Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

" B rooding again?" Hyax asked as he turned the museum map around. "Or are you hungry? It's difficult to tell some days."

"Bastard," Gwil said, giving him a not-so-friendly nudge with his elbow. "It's neither—I'm concentrating."

Hyax liked the British Museum, although the rumours were the more exciting exhibitions weren't on display, and there was always a frisson of something he couldn't name that sent him tingling, as if calling out to his magic, and every time it had a different flavour, today it was like apple blossom—he'd not had that one before.

The museum was busier than he'd expected, the poor weather encouraging people inside who were lumbering about getting in the way and putting him on hyper alert. He wondered how Gwil coped with being in the centre of a walking vampire charcuterie board.

Hyax handed Gwil the map. "Concentrate on this. Doesn't matter how many times I come here I still can't tell one room from another."

"What's the problem? Not magical enough?"

"Yes, that's exactly the problem. Prick." Gwil was in a spiky mood, and it brought out the snarky side of him, which Hyax found more amusing than anything else. "Now stop moping and bitching and let's find this watch before I open a portal and leave you here on your own."

It was an empty threat and Gwil knew it. "Your portal permit is for secluded areas only. You wouldn't dare open one in here or you'd be in deep shit and it'd get back to your mum."

"Ha-fucking-ha." The British Museum, like most of its ilk, was a general no-portal access for security reasons. "Permits might be extremely difficult to get, and going unnoticed is not easy, but I could be tempted if you're going to keep being annoying."

"Diddums. Can't use your shiny toys."

Hyax poked him hard in the chest. If Gwil could be a grumpy arse so could he. "I mean it, Gwil, don't push me. We're only here at your insistence. I could be at home basking in meadow light at sunset while enjoying the spoils of my parents' court."

"Oh come on. Who picks drinking ambrosia over a night out in London?"

Gwil had asked him once why he didn't spend his days idling and being waited on hand and foot. He hadn't been able to explain and had muttered something about boredom, expectation, and he could worry about idle decadence when he was older. It felt as if life was passing him by in the fae realm. The human world seemed more vibrant and alive, but he'd not voiced that, as he suspected Gwil would have laughed in his face.

Gwil's ability to read the map wasn't any better than his own, meaning it took him several minutes to locate the horological exhibition, and he swore the last time he'd been here the rooms had housed a load of Assyrian items including a bloody great statue of a winged horse.

"I think it's in the case over here," Gwil said, charging over to the other side of the room.

Gwil tapped the glass of a display cabinet, pointing to a specific watch mounted alongside several other beautiful examples.

Hyax stood behind Gwil and a fraction too close. He knew his concept of personal space, like most fae, was non-existent and he didn't always get this sort of opportunity to be so near to Gwil and he was selfish enough to take it when he could. "Oh. Those are so pretty. I can see why he would want it back."

"You and shiny things," Gwil muttered and stepped to the side, putting some distance between them.

Hyax frowned but didn't close the gap.

Gwil glanced around. "There's an obvious camera but several hidden ones as well, not that they would impede you. So what do you reckon? Can we get our friend the present that he wants?"

Hyax pressed his fingers to the glass of the cabinet, a faint glow to his fingertips the only indication he was using his magic. His eye twitched—there was that certain something again—a sourness on his tongue, sharper than before, but then it was gone. "Should be fine."

" Fine ? That sounds… not great."

He suspected Gwil wasn't expecting such a lacklustre response.

A job like this would need some thinking about. It'd be a mix of evading the human security system, and not getting distracted by the magical undercurrent he couldn't pin down. Gwil couldn't fully appreciate it but it had always warmed Hyax that he at least tried to. "I'll need to balance a couple of spells at the same time, which can be tricky, and there's always a risk of something skulking about that could cause a distortion. Are you aware if the museum has any non-standard security?"

"Not that I've heard. But there might be artefacts that they don't know of that could cause an effect."

Hyax made a soft humming noise. The artefacts in a place like this could have all sorts of energy, and housing them together had always seemed a bit of a risk. "That's true. Things that survive for thousands of years tend to do so for a reason, but there's nothing I can specifically sense. There's lots of odd stuff in this place, one of a hundred things could cause a disturbance and they could be shielding each other."

A crowd of confused-looking tourists entered the room. "Have you got enough for what you need?" Gwil asked.

"Yes." There was no need to hang around any longer. "Let's aim for Tuesday. After the museum closes."

Gwil had wanted this done and out of the way before then. "Not sooner?"

"Closer to the weekend risks higher footfall from revellers, as we'll not be using portals, the less chance someone sees us leaving the better. No one is partying on a Tuesday." He smirked. "Well, no one human."

"Don't tell me, no one parties like a fae. You need to prove that to me some day."

Hyax tilted his head to the side. Was Gwil asking for something more? Sometimes he thought so but he was never direct enough to know for certain. "I don't remember you ever expressing an interest in me doing so before."

"You've never asked. And to be fair, you're not even asking now."

Hyax's brow crumpled. Gwil sounded hurt and Hyax wondered if perhaps things weren't as one-sided as he thought. Was this his moment, and the self-absorbed arsehole finally figured out that Hyax had been in love with him for years? "What if I were to?"

Gwil grinned. "We could do something tonight?"

Hyax winced, he already had a commitment for later and he couldn't change it on a whim. "I have plans already."

The spell broke. "Then I guess not. Not to worry, no doubt some rich sheikh, or a rock star."

There was more venom behind those words than Hyax had expected.

"A painter," he replied, uncertain of what else to say.

"Best let you get on then. I've plans too."

"You do? Where are you going?" Gwil didn't date, or at least not often. And if he already had plans why ask him if he was available? "Who are you seeing?"

"What business is it of yours?" Gwil started to head towards the entrance. "See you tomorrow, I guess."

Hyax stood there, watching Gwil leave. Stuck between hurt and angry. Fucking Gwil. How was he meant to understand him when he was always running away? One of these days he was going to pin him down and get some straight answers but not today.