Layla was still staring at the arch they’d departed through when Dusk stepped to her. Lacing his fingers through hers, a deep knowledge filled his eyes as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. Blinking, Layla looked around, meeting his gaze.
“How long did you know? About Rikyava and Luke?”
“I didn’t.” Dusk gave a sad smile. “But I’m not surprised. They’ve been talking a lot this fall. I thought it was just about Luke’s magic, but… apparently not.”
“Was Luke the person Rikyava’s been pining for since August?” Layla gazed back to the arch, seeing Storm Dragons departing through it now that the show was over.
“I don’t think so.” Dusk shook his head, glancing over as Adrian walked up. “That was someone else, but Rikyava’s tight-lipped when it comes to people she cares for.”
As Adrian arrived, they didn’t have time to discuss anything else as he kissed Layla briefly on the lips. “I’m going to go help the Storm Dragon medics heal Rhennic. Dusk? Are you available?”
“In a moment.” Dusk gave Layla a glance and Adrian looked to her.
“Layla? Are you ok?” Adrian spoke gently.
“I don’t know.” Layla blinked, still in deep shock. “It’s not every day you find out your ex has power so frightening it nearly made you shit your pants. And is in love with your other friend.”
Adrian raised his eyebrows, not comprehending, but as he glanced to Dusk, Dusk said, “Luke and Rikyava are a thing.”
Adrian gave a long, slow blink. “Well, I guess that explains a few things.”
Layla didn’t know how much it explained versus how many questions it created. But as Adrian slung an arm around her and Dusk led her away by their twined fingers, darkness began to core her deep inside as she realized how much of a bad friend she had been to Luke. How self-centered she’d been; how much she had focused only on herself rather than keeping in touch with her friends. As Layla stepped through the stone arch that Luke and Rikyava had departed through, back towards the Château, she felt that cavernous darkness devour her as a vicious self-chastisement rose. Her life had spiraled on in a radical direction since she’d left Seattle – and it was shocking to find out how much the lives of her friends had spiraled on elsewhere.
With a sensation like blackness seized her heart, Layla felt herself being dragged into a dark place. A place that began to fill her like a void as it wrapped around her Dragon’s talons and pulled her into the deeps.
CHAPTER 19 – LATER
Layla had been alone all afternoon as Dusk and Adrian helped Rhennic recover. Rikyava was tending Luke, and with the Storm Queen and Blood King marshaling their Dragons for an imminent campaign against the White Chalice, Layla found herself with nothing to do after Luke’s testing but fret. Pacing in her tower-suite, she at last slung on her navy peacoat and walked out to the gardens in the bailey, wandering their luscious foliage and burbling fountains. But even that couldn’t calm her, and Layla found herself walking out of the quadrangle, nodding to the Storm Dragon guards who came to attention as she exited the Château. Returning to the coliseum where Luke had displayed his terrifying powers, she continued out to the horse barns, but found the barns populated by manticores rather than horses, decidedly not friendly.
Now, Layla was pacing through a winter-dormant pear orchard, gazing up at golden fruits that had somehow been left to crystallize upon the boughs rather than rot beneath the wide winter sky. The sugars within them had preserved into candy, and Layla watched as sugar sparkled on the pear skins in the grey winter light. It was beautiful, haunting and delicate, and for some reason, the sight of the golden pears glimmering in the winter-barren orchards captured her – stilling something deep inside which had been restless all day.
“They’re calledaurum, our winter-preserved pears. They’re considered a delicacy throughout the Twilight Realm. We produce only a few hundred each year.”
An elegant baritone voice spoke behind Layla, making her turn as her hand came away from touching a crystallized pear on the leafless tree. As she glanced at the intruder, she brushed her fingertips together, sloughing a fine coating of sugar from them. “Aurum, isn’t that the Latin word for gold?”
“It is. The pears are named not just for their color, but for the feeling one gets eating it… like a golden dawn opens up inside the body.” Standing in the orchard’s row with his hands tucked in the pockets of a thick grey peacoat, his collar popped against the cold, the amazingly tall Rhennic smiled at Layla with his lavender eyes bright as violets beneath the grey winter sky.
Twilight was coming, the clouds darkening to a heavy slate color, and a hush had swallowed the fields this far from the Château. Layla turned to Rhennic, her breath puffing in the air as she admired his bright eyes and Scandinavian bone structure. She could see his mother Queen Justine now in his calm posture as he regarded her, silent and subtly amused. Though tall and excellently fit with broad shoulders, he was leaner than his brother and father. Towering over Layla, he was a full hand taller even than Adrian, and would have seemed like a giant had he not been so cut rather than bulky. It was obvious now that Rhennic had Storm Dragon in him, a distinct elegance Blood Dragons didn’t have – and a deeper nature as he stood there with his subtly smiling eyes, watching Layla.
“Shouldn’t you be convalescing?” Layla asked, somehow not surprised that Rhennic had found her this far out on the property.
“I am.” He spoke simply. “Cold helps Storm Dragons recover from injury. I was doing ice baths earlier. You missed it. Made me roar like a manticore, but they work. Though Storm Dragons aren’t the most adapted to cold temperatures. Ice Dragons can lounge in a hole cut from a winter-frozen lake for hours, sipping vodka and having pleasant conversation like they’re relaxing in a hot tub.”
The image made Layla smile, despite her churning. Rhennic was like a combination of Adrian and Dusk – winsomely cheeky and arrestingly sexy all at once. With his own gripping steadiness that reminded Layla of Queen Justine.
“Did Luke hurt you?” She asked, something deep inside her needing to know, as if it was somehow her fault.
“Bad enough.” Rhennic’s lavender eyes darkened as he sobered. “Six broken ribs, a pierced lung, broke my left tibia and nearly wrenched my shoulder out of its socket from that impact.” As if feeling his pain, Rhennic winced, removing his left hand from his pocket and rolling his shoulder. “Luke may not be able to reproduce that kind of power anytime soon without my mother provoking him, but his Royal ability is impressive, Layla. And dangerous.”
“So I saw.” Layla spoke quietly, still wondering what that meant for Luke. “So Luke doesn’t have all those abilities at his beck and call yet?”
“Not yet.” But Rhennic’s intense gaze didn’t ease as he spoke, giving it to Layla straight. “Though now that he knows what he’s capable of, he may try to reproduce everything soon. My mother has a unique talent of getting people to show their strongest abilities when her magic bites them, even if they can’t consciously use their powers yet. It’s helped her sort our Storm Dragons into healthy clan-positions for centuries, and minimizes internal duels, to know how strong someone will be and what their talents are. But Justine almost met her match in that ring today. It’s not something that’s happened for a long time, Layla. Luke may not be right now, but someday he’ll be a monster to be reckoned with. Especially if he can’t get that devouring rage of his under control.”
“His rage has always been strong; so is mine.” Layla spoke quietly, sliding her hands in her own coat pockets now as she felt that black void reach up, still feeling like Luke’s condition was all her fault. “We were a bad pair, way back when.”
“You still love him.” Rhennic moved forward, something deep in his gaze as he knit his blond brows, watching her. “But your drakaina doesn’t want him, even powerful as he is?”
“I don’t know. She bit him in the fall, but last night… he was able to help me with hisnullax.” Layla shrugged, feeling hopeless as that cavernous sensation devoured her. She skipped the part about her and Luke having their sudden sex in the bath. That wasn’t something she wanted to share with an almost total stranger.
