Chapter 9
Alex stared into the crystal ball on the desk in Karl’s office. He appreciated the old-school ways, and screening through the mists was pretty vintage. “What am I supposed to be looking for?”
“I haven’t turned it on yet. The fog’s just the wallpaper. Hang on.”
“I thought you’d been scrying.”
Karl snorted. “That’s all a bit last millennium, Alex. I thought elves were more tech-savvy than that.”
Karl tapped the globe, and the mist cleared to reveal a squiggle. “That’s so much more enlightening,” Alex drawled. “I do love a red and blue scrawl.”
“It demonstrates perfectly what we’re up against. There’s something, but it’s not clear, and I think probably deliberately chaotic. Put your fingers on the glass, you’ll understand what I mean.”
Alex did as instructed. He’d used a crystal ball before, although not in this way.
Karl had it set up as a piece of investigational equipment rather than to see the future.
He didn’t know how the device worked, but he could taste the trace, a mix of sweet and sour, with neither dominating.
It ran hot and cold, and he couldn’t get a read from it.
“You’re going to have to teach me how to set up and use one of these. ”
“It’s technically classified, but that’s never stopped me before. What do you get from it?”
“Bugger all of use.”
“Exactly. There’s magic, of some kind, that might be able to interfere with Simon’s, but it’s inconclusive.”
Maybe it was an issue with sample quality. “What if you were to get a better read from Robin? Would that help?”
“Maybe. It’s worth a shot. But it’s taken longer than we thought to get this; there might not be anything left to read.”
They were working on the assumption that the trace was a residual of some sort of spell. “Actually, if that’s the case, it’s less concerning.”
“True. If it’s still there, it would suggest Robin was deliberately targeted. One thought I had was that it was an anchor for another spell, which is why it is benign in its own right.”
Alex huffed. Whatever it was, he didn’t like it. “I’ll speak to Ben. He can call Robin, and they can decide whether to bring in Simon.”
They had thought originally to go straight to Simon, but there were discussions ongoing in the fae realm needing his attention, and Alex didn’t want to cause more ripples.
“Agreed. This could be nothing.”
“Or it could be fucking awful. Honestly, I’d like a bit of mid-level randomness from time to time.”
Ben was in the library; he tended to sit in there when he wanted a break from working in his office. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, my lord. But something has come to mine and Karl’s attention that I feel I need to inform you about.”
Ben put down the document he was reading. “I’ve come to learn that when you say things like that, the world might be ending. So, let’s have it.”
One of the many qualities of Ben Alex admired was his unflappable nature. He wasn’t the type to panic, and while some of his schemes were a bit far-fetched to implement, he approached the initial clusterfuck with a grace that he appreciated.
“When Robin was here for your proposal dinner, I noticed there was something not quite right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but Karl agreed it wasn’t normal, and he tried to do an analysis to see what it could be.”
“Given the link he has to Simon, I’m not sure you can say Robin has a normal setting. I imagine their bond will continue to evolve and that might be what you’re picking up.”
Alex bit back the reply he wanted to give, as he knew more about magical bonds than Ben, but at least he hadn’t outright dismissed his concern.
“We had already factored that in; this was different. I couldn’t identify a change due to Simon’s magic.”
“Okay, that’s a different matter then.” Ben refocused his attention. “What have you got?”
“Karl thought it could be some sort of interception spell; they interfere with enchantments and bonds, but he said it wasn’t like the ones he’d seen before.
When he analysed the trace, there was something there, but it was chaotic and hard to distinguish.
There is a chance it’s a coincidence, but given the individual involved, it’s unlikely. ”
Ben reached into his pocket and removed his phone. “I’m going to call Robin. We need to alert him to the potential threat.”
He was glad Ben had come to the same conclusion he had without having to be led too much.
“He can make his own assessment, then talk to his husband,” Alex said.
“I doubt this is something Simon is doing. But I have to caveat that we don’t know if anything is happening to Robin; it was just a sensation I felt and a trace we isolated.
It might not be doing anything specifically. ”
“Hmm, I might be willing to agree if it weren’t Robin, and there wasn’t vampire-fae in the mix. From what Ashley’s told me, they use a branch of magic not well-understood by others and so could be problematic.”
