“Like at the market yesterday.”
“And last night.” Adrian kissed her neck sweetly. “You and I needed this, Layla. Even though Dusk needed it also, I think a big part of him gave in to it because you and I wanted it. He has hang-ups about growing his power. He doesn’t want to become a beast like his King. He doesn’t want the power to corrupt him, and he doesn’t want to use us, you and me. Now that Dusk’s unleashed his beast at last, he’s free to grow into the Dragon he should be. But a part of him still fears it. Deeply.”
Just then, Dusk gave a massive yawn and stretched in bed, rolling the covers down to his fit, lean hips as he arched, flexing his incredible arms up over his head. The force of the stretch shivered him all the way to his toes, and as his abdomen and intercostal muscles tensed, roped with hard muscle and edged in gold-navy Dragon scales, Layla couldn’t help but ogle him. He was magnificent, the kind of trim, sculpted body any fitness model would deeply envy. As his dark lashes blinked open, staring at Layla with eyes so blue they were like the sky today, a slow smile curled his lips. Reaching out, he stroked her face with his fingertips, then her neck. As heat stirred in her to his touch, his eyes brightened with the sexily intense look of his Dragon.
“So much energy this morning, drakaina…” he growled sleepily to Layla. “Maybe I need to fuck you again and bring that down a little.”
Layla blushed as a wash of bourbon-orange scent flooded from her.
“Good morning to you too, asshole.” Adrian chuckled, winding Layla closer in his arms.
“Dick.” Dusk commented sleepily, though he was grinning. “Aren’t we supposed to hit the road this morning? Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You were just sleeping so peacefully, like a little angel, that I couldn’t bear interrupting.” Adrian grinned back, something he almost never did. Layla could see it now, how much Adrian and Dusk’s energies were influencing each other. As they grinned at each other, ribald like school boys, Layla suddenly saw how their childhood might have been if they hadn’t been fighting all the time. But it was part of both Dusk and Adrian’s natures to fuck and fight, to rail against authority and the system and anyone else who told them they couldn’t do what they damn well wanted to. In that way, they were so alike that Layla’s heart suddenly expanded, feeling blessed that they were hers.
A sweet bourbon-orange scent cascaded from her skin and both men looked to her. Dusk raised his eyebrows but Layla just shook her head, smiling.
But there were other things they had to accomplish today, and reality set in as a knock came at their door. As Layla fetched a blue silk robe from her bedpost, slinging it on while Dusk tucked the duvet about his hips, Adrian went to the door and threw it wide. Yousry stood on the other side, sexily impeccable in his dark Armani suit and gold jewelry. With a grin to their trio, the Djinn leaned casually in the doorway with one forearm up on the frame.
“Time to get going, friends.” Yousry spoke, unfazed by the fact that everyone was mostly naked in Layla’s room. “We waste the morning, and the Crystal Highway awaits.”
“We were just getting up,” Adrian spoke with a smile. “We’ll be down in a jif, Yousry, just let us fetch some breakfast first.”
“Sure, sure.” Yousry commented, waving one elegant hand in a wind-like way, though his eyes sparkled. “The Jeep is packed for our journey and I’ll be downstairs in the bar. Just fetch me when you’re ready to head out.”
“We’ll do that.” Adrian nodded.
Slapping the doorframe with his hand, Yousry turned, tucking his hands in his pants pockets and whistling as he moved off down the stairs. Turning back to Layla and Dusk, Adrian shut the door. “We should get going. It’s quite a drive up to the Crystal Highway, and we don’t know what we’ll find there today.”
“Right.” Sliding out from beneath the covers, Dusk rose, moving naked to the breakfast table and uncovering dishes on the silver tray. There were lentils and rice with fried quail eggs for breakfast, plus baklava and some sautéed greens in a spicy sauce. Plus coffee – a massive copper pot of spiced Egyptian coffee. Layla could already smell its cinnamon-cardamom aroma wafting through the air as Dusk poured, then added honey and cream to everyone’s cups. Rising from the bed, Layla went to the table. Comfortable in the nude, Dusk had already loaded their plates and sat down, beginning to eat. Layla had a seat, ravenously hungry as she smelled all the exciting spices in their breakfast, and Adrian sat also.
