps and he was a duplicitous bastard. "I can't help but think he knew what he was doing when he sent us there. If he did know, then he must've realised I would have sensed there was something amiss at the museum."

"True, but giving us the deeds to this place is an expensive way to make whatever he wanted us to do happen. Although, I daresay helping find a fae crown jewel would come with a substantial reward, even if he wasn't aware of its true significance."

"Flume is not lacking in funds, and as you said, he has connections. Gwil, I think, after we find the stone, you should talk to him. He might know more about catching those who stole it."

"Me?"

"Yes, as a fellow vampire it would be better coming from you." Flume wasn't likely to talk to Hyax. "My concern is we'll find the stone but not be any closer to proving who the culprits are."

Gwil groaned and sat up. "All right, but only in the event that you can't tell once you've found it. Can't you do some sort of magic-tracking?"

If life was that simple the stone would already be back in the fae realm. "I'm not saying it's impossible but it's likely any trace will have gone cold."

"Fine, but you're coming with me. In your official capacity as Prince Hyax."

He huffed but there'd be no point fighting, not even the promise of a blowjob would change Gwil's mind. He threw back the duvet. "I'm going to take a shower and get dressed then we're off to the museum."

Hyax hadn't appreciated how special the British Museum was when the public wasn't in it. The last time he'd been here he'd been in a near-empty museum but then they'd been sneaking about under a spell to keep them hidden, now he had full rein of the place and it was a bit like being in a toy shop. Goya stood at a distance, watching but keeping away, and Hyax had Gwil at his side.

"Picking up anything?" Gwil asked.

"Give me a chance, I'm not even sure where to start."

Gwil stroked his arm. "No stress. I know you want to find the stone but no pressure from me."

If he wasn't already in love with the fanged bastard he'd have fallen arse over wing for him. "Thanks."

"Anything I can do to help?"

He stared around the entrance hall, overwhelmed by the task at hand, trying to find the Stone of Ljin amongst the treasures of the British Museum. Somehow he needed to concentrate and block out everything. "Could you sit with me? On the floor and help guide me in a trance?"

He'd only done this once before, and it was when he'd been recovering from a virus and he'd needed to centre and dig deep to make his magic flow properly in the human realm.

"Okay, what do I do?"

He dropped to the floor into a cross-legged position and grabbed Gwil to encourage him to do the same, which he did without a hint of a grumble, and they sat opposite each other. This wasn't a true ritual, or an ancient rite but something Hyax had devised for himself as he'd grown into his magic, his parents unable to help when he'd found it harder to settle than his siblings.

Holding hands with Gwil, he closed his eyes. The point was being with someone who made him feel safe. It meant he could forget everything else and connect and dig down into his inner self, which he needed to do now as he required concentration to find the stone.

Gwil's hands were cold but they acted as an anchor as Hyax breathed deeply and chased his magic into his chest. He really should do this more often, and now he had Gwil as a lover, he might suggest doing it more often as a calmness settled over his senses. Hyax's body thrummed and his magic began to saturate through him, growing in strength as he focused on bringing it all together. He swallowed down the frisson of static dancing across his tongue and opened his eyes to see Gwil staring at him, pupils blown and a dopey grin on his face.

"I'm ready."

"What?" Gwil croaked.

"Are you all right?"

"Yep," he said, a little strangulated. "Felt… nice. Gonna take me a minute to stand up without embarrassing myself."

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't thrilled by Gwil's reaction to his magic. It boded well for their future. There was no way they could hope for anything long-lasting if his magic didn't play well with his chosen partner.

Hyax got to his feet. Goya pushed off the wall he was leaning against. "If you've finished your nice sit-down, perhaps you'd like to get on with what you've come for."

"My mother seems to think you're not a combative prick with something stuck up his arse, tell me how did you manage such an act?" Hyax was in no mood to play nice, and Goya hadn't been as helpful in the human realm as he'd claimed to be when visiting the fae royal family.

"I'm a different man when talking to someone who matters."

Gwil huffed as he got to his feet. "Where do you want to start?" he said, ignoring Goya.

"The original gallery—the Sloane collection. I'm often drawn there so, for once, I'm going to listen."

Hyax knew the gallery was one of Gwil's favourite parts of the museum because it reminded him of the time before he was turned. A vague and unwarranted flash of jealousy hit him as he remembered the stories of Gwil taking the long-dead Matilda here. Its walls were lined with wooden glass-fronted cabinets and shelves filled with books that gave the air of an extravagant gentlemen's club, and busts of long-dead men who watched the world through sightless marble eyes.

There were plenty of artefacts in here that would set off his magic and usually he blocked out the chatter their echoes made, but today he needed to listen, let the waves of one carry him to the next as if his goal was being paraded around on the crest of a Mexican wave.

At first his mind was pulled in several directions by the signature from a variety of odd sources, some were loud to the point of being obnoxious, until he realised they were trying to obfuscate matters and he shut them out. Hyax moved towards a cabinet halfway down the room, drawn by a spicy scent and once there he saw a pattern of lights dancing around a statue of a Buddha that was no more human than he was. The glow intensified and then shot off and erupted, showering green sparks over another cabinet.

He looked around to gauge Gwil's reaction but it was clear to Hyax that he was the sole member of the audience watching. Even Goya, who he thought had some fae blood in him, was oblivious.

The game continued, leading from cabinet to shelf to tables and, as it did, a specific thread began to reveal itself. It had started as an undertone and was now part of the main refrain, made up of something he recognised, not a pure fae signature, but something distorted by another flavour. He found himself staring at a collection of Chinese jade, figures and carvings only an inch or two high. One was the head of a laughing devil. As he concentrated he saw it was moving, its jaw working.

