Part of Layla was relieved that a friend had won her Courtesan’s Debut auction, and part of her was more tight-wound than ever. As she waited on the stage while stout old Valdo Chermour received applause and shook hands, making his way to the front, Layla trembled with nerves, her Dragon twisting inside her. Though she’d shared walks and banter with Valdo, and even meals, she realized suddenly that she didn’t really know the old Fumerole. He came to the Hotel to relax, engaging Courtiers and Courtesans to make him laugh for stress relief, but Layla had no clue what his tastes were in the bedroom.
Or where his allegiances lay.
As Valdo stepped up the stairs of the gilded stage, a furiously pleased energy radiating from his five-foot-nothing yet heavily-muscled frame, Layla recalled what people said about him. That Valdo was a tyrant with his clan, a volcano that burst with little provocation. As his brick-red eyes pinned her, Valdo giving a snappy bow before taking her hand up in his roughly scaled one, Layla suddenly worried perhaps he was an enemy, a member of the Crimson Circle who had won her as a way to retaliate against Adrian, or to hurt Layla. Some dark part of her wondered that perhaps she didn’t know Valdo well at all – if he’d bid so high against Dusk.
But watching him now, Layla recognized the old Fumerole Clan First’s bombastic energy was just the same tonight as it had always been around her. Here was her friend, someone she’d impressed with her wits right away when she’d come to the Hotel. The same man who had asked her quite bluntly to have an Assignation at their very first meeting, even though she’d only been a Concierge at the time. And now old Valdo grinned at her, clasping her hand and patting it just like he always did, giving his booming laugh and making her smile.
“Busting my balls, girlie!” Valdo laughed in his room-devouring basso, grinning at her with his red eyes sparkling. “I could have bought a whole new palace for that sum! Fuck, six palaces!”
“Joke’s on you,” Layla sassed him immediately, falling into a familiar pattern. “You did purchase six palaces. The auction for my Debut Assignation was just a sham. Your palaces will be delivered by FedEx tomorrow, in an unmarked beige envelope.”
“HA! Beige envelope. Good one, you little smartass!” Valdo roared a laugh, actually slapping his knee, before turning her by the hand towards the stage’s stairs. “Come on. Let’s get out of this crowd and go somewhere we can talk, eh?”
Layla nodded, then took Valdo’s well-muscled arm. He was built like a boulder, and even though worries still flitted through her, she felt far more calm in his presence suddenly. Valdo and Layla received more applause as they moved through the ballroom, but the orchestra had taken up playing and people were once again enjoying their revelry now that the spectacle was over. Valdo walked Layla past Dusk, his sapphire eyes dark as they passed. But Dusk nodded stiffly, and though Layla tried to talk to him, it was Rikyava who came abreast of Dusk and pulled him back by the shoulder. Rikyava shook her head and Layla knew why.
After the auction, she was the winner’s prize for the night – not supposed to interact with anyone unless the winner gave permission.
It seemed foreign to Layla, to walk past all her friends without speaking to them. She’d prepped Arron on the etiquette so her human friends didn’t attempt to engage her, though Luke watched her with probably the darkest scowl she’d ever seen. Wrath surged from him, his bloodstone talisman writhing upon his chest as it worked to contain his livid energy.
Layla met Luke’s gaze, but there wasn’t time for more as Valdo led her past into the Hotel proper. Revelry consumed the main level of the Hotel, every copper bar along the halls filled with people drinking, laughing, and carousing. Fancy clothing was starting to be shed as couples, trios, and more started making out on the chaises and up against the tall marble columns, magic careening around them. But though the party was stirring up to deviant heights as the phoenix grandfather clock near the main Concierge desk chimed ten p.m., Layla realized the night was far from over.
And she still had no clue as to what would be required of her by the man who had won her.
“So what are we doing tonight?” Layla asked Valdo with her usual directness, knowing she didn’t need to engage any Courtesan’s niceties with him.
“Patience, girlie. This way.” The old Fumerole glanced at her, a humorously deviant glint in his red eyes as they made it to the grand staircase and headed up away from the main party. Confused to the max now, Layla wondered what the hell was going on. Dusk had insinuated he had the night under control and so had the Madame, but then he’d bid fiercely against Valdo and Layla thought things hadn’t gone to plan. But as they gained the third floor, suddenly arriving at Layla’s own apartment door, she paused.
