Chapter 14
Alex had seen Ben angry several times, and this was on the same level as when a bunch of fae had turned up and threatened to raze Crofton Hall to the ground. They were gathered in his office along with Ashley, Karl, Chris and Robin. The party was over, but no one had made it to bed yet.
Ben fixed his stare on Chris. A lesser man would have shrunk back, but Chris didn’t appear bothered in the slightest. “You’re telling me he’s stuck as a dragon and you want to keep him here so you can fix him?”
“Yes,” Chris said. “Whatever Simon’s magic did to him, it reacted with the spells put in place by a warlock, and it’s going to take some time to figure out how to put that right.”
“I understand the situation. What I fail to comprehend is how it’s my problem, and why this needs to be done at Crofton Hall?”
Ashley pursed his lips. “The situation happened when he was a guest here.”
“So?” Ben said.
“So, you can’t just kick him out. And it’s linked to a member of your House.
” Ashley pointed at Robin. “Dorian is claiming he did what he did to save Robin from being entranced, and now he’s stuck as a dragon because of his actions.
We have the space and magical means with the individuals in this room to assist.”
Robin scowled. “I didn’t ask Dorian to save me. I don’t need saving.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have been caught hugging your ex-fuck toy,” Ben snapped.
“That’s not fair!”
“Robin, there is a dragon in one of my reception rooms. If it hadn’t escaped your notice, he’s not exactly pet-sized or house-trained. He’s like that because your husband saw him in your arms and went off on one.”
“In hindsight, I can understand why Simon is so upset. He’s my main concern right now, not Dorian.”
“Have you been able to talk to him?” Chris asked. “He’d be useful in helping Dorian.”
Ashley laughed. “You think Simon is going to help the dragon who tried to break up his marriage? He might come across as a nice bloke, but I wouldn’t fucking cross him.”
“Dorian said he thought Robin was in danger; maybe Simon would appreciate someone looking out for his husband,” Chris said.
Alex liked Chris, but there were moments when he thought he was a bit too fluffy. “Would you do the same if someone had done that to you and Jack?” he asked.
Chris’s nostrils flared. “No, he’s my special one. Oh, I see what you mean.”
Robin slumped in his seat. “Simon’s shielding the bond. I know he’s there, but he’s not letting his emotions through as normal. He’s not answered my calls or messages, and Yerial, his primary bodyguard, has told me that he’s not in the mood to talk to me just yet.”
“Simon will come around,” Ben said. “But in the meantime, I still have your dragon in my house.”
“He’s not my dragon,” Robin ground out.
Ashley placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Robin can’t take him with him. Simon would not forgive that, and if he complains to his father, King James will complain to his Head of House, who will, in turn, complain to Sebastian.”
“Oh fuck!” Ben snarled. “What are we going to do?”
“I am sorry, Ben,” Robin said. “I didn’t expect this to blow up in this way.”
Alex cleared his throat. Robin wasn’t completely to blame for this. “I think that the magic Trevir used on Dorian might have affected you in some way that made you more amenable to Dorian’s thrall and advances.”
“That being said, Simon was already uncomfortable, and I put my business dealings before his needs,” Robin said.
“I manipulate people for a living; I should have seen the same being done to me, and I didn’t.
I take full responsibility for what happened, and if Sebastian wishes to make an example of me, I’ll deal with it. ”
Alex thought that if Robin was found to have upset relations between the two households, the best he could hope for was to lose his place in succession to the next Dark Viscount Whetford.
“I’m sure it won’t come to this, but if Prince Simon is convinced enough of your lack of fidelity that Sebastian were to become aware, then His Highness might take action to sever your bond. ”
Chris shook his head. “While I did say Simon might be angry enough try to break the bond, it would be a very severe reaction to a hug. Their type of connection is rare. I’m not sure if it is possible to sever and both parties survive.”
“Perhaps that was also part of the plan,” Karl suggested. “I believe that Prince Simon might have some ill effects of the bond severing, but it would be Mr Flint who would ultimately pay any price. This Trevir chap might have had the downfall of both of them as his endgame.”
“He would have had to have known about the bond. There aren’t many who are party to that information,” Robin said.
“Not necessarily,” Karl said. “Trevir might have gleaned something from Dorian after he’d met with you. While the majority of warlocks, or other magic users, wouldn’t be able to do so, he must have some special skills to have done what he has to Dorian.”
