“Hey, let me in at that.” Reaching out, he snagged Layla’s coffee mug from her fingers and had a sip. She opened her mouth in mock protest and he only waggled his straight dark eyebrows, swigging off more. Half the mug was gone before he gave it back, with a roguish grin. “God! That was the best sleep I’ve had in decades, despite everything.”
“So what are we doing today about our situation and Adrian’s?” Layla asked, sipping more of her coffee as Dusk’s fingers strayed, stroking her thigh where her silk robe gaped.
“Today,” Dusk spoke decisively, though he was still playing his fingers over Layla’s skin, “we are going to start by approaching the Madame. I trust Etienne to keep a secret, and this is one she’ll have to – from the Intercessoria if they come calling. Which is no small task.”
“What secret is she going to keep?” Layla asked, her eyebrows arching as she took another sip of coffee.
“That you won’t be in the Hotel for a few days.” Dusk eyeballed Layla with a sly smile.
“And where will I be?” Layla blinked, wondering what in blazes he was planning.
“In Manarola.” Dusk smile became a grin, purposeful and reckless.
“King Falliro Arini.” Layla knew exactly what he was talking about the moment he said it. She set her coffee mug aside on the ebony table next to the bed as she watched him. “You’re sending me to the Phoenix King. So he and I can have a little chat about Hunter and give the Intercessoria some intel they’d be willing to bargain for Adrian’s release.”
“Tit for tat,” Dusk agreed. Pushing up from the bed, he moved to the dining table butt-ass nude and poured his own coffee, then returned. Layla couldn’t help but ogle him. He was magnificent, with striking muscles and perfectly-proportioned shoulders and hips – not to mention a tantalizing groin even when it wasn’t erect. Leaping back to the bed, he managed it with catlike grace, controlling his coffee mug so he didn’t slosh a drop. Settling in against the pillows next to Layla, he drank with rogue abandon, setting his head back on the wood with a relieved expletive.
“Fuck, I love coffee! Anyhow, you’ve got that feather from King Arini, I figure we get you to Manarola discreetly, then gather as much information as we can on what Arini learned about Hunter while he was being stalked, then get you back to the Hotel and arrange a meeting with the Intercessoria. All done very discreetly of course, so we can get Adrian back before the Owner’s Ball. Which is scheduled to happen the final day of their residence, in a week.”
“What happens if we don’t get Adrian back in time?” Layla asked, frowning.
“Bad things.” Dusk scowled, taking a generous swig of his coffee. “I really don’t want to think about what may happen to our Hotel if Adrian can’t be present for the final night of the Board’s visit. We’re already in a precarious enough position with that fuckup of Bastien Durant’s, pluseveryone’sheard about the murder of the Head Courtesan by now, and a number of the Owners have even been questioned by the Intercessoria. Sylvania was a treasure here, Layla – very few Hotels can say they have a Silver Passion on staff. And now we can’t, either.”
But Dusk’s dark frown said far more. He and Sylvania had been close. Maybe not lovers exactly, but it was clear he’d had a tremendous respect for the late Head Courtesan, and Layla felt the same. It was a loss they were all going to have to process in the coming months. But now, there was too much at stake to take time to grieve. Dusk was in problem-solving mode, and Layla couldn’t have agreed more.
“So we get me to Manarola via human routes where I’ll be harder to track, before Heathren’s calming of my Dragon wears off and anyone can feel me.” Layla picked up the conversation.
“Planes, trains, and automobiles,” Dusk agreed, a pensive look on his face now as he cradled his coffee mug in both hands. “Hunter has shown a weakness for tracking people in the human world. He didn’t find you until Adrian and I did, and only then because Mimi Zakir’s death was made public. Either he doesn’t have access to human systems like scanning passports, credit cards, and such, or he doesn’t give a shit. Some older Twilight Realm beings feel that such modern methods of keeping tabs on people are beneath them. Which is where we win.”
“I take it you have methods of keeping tabs on me?” Layla lifted an eyebrow.
