“Where are we?” Layla glanced around the wide balcony and garden, seeing three vaulted entrances of stone enmeshed with the enormous bird-basket on the side of the tower. Over each arch, a thick screen of cobalt and gold silk fluttered in the wind.
“This is my private bower.” Arini smiled. “Here we can speak of your troubles, and not even the winds will hear us. Come.”
Leading her by the hand, King Arini escorted Layla to the centermost arch and pulled the silk aside; admitting them to a space that was both whimsical and homey – and not at all what Layla would have expected. She laughed as she entered; she couldn’t help it. About fifty feet in diameter, King Falliro Arini’s bower consumed the end of the turret, though the vaulted windows overlooking the sea were open to the air, rippling with the same barely-visible barrier keeping the fortress together in the lower levels. It permitted a gentle breeze, though the space wasn’t chilly. Between the archways, up into a pinnacle far above like a Russian onion dome, the bower had been woven full of branches and grass, feathers and shells, bleached bones and even long strips of colorful fabric.
But it was the décor that amused Layla most. Cascading from the ceiling on long threads of silk were the most garish and lovely decorations. Collections of shiny beach-glass shimmered in nets of fine silk. CD’s had been strung up in the thousands, creating a rainbow-shimmer everywhere Layla looked as they spun in the sea breeze. Strings of Swarovski crystals hung next to Mardi-Gras plastic beads in every color. Enormous fetishes of feathers had been strung up, spinning and fluttering in the wind.
The overall effect was intoxicating, and it was a moment before Layla realized King Arini was gesturing her over to an enormous sleeping-area overflowing with colorful silk, giant pillows, and soft down. The huge nest was corralled by woven pinion-feathers, and Layla grinned as she stepped over the retaining barrier and into all that softness and fluff. She sighed in delight as she sank to her hands and knees in it, feeling that perfect, springy nest swallow her. King Arini had splayed out on his side in his nest, at ease. He didn’t make a move to touch Layla as she slid down to her belly, reveling in all that softness – only smiled at her enjoyment, beaming at her with his very gold eyes.
“I like your style.” Layla grinned, still running her hands over everything. “But my visit here is platonic, right? No ulterior motives?”
“I would be lying if I said I do not find you attractive,” the King spoke pointedly, “but yes, this is all quite platonic. I brought you here because we can speak freely inside my bower. It is fortified with magics even more intense than the rest of the fortress, against prying ears and eyes. Even if you looked out the windows and yelled to the winds, no one would see or hear you.”
“Good to know.” Even though his words satisfied Layla, that he wasn’t going to try and put the moves on her, some part of her was disappointed. She could imagine herself splaying out in all this softness naked with King Arini’s tall, strong body laying out atop her, rubbing her skin against all that luscious cobalt down. Just the idea of it made her Dragon stir eagerly inside her, and with only Reginald’s bracelet and earrings to contain it, a generous wash of bourbon-orange scent simmered up around her.
King Arini chuckled. His lips parting, he inhaled the air with a very masculine look. “I can smell your attraction to me. No need to be shy about it. Phoenix are similar to Sirens in our attractiveness, though where theirs is mesmeric to the mind, ours is the allure of touch and texture. Rather like petting a cat – how it calls to the hands.”
“I’m not embarrassed about being attracted to you,” Layla spoke, “it’s just new for me to feel this much heat around so many men. Especially so many powerful ones.”
“Being a Royal Dragon Bind is a strange thing,” Falliro’s gaze softened. “I remember it well, the sensations of uncontrollable attraction to powerful people. It is not a thing to be ashamed of, Layla, only to be aware of. Your magic will crave all men, and even women, with power. Though it is your deeper choice of partners that will shape your destiny.”
“I don’t know if any of it has been my choice, exactly.” Layla sighed, stretching out on her side and pulling a pillow up beneath her so she could prop her head on her hand. “Adrian, Dusk… they both seemed like accidents with my power.”
“And yet, would you say that having them both in your life is a bad thing?” King Falliro eyed her knowingly.
Layla was silent a moment, pondering that. “Having Dusk in my life is definitely a good thing. I never would have thought when we first met that he’d be almost the perfect partner for me, but it’s true. Adrian… I love Adrian with all my heart, but he’s challenging. I can’t get enough of him, yet he infuriates me.”
“Safety and challenge,” Arini spoke with a knowing glitter in his eyes, “they seem like the perfect balance of opposites. For we must have both a safe haven in our lives and a driving rod that challenges us to grow, if we are ever to become who we are truly meant to be.”
