“I told you.” Rikyava bit tersely, still watching with tension in her every muscle.
“What’s happening, exactly?” Layla asked Adrian, still silent beside her.
“Queen Justine and King Huttr both did to Luke what I did to you once – they bit him with their magic. It causes the inner Dragon to rush up, to show itself in a wash of fierce power, chasing the other Dragon out of their body. If we’d seen any blood whirl around Luke, he would have been Blood Dragon dominant, or still undecided. Since we only saw storms, it’s clear he’s maturing into a Storm Dragon. And from the look of things,” Adrian glanced at Layla, “a very powerful Royal Storm Dragon.”
“How can you tell?” Layla asked, as she watched King Huttr and Queen Justine face off with Luke again, now that he’d had a breather and his funnels of dirt had subsided. Far above, the dark thundercloud had dissipated, though the clouds still seemed heavier than before.
“Non-Royal Storm Dragons can’t call the sky for decades after their power opens, and sometimes never. Royals can do it right away.” Dusk glanced at Layla, some deep knowledge in his eyes still. “Royals can also manifest lightning around their bodies, like Luke did just now.”
“What are they doing now?” Layla asked tensely as she watched King Huttr and Queen Justine approach Luke again.
“Testing to see what flavor Luke’s magic has as a Storm Dragon,” Rhennic supplied with a glance at Layla. “It’s called the Trial of Resonance. Watch.”
As Layla watched, she saw Queen Justine flick her hand, and a fierce rush of wind barreled into Luke in a funnel. It threw him to his ass, but as it did, an answering funnel roared up around him, wild and unrestrained, barreling towards Queen Justine. King Huttr stepped in, throwing up a shield-wall of blood droplets like a surging red rain to block Luke’s blast. Before Luke could recover, Queen Justine stepped out from behind Huttr’s barrier, gripping her hands into the air and making a ripping motion as her eyes flashed. A deafening concussion of thunder split the air, and even as Layla clapped hands to her ears, she saw Luke’s body spasm like a bow, brutalized by Justine’s power. He screamed, but even as he screamed, his hands clawed into talons and ripped at the air in a similar motion, throwing a hard wave of thunder back at Justine.
Again, King Huttr threw up his shield-wall of blood to protect the Storm Queen. But this time, Layla saw Luke’s power stagger the big Blood Dragon King as Luke’s thunder hit the wall.
“Shit.” Rhennic cursed beside Layla, frowning now as if that hadn’t been part of the plan.
“I told you Luke was too strong for this kind of thing without a talisman on.”
“Justine is old-school, Rikyava,” Rhennic spoke tersely, though his gaze didn’t leave the show now. “And so is Huttr. Let them do it their way.”
“Their funeral.” She growled, and suddenly Layla was wondering if Rikyava was right. Alarm filled her as she watched Justine bend her body and then roar at the sky far above, whirling the clouds into a seething black mass above the coliseum. Like a call-and-response game, Luke was somehow compelled to imitate it, though Layla hadn’t seen Justine throw any energy his way this time. Throwing her hand up at the sky, Queen Justine raked fingers like talons down from the sky towards the earth. The sky obeyed her command, a bolt of lightning flashing down to blast a patch of sand on the far end of the amphitheater, melting it to glass. Though Layla was nearly deafened, white searing her vision, she heard Luke’s answering scream. He’d not been struck by Justine’s lightning, but was somehow compelled to imitate her yet again.
Calling lightning down from the roiling black clouds in a furious thunderbolt.
Luke’s lightning was not as controlled as the Storm Queen’s, blasting the upper ramparts of the coliseum rather than the dirt ring. Stunned Dragons took flight, roaring as they flashed away faster than Layla could blink. On his knees in the dirt, Luke was screaming as if something had gone wrong. Spasming, roaring, Layla thought he was going to shift, when he suddenly staggered up.
Layla inhaled as she heard Rikyava and Rhennic curse beside her, Adrian and Dusk giving stunned growls at what they were seeing. In the center of the amphitheater, Luke’s eyes had gone to an emerald fury so wrecked that it shuddered all the way through him, making him look possessed like a demon. All that ferocious rage was trained on the Storm Queen, and as he strode towards her, a white nimbus rose like a mist of flickering opal lightning all around him.
Beside Layla, Rikyava cursed. Queen Justine jolted back, and suddenly a tremendous roar split the air. In a swirling fury of red blood, King Huttr rushed in before the Storm Queen in Dragon-form, snarling as a big snow-white Dragon with geodesic blood-lines racing through his scales. Raising an enormous mantle of blood-red spears, the big King of the Blood Dragons opened a cruel maw and roared at Luke, corralling Justine back behind him.