Alex thought he knew where Karl was going with this. “He might have sensed a general connection between you and Prince Simon, but not the details. That, coupled with what he learnt from Dorian, would have been enough for him to extrapolate.”
“I plan to collect Dorian’s property from his hotel after we have finished here. If Trevir did fine-tune his magic to Robin, then we’ll see once we test the cologne,” Karl said.
Ben was beginning to get agitated again. “I don’t care about his motives at the moment, just the fucking dragon stuck in my house. Dorian can’t stay in a room forever.”
“We can portal him between rooms,” Alex suggested. “Set up an area for dragon-friendly space.”
“This isn’t a fucking creche or dragon soft play,” Ben said, irritated.
“A simple distortion field should suffice,” Ashley said. “Then he can move around within reason.”
“What?” Ben said. “Nothing about that sentence was simple.”
Ashley rolled his eyes, but he was used to Ben being a bit of a twat at times. “To dumb it down to your level. A spell that makes items bend around a person or an object. Doors and halls will distort out of the way to let him pass. I could do that, and myself or another tops it up regularly.”
“He can’t just roam around,” Ben said, now shifting to petulant. “Alex, you can be Dorian’s keeper.”
He’d seen it coming, and he knew better than to argue with Ben in this mood. “Yes, my lord.”
“Actually, I was going to suggest the same,” Chris said. “We’d need to collect data from him to have a baseline.”
“Am I to understand you’d wish me to devote a significant amount of my time to this endeavour?” he asked, knowing the answer.
“Do what you need to, Alex,” Ben said. “The sooner he’s fixed, the sooner we can evict him without Robin’s head ending up on a spike.”
Alex resigned himself to dragon babysitting. Dorian wasn’t just a dragon but a movie star, and not the brightest one from what he’d observed, and he was going to need to find something to entertain him and deal with his prima donna requests and expectations.
“Let’s go and do the distortion spell,” Ashley suggested. “We can convene in a few hours once Karl has Dorian’s things and Alex has a chance to make some observations.”
Ben smiled at Ashley. “Thank you, my love. Let me know if there’s anything I can do. I’m assuming not.”
If that wasn’t code for, don’t make me help because this isn’t my problem, then Alex didn’t know what was.
Ben turned to Robin. “Are you staying here?”
“I’m planning on going to find Simon and make things difficult until he agrees to speak to me. I don’t think he’d appreciate me staying here; he’d likely take it as me being on Dorian’s side.”
“Good point,” Ben said. “But please come if called.”
Ashley sniffed. “You might be needed at some point. You’re mixed up in this. I’ll be in touch if your presence is required once we’ve a read from the cologne that was supposedly tuned to you.”
Robin didn’t look happy at the suggestion, but Alex thought he should leave Simon alone for a while before he approached him.
“Fine,” Robin said, and there was nothing fine about it.
Ashley headed to the door. “Come on, Alex. Let’s go and see the dragon.”
Alex followed Ashley out.
“Well, this is a big fucking mess,” Ashley said, once the door was shut. “A bloody dragon and a pissed-off vampire-fae, one would be bad enough, but two of them.”
“Prince Simon is, on balance, a sensible man. I’m sure that side of things will be more easily rectified.”
“Robin getting his head out of his arse and grovelling is a good start. I just hope Simon doesn’t show up here until he’s calmed down. Chris was able to contain him last night, but I’m not convinced that’ll always be the case.”
Alex agreed. “Chris and Prince Simon are equally matched, for now. Not sure we’ll be able to say the same in the future.
But I believe Simon wouldn’t lash out again.
He was angry in the moment; if he wanted to make Dorian or Robin suffer, he would find a way to do so without storming through Crofton Hall. ”
Simon might have been upset last night, but from Alex’s dealings with him, he was usually far more level-headed. He wouldn’t put it past Simon punishing Robin by making him wait and beg for forgiveness, and then deal with Dorian separately.
“I hope you’re right.”
He’d checked on Dorian several times since leaving him, and the last time he’d been sleeping soundly.
Once Karl returned from collecting Dorian’s things, Alex hoped to be able to grab an hour or two for himself.
He didn’t need the same amount or quality of sleep as even his fellow elves, but did need a quick recharge, although he would wait until Karl was back.
He didn’t like to think he had left the hall without adequate cover.
Ashley seemed in good form for someone whose engagement party had been hijacked by a dragon, but then warlocks were weird fuckers, and one who had agreed to marry a vampire might be worse than most.