“What?” Layla turned slowly, feeling like she’d just fallen into a horror movie.
“Him.” Imogene’s dark eyes were open now, watching Luke. “His fury drinks magic… just like his ancestors.”
“What the fuck?” Luke growled, bristling as he tucked Layla into his arm and turned to face the chained-up Smoke Faunus. “If you know something about my magical bloodlines, you’d better spill it. Now.”
“Blood and thunder,” Imogene breathed softly. “Blood and storms. Blood of the High Priests come to its pinnacle… who would have thought to find anullaxhidden in the Human Realm?”
But before she could say anything more, Imogene’s long eyelashes fluttered, her dark eyes rolling up in her head as she passed out cold.
Everyone turned, staring at Luke. Layla watched him bristle as he became the center of attention at this astounding new information. And then, she felt a searing shock of energy pass through Luke, so fast and hard that it zapped her where she stood touching him. With a gasp, Layla pulled away, feeling like she’d just been shocked by an un-grounded power cord. As she stared at Luke, watching him simmer with fury, she saw the bloodstone on his chest seethe with such hard currents she thought it might explode. Luke’s emerald eyes flashed with power just like she’d seen the night before, magic lancing through his eyes like lightning as it rolled from his skin like thunder.
It was then that Layla realized Luke had Dragon-magic.
And more than that – he was a Storm Dragon.
CHAPTER 12 – RISK
Back in her apartment, Layla was getting dressed for dinner, Adrian with her. Pinning her curls over one shoulder, she caught Adrian’s gaze in the mirrors and he gave a reassuring smile as he dressed also, though his eyes were tight. The past twenty-four hours felt surreal as Layla dressed in a gown of cream silk that cascaded down her body in sleek drifts, moving like feathers as she adjusted her mother Mimi’s diamond and pink topaz jewelry set at her throat and ears. With a corset of cross-wrapped silk that dipped low in back, the gown was simple yet stunning, accentuating the wintertime paleness of Layla’s skin and the darkness of her hair. But she was actually pale tonight, riven through with worry as her Dragon coiled tight inside her. Adrian was also, and Layla could almost feel what he was thinking through their Bind.
That tonight could break their lives if bad decisions were made.
After Imogene had passed out and Layla had been shocked by Luke, Adrian had quietly called an end to the interrogation. No one had gainsaid Adrian as he’d disbanded everyone and called for a formal dinner to discuss matters. The Guard had taken their unconscious prisoner to a secure room and Rikyava had summoned Infirmary crew. The Red Letter Hotel would have a trial for Imogene later, but Layla, Adrian, and the rest had decisions to make before that.
As Adrian moved by, adjusting one French cuff, Layla watched him, thinking about everything that had happened in the past day. Though so much had changed between them now that she had fully shifted into her Dragon and they’d also had sex for the first time, so many things were still the same. Her heart pounded faster suddenly as she watched him move around her apartment like it was home to him. Adrian’s dinner-jacket was a sleek cream silk matching Layla’s gown, beautifully paired with a dark navy shirt sans tie. Navy slacks and black oxfords completed his ensemble, with stunning diamond cufflinks. Layla could just see the edge of a gold talisman on his left wrist as he adjusted his French cuffs.
Adrian’s eyes were a deep aqua as he watched her also, his straight black brows knit above his achingly high cheekbones. Moving to Layla’s bar by her vaulted windows as the winter sun set over the snowy gardens, Adrian uncapped her crystal bottle of bourbon and poured two tumblers. As he extended one to her, his talisman showed, an ornate men’s cuff of twisted gold, copper, and platinum writhing around his left wrist. He’d retrieved it from Riad Rhakvir before they left, and Layla had missed it in her shock. It was a Dragon, mimicking the coiling of his red, gold, and black tattoo up his forearm but done in a three-inch-wide piece. Set into the design were rubies, garnets, citrine, and topaz – the eyes of the Dragon a burning blue topaz the same color as Adrian’s own eyes.
Moving forward, Layla accepted her bourbon. Reaching down, she touched his cuff, turning his wrist over so she could admire it fully. “That is one bombastic piece, Batman.”
