Page 41 of Bleeding for the Prince
“It’s all relative, I suppose. But on the reverse side, there are several people who know me who I wish didn’t.”
“We all have those troubles. When you’re turned, you believe your afterlife will be a long hedonistic stretch of debauchery and pleasure. For some, it’s true, but for me, I got bored pretty quickly and needed something more to keep me occupied.”
Gwil would have liked the opportunity to have had the afterlife Daniel described, but he considered himself mis-sold from the beginning, and there were no refunds available. “The closest I came to having the life of Riley was when I dated Hoffman, but even then, while money wasn’t an issue, I would have been curtailed some other way.”
Katherine looked surprised. “Oliver Hoffman?”
“Yeah.”
Her eyes widened. “I have to ask, I know you’ve got a fae prince now, so a real upgrade, but why did you and Hoffman split?”
Most people who had known about him and Hoffman assumed it had been Oliver who’d dumped him, and he doubtedpeople believed him when he told his version of events. “Like Daniel, I got bored. I didn’t want to be a trophy partner and had been a police inspector before I was turned, and fancied doing something in the same vein. Hoffman was married to his research, and any partner can’t compete with that for attention, so I decided I would prefer to do more with my afterlife.”
“It all worked out in the end,” Daniel said, raising his glass in a toast. “Did you manage to find something for Prince Hyax? I hope Dante’s jewellery offerings inspired you.”
He hadn’t thought more about a gift for Hyax. He’d been occupied by work and surprise etiquette lessons, but Daniel might be able to help with a recommendation for a designer. Every time he saw Hyax wearing Metra’s bracelet, he’d had an urge to rip it off and melt it down for scrap. “I’m still looking, but to be honest, I need to find someone who can help me. You mentioned that you might have a contact.”
“I know several. It depends on what you’re after, but Katherine used to work for one of the big design houses in Paris.”
“That was a long time ago,” she said with a fond smile in Daniel’s direction. “But I do still design the odd piece. If you have something in mind, I could do a sketch or two. And there are some amazing jewellery makers I could recommend.”
He hadn’t meant to put her on the spot, but he knew that Hyax would far prefer a piece of bespoke jewellery by a designer rather than something commonly available. “That’d be great. I’d pay, of course.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s a hobby, but I might drop your name.”
Name-dropping was a currency in vampire circles, and Gwil hadn’t been in a position before when his own name would be considered legal tender. Probably still more in the loose change than folding notes bracket, but he’d take the compliment.
Katherine fished around in her enormous handbag and pulled out a notebook and pencil. “Give me an idea of what you’re after—we can refine it later.”
The truth was he didn’t know. He’d not had the sort of relationship before where personal gifts of this fashion were exchanged. Back when he was still human, he had intended to propose to Matilda, but that was a lifetime ago, and he didn’t fancy giving Hyax a single solitaire engagement ring as it wouldn’t send the message he wanted to convey and would likely be lobbed at his head.
He pulled open his shirt collar a bit wider to expose the platinum choker Hyax had given him. “This was a gift from Hyax. Usually, the fae give their collar to their spouse, so you can understand the level of symbolism behind him giving it to me rather than Metra. I don’t have an equivalent, and I have to admit I’m struggling a bit with what to come up with.”
Daniel sipped his blood. “Many vampires exchange wedding rings. Have you thought of that with custom bands?”
“In the future, I hope we’ll have a ceremony where we’ll exchange rings as a nod to my vampire ancestry. But for now, I want something unique, and a ring doesn’t help me achieve that.”
“What about a bracelet?” Katherine suggested.
There was no way he would go in that direction. “He exchanged those with his husband. I don’t think it would go down well if I did the same. I did have a thought about a set of elegant earrings that would complement the shape of his fae ears.”
She sucked on the end of her pencil for a moment and then for several minutes sketched rapidly in her notebook. Her hand moved in a blur. Gwil watched in amazement as the design began to take shape.
“Does he have a sense of humour?” she asked.
“He likes to think he does.”
Daniel laughed. “I heard the bat jokes, he doesn’t seem to be too precious over you being a vampire.”
“We regularly take the piss out of each other, if that’s what you mean.”
She rubbed out something, and he couldn’t quite make out what she’d replaced it with. Then she revealed her masterpiece. “I would suggest using platinum with either emeralds or sapphires for most of the jewel. Apart from two tiny rubies.”
She’d drawn a stylised fae ear to show the piece, which consisted of an intricate helix following the edge of the ear, interspersed with jewels, and at the top, near the point, what looked like two prongs. “Are they meant to be fangs?”
“Yeah, I thought if Hyax did like the joke, then it might be a nice touch.”
Hyax would love it, and Gwil thought the idea really cool. “This is brilliant.”
