It was well spoken. Layla saw faces glow to hear their Clan First give such a touching speech on such a hard day. A refreshing wind swirled through the hall now, making candles in the lanterns flutter. It began to clear the air, and as it did, Adrian turned. Escorting Layla from the hall, he didn’t head to the kitchens yet, but took Layla out to the gardens.
And though everyone else was calming, Adrian wasn’t. Stepping to a waterfall of tiered ponds surrounded by palms and jasmine in the nighttime gardens, Adrian’s energy whirled as he gripped his hands into the alabaster stone rim of the pool. As he dug his fingers in, water washing over them, Layla saw steam curl up from Adrian’s hands. But when even that relief wasn’t enough for his frustration and fury, Adrian kicked off his shoes and strode into the fountain barefoot. Shucking his jacket, he tossed it aside in the bushes, then flopped down to a seat right in the shallow water.
Bracing his elbows on his knees, he curried his hands though his cropped back hair – over and over and over.
CHAPTER 7 – LEAVING
Kicking off her high heels, Layla stepped into the pool with Adrian. Sitting in the water of the shallow tiered fountain, she didn’t care about ruining her silk gown as she cuddled close to him. Pressing a hand to his, she stopped his restless currying of his hair before he pulled it all out. Glancing up, Adrian stared out over the moonlit gardens. A tear rolled down his cheek from his vibrant aqua eyes, then another. Closing his eyes, his straight black brows drew into a tight frown as he sighed hard.
“Sometimes I hate being a Clan First the way I am, running a pseudo-democracy.” Adrian spoke softly. “And now I have to go banish my brother from his home. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“That you listen to your people’s concerns is a good thing, Adrian,” Layla spoke, smoothing a hand over his back. “And you know Dusk considers the Paris Hotel more of a home than Morocco.”
“I know.” Adrian sighed, still staring out at the gardens as big white moths and luminous fireflies floated by beneath the palm trees, weaving through the jasmine vines. “But still, it feels like I’m casting him away.”
“You’re not casting me away, Adrian. I know the choice I made.” Moving into view along one alabaster stone path in the moonlight, Dusk rounded a planter of palms as if summoned by their conversation. Walking towards the fountain in his jeans and t-shirt, he kicked off his shoes and stepped over the rim of the basin to sit in the pool with Layla and Adrian. As he settled he gave a wry chuckle, containing a soothing rumble for them all as he reached out and gripped Adrian’s shoulder.
“You heard the decision?” Adrian spoke, watching Dusk.
“I heard. Rachida told me.” Dusk responded gently, holding Adrian’s gaze. “Guess I’m going to Egypt after all.”
“Dusk, I—” Adrian began, but Dusk stopped him with a shake to his shoulder.
“I don’t want to hear it, Adrian.” Dusk smiled wryly as he spoke. “You made a decision and it’s a good one for your clan. Rachida agrees, Emir agrees, and I agree also. Besides, I made my choice the moment I unleashed my Dragon at Yule. There was no way my life wouldn’t completely change once I unleashed my beast, and I’ve made peace with it. I’m sad to be leaving Riad Rhakvir… and perhaps not even returning to the Paris Hotel… but there are some things in life a man must do. Egypt is calling me, deep in my bones. I felt it the entire time I was in stasis, and now I know it won’t ever let me go.”
Adrian nodded at Dusk’s words, though he was still being hard on himself, Layla could feel it. Dusk, however, had embraced his situation. His sapphire eyes were luminous as they reflected the moonlight. Layla could see the change in him even in the semi-dark, as fractals of gold shimmered at the edge of his high cheeks, his skin seeming to shine beneath the moon. It was lovely, like watching a crystal glimmer with phosphorescence in the deep places of the world. Glancing over as if he could feel her regard, Dusk lifted a dark eyebrow, something almost dangerous in how sexy he was now that his Dragon was finally unleashed.
It was compelling, and Layla shivered, but not from fear.
“Crystal Dragons are rooted to the place they were born, more than almost any other Lineage,” Adrian mused as he gave a sad half-smile in the darkness. “Though part of me knows that about you, I just don’t feel it in my heart.”
“That’s because you’re a Desert Dragon,” Dusk chuckled as he scooted over in the pool to sit right beside Adrian, all three of them watching the moon now above the Riad. “You go where the winds blow you, Adrian, you always have. Your people are natural nomads – mine aren’t. Crystal Dragons don’t even take each other’s territory when they kill another clan off. They’ll steal wealth and mates and bring it all home as spoils and hide the greater part of it deep beneath the earth… but most of us never wander far from the rock where we first bedded as an infant. The vibration of our homeland is imprinted, quite literally, in our bones.”
“If you want to re-start your clan,” Layla took up the conversation, curious, “how do you convince Crystal Dragons from other clans to join you in Egypt, if they’re rooted to their own homelands?”
“I send out a pulse.” Dusk spoke, something in his gaze dire as he looked over and met Layla’s. “Those who feel my pulse will come. My magic will re-imprint theirs with the vibration of my homeland, rather than theirs. They might resist it for a time, but eventually, they’ll come to Egypt.”
“Won’t your Crystal Dragon King Markus Ambrose feel that?” Layla asked again, something twisting deep in her gut.
“Most likely.” Dusk held her gaze quietly. “He doesn’t miss much, energetically speaking. I’m sure he felt it when I shifted at Chartres, and again here when I woke from stasis – probably the entire battle today. His dreams are far more alert than mine; he feels the vibrations of his people half a world away, if they’re big enough disturbances. And now… I’m definitely making waves.”
“What will you do if Markus calls you to the Czech Republic, to his palace in Prague?” Adrian asked, watching Dusk intently.
“I’ll go.” Regarding them both beneath the high desert moon, Dusk’s gaze was viciously fierce in a way Layla had never seen. She saw the power in him now, the real power shining through the affable personality he’d built all his life. Dusk had been a lover his entire adulthood because he couldn’t be a fighter; not with the threat of his King constantly breathing down his neck. But now the fighter in him was coming to the forefront, glowing in his luminous sapphire eyes beneath the high desert moon. But even as his Dragon showed its vicious calm, Layla still saw the lover in him. Dusk would never let that go – a deep part of him that had survived every other trial in his life.
Or so Layla hoped.
“What about the Bind?” She asked. “Where does that leave us, if you get summoned to Prague?”
“I don’t know, Layla.” Dusk’s gaze shifted to her. “I don’t know anything concrete, really. I want to be a part of the Bind; to be with you and Adrian and still help in our aims against Hunter. But… I need to do this. I hope you would support me if King Markus ever sent for me.”
“Of course.” Layla knit her brows, her heart reaching out to him as she reached across Adrian, taking Dusk’s hand. “You know I would never leave you to face your King alone.”
“No matter what happens, you’re not doing any of it alone.” Adrian spoke also, watching his adopted brother with a fiercely loving gaze as he gripped Dusk and Layla’s hands in his. “I’m not leaving Egypt until I’m certain you’re settled-in, I hope you know that. Whether or not King Markus summons you. And if he does summon you… we are going to do everything we can to get you through that. Alive.”
“I know.” Dusk chuckled, squeezing Adrian’s hand. “You’re just as stubborn as I am and I know you wouldn’t have it any other way, Adrian. Actually, I would love it if you both accompanied me home to the Crystal Plateau in Egypt, my clan’s ancient citadel near Luxor. It’s… something I fear. Returning back there. Even as much as I feel called to go.”
“Why?” Layla asked, feeling complete touching both her bound mates in the night, though the conversation was still intense. “Is it because your home is empty now?”
