“What about Leni?” Layla asked, recalling her conversation with Reginald.
“Leni is stronger than all us brothers.” Vindaris chuckled wryly, confirming things Reginald had said. “She’s strong enough to be Queen, but tries to avoid Léviathan. You heard of the… messiness there?”
“I did.” Layla observed with a tight grimace. “Your father is a real piece of work.”
“You have no idea.” Vindaris laughed, still pinning Layla’s hair into impressive twists and studding the twists with pearls and diamonds now. “It wasn’t so bad when mother was alive. She kept the worst of father’s ways from affecting us. He’s an old warlord, Layla, and still thinks like one. He protected the Morregain Queens for eons as their Battle-Lord, even before our mother Auriana was born. He’s old-fashioned and stuck in ways that no longer serve our Lineage in the modern age. Most of us have adapted to modernity and the peace that comes with it. He hasn’t.”
“Creating endless conflict in his people.”
“Indeed.” Vindaris eyed her in the mirror. “A lot of Sirenni want him off the throne. But with how fucked-up our family is right now after his three hundred years of pitting everyone against each other… I don’t know who is right for the top spot.”
“But Reginald is a public favorite.”
“Excuse me, have youseenour youngest brother?” Vindaris chuckled with a knowing gaze. “Aldo has true dominance screaming from his every fiber, in the same way our mother had. But sometimes I wonder…”
But his quick fingers were finished with her hair, and Vindaris quieted as he arranged a few curls to drape over Layla’s shoulder as they flowed from his incredibly impressive, ornately-woven chignon. Stepping in front of her, he took up some mineral makeup and began doing her face in the barely-there way Layla enjoyed. Liner around the eyes, waterproof mascara, a hint of gold on the lids and blush on the cheeks and he was done, hustling her up to get dressed.
Moving out to the bedroom, Layla shucked her robe and shimmied on the slinky blush-champagne cocktail dress. The exquisitely-pearled silk really was as sheer as negligee, and as Vindaris helped her arrange it so it cascaded down over her hips, Layla felt almost bare. She managed to get a sheer beige thong on underneath the sexy little dress, but no way was a bra going to happen. As Vindaris helped her step into a matching pair of blush silk platform stilettos with ornate pearl beadwork and slim buckles around the ankles, she faced a tall mirror near the bed – seeing that she’d suddenly transformed from Desert Dragon to a sleek creature of the sea with her cascading dark hair in all that slinky pearled silk. As she turned her head, she saw the amazingly ornate weave of her half-chignon, studded with pearls and diamonds.
And suddenly, it all looked very bridal to Layla, like after-ceremony reception wear.
The thought made her startle where she stood facing the mirror. Her lips fell open as she gazed at the outfit Reginald had chosen – and at the appearance Vindaris had created. All it was missing was a matching bridal jewelry set, and as her gaze swung to Reginald’s brother, he watched her, something calm and ready in his demeanor.
“Should I wear Reginald’s pearls tonight?” She asked Vindaris.
“No.” He spoke softly. “No jewelry. I think Reginald has something better in mind for your adornment tonight.”
“Such as?” Layla spoke, lifting an eyebrow.
“Such as I’m not supposed to talk about it.” Vindaris smiled coyly, though his gaze was still deep. “Are you ready, Layla? It’s almost sunset and I really should escort you down.”
“What the hell is going to happen tonight?” She asked, turning and staring Reginald’s elder brother down with her hands on her hips. “What does Reginald have planned? This isn’t some kind of fucking Siren wedding ceremony I wasn’t aware of, is it? Because if it is—”
“No, no.” Vindaris spoke hastily, though his grey eyes were still deep. “I think Aldo simply wants to make a… statement tonight. With you. Before our father.”
“A statement. Great. This is definitely that.” Layla sighed, turning back to the mirror and staring at her decidedly bridal-reception appearance. Layla wassonot ready to be anyone’s bride. Not without some very lengthy discussions, thank you very much.
And a whole lot of other complications with her wealth of Bound men.
“You’re beautiful, Layla, don’t get your panties in a twist.” Vindaris spoke breezily now as he stepped forward, offering her his arm. “Siren women often wear pale silks and pearls for elegant events, it’s not necessarily bridal here.”
But Vindaris didn’t say itwasn’tbridal as Layla took his arm, letting him escort her from her rooms out to the curved balcony at the top of the glossy dome. Taking the water-spout down, Layla noted again how not even a single bead on her high heels got wet as they descended. Escorting her through the vast dome and down a series of coral stairwells as the light outside darkened to twilight, Vindaris took Layla through hall after ornate hall, each different from the last in their variety of sea-adornments.
The light inside the palace began to change as evening fell, to a smooth glow from massive pearl and abalone chandeliers and ornate lamps embedded in the coral walls. At some point, Layla realized they had actually descended under the harbor, as she looked up through a vast dome and saw the glimmer of the sea above, teeming with schools of fish, sharks, even dolphins. It was enchanting as they descended beneath the waves, and Layla stared up and around, seeing how each dome was cleverly lit between the glossy corals to accentuate the contours where the city continued underwater. Curling slowly by, she saw the massive eel-like shape of a Siren in Dragon-form, its long opal tendrils brushing the dome like flowing seaweed as it passed.
Others drifted by in shades of white-opal or white-grey, or darker shades of glossy violet or even black. Some enormous as blue whales, Sirens were the largest of the Dragons, though their curling, opalescent fins, tendrils, and bodies were reminiscent of saltwater eels. As Layla watched a few glance in through the dome with enormous opal eyes in their cruelly-fanged snouts, she saw some had forelegs and hindlegs, while others had only forelegs, still others propelled through the water by coiling their bodies like a snake. Their long, gossamer fins flowed like veils, curling around them like Siamese fighting-fish, their scales flashing with borealis rainbow colors in the deep. They were breathtaking and Layla lingered, staring out at the wide vista.
Watching the beauty of Sirens swimming through their underwater city.
“Haunting, isn’t it?” Vindaris stood at Layla’s side upon the overlook.
“Can all Sirens shift into their Dragon-form?” Layla asked, glancing to him.
“No.” Vindaris breathed, and Layla saw the vast longing in his gaze. “Only the stronger Sirens have a water-form. The rest of us can breathe underwater and swim well, but… it’s not the same.”
“You can’t shift?” Layla frowned.
“Not so far.” Vindaris smiled at her sadly. “My Siren-powers are strong, but like Reginald, my first shift has been massively delayed, for what reasons I know not. I can swim in the Under Harbor in my human form, and it calms some of my longing. But for those of us who cannot shift and truly swim the deeps… we’ll always feel only half-awake to our real selves. Half-complete.”
