Chapter 12 #2
“Yes, but then Simon has been putting stipulations on how we interact. I haven’t disclosed the full story of mine and Simon’s relationship, so it’s no surprise he thought something was up.”
“He said he thought there was something to be worried about?”
“Ben, you’re twisting my words. He wasn’t initially happy because we used to have an arrangement, and I put an end to that; this newer concern is as a friend.
Simon’s actions might come across as controlling, and with his magical abilities, he did ask if I were being manipulated somehow. But I assured him otherwise.”
Alex saw Dorian’s ears flick at the mention of his name. He remembered the feeling he’d got from Dorian when they spoke earlier and began to think that there might be more going on here than a concerned friend.
Chris rolled his eyes. “Robin, for an intelligent man, you can be as thick as hog shit. You said yourself you had an attraction to Dorian but wouldn’t act on it, but I think someone is trying to convince you otherwise.”
Chris once again placed his hand on Dorian’s ridges. Dorian didn’t react, but being curled up was the safest position, even though he was still the size of a sofa; it meant less of his vulnerable bits could be accessed.
Alex could taste Chris’s magic. He was a fellow elf, but his power was like honeysuckle and marjoram, and less of the standard elf tang of stagnant water.
“Do you need any help?” Alex asked.
“Yes, grab hold of his horn. He’s too dragony… It’s not right.”
Alex thought he knew what Chris meant, since he’d felt Dorian’s aura earlier, and he didn’t appear to have any residual other impressions from another source.
Robin scoffed. “How can he be too dragony? He’s a fucking dragon.”
“And considering he’s been hit by the magic of a vampire-fae, and my elf magic, not to forget your special campfire cuddle, the only energy signal I’m getting is dragon.”
Roblin flinched at the reference to his embrace with Dorian. “Right, and what does that mean?”
“He’s probably covering something up,” Chris said. “Alex, I’m going to do something that’s a bit like peeling back the skin of a banana. Can you have a root around? You’ll need to be quick.”
Dorian’s head shot up, his yellow eyes wide, staring down his snout. “I protest.”
His dragon voice was a little deeper and rumbled more than his human version. Somewhat inelegantly, he uncurled and tried to move back, but knocked into a table.
“Karl,” Chris said. “A stay-put charm, please.”
Four glowing circles materialised under Dorian’s taloned feet, and a gold rope fixed itself to his wing joints, stopping him in his tracks.
Robin scowled. “If you have nothing to worry about, Dorian, you should have no opposition to Chris checking.”
“It is a slight against my person. I’ve done nothing to justify being subjected to such barbaric treatment. I voiced my concern for your safety, Robin. And this is how you let them treat me?”
“If they find nothing, I’ll apologise,” Robin drawled.
Chris moved closer to Dorian. Dorian snapped at him, his long teeth dangerous, and he must have tried to breathe fire again because there was another cloud of smoke.
“Behave, I will have you muzzled,” Chris said. “I take no pleasure in restraining you, and I will be quick.”
Alex wasn’t sure what he was expecting based on Chris’s explanation of what he intended to do.
Most supernatural creatures had a core where their powers were centred and layers running through them, so how Chris could peel that away remained to be seen.
He placed a hand on Dorian’s shoulder; he was sleek and smooth, and his scales lovely to touch.
Chris muttered a string of Elvish words that didn’t make much sense and certainly not a sentence, but then, as far as he could recall, Chris cast wordlessly, so this must be something special.
If he were to describe the action, it was as if the pastry lid of a pie was being prised up to reveal the inner gubbins with bits of meat and gravy sloshing about.
Dorian’s dragon essence had been overwhelming before, but not any longer, and there was a mix of external magic from a warlock, but their signature was warped and not easy to pin down.
There were several different spells and incantations, and some sort of residual potion as well. Dorian was involved in some crazy shit.
“Have you got anything?” Chris asked. “I can’t keep the spell going for much longer.”
“Yes, but it’s not quantifiable.”
“We’ll deal with that later. Let go, otherwise you’ll have a load of dragon backwash, and that’s not a kink I’d thought you’d have.”
Alex let go, and so did Dorian, who let loose a long, hissing noise. “That wasn’t nice,” he muttered, burying his muzzle into the crook of his front leg. “You’re not nice.”
Chris patted his head. “I’m a light elf. I am the definition of nice. If you want to see proper horrible, I could have let Alex have at you. He’s a proper elf, with all the icky bits.”
Dorian shuddered. “He wasn’t as bad as you.”
“What did you find?” Robin demanded.
“There was a warlock signature and a potion. But the details weren’t clear.”
Ben tutted. “I’m going back to my party. Alex, Karl, get to the bottom of whatever’s going on with the dragon. Robin, you brought this shitstorm into my home. We will have words later.”
“I’ll be there in a moment, Ben,” Ashley said. “If there’s a warlock involved, I can’t just ignore it.”
“Fine.” Ben headed towards the door. “But don’t stay too much longer. This is meant to be our engagement party, not a coven meeting.”
Ben left before Ashley could complain about the insult.
Robin crouched down in front of Dorian. “Time to start talking. You’ve one chance, because we’ve known each other for so long, but if I think for one moment you’re lying to me, I’ll skin you myself and make my husband a cape with your hide.”
Alex didn’t doubt Robin meant every word, and he suspected Robin was only willing to listen so he could get the answers to take to Simon.
Chris pulled Robin away. “I know you’re annoyed, but Dorian is clearly scared, and you’re not helping. Go sit in the chair.”
“He should be fucking scared.”
Dorian whimpered. “I didn’t do it to hurt you. I really thought you were in danger from your husband. Given how you’re acting, I’m not convinced I wasn’t wrong.”
