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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

G wil let out his last appointment for the night. He’d spent several hours in his office seeing clients and working through the various open cases and planning their next steps. He had a load of invoices that needed to go out—he was behind and his lack of being on the ball annoyed him as he was usually up to date when it came to asking for payment, even if most of his clients were less diligent about paying him.

Hyax would be home soon. It had been a few weeks since the wedding, and apart from one public appearance with Metra, Hyax had kept his distance from his husband. He’d muttered something about keeping Friday free, which Gwil had noted but hadn’t been able to get any reason why he would need to. Given Hyax had been overly attentive of late, Gwil wasn’t about to argue, but the blond git was up to something.

He tidied away a stack of papers, locking them in a metal filing cabinet. One day he hoped to go paperless, but with some of his clients being older than the original printing press, they were set in their ways and weren’t going to enter the digital age any time soon.

The bell on the door announced a new arrival, and he turned to tell whoever it was to make an appointment and come back another time unless they were about to lose a body part, but the words seemed to get stuck behind his teeth. Standing there was a man, well, a vampire, he hadn’t seen in decades. He hadn’t changed much, young-looking with a round baby face and owl-like glasses, and his brown hair neat with a centre parting. He was a short, compact man, whose fashion sense was lodged in the 1950s, right down to the brown suit and Windsor knot in his tie. Oliver Hoffman hadn’t changed at all.

“Oliver?”

“I heard on the grapevine you were looking for me.”

Not technically correct. Gwil had returned from the fae realm and contacted Solivatus, filling him in on what they had learnt from Metra and Copperpipe. He’d not been sure what to do, if he confronted Oliver it wasn’t going to change Hyax’s situation. “You’ve a nerve coming here.”

Oliver bounced on the balls of his feet, not appearing the slightest bit admonished. “You’re looking well. Having a fae prince as a partner must be good for you.”

“Pity you tried to prevent me from having that.”

Oliver chuckled and sat uninvited. “I did nothing that ultimately interfered with what you have with Prince Hyax. If anything, you’ve got the best of both worlds, here you are, Prince’s Beloved without any of the tedious wedding crap.”

“Some of us wouldn’t mind the wedding crap.” Part of the reason their relationship had fizzled out was because he and Oliver didn’t have the same ideas when it came to making a commitment, he hadn’t been unfaithful but hadn’t seen the need to make things official, which had led to a kind of stalemate and boredom.

“I’m sure you’ve other options. Doesn’t the title of Prince’s Beloved go some way to fulfilling those needs?”

Oliver had never been the romantic sort—it was why Gwil had doubted Oliver was still carrying a torch big enough for Gwil that would cause him to spend more money than hundreds of average men would see in their lifetime. “I still didn’t want my boyfriend to marry someone who wasn’t me.”

Oliver shrugged. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was that big a deal.”

The oblivious bastard didn’t think of much beyond his fucking lab and experiments. He decided to change tactics. “Do you remember my sister, Penelope?”

Oliver winced, with good reason. “Of course. How is the delightful Dark Duchess of Linden?”

“Fucking pissed off. She thinks her brother’s ex bought a royal family in order to try and get him back.”

“Really? I never thought you two were that close.” Oliver shifted in his seat. Penelope had shared some choice words with Oliver over the years they’d been together. “As far as I was aware, you didn’t even go to her wedding.”

How did he know that? “Why are you keeping tabs on me?”

“Not tabs as such. We didn’t part as enemies, I’d never see you out of sorts.”

“But you see no issue marrying off my boyfriend to someone else. Oliver, please tell me Penelope wasn’t right, and you don’t want me back.”

Oliver appeared genuinely surprised by the question. “Why would I? We spent long enough together already. I’m more than happy with the young gentleman I keep around for the odd bit of relief.”

“Still dating the model then?” It came out sounding more bitter than he intended.

“I wouldn’t call it dating. I wouldn’t even say friends with benefits, just when we’re in the same place it makes sense. And only if I’m not busy. Some of my experiments cannot be interrupted.”

Gwil had grown tired of coming second to a cauldron, and while Hyax was a keen brewer in his own right, he’d never felt he was less important than freshly diced lizard spleen. “So, you didn’t tell Queen Vaness of the Elementa tribe that you didn’t care who Hyax married as long as it wasn’t me, and so her son would be the perfect option?”

Oliver puffed out his cheeks and screwed up his nose, which was a sure sign he was being asked something he didn’t want to answer. “I might have used words in a roundabout fashion, but it was more that I needed to find a way to get to the golashe without them figuring out why. So, for them, the marriage is the real reason and the golashe was sort of thrown in for good measure to cover my tracks.”

If the bastard wasn’t already dead, Gwil would have killed him. He had a machete in a cupboard, he could lop off his head, but then someone would be bound to come looking for him. “You sold me out for a load of chalk. What the fuck are you playing at?”

“It’s not chalk. Its value isn’t obvious to a mere layman like yourself.”

“Oliver, I’m about to fucking blow my top. As it stands, you’ve sold my happiness down the river for fae chalk, so you spluttering and being all indignant ain’t gonna cut it. I want the truth.”

