Winding through the gargantuan quadrangles of the Crystal Palace, Layla was impossibly turned around by the time they reached a suite of opulent guest quarters on the second level. Flanked by two impressive Crystal Dragon guards with pikes, both showed fierce ruby scales at their temples, their red eyes flashing as they opened the doors. The suite within was incredible, decorated in a sea-green theme of peridot columns, jade porticos, and alabaster walls with gold detail everywhere.
But as Layla was left to settle in to her incredible suite, she suddenly felt very alone.
Taking a seat upon the massive bed’s sea-green silk duvet, Layla took a moment to deal with her emotions. It was suddenly too much, and as her drakaina gave a strangled roar in her veins, Layla’s throat clenched. But just as her eyes began to burn with tears, she felt a buzz in her bra. Layla had hidden Adrian’s phone beneath the bra’s padding when she had changed into the white silk dress on King Markus’ jet. Blinking and hastily wiping her tears away, Layla fished out the phone, unlocking it with Adrian’s code and lifting it to her ear.
“Adrian?”
“Layla! Finally. It’s Reginald.”A smooth baritone voice came on the other line, and Layla’s heart thudded in sudden gratefulness to hear her Royal Siren Reginald Durant’s cultured, haughty voice on the other end. “I’ve been trying this number for hours! Why are you answering Adrian’s phone, and why do I have six urgent voicemails from Adrian at a different number, all of them cryptic and brief?”
As if his oceanic presence had triggered the Bind between them, Layla could suddenly feel Reginald and see him in her mind’s eye. Standing upon a high balcony somewhere in the far north, he wore a slender vest and trousers of tan twill with gold pinstripes gleaming in the winter sunlight. Wearing a white silk shirt rolled up at the elbows, he had an ornate bracelet of light grey pearls on his left wrist, his bright golden hair bound half-back from the brisk sea-wind. Severe and hauntingly beautiful like a Versace model, Reginald set a hand to his hip, flashing a diamond and pearl ring she’d never seen before on his right index finger. Facing a turbulent ocean far below, his straight gold-blond brows pinched as his luminous grey-blue and gold eyes stared out over the water.
“Layla? Did you hear me? Are you there?” He repeated, his voice beautiful and terrible all at once like the siren-call of the sea.
“Yes! Yes, I’m here.” Layla spoke quickly, moving toward the windows of her suite and unlatching them, throwing one pane wide. She didn’t know if King Markus was listening to her phone call through the crystal in his palace, but if he was, the wind might interfere.
“Layla.” Reginald spoke more gently, and Layla saw him frown as he looked out over his sea-vista, holding his phone to his ear. “Your energy swirls through me these past two days. You, Dusk, and Adrian, like a maelstrom consuming my thoughts. I was occupied with Siren clan business, otherwise I would have contacted you sooner. But I felt a spike in your distress today, in a way I’ve only felt when you were in the middle of Hunter’s Dragon-battle with the Phoenix King. I tried to contact you through the Bind but I hit a massive crystal wall, and all the times I’ve called you, Dusk, and Adrian, no one’s picked up. Are you alright? Is Dusk? What’s going on, and why didn’t Adrian answer this phone?”
It was a tirade of questions, and suddenly Layla didn’t know where to start. Her heart leapt to Reginald, needing his strength and vicious surety like she’d never needed anything in her life. “Dusk was summoned to Prague. I’m here now, as his Witness. The Crystal Palace must be blocking our Bind’s connection somewhat, and most phone calls. Dusk has his phone on him but I have Adrian’s. Mine was destroyed in Egypt.”
“Prague.” Reginald went deeply silent on the other end of the line. In her mind’s eye Layla saw him reach out and settle a hand with deliberate precision upon a balcony rail of driftwood encrusted with pearls. “Dusk’s finally been summoned by King Markus Ambrose, for his Trials.”
“Yes.” Layla spoke, her heart in her throat. “Dusk came out of his crystal sarcophagus a few days ago, hell-bent on re-starting his clan in Egypt. We went to Egypt and he sent out a pulse. But King Markus felt it, and summoned Dusk right away.”