“I would still caution not to overthink this,” Alex said, not wanting to start something he couldn’t stop, but judging by Ben’s expression, it was too late for that.
“It could be a complete shit storm, Alex. You don’t need to pull your punches with me over this. Dating a warlock has opened my eyes to some of the weird things that can happen, and I’m not prepared to risk a member of my House. Sebastian would have my head.”
Alex hadn’t considered Sebastian in the equation. “He’d certainly make his displeasure known.”
He listened patiently as Ben contacted Robin. He could only hear one side of the conversation, but it was enough to tell that both vampires were concerned about the turn of events. Ben finished the call. “Robin is going to ask one of his fae security team to portal him directly here.”
Alex had expected some concern, but not that Robin would turn up straight away. Moments later, a portal opened, and Robin stepped into the library. “Thanks for calling me, Ben. I’m keen to hear what Alex has to say. I don’t want to worry Simon with anything unless we’re absolutely sure.”
Alex didn’t have much more than conjecture and a shiny thing in a globe. “I can’t give you absolute certainty, Mr Flint. But we shouldn’t take this lightly and should investigate further.”
“Tell me what has you so troubled.”
He took a moment and once again felt the strange sensation when he’d been near Robin the other night. “There is something about you that I’ve never experienced from you before. Has Prince Simon mentioned anything?”
“My husband is busy in the fae realm. His tribe is on the brink of being accepted back into the wider fae community. Much of this has come about from his friendship with Hyax, so they have been in discussions, and our conversations have mainly been around those.”
Prince Hyax had been involved in helping retrieve Simon when he’d been kidnapped not long after his wedding, and Alex understood the two royal fae had become firm friends.
However, he didn’t think Simon would be so distracted as not to notice something wrong with his husband.
He didn’t want to say as such and decided to try a different tactic.
“I take it you haven’t experienced any strange sensations of late? Any odd occurrences come to mind?”
Robin sat down and seemed to be considering Alex’s question. “I’m not sure I’d call them particularly odd. I deal with all sorts of people day in day out and nothing that I would describe as worrying.”
“You’ve had no reaction to something you wouldn’t normally do?” Alex pressed.
Robin frowned. “Such as?”
“One of Karl’s theories is that this could be a form of an interception charm,” Alex said. “They’re not common, and this has its own flavour. Considering your marriage and the bond governing it, we were thinking that maybe something or someone was interfering with that connection.”
Robin shook his head. “Nothing I can think of would be that serious.”
The trouble was Robin moved in circles whereby there was no such thing as normal, and he might miss something a magic user wouldn’t. “I don’t mean to press the issue, but maybe there was a reaction you didn’t think odd at the time but might be different in a small way.”
Robin sat a moment, and Alex thought he was sifting through his memories. “There may be one thing, but I didn’t think it was weird because I’ve felt the pull before.”
“But maybe you’ve not had that reaction for a while?” Alex suggested.
Robin appeared a little uncomfortable. “Yes, not since the bond between myself and Simon formed. I’ve not reacted this way to someone since I was married.”
“Please tell me this isn’t Dorian,” Ben said, an edge in his voice.
Robin shifted in his seat. Alex didn’t like where this was going.
“There’s been a couple of times recently where I’ve given him a double-take.
When he’s been particularly alluring. But I’m not acting on it—we were lovers on and off for a while, I don’t think it’s unsurprising that I should still be attracted to him.
He’s a very good-looking guy. I’m married, not blind, and I’m not going to fuck him again. ”
Ben was furious. “Your husband, the one who is capable of levelling a building with a flick of his fingers, has already told you how unhappy he is about you still consorting with Dorian.”
“I’m not consorting with him. You make it out to be something sordid. All that happened was Dorian looked hot, he was using his dragon thrall for a photoshoot, and I was distracted for a moment.”
Alex didn’t think it sounded too bad. Robin was besotted with Simon, and if this were another couple, he would have dismissed it outright, but he thought they might be on to something. “Have you been prone to his thrall before?”
“Not really, well, not for years.”
“Then why now?”