“I don’t owe you anything.”

“No, but Sebastian Hewel and Liam Cartwright both owe me personal favours and I’m not above calling them in for petty revenge.”

He knew they were big names to throw around, but Oliver was too rich and influential to threaten him with someone of less significance.

“How did you get so friendly with two Heads of House?”

At least he’d not dismissed him outright. “I did some work for the Flints, the nature of which is covered by client confidentiality. Now stop being an arsehole and tell me what you did.”

His reputation was growing, and Oliver would know it wasn’t beyond Gwil’s sphere of influence, especially considering his sister, that he might be able to help Vampire Council members.

“I’d heard that Queen Talia wasn’t too keen on you and your precious Hyax’s relationship… not surprising really, but I didn’t care until I heard Queen Vaness had put her son on the suitor list for Prince Hyax.”

Oliver had the sort of money that he could find out information, and if he was keeping track of Gwil this would be something he’d collect. “What of it?”

“Like I said, I didn’t have a horse in the race until I realised I’d cracked a missing piece of my new blood-batching process that will elevate the operation exponentially. Trouble was it was a fae mineral that I didn’t have ready access to.”

Oliver’s research decades before had led the way for the whole bottled blood industry. He’d tinkered for years before he’d perfected the process, and he wasn’t the sort to stop playing. Knowing Oliver, the improvements would create a new stepwise change, and he wasn’t going to let something as insignificant as his ex-boyfriend’s happiness get in the way. “The golashe?”

“It’s an extract from golashe, but yes.”

“And you couldn’t just buy this from the Elementa without involving me and Hyax?”

“I couldn’t let them know the truth, they’d start asking a fortune for the stuff. I found out they were on shaky ground financially but that just meant they’d want as much as they could get, so I came up with the idea that I would give them the money if Hyax married Metra to stop Hyax marrying you, and golashe was the cover.”

The bastard was fucking proud of his thinking. “I can’t believe you’d do that to me! Actually, I can. You don’t care about anything, do you? You’re not capable of it.”

“That’s not fair. You’ve not suffered and give it a little while and Hyax can divorce Metra.”

“But I bet you’re paying the Elementa a monthly fee for them to remain married, and they ship you your rocks as if that’s what you’re paying for.”

“Gwil, you were always cleverer than you looked. It’s why we lasted so long.” Oliver smiled, the fucker thinking he was paying Gwil a compliment.

“You need to stop.”

“No, not yet. I will, but I need a few more months. Then I’ll have found a way to synthesize the extract and I won’t need the raw golashe.” He shrugged. “I have a contract through to the end of the year. It’s magically binding, I couldn’t break it if I wanted to.”

“I’m sure Hyax could help.”

“I’m not sure the two tribes are going to want to admit they were manipulated by an outside influence when all they need to do is wait it out a few months.”

Gwil knew Oliver was a selfish cunt, deep down he’d always been a bit of a shit, and once they’d broken up, Gwil hadn’t missed the fucker and had considered himself well out of long-term relationships until Hyax had come along and blindsided him.

“This isn’t fair to me or Hyax.”

“You’re immortal, what’s a few months?” Oliver said, unrepentant. “I can offer you some sort of gift. You probably aren’t in need of money but maybe I can be of help in other ways. I’ve a few friends in need of the services you could offer.”

Gwil realised this was probably the best he was going to get. Men as rich as Oliver moved outside the law and no one was going to charge in and make him do right by Gwil—not when Oliver was right and it would all blow over in a few months. Oliver hadn’t offered to help his business previously, it had been a bit of a sore point towards the end of their relationship.

“You were never keen to help me with contacts. In fact, I’m pretty sure you said it wouldn’t be ethical—which coming from a vampire was a bit ridiculous.”

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek, a sure sign he was on the back foot. “Perhaps I haven’t been fair to you in this whole fae-golashe-marriage thing.”

This was the closest he’d ever come to an apology or any acceptance that Oliver Hoffman was capable of making a mistake. “So, what, this would be your idea of reparation?”

“Maybe.” That looked like it hurt to say. “I have some very important friends, friends and acquaintances who could use the discreet services of a professional such as yourself. And now you can claim to have come recommended from the senior echelons of vampire society, I would not think it inappropriate to proffer the relevant introductions.”

He wasn’t going to get a full apology or anything else in terms of compensation, and he’d bet the sort of cases Oliver’s contacts would put his way would be a lot more interesting than poltergeist ferrets.

“Then I look forward to hearing from you in the future.”

Oliver smiled and stood. He wasn’t unattractive, nowhere near Hyax’s league, but he was a self-absorbed twatwaffle who didn’t like people much and had more money than he’d ever spend, even being immortal. Gwil struggled to see why he’d spent so long with him.

“Take care of yourself. If you do manage to become Hyax’s second husband, I’d love an invite to the wedding.”

Gwil walked over and opened the door. “No fucking chance. Have a nice rest of your night.”

Oliver left, chuckling. Gwil wondered how he was going to explain it all to Hyax without him going ballistic.