Staring Davira down with a blazing passion in his eyes, Dusk impressed his point with another shudder of rumbles, shaking the chandeliers and making them chime as he drew on some of Layla’s power now.
And then he settled back, easing an arm up around Layla’s shoulders along the back of the settee and stroking her thigh as he simmered with a dark passion – Davira watching them with thoughtfulness now as the jet angled steeply down into the Prague airport.
CHAPTER 25 – PRAGUE
From the moment Layla stepped off the jet, which had landed at a private airport near the old city, Layla saw that Prague in the Twilight Realm seemed much like the city in the human world, only grander. As they were driven to the city-center in a sleek white 1950’s Mercedes, ornate cathedrals and mansions surrounded them, elegant and Gothic. Moody under the heavy spring clouds, this Prague was similar to the human version, even some of the boulevards they drove appearing almost exactly the same.
But where the human-world Prague held buildings of granite, marble, wood, and even concrete, this Prague was a bastion for the Crystal Dragons, with colorful buildings of gemstone. Façades of white opal abutted roofs of vivid dark ruby and ornate lintels of emerald and malachite. Gargoyles of obsidian disgorged rain water into sapphire waterways that led to sprawling crystal flagstone plazas surrounded by rambling parks. Every column and arch was decadently carved, contrasting colors used for corner blocks versus inner walls of city row-houses and larger mansions. Sapphire fountains provided a luminous allure through gardens already sprouting with daffodil and snowdrops after the first thaws of spring.
It was like a storybook city, and Layla marveled at it as they continued up Petrin Hill and came suddenly upon the Prague Castle.Like its human world counterpart, the Prague Castle – known as the Crystal Palace here – was enormous and ornate. Layla saw even from a distance as they drove under a span of row houses and into the main courtyard before the St. Vitus Cathedral that this castle was like its human world counterpart: one of the largest ancient castles in the world. Layla knew the castle complex in the human world was comprised of four palaces, four churches, five halls, four towers, and eleven gardens, with expansive courtyards, museums, and fountains, but this version looked even bigger.
A city within the city upon the banks of the river Vltava.
As they drove in through a set of ornate wrought-crystal gates guarded by two massive Crystal Dragons in Dragon-form, both with impressive ruby scales and formidable stares, Layla saw this palace complex had been grown out of the earth rather than built. As they pulled into the plaza before the St. Vitus Cathedral, Layla saw the famous cathedral and the surrounding palace were cast of several varieties of gemstone and crystal, all blending together to make a luminous whole. High domes of sky-blue aquamarine cascaded to Gothic pinnacles of mottled turquoise and aventurine. Ornate arches of ruby, citrine, and orange tourmaline led to columns and porticos of amethyst, purple sapphires, and tanzanite. Foundations of emerald, jade, and peridot flowed into ornately-sculpted royal gardens that weren’t present in the human world.
As they drove up to the main cathedral ingress of beautifully sculpted white topaz, opaque crystal, and diamond, a retinue of guards in 1700’s royal-blue livery flooded from the entrance to form a chevron at their car. Holding long crystal pikes, these men and women were Crystal Dragons, all of them showing a sheen of gemstone scales along their cheekbones and hair, though none had any as extensive or ornate as Dusk’s. Stepping out of the car as the chauffeur opened the doors, Layla and Dusk followed Davira up the crystal and diamond stairs into the cathedral’s main entrance.
As they proceeded in through the high vaulted ingress, Layla saw the doors had been grown of thick slabs of opaque white crystal, deeply etched with royal symbology in veins of gold. Moving inside the cathedral, Layla felt like she’d stepped into a Renaissance version of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. Though the wide vaulted hall was designed like a traditional cathedral, it was actually the opulent hall of a royal court. Its enormous ceilings absolutely dripped with crystal chandeliers bigger than houses, the alcoves bright with crystal floor-candelabra, the walls of the vast space done in mirrored crystal like the Mirror Hall in the Palace of Versailles times a thousand.
Vaulted columns of white crystal had been grown up to incredible tableaux of Crystal Dragons far above, fashioned out of gemstones rather than painted. Decorated with sumptuous 1600’s royal furniture, the floors of the grand hall were not wood, but a smooth river of milky quartz veined with incredible patterns of gold. Looking left and right as they entered, Layla saw numerous adjacent halls and rooms branching off the main hall’s vaults, everything crystal-bright as the sun flooded in through skylights far above.
The entire effect was like a Gothic royal palace in the sky, and as they passed between an enormous set of sapphire columns with a gilded Dragon crest-of-arms and into the center of the vast hall, Layla was shocked to realize there were a few hundred people within. Dressed in a variety of opulent formalwear that spanned the last four centuries, some had on suits by Versace or gowns by Valentino, while others wore ornate embroidered waistcoats and frock coats. A handful of women at the front of the hall were dressed in wide-skirted gowns of brocaded silk from the 1600’s, and some of the men and women even wore powdered wigs.
