“The Hotel has ancient laws no one can touch,” Valdo glanced at her with a dark presence, “not even powerful Clan Firsts like me. They are a world unto themselves, and only unto themselves are they accountable. If you learn anything about the Twilight Realm, dear heart, learn this: no-one at the highest echelons of the Hotel are to be trusted. Use their services, but keep a wary eye on any Owner.”
“Why are you doing this to help Adrian, then?”
“Well I’m not, am I?!” Valdo laughed loudly. “I’m doing it for you! Can’t have you threatened by the Circle on your very first night as a Courtesan, can we? Dusk asked me for this favor and I was more than happy to play such a devious game. It amuses me. And anything I can do to stick it to the Circle… well. That amuses me more.”
They’d arrived at the place Adrian had indicated in his message on Layla’s mirror. But as she gazed around the secluded nook of topiaries where Adrian had once kissed her neck and they’d ended up having their first truly heinous fight, Layla frowned. Not seeing any message in the topiaries with their wisping fae-lights, she wondered if they’d come to the right spot. But then she saw the fish pond before her was partially frozen over – a message scrawled into the ice.
Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. I let you go once, and then I held you as the rain kept us warm. You came to find that solace again, and found the soft nose of a good friend before the real storm broke.
Layla took a deep breath of chill winter air. There were two locations this quote indicated, but she was almost certain it was the second location Adrian meant, since the first would be virtually impossible to find. Leading the way, Layla headed them deeper into the greenery. She’d not worn a coat and as she began to shiver in her gown, Valdo removed his tux jacket and draped it around her shoulders. They soon gained the horse barns at the edge of the forest and as Layla pushed inside, she saw a piece of paper tucked into the stall-gate of the horse she’d once ridden during the Dragon-hunt. The big bay gelding was happy to see her and snuffled her hair, lipping her curls as Layla retrieved the note from his stall door.
Dance until you shatter yourself. You shattered me here, when I found you in his arms first, though his was the heart made of crystal. Come, shatter me again.
This note hitched Layla’s heart as she remembered Adrian’s face the night he’d discovered her and Dusk in the crystal bath-house. Layla turned, heading east, the small crystal house not far from the stables. As she pushed inside, she found it quiet. With so much revelry happening inside the main Hotel tonight, it was empty, only mist from the pools and waterfalls swirling up to the high dome, enormous white trumpet-flowers open to the vivid winter stars. Glancing around, Layla saw a stack of white towels placed oddly on one wrought-iron rack. Lifting them up, she found another note beneath.
The source of now is here. Let your companion remain, and enter the pool alone.
“I think this is our last stop together.” Layla glanced up from the note, feeling strangely sad to be leaving old Valdo’s company.
“Well. It was a bit of excitement while it lasted, eh?” Reaching out, Valdo clasped Layla’s hands in a firm, warm grip. Patting her hands, his gaze was hard-edged. “Go with fire in your blood, Layla Price. I cannot say whether you are out of danger tonight, but know your friends have done what we can. I was wary when Owners were betting on you tonight, and I’ll keep our secret from any prying ears. To anyone who asks, I will regale them with stories of your fiery wit. But be careful, wherever you’re going next.”
“I will be, thank you.” Layla felt gratefulness well up in her for old Valdo, but there was a question she still wondered if he could answer. “Valdo, before you go… do you know why Dusk was betting so hard against you at the end of the auction? If he set all this up—”
“I think he realized how jealous he was.” Valdo reached up, patting Layla’s cheek with a rough hand. “Just because a man plans a deception doesn’t mean his heart goes along with it. Be careful with our Crystal Dragon, young lady. He’s more delicate than he seems.”
With that, Valdo gave her a nod towards the pool. Standing at the edge, Layla had a flashback of her first tryst with Dusk. Her cheeks flamed as a simmering sensation heated her. As she stepped into the pool, she felt that simmering passion quadruple, then expand. The crystal of the pool lit up bright as day, flooding luminescence through the water. And suddenly, all that tremendous vibration caused a crystal cocoon to flare up around Layla – sealing her in.
Panic raced in Layla’s chest as she beat on the thick crystal cocoon with her fists. Terrified, her Dragon roared in her veins, but even though her magic flared, it was as nothing inside the cocoon. She was trapped. And though Layla tried to be calm, telling herself this was Dusk’s work, a darker part of her nature howled – wondering if it had all been a ploy by someone to capture her.
