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Chris’s eyes flew open, he was in a circular stone room, lying on a comfortable bed. He sat up and surveyed his surroundings. There was a window, furniture including a wardrobe, desk and chair, and an empty bookcase next to a door that appeared to lead off to a bathroom. He’d heard of worse prison accommodation and the room reminded him of where he’d been kept before, but he doubted it was old enough to be the same place.

A pretty sort of fae sat in an armchair. Sort of fae because there was no way this bloke wasn’t part something else.

“Ah, good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Who are you?”

“You can call me Simon.” He didn’t shimmer like most fae and his wings were silver with purple edges.

A fluttering came from somewhere behind him, and he leapt to his feet, he had wings too. For a moment Simon was forgotten, and Chris turned in circles trying to see his wings.

“First time in the fae realm?” Simon asked, bemused. “I assume you’ve not had your wings at Crofton Hall.”

“No, er, yes…” He flapped his wings and giggled at the sensation of the draft. They were gold and shiny, and ever so pretty.

“You’ll get used to them. But you need to calm down, in case someone comes to check on you.”

He sat on the edge of the bed. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologise.”

He took a moment to compose himself. He looked again at Simon. “You’re not just fae, are you?”

“No. While I’m the Prince of the Calanti tribe, I’m also the Dark Viscount of MacLove.”

“Oooh. You’re a vampire!”

Simon smiled. “Nearly, come on, you’ve got this far, add the two together and see what you get.”

“Vampire-fae.” He swallowed thickly. “Are you here to kill me?”

“No, I’m here because I spoke to Jack Webb. I have a great regard for him, and it was me he was rescuing when he was injured.”

Chris thought he should have realised who this Simon was already. “You’re the husband of Robin Flint, from Ben’s House. Did Ben tell you about me?”

“After a fashion, I arrived at a dinner to see a dragon trying to put his scaley paws on my husband. Turns out Dorian was there because of your jar and naturally the conversation turned to the relevance of a jar made with dragon blood.”

Chris was trying to piece the timeline together. Dorian had been at the hall and assessed his jar, Jack had come to speak to him, and they’d picked a room for Alex to come and talk to him, meanwhile Ben had taken his guests out and the fae had arrived. “The fae turned up at Crofton Hall when Ben was at dinner. How could they have known so quickly?”

He tried not to sound as if he were accusing Simon, because vampire-fae were powerful and dangerous and if one had been about when he was Christopholous, he was sure there would have been a quicker resolution to his rampage.

“Let me assure you that I did not communicate anything about your situation, but the fae have learnt to weave listening devices into many places over the centuries, and a club like Bled, which would boast the calibre of clientele such as Ben Redbourn and Robin Flint as guests, would be a perfect target.”

“So news travelled on the air?”

“It’s not a bad description, and hearing something of this magnitude would trigger an emergency response by the fae. The tribal leaders have a way to contact each other, and this was deemed so serious that even my father was informed.”

“If your father is a fae king why wouldn’t they have told him?” He’d read pieces about how the Calanti tribe had been ostracised but he wasn’t sure how far that had gone, or the real depth of the chasm between them and the rest of the fae.

“The Calanti tribe are not associated with the others and haven’t been for the best part of a millennia. But the reawakening of one of the most dangerous creatures of our combined history was deemed worthy enough for them to let us know.”

“Oh, I think they’re going to be disappointed. I’m not him anymore.”

Simon cocked his head to one side. “I can sense that, and I don’t think Jack would be on your side if you were. He’s not the sort to fall for murderous warlords—or at least he doesn’t come across as the type.”

“You believe him? Me?”

“I can taste your magic, and there’s not an ounce of darkness about you.”

He was default masking, and he was sure Simon wouldn’t be able to see everything.

“You can taste me? From over there?” Chris knew vampire-fae were powerful, but he hadn’t expected that.

“Magic emits a signature, and I’ve been learning how to spot different types. You’re a light elf, a rarity these days. You’re like honey and lavender, very pleasant.”

He didn’t like the idea of being tasted but it wasn’t something to linger on. “So will you be able to tell the other fae to let me go?”

“I’m afraid not, they don’t even know I’m here. I’d suggest you not mention it either, but I will try and help wield some influence if I can.”

Chris was getting confused. “How can you be in here if they don’t know you are?”

“My portals are a bit different to most fae, I can hide their presence and my own. I could take you with me, but I couldn’t keep you hidden forever, and you’d just be a prisoner elsewhere but of your own making.”

Simon wasn’t wrong. “What will happen now?”

Simon shrugged. “I don’t know. I suspect you’ll be brought before a fae court, and you should be allowed legal representation.”

“I thought it might be something like that. I want Jack as my lawyer.”

“Not surprising. And he should be allowed. I will see what my contacts can find out and feed any information back to Jack. I’ve links in the fae world despite my tribe’s exclusion.”