He thrust his hand forwards, the glass melting out of his way and snatched up the taunting demon, clutching it tightly. The jade was warm to the touch, too warm, and it began to vibrate. He uncurled his fingers and, as expected, the cheeky devil was no more and instead there was the smooth green Stone of Ljin.

Hyax held it up. "Hidden in plain sight. Clever, and really annoying."

Gwil came to stand at his side. "Can you get anything off it?"

He concentrated, letting his magic coat the stone. It was a powerful object, and Hyax got the sense that it was not happy at its treatment, that it wanted to be back in the coronet. There was another taste and he realised where he'd encountered it before.

"Chase. But his magic isn't the only thing here."

"Chase, as in the flower fairy?"

"The one who crawled into your bed." He didn't know where that had come from. He believed Gwil now when he said he hadn't. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

Gwil stroked the back of his hand. "Something getting to you?"

"Yeah, there's a taint to Chase's fae magic, I think it might be affecting me in an indirect way. I felt another bolt of jealousy earlier but it didn't last long."

Gwil stared at the stone and clicked his tongue. "I thought Chase had his magic limited. He had a brand on his wrist."

"Then he must have somehow got past it, but I'm a hundred percent sure it's his magic."

He would need to preserve the signature if they wanted to use it to track Chase, it was weak but he was able to encapsulate it in a light particle which he held out to Gwil. "Look after this, I've captured what I can."

Gwil slipped it into his pocket as Goya came to join him. "Did you say his magic felt different though? Like it had been corrupted somehow?"

He hadn't used those exact words but they were a good approximation. "That's one way of putting it."

"You mentioned you thought the elves were involved," Goya said. "If they wanted the stone so badly then they could have given up a few drops of blood, there are a number of highly illegal potions that might do the trick."

"And they would have needed someone who had imprinted on a member of the fae royal family to trick the security," Gwil said. "Given he was a QC, I would say he was perfectly positioned."

"All sounds feasible, but we need to find Chase and bring him in for questioning," Hyax said.

"His crimes were committed in this realm," Goya said. "He would be questioned and detained here."

Hyax snorted. "No, he stole this from the royal family. He will be under our jurisdiction."

Goya smirked. "I don't think so. You have your pretty rock back, but the fairy's mine."

"I don't think you appreciate the gravity of his crimes."

"Look, Your Highness, I get it, I really do, but the help we have provided to the fae was always done so under the strict proviso that if the stone was recovered in the human realm then it would be under our jurisdiction You can take it up with your mother."

"She would not have done that."

Goya crossed his arms over his chest. "I know you lot think the rest of us are stupid, but you wouldn't have gone to all this bother for any old sparkly lump of glass. That there stone is from the coronet, so when I agreed to use my valuable resources to help, I did so knowing the importance."

Hyax had underestimated Goya, probably swayed by Gwil's opinion of him. "We can discuss it once you catch him. But I can't imagine we agreed to this realm's punishment."

"Now, I didn't say that. But I want to interview Chase for a number of crimes. The Stone of Ljin is just one on the list for him."

"What else? He didn't seem that bad to me."

Hyax scowled and Goya laughed. "Going by your boyfriend's snippy comments, you know him better than you should, so please excuse me if I don't take one of Chase's shags as a reliable character witness."

"I did not have any sort of sexual relations with him, I stopped a couple of orcs beating the shit out of him and I took him home to clean up and send him on his way. He was the one who told me the stone was missing."

"Don't you find that all a bit convenient? You happen to come to the rescue of someone who knows the royals and he tells you his secrets because you tended his bruises."

Goya had a point. "But why would he tell Gwil if he knew it would get back to me? He didn't look happy to see me."

"The QCs are renowned for their skills, and to be that impressive you have to be able to act. If acting surprised to see you was part of the plan, then I've no doubt he'd have delivered an Oscar-winning performance."

Gwil's face was a picture of thunder and Hyax guessed he thought Goya was right and that he'd been played. "Looking back, those orcs didn't put up that much of a fight. They should've been able to inflict a bit of damage but they didn't even land a punch."

"So we can all agree that Chase might have done it deliberately but it still doesn't explain why, because it led me to force my mother's hand and her having to tell me what was going on, and then get involved in the stone's recovery."

"It's my best guess that he'd got himself in too deep with the elves," Goya said. "You fae aren't exactly the fluffy brigade, but he's one of yours and you're not as nasty as the elves."

Hyax wasn't sure Chase had played the odds well on that gamble. "I think he will realise he's made a mistake. Once I catch him I'm going to pull his wings off."

"We've got to catch him first."

"Give me a couple of hours. I have an idea."

Goya's phone rang. "I have to take this. I expect to hear back from you soon, if you don't, and you go off on your own, then remember I can make things difficult for you and Bitey there to do business."

Hyax had to grab Gwil by the arm to stop him from reacting and only once Goya was out of earshot did he say anything. "Don't let him get to you. He's after a reason to shut you down—don't give him one."

"You're right. And to be honest, I wouldn't fancy going after a bunch of elves without backup, even if it is Goya and his flatfooted monkeys." Gwil smiled. "So you've got your pretty glass pebble back, what's next?"

"I don't know. I can't feel anything more off it."

"But I thought you told Goya you had an idea."

"I wasn't going to tell him I didn't. He's a smug enough bastard as is." He kissed Gwil on the tip of his nose. "Besides, we do have another option."

"We do?"

"Tobias Flume."

Gwil's shoulders sagged. "Ah, him."

"You go and arrange us an appointment with Big Chief Fangy Bollocks and I'll take the stone home."

He knew this hadn't been Gwil's preferred option, but they'd hit a brick wall and accepting further help from the vampires was better than dealing with Goya.

"All right. I'll meet you at home."