As crystal flared all around, flooding her with power and light, Layla cast up a hand to shield her eyes. With a wrenching sensation that made her ears pop, she felt herself released from all that power suddenly. Staggering as the crystal cocoon shattered around her, exploding and releasing water in a wave, Layla fell to her hands and knees.
Landing in red sand as water cascaded down a desert dune all around.
She’d been transported somewhere out of France entirely by the crystal cocoon, Layla realized as she came back to her feet, gazing around the deep midnight desert. As she stood atop the dune, seeing the shine of stars far above in the velvet night and undulations of midnight sand in every direction, she realized she knew this place. She knew the feel of the cold desert air as it blew past, teasing her curls. She knew the twilight nimbus that rode every horizon with an otherworldly light, a phenomenon that didn’t happen in the human world. She knew the scents of jasmine, cinnamon, and oranges that swirled all around her in the dry winds.
Adrian’s scent – and her own.
Brushing sand from her hands, Layla gazed down the dune’s slope as her Dragon stirred deeply inside her, compelled by this beautiful, haunting place. A compound sprawled below, surrounded by red sandstone walls edged in cobalt tiles. Within its confines, palm trees swayed in the midnight breeze, the palatial compound devouring the land like a dragon. Set on bedrock, sand curled around the structure in the luminous night. But though the wall was red sandstone like the desert, everything inside the compound was made of a shining white alabaster, inset with colored tiles. Moroccan minarets rose to the starry sky, alabaster domes luminous with gold that reminded Layla of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, vivid with accents of blue and purple.
Amazed, Layla stared as an ornate wrought-iron gate parted in the compound’s wall. As she watched, a man walked out – stepping off the bedrock and walking up the dune. Tall and slim, he wore a fitted charcoal vest and trousers and a white shirt with the collar open, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair was ruffled by the wind, his hands thrust deep in his pockets. The wind whirled as if the man’s presence had stirred it, and far up the slope, Layla caught a curl of cinnamon and desert jasmine scent. With it came a sensation of heat caressing her and slipping up her ankles – a dark heat that threw her head back in ecstasy.
She knew his scent in the air. She knew his touch rippling the silk chiffon of her gown, teasing up her bare thigh. Licking her belly, it curled around her breasts, stroking her throat and diving in at her lips – kissing her.
Adrian.
Layla swayed as Adrian Rhakvir kissed her in the cool desert night. Her eyelashes flickered and her lips parted, her heartbeat fast as her own magic rose. Spilling out of her, it rushed down the slope with an eager pleasure to find him. She felt her power reach Adrian, coiling up his body. Making him inhale with a shudder as it dove in at his lips also – kissing him back.
They kissed from a distance as he walked slowly up the dune. Layla swayed with pleasure, barely able to stand as he came for her, taking her deep as she took him back. Muscles of heat and power coiled around her, sliding, stroking her skin. Layla’s power responded, coiling around Adrian, making him falter with a sigh as he gained the top of the slope.
Adrian’s aqua-gold eyes were penetrating in the night, the same color as the midnight nimbus that rode the rim of the desert. His full lips parted as he neared, his achingly high cheekbones beautiful, a short stubble on his starkly-defined jaw. His cropped dark hair was ruffled by the midnight wind and by magic; as he stepped close, Layla could smell jasmine and a heady musk coiling out from him. Sliding in over her tongue, Adrian kissed her with his power as he held his distance. She kissed him back and saw his dark eyelashes flicker, his head falling back as he tasted her on the midnight wind.
When his eyes opened again, they cored her deep – every color all at once.
“You came.” He breathed, letting his utterance coil around Layla, stroking her in the night.
“How could I not?” Layla spoke back, pleasured by his power. She felt a cord braiding between them as their magics touched, warm and strong, gold and bright. It pulled them closer, like magnets towards their mate. Adrian’s eyes brightened with gold; breathing hard, Layla could almost feel his heart pounding in his chest to match hers. But he held himself back, watching her as if taking in everything about this moment, making it last.
With a sudden insight through their Bind, Layla knew why. She saw this scene through Adrian’s eyes – everything he’d been dreaming about since they’d first met. His dreams had been haunted by her, over and over. In a thousand ways, he’d dreamt of her just like this; standing upon this dune at sunset, at midnight, or at dawn; dressed in silk, dressed in lace, dressed in nothing but desert winds and starlight. Layla had experienced those dreams in her dark midnights; of meeting Adrian upon a dune with a Moroccan palace sprawling below. As she reeled, Layla felt those dreams crash into reality – making and re-making this moment over and over like a thousand grains of sand upon the wind.