Huttr was so big he could have eaten Luke in a single bite, yet still Luke came for him. Like a man possessed, Luke’s stride towards the Dragon monarchs didn’t slow even as Queen Justine crackled with an enormous nimbus of power in human form like an electric sub-station. Layla didn’t need anyone to tell her shit was about to go down, as Luke’s opal-mist suddenly rushed up around him so hard and fast it looked like a hurricane, his gaze fixed on the tiny Justine as if he could blow her skin right off her bones.
Though Justine stood strong, holding out a pacifying hand to Luke as she stepped back around from behind the snarling Huttr, Luke was gone, Layla saw with a terrible horror. Swallowed by some magic she didn’t understand but knew to her bones was absolutely evil, his body was filled with it, his skin bright with a shine like some elder god. As Layla saw his eyes as he regarded his Queen, she saw they weren’t green anymore but filled with an awful light, bright white and scalding.
Layla didn’t even feel Rhennic change it was that fast. But in a blast of energy like a lightning-bolt, Rhennic was suddenly flashing in before Justine – an enormous white Dragon with a fractal pattern of crimson and midnight blue running through his scales. He made it just as that nimbus of opal-mist lightning around Luke hurtled out. Funneling into Rhennic rather than its intended target of Justine, that massive energy blasted Rhennic’s Dragon back against the nearest stone arch – shattering the arch as something deep inside Rhennic broke with a sickening crunch.
Adrian and Dusk ran to Rhennic as Layla stood frozen in horror, watching it all like a bad action film come alive. Rikyava rushed to Luke, who had fallen to his knees, empty of that terrible opal power now and blinking at the carnage as if in shock. As Layla ran to Luke also, knowing she was of no use for the resuscitation efforts happening with Rhennic – human again – she saw Luke’s eyes suddenly clear. They were so vibrantly emerald that Layla could have cried, and as she came to him, Rikyava on her knees as she gripped Luke’s shoulders, searching his eyes, Layla saw horror devour Luke’s face.
“Layla? Rikyava?” He spoke as he tried to catch his breath. “What happened?”
“Yournullaxrose.” It was Queen Justine who answered as she approached, gazing solemnly at Luke, though she did glance at the revival efforts happening with her son. Rhennic was coming to, though he grimaced in pain as Dusk touched his ribs. As Rhennic lifted a hand, summoning a crackle of lightning in his palm and then nodded, relief filled the faces of those around him, and Layla realized what had just happened.
By his last-minute move, Rhennic had taken thenullaxblow meant for his mother. A blow that might have nullified King Huttr’s magics had it funneled into him instead of its intended target, or Justine’snullax-immune son. Even so, it had been a vicious blow, enough to end the fight as a number of Rhennic’s Storm Dragon comrades helped their Prince limp off the field. Rhennic’s lavender gaze caught Layla’s for a brief moment before he was escorted beneath the arches of the coliseum back towards the palace. Layla saw the warning in Rhennic’s eyes, and the concern for her.
Luke was a terrible power – and in his blind rage, he had no control.
Layla looked back to Luke, still on his knees and breathing hard, his green eyes wide with shock, Rikyava steadying him. Storm Dragons all around the ring were keeping a safe distance, regarding Luke with a dark wariness and whispering. Standing directly before Luke, the Storm Queen knelt, cupping his face in her hands. As Luke gave her a panicked gaze, the elderly Queen smiled, and Layla felt something flow from her body into his. It was like a sleeping-draught, similar to the way she’d calmed him before but far more potent. As Layla watched, Luke slumped, his dark eyelashes flickering with a heavy fatigue. Moving in fast, Rikyava got under Luke’s arm, hauling him up by his arm around her strong shoulders.
“Rikyava…?” Luke sighed, barely able to focus as he glanced to her.
“Easy, I got you…” Rikyava spoke low, and the tender way she said it suddenly made everything inside Layla alert. Like a fool, it was then that Layla saw everything she’d been missing, which Dusk had not. The tenderness in Rikyava’s gaze as she helped Luke stand. The way his arm curled around her, familiar, bringing their bodies into plenty of contact. Rikyava’s no-bullshit demeanor softening as she helped walk him slowly off the field.
The sweet kiss they shared just before they rounded an arch and exited the coliseum.
Layla was left standing alone as a sluice of thoughts raced through her, wondering how long Rikyava and Luke had been speaking since his magic opened, and how many conversations there had been. She wondered if Rikyava had ever gone to visit him in Seattle, or if they’d finally just met in person when he’d arrived at the Hotel. She wondered how long they had been feeling something for each other – and how in blazes had she missed it.
