Page 41 of Searching for the Prince
Daniel writhed in his chair. The spell was working and the bones moving under his skin to reshape his face, shortening his hair and turning it blond. He keened loudly, and Hyax was impressed by how well he was tolerating the pain and the spell. It was working. Moments later Alex gave the order to stop. There sat Daniel, not that anyone would recognise him. He spat out the piece of leather and waggled his jaw from side to side.
“I guess it worked,” Daniel said, stroking his chin. “Pity I can’t use a mirror to see.”
Alex snapped a picture with his device and showed Daniel. “You’re a new man.”
Daniel sniffed. “I preferred the old me. I assume you can turn me back?”
“Simple reversal. We’d like to monitor you for at least twenty-four hours to confirm the stability of the spell, then we’d return you to your original state.”
Daniel nodded. “Fine by me.”
They didn’t have twenty-four hours to wait to try this on Gwil and Robin, but Hyax still wanted to double-check a couple of things before Daniel was dismissed. “I’d like to use a surface probe, nothing terrible.”
“You can do whatever you like to me, Your Highness,” Daniel said with a smirk.
Daniel had mentioned he was connected to the House of Langley so he wasn’t a bottom feeder, Hyax should have realisedhe’d have recognised him. It was a vampire’s second nature to flirt, Hyax wouldn’t rise to it, as Daniel had taken Gwil’s place, albeit unknowingly, and that would save him for now.
He placed his fingers on the side of Daniel’s head, he could feel the interwoven layers, they weren’t going away without intervention. He could also gauge whether the measures to hide their signatures had worked, and if he hadn’t known what he was looking for, he wouldn’t have spotted anything.
“Well?” Ashley asked as Hyax stepped back.
“Good, I think we’re there.”
Alex snapped his fingers and Karl appeared. “Mr Daniel Morten will require a room and monitoring as previously discussed. He’s been very helpful so I’m sure we’ll want to show him our best hospitality.”
“I have everything ready,” Karl said. He bowed to Daniel. “If you’d follow me, I’ll show you to your suite.”
Daniel was grinning as he was led away—he had good reason to as he would be well-rewarded.
“What’s the next step?” Hyax asked. “Are you going to tinker with the potion?”
“A little, I’m going to add clementine and asphodel to the base. I think Daniel’s bat form helped but Robin and Gwil won’t have that. I would have liked more time to experiment and the chance to monitor Daniel and turn him back, but we don’t have that luxury. I’m pretty confident nothing will pop up afterwards but we’ll have the data for when Robin and Gwil return.”
Hyax was hit by a tang of salt as someone stepped out of the shadows. He had long black hair, not unattractive, but ordinary-looking, the sort of person he’d not have given a second glance to, but then there was a wash of magic and Hyax knew he was special.
“Jack!” Ashley called. “How long have you been watching? Sneaky bastard.”
This must be Jack Webb, he’d heard him mentioned several times, he was some legal whiz but there was a lot more to him than statutes and torts. Jack gave Ashley a brief hug—there was a definite history between them. “Not long. I think that spell will work on me, with a little tweak on the third-level resonance, but the potion will need a bit more.”
Alex stiffened, his expertise being challenged. “I would have thought the base would be fine.”
“Base, yes, but you’ll need more than my blood to key to me.” From his top pocket, he handed Alex what resembled a large green fish scale. “Add that, while hitting the side of the cauldron with a tuning fork. You’ll need the sonic frequency.”
For a second Hyax was confused but then he realised—Jack was part-siren, how much he wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t something he’d mentioned freely, his kind were treated pretty poorly by most other creatures. To have risen to his rank he must’ve been a gifted warlock, but also have high-level backers who could bury uncomfortable information.
Jack extended his hand in Hyax’s direction. “Prince Hyax, I’m Jack Webb. A pleasure to meet you.”
They shook hands. Jack’s magic tasted like salted caramel and roast acorns with an underlying slate that was unique. Hyax would not underestimate this man, and he was happy he would be part of the infiltration. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I must say, now I’ve met you I’m more comfortable about Gwil going undercover.”
“My intent is to bring Prince Simon home, but I won’t lose sight of those helping me to do so. I’ll look after the Prince’s Beloved for you.”
Alex clapped his hands together. “I suggest we get some rest for an hour or so. I’ll monitor our new guest and, unless anything changes, we should be ready to put the plan in motion.”
While part of Hyax was delighted they’d been able to make the spell work, it meant he’d now have to let Gwil go out into the world with a strange face and Robin Flint as a boyfriend. He trusted Gwil, and to some extent Robin. It wasn’t that side of things that worried him but the fact they were going to be under the scrutiny of a suspected lich powerful enough to kidnap a fae prince from under the nose of his vampire husband and hide him from the world. If Gwil didn’t come back alive his vengeance would know no bounds and everyone who’d been part of the plan would pay.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Just because he was dead didn’t mean Gwil didn’t need sleep, but the last few days had been gruelling mentally, and he knew it was far from over. Hyax was happy with the plan and the preparations, or as happy as he could be given Gwil going undercover, especially since they had no idea of how long he would be away.