“It’s my talisman, I’ve used it since my magics opened as a child.” Adrian smiled wistfully, gazing at it also. “It’s a Rhakvir family heirloom, only allowed to be worn by a strong Royal. It keeps my magic bound to a five-foot radius, mostly. If someone isn’t close to me, they can’t feel my fire and I can’t be traced by magical means. It keeps me safe in times like these. It’s what I wore the whole time I was on the lam, changing visages and hiding in safe houses to escape detection…”
“I was wondering how you were able to keep your magic on lockdown while you were running, and how you were so confident the Crimson Circle couldn’t trace you here.” Layla’s fingers strayed from the talisman, sliding up Adrian’s forearm beneath his sleeve, admiring his Dragon-tattoo. Setting aside his bourbon and hers, Adrian obliged her, unbinding his French cuff and shrugging off his jacket so she could see the entire tattoo. Layla traced Adrian’s snarling Desert Dragon with slow fingers, coiling like a serpent up his forearm. “You’ve never told me what this is for. Does it have magical properties like your cuff?”
“It’s a symbol of my dominance. And yes, it is somewhat magical.” Adrian watched her trace his ink, something darkly thoughtful in his gaze. “Desert Dragons have a tradition of inking our left forearm when we ascend to Clan First. My tattoo was done by a Marquist – a special kind of Twilight Lineage that can ink shape-shifters. No matter how much I shift visages, when I come back to my original human form, the tattoo comes back also. If I ever ascend to become King of the Desert Dragons, I’d take a matching one on my right forearm. Though there’s not much chance of that.”
“Why not?” Pausing, Layla glanced up at him.
“Because our King was turned to stone by a curse. And he’s never been replaced.”
“What do you mean?” Layla blinked, his answer unexpected. She’d thought Adrian would say the Desert Dragon King was a fierce beast like the Crystal Dragon King Markus Ambrose. “Like… turned to stone, stone?”
“Stone, stone.” Adrian agreed with a wry smile, rolling his sleeve back down and affixing his cufflink, then donning his jacket. Turning, he claimed Layla’s bourbon and handed it to her, then took up his own. “King Lethou Mathii is still alive inside the prison of his stone body. His power rushes out, wild, attacking anyone who gets near. No Desert Dragon has ever defeated him, and as he’sstonenow, he’s indestructible to Desert magic these past two thousand years. We built a temple around him, out in the middle of the Sahara. But our Lineage is ruled by a Regent now. I might eventually rise to become Regent, but I doubt anyone will ever figure out a way to best King Lethou Mathii. So I’ll probably never take a second tattoo.”
“How are you so calm right now?” Layla murmured as she stared at Adrian’s wrist, even though his tattoo and talisman were hidden now. “My friends abducted by these White Chalice zealots and Luke maybe having their magic? The Crimson Circle after you? Me binding Dusk and Reginald, and oh right, I’m also a Courtesan now. And Hunter, still out there somewhere…?”
“I don’t know exactly,” Adrian’s lips quirked in a sober smile as he gazed at her. “Once I would have been wound tight as a tornado about all of it. But I feel myself changing, Layla. Our Bind is changing me, as much as it’s changing Dusk. I still think and plan like me, and my magic still has my own flavor, but I have a greater perspective now. It’s as if I get to see the world through your eyes, and Dusk’s – even Reginald’s. It’s… starting to give me an understanding I lacked before.”
“You were so tender with Dusk today, even though you were so irate with him for the bidding war, and his time with me this past month,” Layla breathed, watching Adrian. “What changed?”
“I just… I saw him, Layla.” Adrian’s face was complex as he downed his bourbon. “I saw him through your eyes as well as my own this time. How ruined he was; how close he is to breaking. Though we’re not blood-kin, Dusk is my family and I understand him; I love him. But in that moment,” Adrian’s brows knit, and Layla saw something new in his eyes, some deep inner knowledge, “Ilovedhim. He’s my best friend, he’s my comrade-in-arms… I’m still processing what I felt. But I suddenly realized that despite my raging jealousies, there was nothing I wouldn’t do for him. It’s not just you that needs my strength right now. Dusk needs me to be strong. Because he’s breaking.”
“What happens when the crystal breaks?” Layla spoke quietly.
“I don’t know.” Adrian inhaled a deep breath, letting it out slow. “But for a lot of reasons, it’s a very bad idea right now. Your shift I could help moderate. But Dusk’s… I don’t think anyone could help moderate his full shift when it finally comes. Not even his own King.” Adrian set his empty bourbon glass aside on the bar. “Are you ready to go to dinner?”
“Yes.” Layla nodded, downing her bourbon also. “But aren’t you worried about being discovered tonight? About your whereabouts being passed to the Crimson Circle?”
“Deeply.” Something moved through Adrian, some dark fear that Layla could feel, coiling through his Dragon. “But the risk is worth it. I need to be here, for you, for Dusk. For all of us.”
