Chapter 27
Dorian guessed that Ben had told Chris what he’d walked in on as he was glancing between them and grinning. As far as Dorian was concerned, he didn’t mind, but he knew Alex was a little disconcerted to have been caught in a compromising position.
“So, can you tell me what happened when you shifted back to your human form?” Chris asked.
“Nothing at first. I did get a bit of a tickling sensation as it went down.”
“Is that a fuzzy tickle or a zingy tickle?”
Dorian hadn’t thought there were different types of tickles. “Both? Maybe.”
“Hmm.” Chris tapped his chin with a finger. “Interesting. And how long was it before taking the potion and you changing back?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to keep track of time without a watch.”
Alex tutted. “Approximately twenty minutes, which, based on my rudimentary knowledge of dragon physiology, is roughly how long it took to reach Dorian’s stomach.”
Chris snorted. “I thought you’d be an expert on dragon physiology by now.”
Alex glowered at Chris, and Dorian thought it was kind of cute. “As I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted, perhaps the interaction with Dorian’s stomach acid was a trigger.”
“I hadn’t thought that a factor as the ingredients wouldn’t react, but then I guess Dorian’s acid is more potent than most creatures. He does eat coal and huge slabs of raw meat.” Chris gave his head a little wiggle. “Anything happen before the change? Apart from the tickle?”
“Alex saw my scales shimmer.”
Chris bit his lip and scrunched up his nose. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Alex said. “It happened the last time as well. Why?”
“I’m not completely sure, and this might be me extrapolating, but that sheen could be an indicator that the spell lock has a chromatic hinge.”
He saw Alex wince. “I see. Then we should take a blood sample and conduct a Gilliard Test.”
Chris nodded. “Yes, it would confirm a few things.”
Dorian hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. “What’s the problem with the shimmering?”
Alex placed a hand on his side, and he suddenly had a bout of worry.
“Spell locks are notoriously difficult to break, but a chromatic hinge is an addition that acts as a two-factor identification relating to the magic signature used and how to unlock it. And there were at least two magical signatures involved with Trevir and the rogue fae. But three if you count Prince Simon. In there lies an issue.”
“Issue?” Dorian asked.
Chris sighed. “We shouldn’t rush ahead of ourselves. It could be me overthinking.”
“I want to know,” he insisted.
“I have been working on the premise of unlocking the spell, but the hinge muddies the patterns together, so you can’t decode them.
The result is you could be stuck as a dragon if we can’t crack the lock, or you might end up permanently human.
The use of a chromatic hinge with a spell lock have been banned, even by the elves, due to the way it can make the lock unbreakable. ”
Dorian was a dragon shifter; he was a man and a dragon. That was who he was. He didn’t want to have to choose to be one or the other. “I am both dragon and man. I don’t know how to be one or the other.”
“You should consider if you were to pick one form over the other, which one you would choose.”
“Let’s get the test done,” Alex said, quickly. “We can confirm if the hinge is in place before we start trying to solve a problem that’s not there.”
Dorian knew Alex was trying to be reassuring, but he had a horrible feeling that even if Chris wasn’t right about this hinge, then something else would crop up as a problem. He’d been at Crofton Hall for over a week, and apart from two brief moments as a human, he’d been stuck in his dragon form.
A sharp prick made him flinch. “Oi!”
“Sorry, but we need this.” Chris was holding up a syringe filled with what he assumed was his blood.
Dragon’s blood was almost black and far more viscous than his human equivalent.
“This will only take a minute, then, if it’s positive, I’m going to see if Karl, Jack and Ashley are available to join us. ”
He turned to Alex. “What am I going to do?”
“For now, why don’t you curl up in your nest. I’ll put on some Puccini and come sit with you while we wait for the others to arrive.”
“You think the test will be positive.”
Alex worried his bottom lip. “There’s a possibility. There’s no point pretending otherwise. But also, spell locks are rare enough in their own right; the addition of the hinge adds more complexity. It might just be that we need to find someone with the experience of dealing with this combination.”
“You haven’t?”
“I’ve seen spell locks placed, a very long time ago, but that’s the extent of my practical knowledge.
Spell locks aren’t used legally without good reason, such as a medical procedure like Hyax mentioned.