“You’d do that for me?” Chris couldn’t believe his luck.

“More I’d do it for Jack. But I also believe in justice, and I’m not sure justice would be served if you were returned to your jar.”

Simon stood. He glanced at the door. “I need to go. You’re about to get a visitor. A word of advice, be as vague as possible about your memories, and being a bit of a blond bimbo wouldn’t hurt.”

Before Chris could answer or offer up his thanks, Simon was gone, leaving a tingle as if the room was being given a quick decontamination with a minty wipe.

The door opened and a fae with long blond hair entered. He was like most fae, pretty and ethereal and it was difficult to judge his age. He wore navy blue robes and his wings had a copper sheen to them. Chris noticed two other fae behind him dressed like guards.

“I am Adjudicator Quint, I am here to read your charges and inform you of the process you will be expected to follow. Understood?”

“Erm… I suppose so. You can call me Chris,” he smiled and remembered Simon’s advice. “Your wings are pretty.”

“What?”

Chris flapped his wings, which amused him a great deal. “Mine are nice, but yours are nicer.”

This seemed to confuse Quint further. “You do realise why you are here?”

“I thought that was why you’d come, to tell me? This is a lovely room but I don’t think it’s mine. But my brain is a bit squishy… I’m sure I was in a manor house not a stone tower.”

Quint glanced back at the guards who also looked as bemused. “You are Christopholous.”

“My name is Chris.”

Quint scowled. “Do you deny you are the elf called Christopholous?”

“I don’t call myself that. As far as I know, I’ve only been an elf for a week or so. Before then I was a spectre.” He flapped his wings. “I’m still getting used to these.”

“Then this might take some adjusting, but you are accused of being an individual called Christopholous who committed travesties against the fae race. You were imprisoned for your crimes.”

“I… er…” He stared around the room, making a show of pretending to take everything in. “Is this the prison? I don’t remember it… I was in a jar. I’m sure of it.”

“No, this is not a prison. It is a holding area where you will be assessed and then brought to leaders of the fae tribes for judgement.”

“But you said I was already imprisoned. Doesn’t that mean I’m free now? I’ve definitely not committed travesties in the last couple of months. Or even the centuries since I woke in my jar.”

He hoped this level of cluelessness would be sufficient.

“You will be appointed a legal counsel. Jack Webb, who is the legal representative of the Warlock Ruling Committee, has volunteered. Do you have any objections?”

“Not to Jack. Will I get to see him?” He really wanted Jack to see his wings.

“Arrangements will be made,” Quint said, and Chris guessed he didn’t want to be here any more than Chris wanted him here.

“Okay.” He smiled and lay back down on the bed. “Then I guess I wait. Oh, I’m hungry, can I get something to eat?”

Quint tutted. “Do you not understand the severity of the accusations against you?”

“I don’t think so well when I’m hungry. Maybe once I eat something it will be clearer.”

Quint turned to the guards and spoke to them in a language he didn’t recognise—it was like fae, but his knowledge of the fae language was two thousand years out of date. “I will have provisions sent. Given your lack of mental capacity, I think it better if your charges are fully explained when your legal representative is present.”

Chris nodded, pleased Quint thought him a bit simple, and was expecting him to behave in a manner more like a rogue elf. The truth was he wasn’t stupid, but he also couldn’t say he had any of his old strategic ways about him, or at least he had no desire to use them. Quint left and the door closed, and he would bet the guards were situated on the other side. He would just need to wait.

* * *

Jack paced the library at Crofton Hall. He couldn’t sit still waiting for Simon to return with news from the fae realm.

Ashley sighed. “I know you’re worried, Jack. But this won't help anybody.”

Chris had disappeared in front of his eyes two days ago, and Simon had turned up at Crofton Hall a day later with the information he’d been able to gather, thanks to his fae connections. Simon had said he would try to get access to Chris but given the Calanti tribe’s current situation, he doubted he would be able to do so legitimately so he might have to bend a few rules.

“What do you want me to do?” he snapped at Ashley. “Chris is gone, for all I know they’ve done something to him and forced him back into his jar.”

“You know that’s not a possibility. Dorian told you as much.”

Dorian had returned with Ben and Robin when Jack had told Ashley what was going on at the hall. He’d left to head back to LA with Robin but not before Jack had grilled him again on the jar. “He said he didn’t think it could be reused. He might be wrong.”

“He was far more certain than you’re making out. He also said there wasn’t any chance of a Rex donating blood again for a new pot because the dragons would have considered Chris to have done his time.”

“But—”

“Are you sure the jar’s gone, because from what you said the fae didn’t enter the house and Chris wouldn’t have had it with him.”

“I couldn’t see it in mine or Chris’s room. I don’t know where else it could be.”