Alex didn’t think this was the right approach to take, and if Dorian wasn’t careful, he was about to be a dead dragon.
“How about we start with you telling us what it is you’ve done?” Chris asked. “I’d rather not use a truth spell; you have enough going on inside you already.”
“I was worried that Robin had changed so much and so quickly. It wasn’t just my ego being pissed off that he didn’t want to have sex with me anymore; it might have been to start with, but then I got really concerned.
There’s no way Robin would want to leave LA, and for him to suddenly never want to be about in the city he’d called home for so long made no sense whatsoever. ”
“That might have been your reasoning, but you haven’t told us what it is you’ve done,” Chris said. “Whoever you’ve been working with has covered their tracks extremely well.”
“I told my PA I was worried, and she put me in touch with a warlock who has a reputation in Hollywood for being able to fix anything. I thought I could at least talk to him and see if I had a reason to be as concerned as I was. When he came to my place, he said he could make an assessment if I had two items that Robin had touched before and after he’d been married. ”
Chris snorted. “And you believed him?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
There were as many charlatans as there were legitimate magic practitioners, and what Dorian was describing didn’t seem likely. “How did he manage to get a trace?”
“He had a special ball that rolled over both objects.” Dorian tried to move, but he was still trapped by Chris’s magic. “Please release me enough that I can change position. I promise I will answer all your questions. But I would like to lie down.”
Dragons were big creatures; they were majestic in flight, but on the ground, they always looked a little uncomfortable. Chris took pity on him, the orange circles disappearing. “Any funny business, I’ll put you in a headlock.”
Alex laughed. “Part of me would like to see it.”
Dorian snuffled. “I said I’d behave and I will.”
He stretched his legs and settled down to rest his snout on his front leg, his back legs tucked under himself, reminding Alex of a cat in loaf position.
“Did this ball do anything special?” Chris continued.
“He said it collected information, and he was able to read the output, which showed Robin had somehow changed after getting married. He said, given the rumours that his husband was a vampire-fae, Robin could be in danger. I wanted to save him.”
Dorian sounded sincere. Alex could see the situation from his position; he’d gone from a favourite of Robin’s to someone who could be cast away, at least on the personal side. Robin had been careful not to cut strings when it came to business.
“I fear that it was just a flashy ball, and he gave you the answer you wanted.”
“What I wanted was for Robin to be free of his enchantment,” Dorian said, his eyes wide and imploring. “Trevir said that he could make a charm and a potion that would help break the spell Robin was under. He said it would heighten my dragon thrall and help wean Robin away.”
“Away, and back into your arms?” Chris said, tutting.
“Maybe at first. But by the end, I just wanted him safe.”
Robin shook his head. “If you thought I was in such danger, why didn’t you say something?”
“You were so deeply entrenched, I didn’t think you would believe me. Trevir said I needed to weaken his hold.”
“Who is this Trevir?” Chris asked. He turned to Robin. “Do you know him?”
“No.” Robin’s expression was difficult to read, but he no longer seemed to want to pull off Dorian’s horns. “If he were important, I would have.”
“Seems to me that you’ve been played, Dorian,” Chris said. “You said there was a charm and a potion. Is there any of the potion left?”
“Yes, it’s in a black bottle at my hotel. Trevir told me to add liberal amounts and then try to see Robin before I met with Simon. He said I might be able to break the spell hanging over Robin at its source.”
Chris puffed out his cheeks, and Alex thought he’d had a revelation.
“You convinced yourself that Robin must’ve been under some sort of spell.
I accept you were worried for your friend, but this Trevir warlock has used your underlying desire to trick you into believing you could separate Robin from Simon.
But I don’t think that was his intention. ”
Alex was confused. “We thought it might be an interception spell, and from what I saw, it could have been.”
“Oh, I think it is. But not for Robin and Simon.”
“I don’t understand,” Dorian said, and Alex didn’t think he was the only one.
“You were the intended target all along. Dorian, you are trapped as a dragon; your ability to shift has been damaged. Maybe permanently. That was the interception.”
Dorian sat. He shook and wriggled, but nothing happened, and he let out a long, low bellow, a bit like a distressed cow.
Chris turned to Robin. “He is a bit thick, but I doubt he’s malevolent. Not sure how we can fix him. We’ll need to do some research.”
“He’s trapped in his dragon form?” Robin said.
“As far as I can tell. I think whatever magic was used primed this to happen. Simon losing his rag expedited the reaction, although it could have been part of the plan.”
“What are we going to do with him?” Ashley asked.
“You can’t exactly smuggle him out,” Chris said. “Your guests will notice. Make him comfortable in here, and we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
A small red circle opened in front of Ashley. Alex recognised it immediately as a miniature portal, and a bright light floated through it. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was a fae messaging device called a spark. It hovered in front of Ashley, who must have also clocked what it was.
Ashley plucked it out of mid-air. “Are you in a position to receive a message, Senior Warlock Niven?” came a voice.
“Yes,” Ashley replied.
“Hi, Ashley, this is Prince Hyax. I’ve a very annoyed vampire-fae in my living room.
” Hyax was a prince from another fae tribe and a friend of Simon’s.
“Gwil’s not sure what to do, but thought you might pass on a message to Robin.
Simon is fine, but he needs to calm down a bit. I’m containing his outbursts for now.”
The spark dimmed. Everyone turned to Robin. He was rubbing his chest. Alex guessed that was the bond manifesting Simon’s displeasure. “Oh fuck. It might be a while before he’ll see me.”
Ashley tutted. “I’m going back to the party. Alex, would you deal with the dragon?”
“Of course.”
Alex wasn’t sure what to do with a dragon, but he’d dealt with worse. And at least Dorian couldn’t breathe fire.