“We are power.” Markus breathed as he caressed his lips over hers, smiling with a diabolical delight. “Ultimate. Power.”
With that, he kissed her, delving his kiss into her mouth and thundering his power so deeply into her that Layla came in an instantaneous, screaming climax.
And then he wiped her out to nothing, as she fell into black unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 28 – OUBLIETTE
Layla woke inside a crystal sarcophagus. Gasping back to consciousness, she panicked as everything inside her roared. She’d never loved confined spaces, and this was like being inside a coffin as she struggled, her Drakaina flailing in her veins as Layla hammered at her bright crystal prison with her hands. A thundering sensation flooded from her as she struggled. As she hammered fists into the luminous crystal above her, the whole sarcophagus suddenly cracked with a deafening retort – shattering and spilling her out upon a cold stone floor.
Rolling out from beneath heavy slabs, Layla groaned, holding her head as a lancing pain spiked through it – as if her body wasn’t supposed to wield the enormous Crystal Dragon power she’d suddenly used on instinct. Gazing down, Layla realized she was still dressed in the green and blue lace gown she’d visited King Markus in, but other than a few scratches and bruises from shattering her crystal coffin just now, she was unharmed. Blinking as she pushed up from the crystal floor, Layla dusted shards off her hands. Shuddering, she brisked her hands over her bare arms in the chill space, trying to remember what had happened.
King Markus had thrust his energy inside her, resonating her Bind with his power, and then…
“Adrian!” Layla breathed, all of that horrible evening flooding back as she touched the searing-hot bite wound on her neck. It was ugly and hadn’t been tended, and taking her fingers away, Layla tried to leave it alone. Gazing around, she realized she was deeply underground somewhere, in a milk-white octagonal room with vaulted walls and a high domed ceiling. Lit by blue-white crystals in niches that glowed with a soft luminescence, the oubliette had no doors or windows, and no access to the vaults above. Turning in a circle, Layla realized she was trapped, and far up at the domed ceiling, more crystals glowed, stalactites hanging above like snarling teeth. Her sarcophagus had been directly beneath them, as if being fed some kind of energy from them.
And next to the shards of her prison sat another one – one with a man inside.
“Adrian!” Layla was up fast, rushing to his crystal sarcophagus. Gazing inside, she saw Adrian still dressed in his server’s attire, his face pale as death. Even as Layla’s heart gripped, she saw a fine mist of breath issue from between his parted lips. He wasn’t dead, and relief flooded her as she shuddered, tears stinging her eyes. But glancing down to his chest, Layla saw a cruel spike of crystal thrust right through it, his black vest and shirt tacky with blood. Adrian was alive, but King Markus had left him with a vicious gift. Even as Layla watched, she saw a thin film of blood bubble at one corner of Adrian’s lips as he breathed.
“No!” The rageful snarl of her drakaina came from Layla as she set her hands to Adrian’s prison. Digging deep down, she found the place where her Dragon lived, feeling her Dragon’s eyes flash with fire and crystal at the same time now. Layla didn’t have any time to wonder if it was Dusk’s magic or King Markus’ she was using as she summoned that tremendous wave of crystal energy up inside her. As a growl spilled up through her entire body, shuddering her hands and chest and throat and raging deep down into the earth, Layla opened her mouth in a roar. A shockwave of sound tinged with the furious overtones of her Dragon hammered Adrian’s crystal prison, shattering it so hard the entire lid and near side were blasted away to the edges of the room.
With a sob, Layla reached in, caressing Adrian’s face and carefully touching his wound. As if her touch bolstered him, Adrian suddenly gasped awake, his eyes blinking open to show an aqua-green so vibrant with gold that they almost looked like Layla’s own eyes. With a grimace, he grit his teeth and glanced down, making a weak motion to touch the spike of crystal through his chest. Gripping his fingers, Layla prevented him from touching it.
“Layla…” Adrian rasped weakly, his face a rictus of pain. “You’re all right.”
“Yeah, but you aren’t.” She spoke, her voice tight as tears slipped down her face. “How do I heal this, Adrian? What do I do?”
“Touch the shard,” he gasped weakly. “Your connection to Dusk should give you insight… how to break it.”
“If I break it, will you die?” Layla asked fearfully.
“Stronger… than I look.” Adrian spoke, reaching up a finger from their clasped hands to gently stroke her face. “It wasn’t put… through my heart… on purpose, I think.”
“Bastard didn’t want to kill you right away.” Layla realized, a terrible growl rising inside her as Adrian nodded weakly. But he couldn’t say any more, only beckoned with the smallest movement for Layla to place her hands on the crystal shard spiked through his chest. She did, grasping it gently, then more firmly as she felt the crystal calling to her. Adrian relaxed, taking the deepest breaths he could manage as his eyes closed. At his nod, Layla dug back into that place deep inside her.
Looking for a crystal resonance that could shatter this thing.
It was far more difficult than shattering their crystal sarcophagi. Digging deep inside herself, Layla found a hundred resonances that didn’t work, harmonics that would have been helpful in other situations. She had no idea the tableau of Crystal magic was so vast, its applications as varied as the complex sound waves made all throughout nature. Producing hums, producing roars, singing, nothing seemed to work as Layla felt herself moving through her Bind with Dusk on instinct, feeling her way through his magic from afar. After ten minutes, she still hadn’t found the right resonance to shatter the shard, when Adrian spoke weakly.
“Try Markus.”
Everything inside Layla bristled, hating the idea, but she knew Adrian was right. She could feel her Bind to Markus now inside her, glittering like a vast diamond sand all around her as she moved through Dusk’s sapphire-colored magic. It was terrible, and alluring, to touch Markus’ magnificent power thrust inside her. She had thought it would be resistant to use, but surprisingly found the opposite as she dug her Dragon down into that glittering, endless expanse.
It wanted to be used. And more than that, it was aware – singing with thousands of voices.
“Adrian… something’s wrong with Markus’ power.”
“Can you… use it?” He spoke, two fingers gently stroking hers where she touched the shard through his chest.
“It’s not exactly his.” Layla spoke, amazed as she touched that vast power deep inside her. “There are thousands of voices in it. Thousands of resonances. I think they’re all… different Crystal Dragons.”
“Heal first,” Adrian gasped more weakly than before, “then talk.”
“Right.” Digging back into her trance, Layla allowed her Dragon to bury itself in that vast diamond sand living within her now, courtesy of King Markus and his resonance inside her Bind. She felt Markus’ presence but it was wide, as if he was the entire beach holding those sands together – and too far away from what she was doing to notice it. Even though he had resonated the Bind to control it, Layla felt thousands of awarenesses now shifting all around her, creating space – a space that could be used for her own purposes.
As Layla investigated that vast expanse of diamond sand, she suddenly had a vision through her Bind. Her vision was of Dusk, standing in the throne hall before King Markus upon his high dais. King Markus looked down at Dusk with vicious pleasure, like he was about to tear Dusk apart. Layla heard Markus speak, and as the Crystal King lifted up his basso voice, she heard Dusk growl with terrible rumbles.
“Dusk Arlohaim.” King Markus spoke with a diamond-fire in his eyes. “Your Trials have been condensed into a single item today, and that item is this. I have stolen your Dragon Bind and your Desert Dragon brother, and hidden them somewhere in the Thin Ways. They are without food or water, and Adrian has been gravely wounded. You have twenty-four hours before Adrian dies from blood loss, and Layla dies from lack of oxygen in her sarcophagus. Find them, rescue them, and you may keep your Egyptian Clan and head it as First. Fail to find them… and I’m afraid you will be losing far more than just your life today.”