“Don’t you have your own room? For… whatever it is we’re doing?”
“Patience, dear heart.” Valdo winked with a sly grin. “In we go. I believe there is a surprise waiting for you in your bathroom.” As Valdo ushered Layla into her apartment and shut the doors behind them, Layla found herself frowning deeply, utterly confused. Her apartment looked just as she had left it earlier, and as she stepped to her gilded bathroom everything looked normal – except someone had written on her mirror with one of her lipsticks.
Moving over, Layla read the message.
When will you begin that long journey into yourself? Begin our night at the place my kiss first found your fury.
Blinking at her reflection in the mirror, astonishment opened Layla’s lips as she recognized the Rumi quote that began the message. The rest of it was a riddle, but one Layla knew the answer to. A riddleonlyshe would know the answer to. Shaking her head, she whispered, “Adrian, you bastard.” Moving back out, Layla gave Valdo an incredulous look. “You’re in league with Adrian and Dusk! You were bidding on me for Adrian tonight!”
“Wouldn’t spend that much of my own cash on a bidding war, cute as you are.” Reaching up, Valdo patted Layla’s cheek in a grandfatherly way, his red eyes positively burning with humor as he gave a deep basso chuckle. “It’s my task to escort you tonight. No one harms my sweet Layla. So. Shall we begin to unravel the riddle?”
Suddenly, Layla laughed. A black void she hadn’t even known inside her was suddenly banished as her world brightened a hundredfold, luminous. In a wash of understanding, Dusk’s entire plot for the evening suddenly became clear. He’d planted patsies in the audience to bid on her tonight for Adrian, most likely the larger portion of those who had been bidding hard at the end. Rake, Amalia, Valdo, maybe even Rikyava’s cousin Rhennic. In a spontaneous joy, Layla bent and kissed the old Fumerole right on the lips. He blushed a dark puce, then gave a basso chuckle again. Extending his arm, he winked at Layla and she took it, feeling like she was floating on clouds.
“Though I’d love to participate in something this fun and scandalous, this mystery-hunt is yours, dearie.” Valdo chuckled kindly, eager to begin the night as much as Layla. “I’m afraid only you know where to go next. As per the riddle, you know.”
“Outside.” Layla spoke immediately, knowing where Adrian’s enigmatic words led her. “Out back to the gardens.”
“Right. Shall we get started?”
As the old Fumerole escorted her out through an enormous set of double-doors to the winter gardens behind the palace, Layla realized the brilliance of Adrian and Dusk’s plot. Valdo was a respected member of the Twilight community and known to love strolling around the Hotel having a laugh with his Courtesans. That was precisely what it looked like they were doing now as he escorted Layla, both of them beaming with the excitement of Dusk and Adrian’s arranged intrigue. Together, they pushed out the Hotel doors into the snowy gardens and glimmering fairy-lights, crunching along the gravel path through the deepening night. As diamond-bright stars shone high above, the snow long ceased, Layla glanced to Valdo.
“So this is all Dusk’s doing?”
“Not all.” Valdo winked. “A few others were involved to pull off this heist right under the noses of the Crimson Circle tonight. Other friends of yours, I believe, though I wasn’t told who.”
“You know about the Crimson Circle?” Layla blinked as they rounded the snowy topiaries, though her idea now about the rest of her friends’ involvement in the plan had been confirmed.
“Everyone who’s anyone knows about the Circle.” Valdo rumbled casually, though his mood darkened as they lost themselves in the barren maze of hedges, out of earshot from the palace now in the extensive winter gardens. “Did I ever tell you I had a niece once? Cute as a button, like you. She wanted to live a life of excitement, so I bought her into Hotel Ownership. I was never much interested in Owning, but she loved it, the galas and parties and such. But she had a temper like me, and was executed by the Circle for crimes against the Hotel that were never disclosed. I never had a chance to defend her for whatever happened. I regret it to this day, and it sparked my fury for many hundreds of years. Still does.”
“My god.” Layla didn’t know what to say to that. All the jokes in the world couldn’t heal such a horrible story.
