“Leni has released me from my position as Clan Second, as I wished.” Reginald spoke with a trace of a smile in his voice now. “Now that Fury’s procedure is over, Atlantos and Vindaris will care for him, as I return to the Paris Hotel. Fury wants nothing to do with our mother’s vacant position upon the Red Letter Hotel Owner’s Board, so it falls to me, and I will conclude my induction tomorrow with the Board in Paris. Quindici and Adrian and I have all spoken at length this past week. Since you had to step down from the Board due to your current human state, and Adrian will be busy for the foreseeable future seeing if he can help you recover your Dragon, I have accepted the position of Head of the Paris Hotel.”
“Will Quinn be your Associate Hotel Head?” Layla asked, amazed by this turn of events, though not surprised.
“I know the Paris Hotel like my blood knows the ocean, Layla,” Reginald spoke quietly. “I do not need Quindici DaPonti and his dark tides to know who I am now. I’ve dismissed Quinn back to his involvements with his Dark Haven in Florence, and the Hotels he leads there. Italy can keep their Master Vampire. I need his touch no longer.”
Reginald’s words were cold, and in them, Layla felt the dark history Reginald and Quindici shared. But Reginald was right; he did know the Paris Hotel better than anybody. It was fitting he was going to assume its leadership, and just as Reginald knew Leni would do well in her new Siren Queenship, Layla knew Reginald would do well as Head of the Red Letter Hotel Paris.
“What about Hunter?” Layla asked, feeling those dawn-bright eyes try to rise in her mind but pushing them away again.
“Leni has expanded Fury’s technology to search for Hunter all around the globe, and it can scan on the half-hour now.” Reginald spoke. “She continues to make updates, and we hope to find a way of scanning minute-by-minute within a few months. She can monitor for Hunter’s whereabouts until Fury is recovered. If Hunter makes an appearance in the Twilight Realm again, we’ll see it, though all has been quiet this past week. If he lives, he’s recuperating somewhere safe from our scans. For now.”
“For now.” Layla closed her eyes, seeing Hunter’s gaze in her mind again and banishing it once more. She had been doing that a lot lately – though her Bind was gone, Hunter had haunted her dreams every night since the battle, as if his black lance had somehow formed a connection between them. Layla pushed that thought away for another time.
Yet one more darkness she didn’t want to face right now.
“Are you ok taking up a position of Ownership in the Hotel?” Layla suddenly asked. “Knowing your father started it all?”
Reginald went silent on the other end of the line. “If the Red Letter Hotel is Hunter’s creation, then it is my destiny, Layla.” He spoke at last, steel in his voice. “No one knows the power of pleasure better than I – not Adrian, not Quinn, not even Hunter himself. The Hotel is my legacy; it ismydestiny. I will never be a Siren King, but I am King of the boudoir, and over that vast power do I rule. Hunter will need to watch his stride – for Reginald of the Hotel rises, even as others believe all is lost.”
Reginald’s voice was so commanding, so terrible yet beautiful that Layla choked. She could almost see his beloved face, almost touch that scalding golden beauty, so haughty and dire. But like a dream it vanished from her, as that devouring blackness rushed up to take her once more.
Her golden dream vanished.
“Layla, I must go.” Reginald spoke suddenly. “Fury is awake and asking for me. After my induction to the Hotel tomorrow, I fly back to Riad Rhakvir to be with you, Adrian, Rhennic, and Dusk, for a time. Will you be alright until we can all talk about the Bind and your situation?”
Layla knew what he was really asking her.Can you hold yourself together that long?
“I’ve weathered being human before,” Layla answered stolidly. “I can do it again.”
“That’s not what I asked, my Partner.” Reginald chided gently.
“I’m not your Partner anymore. I can’t be your Partner without magic.” Layla whispered, feeling that black emptiness devour her – in and in.
“Yes, you can.” Reginald murmured into the phone, the strength of his persona radiating out through his voice, even though he was a world away. “Hold on, Layla. Hold on and wrap your drakes around you. For though you feel nothing right now but darkness, we feel something vastly different. Each of us remains Bound to the others; and even though you feel nothing of the Bind, Rhennic, Adrian, Dusk, and I still feel our tremendous power as a group. I can weave lightning, and Rhennic can wield oceans. Adrian can still manifest fire-crystals and Dusk can smelt diamonds. We are disconnected from you but we remain Bound to each other. And it is this very detail that tells me the magic within you is not gone altogether… only estranged by what Hunter incited. As I believe he intended all along.”
“You think my magic is still alive inside me somewhere?” Layla swallowed hard, wrapping her arms around her knees and daring to hope as she looked up at the dawn sky.
“I do.” Reginald spoke firmly, haughty yet tender with command. “Hold strong, drakaina. For I believe and the others do also, that your Dragon yet lives. This is a test; a test Hunter intended from the very beginning if you ever got this far. And where there is strength, there is the power to work through your inner darkness. It is through that process that you must now go, to solve this riddle Hunter has impugned upon you. And we will be there with you every step of the way. Your Bound drakes illuminating everything that is bright and beautiful in your life – and banishing Hunter’s darkness for good.”
With that formidable speech, Reginald had to go. They said their goodbyes and Layla hung up – suddenly feeling like crying for real as the sun finally rose over the desert.
But even as that enormous emptiness welled up, spilling over into tears, she felt a warm presence sit upon the chaise. Curling her in his strong arms, Dusk poured a soothing rumble through her body, calming her and pushing that black void back. Though she couldn’t wield magic anymore, her men’s magic could still be used upon her. As Adrian sat on her other side, cuddling close and putting his lips to hers in a sweet kiss, Layla drank down his good warmth through his lips like it was her very last breath.
But one more man mounted the stairs to her overlook, approaching. Sinking to his knees before Layla, Rhennic took her hands solemnly in his. Though still exhausted from everything they’d gone through up in Deep Harbor, Rhennic poured a stream of joyful light into Layla from his touch, as a flicker of lightning rolled through his beautiful violet eyes. Scents of lavender and ozone, heather and green fields rolled from his skin as thunder smote the dawn sky.
“I love you, Layla Price.” Rhennic spoke quietly, as he and her other Bound men held her. “Dusk, Adrian, Reginald, Fury, and I – we all love you. We will never stop fighting for you, no matter how bad things get. It may feel bad right now, you may feel lost, but know that I don’t – and none of your other drakes do either. We don’t feel lost because we saw in this last battle that we will be victorious over Hunter one day; his tests won’t last forever. In the meantime, the surprises we deal him only grow – breaking his Pattern to pieces.”
Rhennic’s words stopped Layla as he poured his joy into her. As he did, Layla suddenly understood Rhennic’s perspective. Her Royal Storm Dragon didn’t see their recent battle as a loss; like Reginald, he saw it as a win. Everyone they cared about was alive after that face-off; even Fury had survived. Hunter’s schemes had been upset and they had technology to map his whereabouts. And in addition to all that, for the first time ever, they had damaged Hunter personally.
Layla had damaged him – in the flesh.
Suddenly, Layla thought about the shock that had devoured Hunter’s face as he’d watched everything go down at Deep Harbor – events he hadn’t seen in his Pattern. Because of Fury’s madness in making the silver pearl, they’d shaken Hunter off his ideal future. For the first time in three days, Layla’s black thoughts stilled deep inside her. Held by her men, Bound to her no longer but to each other, Layla suddenly felt something rise in that empty space inside her. As she watched the dawn, heat flushed through her for the first time since Hunter had torn the Bind away.
And in that heat, she felt a glimmer of gold rise.
With a snarl inside her veins.
