Page 26 of Pining for the Prince
Hyax bit his lip and looked sheepish. “You.”
Gwil knew he hadn’t led a blameless life, and his afterlife was even worse, but surely he didn’t deserve this extra layer of torment. It was bad enough having to be around Hyax with his feelings for the ridiculous git, now he might have to pretend he was his actual boyfriend. “You’ve done what?”
“It’s not that bad.” Hyax pouted. “I needed to give a name and you were the first that came to mind.”
Gwil wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. “Glad to hear you gave it due consideration.”
“I had to think on my feet. I’m sorry, but I thought as my friend you wouldn’t mind.”
“Of course I fucking mind! Please tell me you’ve not agreed to bring me home to meet your parents.”
“Er…”
“Hyax!”
“Well, you’ll need to come with me at some point so they can meet you. I’ll have to cast some enchantments so the fae realms doesn’t cause any damage to your vampire self.”
“Have you forgotten the mess your bloody portals make of me?” He swore the idiot was trying to kill him, even before his parents got the chance. “I’d be a vampy smear in seconds.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Travelling through fae intraspace to get to places in the human realm causes a different type of energy drain compared to when you were just going fae realm to human or visa versa—then there’s no feedback loop for one-way travel and so that shouldn’t be an issue.”
It was all gobbledegook to him, and Hyax wasn’t getting the main point. “Oh, well thank fuck that won’t be an issue, cos there’ll be plenty of others!”
Hyax didn’t look repentant in the slightest. “It’s a blessing in disguise, really.”
“In what fucking way can this be a blessing? You’re a prince and I’m a vampire, your parents must’ve gone ballistic.”
“My mother wasn’t exactly happy, but I managed to convince her we were suited, and there’s nothing in the statutes that say I can’t marry a vampire. Remember, you’re a known entity since we’ve worked together for years so there’s no concern that you’ll try to take advantage. Of course I’ll have to lay off all to schmoozing I do, but they understand that.”
“Schmoozing?”
“Yeah, the dates I go on. I’m usually after specific information on individuals of interest to the Fae Crown…” He shrugged. “Sprinkle a bit of fae dust around, they get a bit confused and start talking, and the job’s done.”
He would need to think about that, because he’d always assumed the men Hyax had dated were more a collection of sextoys he spat out once he’d finished with them, and there was nothing deeper in the selection than if they had nice legs or twinkly eyes. “Right, and I suppose if they think we’re dating you can hardly be seen sneaking around behind my back.”
“True. Seeing as my parents have eyes in the most unexpected of places we should probably be seen out as a couple a few times. We can go visit our new house together—I told them we were moving in there as a couple.”
He was definitely being punished for something. “I haven’t agreed to pretend to be your fiancé yet.”
“You’re not going to say no, not when it means my parents will engage us professionally to investigate the disappearance of the Stone of Ljin.”
“Oh, God, that’s what you meant when you said could combine the two.” And Hyax was right, they’d be no way he’d miss a chance like this. “You’re serious? The royal family are going to let a non-fae help with the investigation?”
“Yes, but only because he’s betrothed—soon to be cohabiting with—one of the princes. You wouldn’t be allowed within a lunar cycle of this if you were just a random vampire.”
He was going to have to keep a close lid on his emotions but this was too big an opportunity to pass on because he was in love with his business partner, okay, best friend. “Putting it like that then I don’t suppose I have any objection.”
“Didn’t think you would.” Hyax played with a stapler on Gwil’s desk. “I wasn’t going to mention this, but there’s been some other rumblings and I wondered if you could look into it for me?”
“I don’t know, we’ve not even been fake boyfriends a full five minutes, and you’ve already moved yourself into my new house and now you’re asking for favours. I should have known there was an ulterior motive.”
“Ha, ha, your sense of humour is why I stuck around so long.”
“Here’s me thinking it was my dashing good looks and personal cologne.”
“They go without saying.” Hyax smirked and he wasn’t sure if he was being flippant or not. “But what I wanted to know is if you’ve heard anything about Stardust. More specifically a heightened or tainted blend. I was about to ask you about it when Chase happened.”
It wasn’t that he’d forgotten about Penelope asking or that Hyax had brought it up, but that her request had fallen towards the end of his to-do list; however, he would now need to give it some proper thought. “Funny, Penelope cornered me the other evening, she was interested in the topic as well.”