As Layla and Dusk proceeded up the nave and arrived at the centermost chancel, all the occupants turned to stare at them. With a sudden shock, Layla realized they were in the King’s hall; Davira had taken them straight into the royal throne hall upon arrival, and surrounding Layla and Dusk in their elegant finery were upper members of the Crystal Dragon Royal Court.
And seated in a tremendous diamond Dragon-throne far up on a dais of sapphire and gold in the chancel, rose a man. Cultured and elegant, he was tall and strong but not imposingly so. Dressed in an elegant 1800’s suit of light grey twill with a sky-blue silk waistcoat and cravatte, his ensemble was completed by a gold pocket watch studded with diamonds and diamond-gold cufflinks. His short hair was a light blond and styled back in waves, his posture elegantly calm as he watched them come.
Though his entirely diamond-white eyes were piercing.
As Layla and Dusk proceeded up an aisle of ruby inset with gold to the sapphire dais, the man whom Layla assumed was King Markus Ambrose waited patiently for their arrival. He said nothing as Davira escorted Layla and Dusk straight to the foot of the dais, then bowed and retreated to one side. As King Markus began to walk down the dais with a predator’s grace, Layla saw diamond-white serrated scales flash at his outer cheekbones, the same flowing into his elegant blond hair from his temples. Proceeding down the dais until he stood just a step above Layla and Dusk, he smiled at them in welcome, his chisel-cheeked face utterly handsome, his sculpted jaw strong with full lips and a dimple in his chin.
But those vicious eyes could have shattered graphene as he stared them both down.
“Dusk Arlohaim, First of the Crystal Dragons of Egypt,” King Markus rumbled pleasantly in a deep basso, though his intense gaze pierced Dusk to the quick. “Be welcome in my court.”
“My King.” Knowing his cue, Dusk sank to one knee, bowing his head before his liege. Layla could feel through their Bind how hard Dusk was controlling himself from erupting right now – harder than he’d ever done. Without motioning Dusk to rise, leaving him down on one knee with his head bowed, King Markus’ diamond-white gaze moved to Layla.
“And the Royal Dragon Bind, Ms. Layla Price. A pleasure.” Reaching out, King Markus took Layla’s hand. Lifting it genteelly to his lips, he gave her fingers a soft kiss, though those frightful diamond-eyes with their dark pupils never left hers for an instant. He didn’t mate-taste her, didn’t send any rumble of energy through her, and yet Layla could feel his power echoing through her bones like some vast, dark song. She knew in that moment that King Markus could shatter her with a quick snap of his fingers. With a single roar, this man could burst her bones apart with his power, a thought she’d never had about anyone’s magics before.
It was unnerving in the extreme, far more upsetting than even her first meeting with Queen Justine Toulet of the Storm Dragons of Europe. Layla had thought Queen Justine was the most powerful Dragon she had ever met, until she realized it was King Markus by a landslide.
And that Dusk’s power was not even close.
They had been played. As Layla stared into King Markus’ diamond-white eyes and saw his cunning, ruthless intelligence, she knew they had been deeply played. Dusk had thought his power was almost as strong as Markus’ from impressions of core resonance he’d read from afar. Yet as Layla stood there, watching the highly intelligent King feel everything about her from their touch, she realized Markus had somehow fed Dusk a false sensation of himself, to lure Dusk in and make him feel confident facing off with his King. As Layla shuddered to the depths of her being, holding King Markus’ hand, she knew he had led them into a very smart trap.
And as he gave the tiniest quirk from his full lips, she knew they were utterly screwed.
Suddenly, Layla realized King Markus had welcomed her and she’d said nothing. It had been over a minute and people were shifting all through the hall now, as Markus watched her. Layla had no clue what to say to him, her mind strangely blank as a deep roar from her drakaina flooded her veins. She was about to say something polite or punchy to show she wasn’t afraid of him, when she suddenly felt her drakaina rise up through her in a wave of heat – hijacking her mouth.
“Touch me without permission again and lose that hand.”
King Markus’ blond eyebrows climbed his forehead as an amused look flickered over his features. A blaze of pure white flashed through his scales and hair, and suddenly, Layla saw something new in his eyes. It was the vicious excitement of the chase that took him, as he saw Layla in a whole new light. A deeper smile lifted his lips as he gave her a subtle nod, releasing her hand.
“As my drakaina wishes.”
They said nothing more, staring at each other in a face-off as a tense energy rippled through the hall from all the Royal Crystal Dragons watching. But King Markus ended their stare-down with a subtle chuckle and a dark, sexy glance at Layla that said he wasn’t done with her – not by a long shot. Turning back to Dusk, still kneeling with his head bowed, the Crystal Dragon King made an elegant gesture. “Subject. You may rise.”
“Thank you, my King.” Flowing up to standing, Dusk had no trouble staring his King down just like Layla had. Apparently, it wasn’t done in this hall, because the crowd behind them continued fidgeting until King Markus held out his hand in a pacifying gesture.
