But before Dusk could answer, two members of Concierge Services arrived for the evening shift. Jenna Ostlheim was a Furie from Oslo, and beamed at Layla as she rounded the desk with her willowy blonde loveliness and utterly black eyes. Red tattooing extended from the sides of her eyes, curving up beneath her platinum hair and racing down her neck over her collarbones beneath her beige dress. Her partner was Lars Kurs, tall and lithe like a skiing champion and tattooed nearly as much as she was. The duo were stunning; their tattooing a Furie’s badge of battle-prowess, and both grinned at Layla as they arrived.
“Off to the Dragon party?” Lars rumbled in his pleasant baritone, effortlessly genial.
“I hear it’s going to be arager.” Jenna laughed at her joke – that Dragons had tempers. Though Furies had tempers also, and had become famous for it in human legend. Living in the Twilight Realm, Layla had found a lot of truths humans had picked up about the Twilight Lineages they called fae and shape-shifters, gods and demigods. All of them came from the Twilight Realm – from Furies and Valkyries, to Phoenixes and Satyrs and all manner of celestial or viciously demonic creatures.
Including Dragons – shape-shifting humans who could actually take the form of those powerful, mythical beasts.
“Does everyone know about this party except me?” Layla lifted an eyebrow at Dusk.
He chuckled, then beckoned. “I’ll fill you in as we get ready. Jenna; Lars – you have the helm. Shift change in the morning will be Kiva and Bhern.”
Jenna and Lars nodded like twinsies, and then Layla and Dusk were moving out from behind the desk and up the crimson-carpeted French Baroque grand staircase to the second level. Layla frowned as they ascended the enormous curved double-staircase, glancing to Dusk as they passed a set of cream silk banners with the house emblem – the crimson ‘R’ in a stylized script inside a golden crown.
“I thought you and I are on the desk Saturdays?”
“I switched up the rotation tomorrow also,” Dusk gave Layla a knowing glance. “You’ll want to sleep in after a Dragon party.”
“That much fun?” Layla grinned as they reached the landing.
“To say it may be a rager is probably an understatement.” Dusk eyeballed her, though his smooth lips held a dark humor. “Adam’s tasting of you is only the start, Layla. Everyone wants to meet the Royal Dragon Bind. And Adrian and Adam won’t be the only Royal Dragons in the house.”
“Shit.” Layla glanced at Dusk as her stomach sank. “What am I in for tonight, Dusk?”
“Far more than you know.” But Dusk’s smile was kind as he extended his arm like a gentleman to escort her down the hall. “Come on. Let’s get you ready to meet some Dragons.”
CHAPTER 2 – SOLUTIONS
Crystal chandeliers stretched in either direction as Layla and Dusk moved up the stairs, ballrooms and guest suites branching off long marble halls gilded with mythical beasts. Reaching the third level where staff apartments were, the Hotel’s opulence was unmarred by the autumnal delights consuming the halls below. Though decadent with French Baroque details, the Twilight Realm had differences from the human world; a near-realm where events in one world could influence the other, and had in the case of the Palace of Versailles.
A Crystal Dragon King named Lorenz DuVir had originally conceived the Palace. His build in the Twilight Realm had influenced the dreams of King Louis XIV of France through a resonance between the Realms. And though King DuVir lost this original palace during a blood-feud in 1690 to the Czech Crystal Dragons, which was then sold to the Red Letter Hotel, this structure retained the true designer’s lust for decadence.
Enormous blue and white Ming vases dripped with lace-hair ferns; ornate gilded chaises decorated every vaulted alcove. Beneath atriums of stained glass, Layla looked up to see a starry night sky made from glass, then a vivid sunset over a Persian garden decorated with peacocks and birds of paradise. Frescoes surrounded her of fae out for fox-hunts, lounging in hot-pools, and engaged in an orgy in a colonnaded Greek temple – King DuVir’s famed appetites reflected in glass and gilding.
Reaching Layla’s apartment, she touched one handle of the gilded double-doors and pushed in. Decorated in French Baroque style, Layla’s apartment featured dragons of her Lineage snarling from every picture-frame and rug – even a massive winged dragon roaring above the stone fireplace. Kicking off her heels and inviting Dusk to her small gilded breakfast table, Layla poured two bourbons from a collection of crystal decanters. Passing one tumbler to Dusk, they clinked and drank, as they occasionally did after shift these past few weeks.
Stepping to her phone on a side-table, Layla checked for texts. Seeing one from her ex-boyfriend Luke Murphy, she smiled. Two months ago, Luke had almost died from an accident Layla caused when her Dragon-magic had suddenly attacked him. Now he knew about the Twilight Realm and about Layla being a Dragon. He’d told the rest of Layla’s housemates in Seattle, and now all of them texted constantly, wanting to know how her strange new life was going.
They’d signed a non-disclosure agreement, to not blab about the Twilight Realm or the Hotel, and Layla had received special permission to use a magically-secure cell phone from Concierge Services to call them once a week. Though her life had changed, her friends in Seattle weren’t about to let her go – and she wasn’t about to let them go, either.
Layla heard Dusk clear his throat and she looked up, seeing him watch her with a subtle gleam in his summer-blue eyes. “Don’t you want to hear about the Dragon party, Layla?”
“Sorry.” She put the phone back on the charging station. “I just like checking what my housemates have written when I get off work.”
“Your friends in Seattle really miss you, don’t they?” Dusk’s smile was sincere; kind.
“I miss them, too.” Layla sank into one of the cobalt and gold brocaded chairs at her breakfast table. Dusk pulled another out and angled it so they sat facing each other.
“And how is Luke?” Dusk asked as he took up his bourbon and sipped. Dusk had stabilized Luke back in September when Layla’s Dragon-magic had nearly killed Luke from judging him an inferior mate. Layla hadn’t been wearing her hamsa-cuff to control her magics and Luke had paid the price. Dusk’s fast, selfless actions had kept Luke alive long enough for the paramedics to arrive. It was Dusk’s credo to solve problems for people and earn their friendship, and he’d more than earned Layla’s friendship that night.
“Better,” Layla nodded, setting her bourbon on the table. “Luke’s made a full recovery from his injuries. He just has to be careful for a while. Not hard for him: he’s a health-nut. He’s already on six different supplements to repair the damage my magic did.”
“Good.” Dusk chuckled, then lifted a dark eyebrow at Layla, a wave of oilslick iridescence passing through his artfully-sculpted hair. “I might just have left some healing vibrations inside his body when I helped stabilize him. He should make a fast recovery.”
“He has actually,” Layla smiled, grateful for Dusk’s strange vibrational abilities as a Crystal Dragon. “He’s healing five times faster than the doctors expected. He’s already back in Crossfit; has been for weeks. You did a wonder for him, Dusk. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“Just buy me a bottle of good bourbon. This is excellent stuff, whatever you have in here.” Dusk grinned as he raised his glass and sipped again.
“Ex-bartender’s secret,” Layla grinned back. “What’s in my decanters is between me and Rake André – he gets it for me in New Orleans when he’s out shopping for unique mixers. And don’t you dare try to wrangle the name out of him.”
