But the last dress was one of the items Vindaris had left. A pale dawn color, blush-pink but also champagne-gold at the same time, it was a sheer, soft silk cocktail dress, ornately brocaded with pink and champagne pearls in a swirling, oceanic design. A clinging shape, it had spaghetti straps to hold up the bodice with its low-draping back. The short cocktail dress was more negligee than party wear, Layla thought as she stroked her fingers over it – so delicate people would see her nipples if she got cold, despite the beadwork.
But even as she touched it, she heard Reginald sigh. “Wear the blush dress. Forget the others. Only the blush one will suit for tonight.”
“Okay.” Layla glanced to him, seeing something rapt upon his face as he watched her. As they regarded each other, she felt a sluice of emotions pour through their Bind. That wash contained Reginald’s usual emotions of power and certainty, thoughtfulness and tender regard, but underneath was a dark current of trepidation and hesitation – something Layla could feel him fighting his way through as he watched her touch the gown.
“Reginald?” She asked. “What’s going on? Why the blush cocktail dress? Isn’t it less formal than the others?”
“It is the only one that suits tonight.” He spoke softly, glancing up so they watched each other, his gaze intense. “It is the only one that will match… the gift I wish to give you later.”
“Gift? What gift?” Layla frowned, wondering even more now what stunt Reginald might pull with his family that she’d get caught up in.
“Patience, my Partner.” Reginald spoke, his gaze still unfathomable. Frowning, his beautiful golden brows knit, his perfect lips falling open as if he would say more. But then he shut them, staring at her a moment longer before giving a deep Courtier’s bow. “Please excuse me, Layla.” He spoke abruptly. “I must go dress in my own rooms for tonight. Vindaris will arrive soon to help you get ready for the soirée.”
With that, Reginald gave Layla one last deep gaze. And then marched past, exiting through the waterfall doors and leaving her suite entirely.
CHAPTER 7 – UNDERWATER
Layla didn’t know what was eating Reginald as she took a light snack from the lovely spread on her table, moving out to the porch so she could stare out over the city. The whole place was inspiring, so beautiful it was deeply moving, and as Layla enjoyed seared salmon with dill and capers in some kind of cream sauce, she heard a sea-chime come from her apartment doors. Bringing her food back inside, she set her plate down and went to the doors. Frowning, she saw no handles to pull or locks to undo. Finally, she just set her hand to the glossy corals and water.
Which parted to her touch just as smoothly as they had for Vindaris earlier.
It was, in fact, Vindaris standing on the other side of her door, beaming at her with his bright, naughty smile. Taller than Reginald, he had a slighter build than the rest of the siblings, which reminded Layla of her human friend Arron Jacobs. His light grey eyes were almost Arron’s color, his white-blond hair sexily mussed as he beamed at her, still wearing his vest and trousers from earlier though he’d added a matching dinner jacket.
“Layla! It’s time to get you ready for dinner with the fam. May I come in?”
“Sure.” Stepping back, Layla admitted Vindaris and he turned, touching the coral doors and causing them to flow closed. Facing her, he crossed one arm over his front and set his other elbow on it, his hand lifting so his long fingers tapped his lips as he regarded her with a slight frown.
“So Reginald tells me you’ve chosen to wear the blush cocktail dress I brought,” Vindaris spoke amiably. “Your skin color will work with it, but with all those dark curls, are you sure you wouldn’t like to wear something more… colorful? I mean, your overall complexion is just begging for jewel tones.”
“Reginald chose the dress.” Layla spoke plainly, feeling like she was suddenly in an episode of Queer Eye. “He wants me to wear it.”
“Dominant as ever.” Vindaris chuckled with some deep knowledge in his grey eyes now, before giving a breezier grin and a wave of his hand. “I suppose we have to indulge him. Alright. Off to the shower. Sirens don’t like a lot of body odor, not like other Dragons. We’ll get you clean, give you some perfume, do your hair and makeup, then get you in the dress. Alright?”
Layla blinked, realizing Vindaris was more than just the royal Host, he was also going to be her stylist for the evening. Grinning, Layla moved towards the bathroom with its cascading waterfall shower. “Better turn your back, or you might get an eyeful.”
“Layla, darling, I know when to not cross lines.” Vindaris spoke pleasantly, moving to her table and cleaning up the dishes into a more organized arrangement. “Wash quickly, we don’t have a lot of time. Dinner starts at sunset, which is still earlier than I’d like this time of year.”
Moving to the coral and gold bathroom, Layla shed her emerald wrap-dress, stepping into the waterfall’s flow, which she found pleasantly warm. A gilded tray of soaps and oils stood beside the waterfall and she used a body scrub with pumice, then scrubbed her hair with a demulcent shampoo. Turning and stepping out, she found Vindaris waiting with a big white towel and a matching fluffy robe slung over his arm. His eyes didn’t elevator once as he extended the towel and let her dry off, then gave her the robe.
“Good, you smell fine,” he smiled pleasantly. “Let’s go manage all that hair, shall we?”
Leading Layla to an area of the bathroom near the vaults that overlooked the harbor, Vindaris sat her down upon a silk settee before a massive mirror with abalone-shell lights, a full set of styling equipment on a coral hutch nearby. As Layla sat, he was already smoothing mousse in his palms and combing it through her long wet locks with his fingertips.
“Do you do this for a living? Personal styling?” Layla asked as he worked, settling into the decadent rhythm of getting her hair done like a professional salon.
“What I do is not so much a living as alifestyle,my dear.” Vindaris spoke with a clever wink in the mirror, combing his fingers through Layla’s sable locks and detangling them. Reaching for a cordless blow-dryer, he began drying it all out. “My official position here is Clan Host, which includes personally attending any visiting royalty – which you are, darling, despite your lack of clan titles – and seeing to their every need. Besides that, I organize and provide…personal entertainmentfor those who want it.”
“Siren Courtiers and Courtesans?” Layla lifted an eyebrow with a smile. “Are you saying you’re a pimp for visiting dignitaries?”
“Not so much a pimp as apurveyor,” Vindaris chuckled elegantly, though there was something scandalously naughty in his dove-grey gaze now. “Iadoresex, with as many nobles as I can get it, and those I order around are the same. You, however, are strictly off-limits. I don’t mind of course; simply getting to spend time with Aldo’s chosen mate by doing her hair and makeup for the night is quite the intriguing event. Everyone’s asking about you, you know. Reginald doesn’t fall in love lightly – he never has.”
“I know.” Layla spoke quietly, thinking again about Reginald’s strange mood today and how abruptly he’d left. “Will I see him before the party?”
“Not likely.” Vindaris smiled as he worked, drying Layla’s hair in a careful way to not diminish her natural curl or frizz it. “He’s with father right now. Aldo’s got a million things to do as Clan Second. He’s father’s right hand for the entire Lineage. Though father’s still pitting all us sons against each other to vie for the top spot. Even though Reginald has it right now.”
“It’s a competition between all your brothers,” Layla understood as Vindaris worked. “To make them prove to your father they’re worthy of being highly ranked in the clan.”
“You’d think father would have decided on a Second in the past three hundred years,” Vindaris chuckled wryly as he finished drying and began sculpting Layla’s hair with a finishing creme, coiling her curls up and pinning them with artful deftness into a complicated half-chignon with the lower part loose. “Aldo’s Clan Second right now because he killed Bastien and proved himself in the Trials of the Trench a few months back. But he doesn’t want it. Atlantos and Typhos want it, but they’re not as powerful as Reginald, Fury, and Beau. Beau is AWOL and has been for decades – he hates father and is keeping his distance since mother died. Fury is… not well, and living up on an ice island to the north.”