“You’ll take your special smartphone with you; it’s a magically-infused system that can track you as you travel, sending a vibrational signal back to the Orb of Cephalus, a security element here at the Hotel that I monitor.” Dusk nodded, his gaze full of machinations. “And if you’re ever in trouble, like you’re being stalked, you just have to swipe the Hotel credit card I issued you at any location in debit mode and enter a special PIN, which will notify me at once of your situation.”
Layla whistled, having had no idea that the security systems Dusk had access to were so extensive. “Holy shneikies, Batman.”
“Batman ain’t got nothing on us.” Dusk’s smile was pleased, though still intense. “Even if I’m not with you, I can track you every step of the journey, Layla. We can’t get a new talisman to hide your magical imprint on such short notice, but the rest will do in a pinch.”
“You’re not coming with me?” She blinked, suddenly worried.
Reaching over Layla to set his coffee and hers on the bedside table, Dusk settled his body between her legs. Pulling her down by the hips so she was laying flat on the bed, he moved up in a lithe motion so he trapped her beneath him. Layla’s Dragon roiled inside her veins to be so pleasurably corralled, though it was still much lazier than usual from the after-effects of Heathren’s magic. Lowering down, Dusk kissed her deep, and Layla heated as they kissed, her hands stroking the serrated muscles of his sides. Pressing himself down upon her, he ground their bodies together until she squirmed with pleasure, lacing her arms around his neck and pulling him down to kiss her deeper.
By the time they finished, their scents were careening through the room, hot and wild. Pulling back, Dusk gave Layla a dark, amazing smile before his face got serious. Propped on his elbows with his hot body splayed out atop hers and only her silk robe between, he stroked back one of her sable curls.
“I can’t come with you, even though I want to. We need you to keep a low profile as you travel, and I have to be here to prove to the Intercessoria and the Owners that we are operating onbusiness as usual.No Hotel jets, no fancy cars, just you and a suitcase and your Hotel credit card and smartphone so I can track your whereabouts.”
“What if Hunter or the Intercessoria can track my Hotel credit card or phone also?”
“It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Dusk breathed, kissing her lips again. “They’re the only methods I have to track you on such short notice. If we had known this was coming, I could have gotten Rikyava to help me imbue a Blood Dragon-crafted item with my magical imprint, so I could follow you as you travel. But those things take weeks we don’t have. I’ll be with you every step of the way, though, I promise. Every time you make a purchase, be it a coffee at the airport or a room at a hotel, I’ll know where you are. And if you use that unique PIN, I can focus a special transportation item we have here at the Hotel for emergency use, to get you out pronto.”
“How pronto?” Layla lifted an eyebrow.
“Within seconds.” Dusk’s gaze held no lie. “Run to gas station, a grocery store, an ATM, wherever. Swipe, enter that PIN, and I’ve got you. OK?”
Layla took a deep breath, then let it out. A deep worry moved through her at this plan, even though she’d never feared traveling alone before. She’d traveled alone dozens of times, in as many countries. Layla was a pro at navigating planes, taxis, trains, and hotels in the human world. So why was she feeling so squirrelly all of a sudden?
“I just hate to think that you and Adrian won’t be with me.” She spoke, knowing her words for truth. “I’ve become so used to you both being there for me, at different times these past months, that it feels strange taking a trip like this on my own during a time of crisis.”
“I know.” Dusk’s words were gentle as he hovered over her, his face concerned. “But you’re a pro, Layla Price – you’ve been training for this all your life. You speak Italian and French fluently, you’ve traveled on your own dozens of times, and through some pretty gnarly places. And you were raised human, so you navigate the human world with ease. Hunter has proven to us that he doesn’t want you dead – only on his side. He’s not going to harm you. And I have the feeling that even if the Intercessoria find out you’ve gone AWOL from the Hotel, they’ll track you to understand what you’re up to, but that’s all. You’ll be safe; I promise. If anything happens, anything at all, I swear I will move all of heaven and earth to get you back.”
