Impossible harmonies flowed through the air; haunting, vibrant melodies. The sound engulfed Layla on the warm desert air as it flowed through every stone lattice, every walkway, and garden. She felt like she was moving upon the tones as she walked slowly forward, crunching through the rubble in her boots. Climbing carefully over mounds of blasted alabaster stone and Moroccan glass, she opened her entire body to the sound as it engulfed the air. She opened her heart to it, letting it fill her with its soothing, wistful majesty. Layla let it take her as she approached the creature, opening her emotions and letting the music wrap into her heart.
And as she listened, she felt the music flow through her – deep into her Bind with Dusk.
Paused, he watched her come, his diamond-bright eyes pinned on her now rather than Adrian. Watching her with intelligence, the muscled serpent had ceased to vibrate with power, its flaring mantle of spines stilled. As Layla opened herself to the music, she saw Dusk slowly close his maw and cease to drip smelted diamond-fire from between his fangs. She saw that enormous mantle of spears begin to flow with a soothing ripple now, as if it surged with the music through Layla’s body. Dusk’s breathing slowed. Layla saw his tightly-coiled posture loosen – his spiked tail no longer ready to skewer Adrian, as Layla stepped calmly to Adrian’s side.
“He’s listening to you.” Adrian breathed as she gained his vantage, glancing over with his intense aqua eyes. “Keep going. I’ll listen and see if I can add to the effect. We can tame Dusk’s beast, Layla. We have to.”
Layla could feel the tension in Adrian. He was afraid. She didn’t need him to say it; he was terrified for Dusk’s life. If they couldn’t calm Dusk somehow, they’d have to kill him. A raging Dragon with no human mind left was a dangerous animal, and Dragons that went rogue were hunted down by the Intercessoria if they escaped containment. With a Crystal Dragon as powerful as Dusk, containment wasn’t really an option.
They had to bring him back. Now.
“Dusk. Can you hear me?” Layla spoke, listening to the tide of the music as she gripped Adrian’s hand, adding his touch to their Bind. The sound of the music vibrated into every sinew and all through her bones as Adrian added his power to it. Adrian was a single-minded creature when he wanted to be, and his attention to the sound was immaculate. Layla felt music pour through their Bind like a waterfall; she could almost see it flow out from her in etheric golden waves, rippling out from her body.
And as the first edge of that wave flowed over Dusk, she saw his head draw up slightly – his mantle of crystal spikes dropping for an instant as he watched her.
“Layla, did you see that?” She heard Adrian’s swift in-breath, even as he kept his mind focused on the music. “I think you’re manifesting Crystal sound-waves. Keep going. Talk to him about human things while I focus on the music for both of us.”
“Got it.” Layla spoke softly, feeling and almost seeing those waves still flowing from her in smooth ripples as she watched the big diamond-diabolical Dragon in his mountain of rubble. Squeezing Adrian’s hand, Layla stepped forward and Adrian let her. All of a sudden, as if Adrian had only been playing at listening to the music, Layla felt him re-focus his attention on it so hard she nearly lost her balance as an enormous wave of sound passed through her. It stopped her, casting her head back in a moment of ecstasy as music flowed through her chest in a bright wave, warming her heart and easing everything inside her.
It was exactly what they needed. As Layla opened her eyes, breathing deep with that ecstasy of sound pouring all through her, she saw it cast out in waves that actually shimmered the air now as they passed from her to Dusk. But these waves weren’t the crystal-sapphire color of Dusk’s magic, they were the pure gold color of Layla’s magic as they flowed out and inundated the big Crystal drake.
He paused. Layla saw him breathe deeply into his massive chest as he watched her come. They were matched now in their breathing, and as Layla climbed a hillock of blasted alabaster stone to get better eye contact with the beast, she felt resonance pass between them. Like Dusk had entrained with those waves of golden sound pouring out from Layla, thanks to Adrian’s furious single-minded meditation on the singing bowls, Layla could feel them breathing in synch as they watched each other.
Pushing up to standing on top of the fifteen-foot pile of rubble and brushing off her hands, Layla was close to the beast. She was within striking range; if he whirled and cracked out that big armored tail, she’d be toast. But she trusted the clan to shield her, and she trusted the waves of sound passing through her from Adrian’s focus. As she faced the beast, she felt the music pulse out from her in time with her breathing and Dusk’s, yoking them both together.
And as Dusk’s cunning diamond-sapphire eyes watched her, she knew he was listening.