Layla’s throat clenched, wishing Reginald were here. Her Royal Siren’s poise was formidable in any situation, and other than Crystal Dragons, Sirens were the largest and most dangerous of all the Dragon types, with mesmeric powers to boot. Reginald had all his Lineage’s scariest attributes, and was Head Courtier of the Red Letter Hotel Paris, a position of incredible standing in the Twilight Realm. He was also a celebrity, and celebrities had ways of getting in places forbidden to others.
Scowling deeply upon the other end of the phone, Reginald suddenly did something Layla had never heard from him. He cursed.
“Dammit.”
Layla could feel Reginald’s oceanic energy churning as he faced the wind, gazing out over the turbulent winter ocean. Far up in the North Sea, Reginald was at his clan-home Deep Harbor, northeast of Scotland. As Layla immersed herself in the sensations of wind and ocean through their Bind, she felt Reginald standing viperous and thoughtful in the sunlight. Like darkwater oceans made of the smoothest light, he coiled around her from a distance, calming her fears as he soothed her rapid heartbeat and opened her clenched throat. Layla took a breath as Reginald’s oceans cradled her, then another – breathing more easily though she still wanted to cry.
“Layla. Where is Adrian in all this mess?”
“He’s promised to…” Not wanting to speak it out loud, Layla closed her eyes and sent Reginald a vision of Adrian’s alter-ego John LeVeque through their mind-link.
“He’s promised to come in disguise, soon.” Reginald spoke quietly on the other line.
“Yes. Hopefully. He was trying to reach you and Rhennic also.”
“So we could bring our clans to you in strength, and make messing with Dusk a political suicide mission for King Markus.” Reginald gave a harsh sigh as he put it all together, gazing out over the windswept ocean. “I will come with a strong retinue of North Sea Siren fighters, and I will contact Rhennic so he can do the same. If Adrian’s calls are coming from the Crystal Palace now, it may be likely Rhennic has not heard the news. But even if King Markus Ambrose listens to our pressure, he is a formidable, wrathful opponent, Layla. He forgives nothing and remembers everything. He may play nice for a while, but while you are in the palace, trust nothing he says. Only trust his eyes. In their diamond horror, you will always see the truth.”
“So I’m discovering.” Layla swallowed, staring up at the ceiling of her beautiful prison and blinking back another sting of tears.
“Easy my love…” Coiling around her with his magic from afar, Layla felt the enormous calm of the ocean cradle her as Reginald reached out on the other end of the phone, stroking his knuckles over empty air. But Layla felt his touch on her cheek, warm and comforting, and she leaned into it as a tear slid down her face.
“I wish you were here.” She breathed, feeling him, wanting him. Needing him.
“I will be.” He spoke viciously, though his wrath was not for Layla. “I will muster my clan and send a missive to Markus’ court that there is some sudden business to be discussed between us in person. I am a King’s son and Second in my clan, he cannot refuse my communique lightly.”
Layla blinked. The fact that Reginald was now Second in his clan after being a few months away from the Red Letter Hotel Paris was news to her. Last she’d heard, Reginald had not held any official standing in his clan, and there had been major fallout after he’d killed his brother Bastien during a Dragon-battle in one of the Hotel’s ballrooms. Layla knew Reginald’s father was King of the Sirens and Clan First, but she wondered if the power structure was changing now in the far north. But Reginald’s words comforted her as Layla tried to stay present, nodding.
“How soon can you get here?”
“Give me a day. I will send a missive tonight, and I will follow in twenty-four hours with a retinue of Mind-Snares from my clan. Markus cannot continue such brutality; he’s thrust his crystals into the wrong ocean this time. Breathe, Layla. I’m on my way and Rhennic will be, also. Until then, hold your head high and keep a snarl of fire in your veins. And a word of caution: don’t let King Markus sequester you alone anywhere. Beware his motives at all times.”
“I will.” Layla nodded hastily, tucking a loose curl behind her ear.
“Stay strong, drakaina.” Reginald spoke on the other end of the line as he reached out again, stroking her cheek from afar. “Remember that you can do battle in the bedroom and out of it, and that you are good at both the fuck and the fight. Markus will underestimate you because you are young; use that advantage, no matter how it manifests. I am coming.”
