Page 24 of Bleeding for the Prince
He’d seen his big sister about a week ago, but they’d not spoken about anything Simon might be interested in. “I can’t imagine her topics of conversation would have been of importance to you.”
The booth already had a low-level sound-dampening spell to aid privacy, but he felt Simon cast something more substantial. “Then she didn’t mention representing your tribe at a recent ad-hoc judgement, and that I was there?”
“No.” His mother hadn’t said anything about a trial, and if anyone would have been involved on her behalf, he would have expected it to have been his older brother, Pawl, who was next in line to the throne.
“I think, considering some of the players, you would warrant being made aware, and I, of course, expect you to maintain my confidence.”
“I believe I’ve demonstrated myself trustworthy before.”
“Yes, or I wouldn’t be here.” Simon smirked. “There are fae legends about an elf warlord who led a long and bloody campaign against the fae; he was eventually caught and imprisoned.”
He vaguely recalled the myth, but it was one of countless fables. “There are lots of myths around those stories, but they are thousands of years old.”
“Yes, and the myths are various and random, but more surprisingly, this one turned out to be true. An elf called Christopholous was too powerful to kill, so he was imprisoned in a jar made of dragon blood and gold, and would only be released when he had repented. The thing is, that jar made its way to Crofton Hall, where it’s been for more than four hundred years with a spectre living in it, which then became corporeal.”
Hyax didn’t need a pen to join the dots. “It was Christopholous?”
“Wasbeing the imperative word. He is now called Chris and is a light elf. So, he has repented, but as you can imagine, this was a bit of a shock and the tribes needed to be sure he wasn’t dangerous. A special session of a judgement court was called, and Chris was forcibly removed from Crofton Hall.”
“Oh.”
“As you can imagine, that did not go down well with the vampires, and Sebastian Hewel made it clear he was not happy. An additional complication was that Chris had fallen for a guest at the hall, Jack Webb.”
He remembered Jack. They’d worked with him as part of Simon’s rescue. “Did the Warlock Ruling Committee get involved, too?”
“Yes and no. Jack represented Chris, and it was bloody obvious he was no longer a terrifying warlord, but part of his punishment stated he needed to be bound to someone after hehad repented, so he was bound to Jack. What you should know is that Chris still has a high level of magic, just no longer the dark type he used to wield, but he masks it so well that few will know what he truly is.”
“Jack’s the level-headed sort, I can imagine he took it all in his stride.”
“More than happy to do so. And in principle, they had their happy ever after.”
“Can’t say those happen very often.” But he knew where Simon was going with this, because as fascinating as the story was, Chris’s redemption wasn’t the pivotal part of their conversation. “I bet you were surprised the Calanti were included.”
“Very much so, but then it was our darker magic that had been able to seal Chris in his jar. The thing is, our involvement in the trial opens a door to start new relations, and the threat of pissing off the vampires wasn’t underestimated.”
Hyax had thought Simon might be on the way to reconnecting the tribes. They’d discussed the concept after his rescue, and at the time, a path forward wasn’t clear, but things had changed since then. “Us being here won’t hurt that either.”
“Not at all. Especially considering Gwil and his glowing reputation with Sebastian, and my own Head of House, Liam Cartwright, means he is something of a rising star in vampire society.”
“He did say Robin was the one who gave him his Jyndarin Society membership card.”
Simon took another drink, and he saw his jaw clench. “Yes, he did.”
Hyax prided himself on being able to read a situation. “Is everything all right with you and Robin?”
Simon stared at the ceiling, and Hyax wondered if he had anyone he could confide in. “I am not happy with some of thecompany Robin is keeping. That’s not to say Robin is at fault in any way, just the nature of his business means he has clients and associates that seem to think they are more important than they are.”
“Most people have an inflated sense of their own importance.” The movie stars Robin worked with would be worse than most.
“True. But less of my trivial annoyances, as I will deal with them one way or another. How are things with you and Gwil?”
“We’re good. I’ve got a different husband issue than yours. I wouldn’t care if Metra shagged half the realm as long as he doesn’t expect me to fuck him, and I’m hoping that it won’t be long before I can move on to my second husband.”
“As a widower or divorcee?”
He laughed. “The latter, I might not like him, but Metra no more wanted to marry me than the other way around. I just need to be patient.”
“And in the interim, I will arrange for dinner for the four of us at the Jyndarin Society. I think the library there is one of the most extensive I have ever seen, and if you wish to research neutral space, I can’t imagine anywhere better.”
