Page 71 of Bleeding for the Prince
The lab took up most of the ground floor, and he followed her upstairs and into a sitting room that was more of the standard fare for a property of its ilk. Solivatus looked up from the newspaper he was reading on a sofa.
“Is our favourite prince well catered for?”
“He’s good and wants to be left to brew.”
“We can’t have you distracting him.” Solivatus waved at one of the chairs. “Do sit, although if you could pour me a drink first, I’d appreciate it. Help yourself.”
Solivatus had a collection of decanters on a sideboard. Bloods of various types, including a Parisien, which was his favourite and a 34 vintage, which would no doubt be stellar. He poured two glasses, handing one to Solivatus before sitting.
“Thanks for letting him brew here.”
“I was surprised he wouldn’t have his own lab, to be honest.”
“He does, just this potion has something about it that makes it more potent for the containment level of the place he usually uses.”
“I didn’t ask before, but will you tell me what it’s for? I hate not knowing things.”
“I’m surprised Prince Simon didn’t tell you.”
“I’m not in the business of questioning the needs of a Dark Viscount. Especially when they’re a vampire-fae.”
Gwil found it difficult to say no to Solivatus. There was a bond between a vampire and their sire that blurred boundaries. He’d already spoken to Hyax about what he should do if he were asked directly. Solivatus wasn’t insisting, and Gwil could say no, but he was glad this wasn’t a fight he would have to have.
“They need to create a really big portal. The potion will facilitate Hyax being able to do so, but also let the others add in their magic to support him.”
“That does beg the question of why someone needs to open a portal so big that Hyax was willing to let you feed off him to create the potion.”
Gwil hadn’t left much of a mark behind when he’d fed from Hyax. It had been a heady experience, beyond his fantasies of how amazing it could be, but he didn’t think it would’ve been obvious they’d done something of the sort. Hyax was even wearing a turtleneck jumper, though Gwil thought it unnecessary. “For someone who claims they didn’t know much about what’s going on, you seem to have a lot of insight.”
“Not really; more the ingredient list led me to the conclusion you just confirmed. There are only a couple of things that combination of ingredients could mean, but given the way you two work together, it wasn’t exactly a great leap of logic.”
“I need to go bleed into the cauldron after, so I guess that would have made it obvious.”
Solivatus chuckled. “Just a little. What are you moving?”
He’d already told Solivatus most of the plan; he might as well continue. “A dragon, a big one. We think it’s a hibernating Rex.”
“Fucking hell.” He’d never seen Solivatus so shocked. “Please tell me you’re taking the piss.”
“Unfortunately not.”
“That’ll explain why Hyax allowed you to have a pre-marital nibble. I figured he might be game on your wedding night, but not before.”
Gwil wasn’t going to continue that direction of conversation. “Big dragon needs a big portal, and the portal needs a special potion.”
“Moving something that size would take a lot of energy. I know our two princes are powerful, but are they enough? It’s not just throwing a load of magic about but directing it, since it sounds like you know where to send Old Scaly Face.”
Solivatus was old, several centuries old, which meant he had seen and done things that meant he could draw the right conclusion quicker and more accurate than most. He’d been surprised by the dragon, but not enough to distract him from asking his questions.
“There’s a third. I’ve not met him yet. All I know is he’s an elf called Chris.”
Chris seemed too mundane a name for an elf, but that was the least of his concerns.
“Oh, Chris. He’s the boyfriend, well, husband or bondmate or whatever the cool kids are calling it, of Jack Webb.” He chuckled. “He’s a light elf, living at Crofton Hall. Ben Redbourn’s not been too forthcoming about him, but Sebastian Hewel said Chris has his protection, so I guess there must be something special about him.”
Gwil thought Hyax might know more, but he hadn’t asked and Hyax hadn’t volunteered the information. This Chris bloke would be acting as navigator. Gwil had put that down to him being an elf and where they were dumping the dragon was somewhere in or near the elf realm.
“I reckon with the three of them, they should have enough juice to pull this off,” Gwil said, but he didn’t have more to add,not knowing the details of the magic bits, which he wouldn’t have understood.