Ashley didn’t understand. It wasn’t his boyfriend who had been carried off by magical guards with a massive grudge. “There must be something we can do to prepare.”

“Apart from reading up on fae law, I don’t see what else there is we can do. You’re not going to be able to out-magic a lot of elder fae, and you’ve already volunteered to be Chris’s counsel.”

He’d wanted Chris to run with him, he’d have found somewhere for them to lie low, but Chris had been right, their lives would never have been their own. They needed to fight this in a way that ensured Chris could be free. The situation was still the same. Simon had alluded that he would be able to get to Chris, whether they gave him permission or not, but if they’d broken him out, it would be just as bad, if not worse because it would be seen as a confession of Chris’s guilt.

Karl appeared in his usual swirl of black smoke. “Excuse me for interrupting, gentleman, but Prince Simon is in His Lordship’s study.”

He didn’t need to even ask, Ashley opened a portal. “Let’s go and see what Simon has to say.”

Simon was alone, sipping a glass of blood as they arrived. “Things have taken a course I wasn’t expecting,” he said as Jack took the chair nearest to him.

“Did you see Chris? Is he okay?”

“Yes, he seems pretty chipper. Initially, I was informed by my father that the Calanti had been told of the return of Christopholous as a courtesy, and our involvement was not required so I let myself into where they were keeping Chris. It wasn’t particularly hard to locate him, but I couldn’t stay long as sooner or later they’d have realised there was something not quite right and in the end, he was about to have a visitor.”

“Where are they keeping him?” Jack asked.

“In the Tigal Tower, part of what they laughably describe as a maximum-security prison, and the tower is a holding area before sentencing. Nice room, but as far as I could tell he’d only just woken from the stunning spells.”

“That would have meant he’s been unconscious for a while,” Jack said, and he didn’t know what effect that would have on Chris.

“He seemed fine, his cuffs had been reactivated so his magic is limited, although we didn’t talk about that. I assured him you would be his legal counsel and if anyone asked him anything, play dumb.”

Chris could come across as a bit vacuous at times, although it wasn’t a fair reflection of his real self. “It sounds like what we were expecting, though.”

Simon sipped his blood. “It was, and I intended to come straight here, but my father summoned me home first, and that was when I heard things had changed. The Calanti are now requested to provide representation to the fae council.”

Jack hadn’t thought that would happen. “Does that mean as part of the jury?”

“Probably the closest description we have, although more like seven judges, as they’re not really Chris’s peers. The thing is, my father has asked me to represent our tribe, which of course I have agreed to.”

Jack gnawed the inside of his cheek. “Would that not cause questions? You are known to have allegiance to Ben Redbourn through your husband’s House. And Chris had been a resident at Crofton Hall for a long time.”

“Fae don’t think in terms of fairness in the same way. We’ve been included because the crimes Christopholous committed were as much against the Calanti as the other tribes—it was before we were ostracised for our darker magic.”

For some reason, Jack had thought the darker tinge of Simon’s gifts was from his vampire side, but James was the first Dark Earl of MacLove, so the timing didn’t add up. “And your darker side isn’t an issue for this?”

“From what we’ve been able to find out through my father’s digging, the Calanti’s particular flavour of magic was key to the original punishment Christopholous received. I don’t think the others would’ve known what to do.”

This could only be a good thing for Chris, and he knew Simon wasn’t in the camp of those who thought Chris deserved to be locked away.

“What happens next?”

“You’ll get to visit your client, and I will ask to see him again in your presence. I sense Christopholous’s reappearance is something the council think they must act on, not that they know how to deal with it. I don’t suspect this will become public knowledge.”

He had another thought. “Did Chris have his jar with him?

“I didn’t sense his jar in his room, and from Dorian’s description I would have.”

“As far as I can tell it’s not here, did the fae mention they had it?”

“Actually, one of the points of discussion was about a new vessel. They don’t have the old one and aren’t sure if it would be reusable. So that suggests his jar should be here still.” Simon paused, thinking. “We need to find it. I think it will be important evidence.”

“I couldn’t see it.”

“Maybe it’s hidden because Chris isn’t in the hall. Could be cloaked.” Simon stood. “I’d best get back, I’ll be in touch as soon as I hear more. You should know Sebastian Hewel has been in contact with the fae—he’s asked to see Chris.”

“What?”

“They’re going to ensure his safe passage. I don’t know if it’s just Sebastian making a point or if there’s anything more to it.”

“I better make sure Ben knows.”

Simon winced. And it was an indication of how scary Sebastian was that he could put the wind up a vampire-fae. “He knows, believe me. But that’s not your problem, you’ve a case to win.”

Most legal systems weren’t so different, and Jack thought they just needed to keep their cool and get the arguments right. He’d made a career out of defending the indefensible and he wouldn’t let Chris down.