Page 63 of Bleeding for the Prince
Simon rolled his eyes and waved him to sit down. “Trust me, Chris’s age is not the strangest thing about him.”
Moments later, an elf who was beautiful by even fae standards stepped into the room via a portal. He bowed low, his long blond hair falling over his shoulders. Hyax sensed a wave of goodness from him, something he wasn’t used to from elves. Also, he’d never seen an elf look so good in Converse and skinny jeans.
“Your Highnesses, my honour to be here.”
“Chris, this is Prince Hyax. He is from the Tasharick tribe and has a dragon problem.”
“It’s not my dragon, I just seem to have inherited a problem by finding it.” He smiled at Chris. “Nice to meet you. You’re a bit different to most elves I’ve met.”
“Have you ever met a light elf before? I’ve been told I’m super rare. But then, I did spend the best part of two thousand years in a jar, so I think I’m unique.”
Hyax wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “I think I might be missing some important parts of your backstory.”
“Please take a seat, Chris,” Simon said. “I thought it better if you were to tell your own story. You have the right to only divulge what you want.”
This was getting stranger by the minute. “Oh, I don’t mind Prince Hyax knowing. Jack said he could be trusted, and that’s good enough for me.”
“As in Jack Webb?” Hyax asked.
“He’s my bondmate. And husband. He’s mine. You can’t have him.”
Simon chuckled. “While I’m sure Hyax appreciates Jack’s capability, I assure you he’s very much attached to his own partner.”
“I wanted to make sure. Some people have funny ideas about going after other people’s special ones.” He smiled. “Now that’s all clear, I can explain what Simon was alluding to. I used to be an elven warlord called Christopholous. I did lots of terrible things and was imprisoned by the fae as punishment, as they couldn’t kill me. I was discorporated, and the wispy bits that were left were put in a jar made of dragon’s blood and gold.”
“And this was the trial Simon was involved in?” Hyax asked.
“No,” Chris said, his expression suggesting Hyax might not be all there in the head. “That was a long time ago. The trial Simon was involved in was far more recent.”
“Okay. But you’re obviously not in a jar anymore.”
“Correct. Because they couldn’t kill me, the fae added a special caveat to my sentence whereby I could only become whole again if I repented. And I did, so here I am.”
Chris looked very pleased with himself. “Right, and you’re now a light elf. But, if you would excuse me asking, while you feel different, I was expecting more juice, given what Simon said about you helping. Or are you just here to point us in the right direction?”
“Oh, I’m masking.”
For a few seconds, Chris let down his guard, and Hyax gasped at the intensity of Chris’s magic. Simon was powerful,with a dark edge, but Chris was as strong without a tinge of malice.
“Fuck!”
“He’s rather impressive, isn’t he?” Simon said, smug bastard. “I think with your special connection, Chris and myself, we should have the power we need.”
Hyax was still trying to process that Chris, who had spent so long imprisoned, meaning he must’ve once been an absolute evil fucker, was now fluffier than a bunny rabbit.
“Simon also said you were looking for where the dragons might be,” Chris said.
“Yes. We were told there was somewhere beyond the elves’ meadowlands. And while I don’t claim to be an expert on elvish geography, the only place I can think of would mean folks would have noticed a load of winged lizards flying about.”
“There were dragon hunting grounds when I was still Christopholous. The dragons took them from the elves, and they were on my list to get back. But I didn’t get around to it before I got put in my jar.”
Hyax got the sense that there might have been a lot of dead dragons if Chris hadn’t been stopped. From his memories of the myths, the fae had been subjected to the wrath of the elves, and there had been a lot of death and destruction on both sides. But it was difficult to reconcile the Chris who stood before him and the warlord he once was.
“That does suggest there was a physical place.”
“The dragons were fearful of attack from both the fae and the elves, and while they were using captured land for additional hunting, they hid where they lived in a bubble. The Rexes were magnificent creatures, and they were able to use their collective magic to create a stable parallel homeworld. I thought it might make a nice summer home once I’d got rid of them.”
Chris was so matter-of-fact it was almost funny. “You know where the dragon homeworld is?”