Layla had never thought about it that way before, and suddenly having both Dusk and Adrian bound to her made the most sense it had ever made. “That’s a good point. When I think back to other lovers I’ve had in my life, they were never balanced. They were always too extreme, in one way or another. Being with Dusk and Adrian together… well, we’ve not quite managed it, but the beginning of it was the most amazing, most balanced heat I’ve ever felt.”
“Then keep your bound men close,” King Arini spoke levelly, “for they will be a boon to you in hard times. If you can manage their tempers, and manage to Bind them together with you into one inseparable unit, your power will go far.”
“It’s not my job to manage their tempers.” Layla frowned, not liking the sound of those words. “They’re grown-ass men, they should be able to manage their own tempers.”
King Arini chuckled, petting one taloned hand through the cobalt down of the nest. “Truer words were never spoken. I did not mean to offend. It is not a woman’s job to smooth the tempers of irate men; too many women have endured terribly abusive situations trying to do so. What I meant was that as a Bind, you have the ability to overcome differences in your men’s ideals, their jealousies, and the worries that trigger them to become bullish. You have magic that is specifically intended to overcome all obstacles, and all fears. Many Binds have used this power over the millennia to engage in acts of domination, Binding and then subduing those with power to their will. But there is a better way, one I would have explored more thoroughly had I not been stalked by Hunter.”
“What better way?” Layla asked, curious.
“A Bind of equality and mutual respect that addresses the fears and needs of those bound to you,” King Arini spoke knowingly. “It creates a compassionate kind of love. That is the strongest Bind. And one I have learned from, though I do not possess your magic anymore. Understand this, Layla Price: the ability to Bind another exists in all of us, and there are many types of Binds. Fear, need, grief. Honor, respect, duty. But the strongest of all of those is honest love; compassion. Findthataspect in your power… and you will have more strength in this world than any other Bind has ever achieved.”
“Is that what Hunter wants?” Layla asked, mulling Arini’s words over. “Does he want to Bind everything that lives with that kind of power?”
“Hunter.” King Arini sighed, petting his hands over the soft down of the nest again. “We must speak of Hunter. For I know many things that may be useful to you. And to the Intercessoria, that I have long withheld from them. Though I despise their organization, it is time for me to admit their usefulness in this matter. Perhaps if I had enlisted them long ago, I could have stopped Hunter while his powers were still immature. But I fear his powers have grown terribly since he and I last met… and the task of finding him has become immeasurably difficult now because of it. Come, listen to my tale. And then we may decide how we can move forward against our mutual enemy – together.”
CHAPTER 20 – MIMIC
King Falliro Arini’s golden gaze went dark as he spoke of Hunter, all birdsong from him dying abruptly as he adjusted his reclining posture on the sprawling nest of feathers and silk. Something dangerous slid through his eyes, and suddenly his slender height seemed menacing, even lounging in his feathered robe as he was. But it wasn’t menace toward Layla he displayed, only toward their mutual enemy. Like most Phoenix, Falliro Arini had a reputation for being peaceable, but Layla saw in that sudden change of intensity his other reputation – that he was also a furious warrior with a long history of success in battle.
“You have heard how Hunter infiltrated my most trusted hundreds of years ago,” King Falliro Arini spoke quietly as he began his story, “but you have not heard specifically how he managed to gain access to my Aviary. And that is the tale I must tell you now, so you may understand his power.”
“I thought your Aviary was impenetrable, except to those who have a personal invitation from you.” Layla frowned.
“That is so,” King Arini’s gaze was acute as he smoothed one black-taloned hand over the downy nest. “And it still is the case. All except for Hunter. Which, unfortunately, is an ongoing problem for my security team.”
Layla blinked hard, her heart hammering as she realized what he was saying. “You mean Hunter can still get in here? He still has access to your fortress? He could be in here right now, masquerading as one of your Phoenix?”
“Why do you think I’ve fortified my bower with all the most catastrophic magical spells I could find over the years?” King Arini’s golden gaze glittered with a terrible wrath as he gestured around the whimsical dome. “My Phoenix know to never come in here unless led inby the hand, by me. Had I not led you in just now, all that mess above,” Arini nodded to the suspended mobiles and fetishes, “would have focused the light from the windows upon you, like putting an ant under a magnifying glass. It works even with starlight and moonlight. You would have charred to death, no matter the time of day you tried to enter without my permission. Even for a Phoenix, the death would have been permanent. We burn hot to regenerate in ash and flame, but this fire burns hotter; melting flesh and bone into glass.”
