“Watch it, Jessup. She’s Adrian’s.” Adam spoke with a sly grin as he took a sip of water.
“Adrian!” A look of terror suddenly washed over Jessup’s handsome face. He flushed across his high cheekbones and when he spoke again, it was with a very professional courtesy. “Forgive me, Ms. Price. If I had known you were Adrian’s, I never would have—”
“It’s fine.” Layla held up a hand, forestalling Jessup’s cute blustering. He was flushing so hard he looked like he might just crawl underneath the bar, and it was damn adorable. Layla realized he was young for a Twilight Realm person, probably no more than twenty-five, and still had that sprightly embarrassment of youth. “Adrian doesn’t own me. He and I are complicated, that’s all.”
“Welcome to the Gypsun Quarter, whereeverythingis complicated.” With a grin, Adam raised his water in a toast. “And welcome to the City of Julis. You think Paris is eccentric? The City of Julis is thrice as decadent, and far more fun.”
CHAPTER 17 – ADAM
Adam ordered dinner at Marnet’s bar, requesting whatever the heavenly smell was issuing from the kitchen plus desert. Their food arrived promptly, personally delivered by Marnet with a wink and a twirl of one waxed mustachio. A delicious-looking stew of red wine and beef so expertly cooked it was falling off the bone, the meal was accented by sprigs of rosemary, thyme, and a fragrant purple peppercorn. Jessup brought them two glasses of Marnet’s best bourbon, plus something called agin-lemon fizzfor Adam as Layla set her spoon to the heavenly broth and began to eat.
“A gin-lemon fizz?” Layla lifted an eyebrow at Adam as she dug into the tender beef. “Is that like a Sloe Gin Fizz?”
“No, it’s a Tom Collins.” He grinned at her as he began to eat also. “They don’t know my favorite drink by that name here in the Twilight Realm, except at the Hotel.”
“I met someone recently in Seattle who said a Tom Collins was their favorite drink.” Pausing her meal, Layla frowned at Adam. “You sure that wasn’t you in disguise?”
Adam blinked at her, confused though he was still smiling as he set down his spoon. “You know I can’t visage-shift, Layla. Ask anyone in the clan. If you met someone in Seattle who loves the same drink I do, I’m sure it’s just blind coincidence. Unless it was Adrian, imitating one of my habits for an alter-persona.”
“No, it couldn’t have been him,” Layla shook her head as their drinks arrived. Jessup handed her bourbon over with a handsome smile, then whisked away to another group. Layla watched him go as she sipped her drink, a fabulously smooth bourbon though not as good as Rake’s secret sauce. The atmosphere was high inside the bar now, like someone had spiked the air with uppers. Bawdy singing had begun outside on the porch and people were dancing in ecstatic frenzy to the band’s music, laughing gregariously. The bar held a wildly happy intoxication and as Jessup passed by again, Layla felt a bold yet innocent aura pouring out of him – whirling that happy frenzy higher. He sang under his breath as he mixed drinks, an enormous smile on his face as if he was loving every moment of wildness inside the establishment.
He winked at Layla as he passed by again, delivering a tray of drinks to the end of the bar, apparently no longer concerned about Adrian.
“Jessup is just sunshine in a bottle, isn’t he?” Layla laughed, watching their cute bartender.
“Not always.” Adam gave her a knowing glance over his bourbon. “Wait until the music changes later. You’ll find no higher highs and no sadder woes anyplace else on earth than inside a Gypsun bar.”
“Gypsun? Is that Jessup’s Lineage, and Marnet’s?” She asked Adam, glancing at him.
“Jessup and Marnet areTempesti gypsonii,Gypsun Tempests.” Adam smiled at her genially as he swirled his bourbon, then tucked into his stew also, blowing on the spoon. “Most of the people who live in this Quarter of Julis are. They’re part of the Tempest Lineages, which include Furies and Valkyries. Gypsun Tempests are the most mild-mannered of the Tempests, though. They love the arts; music, song, cooking, dance, painting – any profession where they can channel their emotions into creativity and help others emote. And they tend to wander like the human Romani, with which they’ve historically interbred. Of all the Tempest breeds, only the Gypsun have the additional abilities of being Seers. In highly intense emotional states, they can talk to the dead, communicate with non-physical entities in the demonic or higher realms. Though that’s a fairly rare ability.”