And suddenly, it was like that breakfast they’d shared months ago, right after Layla had nearly died facing Hunter beneath the Red Letter Hotel Paris. She had leveled-up in power that night, significantly, but this morning it was Dusk who had leveled-up as he sat across from her, grinning like a brigand and digging into his eggs and lentils. Now, they all sat sharing a meal the way Layla had always wanted to – calm, coordinated in their aims, and without a single spike of tension blistering between the three of them.
It was damn near blissful, and she reveled in it as she ate, smiling.
“So, the Crystal Highway,” Adrian spoke as he poured himself and Dusk another cup of coffee, though Layla had yet to finish hers. “Do you know what we can expect on it today, Dusk?”
“I really don’t know until we get there.” Dusk spoke, chewing thoughtfully though he seemed far less stressed about the prospect of seeing his homeland and any restless spirits in it today. “I’ve been back to Luxor a few times over the decades, but I’ve never had the courage to travel all the way up to the Plateau. I’ve heard from the Djinn that it’s heavily protected since my clan fell – natural wards that went up when everyone died. I assume that means crystal barriers of some kind, but I really don’t know what we’re looking at or how I’ll be able to affect them until I see them – and run a few test vibrations through them. As an Egyptian Crystal Dragon born on the Crystal Plateau, I should still carry the imprint of my home, which should allow me through their barriers. But with the Bind… we’ll see.”
“You’re worried the Bind may have changed your Crystal imprint?” Layla spoke, chewing a bite of her eggs. “That’s interesting.”
“I’m not sure it has, but I am resonating with some of Adrian’s power now, and yours, Layla.” Dusk spoke levelly, something about him clear this morning like his regular brisk Head Concierge personality. “Even a bit of Rhennic’s storms and Reginald’s oceans are pouring through me, though those are far less than what the three of us here share. Adrian’s interested in how that may make us all more formidable opponents in a fight. But I’m concerned I may not even be allowed home if my imprint has changed too much.”
“And if your clan’s barriers don’t recognize you, then you can’t re-start your clan.” Layla raised her eyebrows, sipping her coffee.
“Exactly.” Dusk spoke with a lift of one dark eyebrow back, as he paused with his coffee cup near his lips. “Which would be a bad thing if I’ve already called thousands of Crystal Dragons to me from all over the world. We’re going to end up being wandering nomads if I can’t unlock my homeland for everyone to settle into.”
“You wouldn’t be nomads. You’d find somewhere else in Egypt to settle.” Adrian commented levelly. “We’ve got Desert Dragon allies in Egypt who would cede a bit of land to you if you asked.”
“It’s not the same.” Dusk glanced at Adrian, his gaze pressing. “Crystal calls to crystal, Adrian, not sand. Crystal Dragon homelands are built upon massive underground caverns, usually natural. Settling in just any old patch of desert wouldn’t feel… right. Normal. You know what I mean. It’s like asking a Desert Dragon to settle in the Brazilian rainforest.”
“There are Desert Dragons in France and Italy.” Adrian commented, gesturing with his coffee. “No deserts there.”
“But plenty of dry climate in the south, especially during summertime,” Dusk argued back. “In any case, there’s a reason Crystal Dragons don’t settle anywhere there aren’t natural underground caverns. Because our resonance likes to dig deep, and you can’t do that if there’s nothing beneath you to resonate.”
“Like an underground bell.” Layla spoke, understanding. “Resonating a cavern around you or beneath you makes you feel… harmonized. Like music.”
“Precisely.” Dusk smiled with a pleased nod to Layla. “I settled at the Red Letter Hotel Paris because there are natural caverns beneath it. It was more comfortable for me than many other Hotels I could have gone to. Plus, France. The French are sexy, and it helped everything I was up against at the time.”