But there should be a way to reverse one; it might take time, but it should happen, the hinge might stop that. ”
Dorian retreated to his nest. He wasn’t sure if Alex was going to come too, and he was relieved when he sat next to him. He raised his wing, and Alex took the hint to cuddle up against him.
Chris crouched down in front of them. He held up the syringe, and his blood had turned a lurid yellow. “It’s positive. I’m going to call in the troops. Try not to overthink, Dorian. We’ll figure something out.”
Dorian pulled Alex closer, and Chris headed off to get reinforcements.
He knew that if another dragon were to see them, they’d recognise that Dorian was treating Alex like a nestmate.
They hadn’t known each other long enough for him to really make the call on Alex’s importance in his life, but he needed the comfort, and Alex was willing to give it.
“Chris was right for you to think about your preferred form. But there is a chance that you might not get a choice.” Alex stroked his muzzle. “Dorian, I think you should also know that if you choose to remain in human form, there’s a good chance you’ll also have a standard human lifespan.”
Dragons lived a long time, like elves and the fae, and the thought of only having another forty years seemed like a death sentence.
However, he could have Alex, but then only for a few short decades.
“What do you think I should choose? We could be together if I were human, not really possible if I stay a dragon?”
“This is something you will need to decide, Dorian. But I’m not giving up on solving this and you getting to shift between the two.”
“Do you think we can?”
Alex nuzzled his head against him. “We’ve some of the most impressive magic users I have ever met working on this, so I will remain optimistic.”
Alex was the very definition of pragmatic. Dorian realised Alex had seen so much during his life, things that Dorian wouldn’t even want to know existed, but he was still trying to support Dorian, and he appreciated the action more than anything.
They sat, curled up together, not talking, and a few minutes later Chris returned with Jack, Karl and Ashley.
Ashley stared at the contents of the syringe.
“There’s no doubt there’s a chromatic hinge attached to the spell lock.
But there are different types of spell locks, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
I’ve engaged a researcher at the WRC to investigate.
We’re going to need to be careful how we proceed. We don’t want to make things worse.”
Dorian thought things were pretty bad already. “What do you mean by worse?”
“We could accidentally kill you. Spell locks are bad enough, but with the hinge and being the victim of an interception spell, it’s far more complicated. I’m not going to soft soak this, Dorian. You need to know the truth.”
Chris smacked Ashley’s arm. “Your bedside manner is atrocious.”
Dorian shook his head. “I’ve rather know the truth so I know what my options are going to be. Alex already explained that I might need to choose which form I would take, and that if I were to remain human, then I’d have to accept a limited lifespan.”
“You do realise if you choose to remain a dragon, there will be other problems,” Ashley said.
“I’m gonna need a new career, but then again, I’m not exactly lacking for money.”
“More fundamental than that, I’m afraid.”
Dorian didn’t know what Ashley was getting at. “You’re gonna have to dumb it down for me.”
“Dragons in this realm are shifters. As far as I’m aware, there aren’t places for you to live freely as a pure dragon.”
He’d not given that angle any thought. But he had a lot of money, and in his experience, that made most of life’s problems go away. “There are fly zones where I live in LA.”
“If it were that simple, your species wouldn’t have evolved solely to be shifters,” Ashley insisted. “The last of the pure dragons died out a long time ago.”
Dorian knew that most people thought the pure dragons had become extinct. But he also knew, although not public knowledge, it was just a matter of relocation. “That doesn’t mean the same for me.”
Chris worried his bottom lip. “Ashley’s got a point, Dorian. You might want to think of other options than LA. I understand there is a place you could go… I could help you get there if that’s what you want.”
“This is all a bit premature,” Alex snapped. “I’m all for being honest and thinking ahead, but we need to make sure we don’t jump straight to defeat. There must be other ways we haven’t explored yet.”
“Oh, we haven’t given up,” Chris said quickly. “But Dorian should know that I have a way to get him to a place where he could live out his life with other pure dragons.”
Ashley scoffed. “Bloody hell, Chris. What planet are you on?”
“I helped Prince Hyax move a hibernating Rex,” Chris said. “It was far bigger than Dorian and took an insane amount of energy. Dorian would be much easier.”
Hyax had mentioned dealing with a Rex, but Dorian hadn’t pressed for details; his kin didn’t speak openly about the other place. He could hardly believe his ears. “You know how to get to Handor?”