“So do people come to this bar so they can emote?” Everyone was having a heady, ecstatic time as the band struck up another fast tune by the fireplace.
“Damn straight.” Adam grinned, tracking Layla’s gaze to the enthusiastic band. “Why do you think Adrian and I come here? Because when our emotions come out here, we don’t need to apologize for them. Laughter, tears, ecstasy – nothing is forbidden in the Gypsun Quarter of Julis.”
As if on cue, the music suddenly changed. The energy inside the bar became deliciously moody as the musicians began playing a darkly sexual song with a rhythm like a Spanish flamenco. As if a spinning top had clattered over, Layla felt it sweep up the bar’s frenzy and cast it out through the open windows with a curl of night-breeze. She instantly relaxed as the lights turned low and dancers took the floor, beginning an intimate partner dance very much like the flamenco.
Layla watched as she and Adam ate, feeling her veins heat with fire. Like the blaze that roared in the river-stone hearth, her Dragon began to stir inside her with a sweet-bold heat. Smoke curled through the bar, teased by the October breeze, and Layla breathed deep of intensely sexual scents now issuing from couples kissing in booths all around. It was moody and divine, and Layla drew a deep inhalation, enjoying the atmosphere more than opium. Turning to Adam, whom she could feel watching her as she devoured the bar’s change, she gestured with her bourbon.
“You know what this is doing to me, don’t you?”
“It’s not just you.” He smiled rakishly, something darkly pleased in it as his hunter-green irises flashed in the Tiffany lights. “Look around. This is what a world of magic feels like, Layla. The highs, the lows, the intensity of it is more than you could have ever dreamed in the human world. The Hotel provides exquisite experiences, but for someone raised human, simply living in a city like Julis is experience enough.”
“So why did you really bring me here?” Layla asked, setting her drink aside as the music changed to a mournful tune that dug her heart from her chest and ate it raw.
“Because this is the kind of place Adrian wouldn’t know to show you.” Adam turned towards her on his barstool, his gaze deep with his inner persona now as he set down his spoon and pushed his meal away. “It’s the kind of visceral experience Adrian forgets about the Twilight Realm – a place where a Dragon can feel everything we are, safely. Can feel it and accept that sex and blood and battle run in our veins. Dragons are carnal creatures, Layla. Moreso than almost any other Lineage. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you’ll accept yourself. Because I know you don’t yet. And if you’re going to control your magic, you need to accept that your passions and rages are simply what you feel – and that they’re ok. That they’re a part of you. Something to be embraced, not rallied against. To let wash over you like the music in a Gypsun bar, rather than fight so damn hard.”
Layla took an inhalation, surprised that Adam could read her so well, yet not surprised. Like Dusk, Adam seemed immensely intuitive in his deep inner persona, though he covered it with his daily charade. She found herself impressed by his frankness and also challenged by it. When the mournful Gypsun chanteuse began a new song, Layla sobered. She’d never been comfortable with the passion that lived inside her. Her volcanic temper had been a hard thing when she was young, with too many tough lessons. Fire roared in Layla’s veins and it always had. She knew that now, but it hadn’t made life any easier.
“I’ve always felt it,” she murmured, taking up her drink for comfort. “The blood and battle inside me. The passion.”
“We all do.” Adam’s dark gaze was kind, but he didn’t try to console her. “Even for Dragons raised around magic, sometimes their true abilities don’t open up until late. For younglings with no magical outlet for their temper and passion, it can be a wild, tough ride.”
“But you opened up early.”
“I did, but only because of dire circumstance.” Adam’s gaze was level, holding hers with deep emotion. “Dusk was the same. Adrian didn’t see his family killed in front of him like Dusk and I, but his parents nearly tore each other apart from fighting, which is worse in some ways. It caused him to open young to his magics also. Living our life is hard, Layla. Mimi tried to save you from that by taking you to the human world. She thought it would protect you. But now you’ve hit your late twenties with a total naïveté about your own urges. Which is why I decided to bring you here – so you can see you’re not alone in your frustrations and the epic emotions your magic brings.”
“Epic emotions.” Layla snorted, swirling her bourbon. “That sounds about right.”