“Do you remember when we first met, Dusk?” Layla spoke, setting a hand to her heart and opening her emotions, letting them flow through the Bind along with the music. “It was at my Red Letter Hotel Paris entrance interview. You were so smooth, so brisk and put-together, my eyes found you the moment you breezed into the room. You had this crazy debonair energy that was so deep and compelling, it was like a shot of good bourbon rolling down my throat. I felt you; I was arrested by your indomitable power the moment I saw you. But it wasn’t your power I fell for, the moment your eyes met mine. It was your heart, Dusk.”
She felt them truly resonating now, as the Crystal drake’s mantle of diamond-spears finally settled. Lifting his head, he wasn’t menacing anymore, just watching her in a deeply alert way. His big talons had ceased to flex into the ground, and as Adrian’s waves of music flowed out from Layla’s body, she saw that big armored tail come unwound from its coiled defense. Slowly, his body undulated as the massive drake shifted his position, watching Layla.
“I fell for your heart, Dusk,” Layla continued, opening her heart as wide as it would go as the music poured through her. “In that moment you startled to see me in that drawing-room, I saw how much you cared. You looked at me,reallylooked at me, as if nothing else existed in the world. As if you’d do anything to protect me, as if you’d fight any foe and beat any odds. As you walked into that room, I felt your heart underneath your Head Concierge do-it-all nature. I felt that you would do it all, for me. Because your love wouldn’t allow it to go any other way.”
The Crystal drake was truly listening now. As Layla felt waves of emotion and magical sound flow from her into him, she saw a spark of personality in his bright eyes at last.
And then he moved so fast, Layla hardly saw it – flashing to her mound of rubble in a side-winding movement like a viper.
Layla’s breath caught, her pulse hammering as she suddenly came face-to-face with the Dragon. Like a mountain of diamonds and sapphire, he coiled around her rubble pile, engulfing it. Arching his serpentine neck, he lowered his tremendous head, watching her. Barely five feet from her now on all sides, Layla could see his nostril-slits flare as his gargantuan chest heaved with slow breaths. His chest was so big, Layla could only see the rest of him in her peripheral vision, dazzling serrated crystal-sapphire scales reflecting the noontime sky like mirrored glass.
Lines of blue light ran through those scales, Layla saw now that she was up-close and personal with the creature. Like facets or veins of minerals running through each scale, it created a dazzling, refracting effect like a crackle glaze on pottery. But as Layla watched Dusk breathe, as her gaze traced those rivers of light up though his neck all the way to his scaled face, she saw Dusk’s majesty. He was truly a creature of the ages; a pinnacle power in their world. Armored like a tank and more powerful than a tsunami, Crystal Dragons were an apex predator.
But they were also beautiful.
“Because they love so deep.” Layla whispered, suddenly understanding Dusk. “Your love is like a mountain of crystal rooted in the bowels of the earth, isn’t it? That’s why Crystal Dragons have so much power – because of their love.”
The understanding broke Layla’s heart wide open. Music poured from her in golden waves as a tear shed down her cheek, then another. She felt it choke her; how deeply he loved her, and how deeply she loved him back. She felt it pour in through every vein as a love as deep as the earth rushed through their Bind. As if Layla’s heart had finally opened his, Dusk heaved a sigh. As that impossibly enormous love flooded Layla, breaking her so wide open that she sobbed, feeling Adrian do the same as the power found him, she suddenly felt a human thought from Dusk.
Don’t cry, Layla.
With the sweetest earth-rumbling growl, the Crystal drake lowered its cheek to hers. Stroking its smooth diamond-scales over her cheek, it breathed in slow, humming waves. Those waves passed directly into Layla’s heart, flooding her with the light of stars. It was glorious, stunning her even as she reached a hand up, stroking the creature’s cheek. She felt its scaled lips touch her neck as it breathed into her hair. Where its breath passed, slow waves of gold-white light flowed through Layla, deep.
Don’t cry, Layla. I hate it when you cry. Even though you’re still beautiful when you do it.
Hearing his true voice at last, Layla finally shattered, hard. All her fear for Dusk’s life these past months came flooding out as she heard his soothing baritone ease through her. Waves of light poured into her as he breathed, diamond-spears sparkling as they undulated all down his spine. Coiling around her as Layla broke from her fear these past months of not knowing if Dusk was going to live, he soothed her with his deep-light. She reached up as she sobbed, cradling his enormous jaw in her hands as he set his scaled lips sweetly to her forehead.
And then she felt all that power focus inward. In a tremendous wave of light, Dusk suddenly flowed up and in through his own skin. Cascading down as he also drew up, his refracting wave rumbled as it deposited him in human form right in front of her. Like his whole body had been scooped up by that wave, Dusk flowed back into human with the most control and grace Layla had ever seen from a shape-shifter.
And then he was holding her in his strong arms, pressing her close to his naked chest with his soft lips still touching her brow.
