“The Bind’s one hell of an atom-bomb, that’s for sure, now that Fury’s in the mix.” Dusk frowned now, darkly thoughtful. “I feel him in my veins daily, even all the way at the Crystal Plateau. He’s one hell of a powerhouse, Layla, and sometimes I feel like we haven’t even seen the half of it. It’s a good thing Fury has a poet’s soul, because if he was a warlord… I think he’d be nearly unstoppable. We’ve all leveled-up from the roar of Fury’s power running through our veins now. I wish you could feel it.”
“Once I get my drakaina back, I will.” Layla spoke solidly, though she didn’t feel as certain as she sounded. “But Rake seems to think I have something Hunter doesn’t, which might be used against him once I get my power back.”
“It’s a sound theory.” Dusk nodded, lifting an eyebrow at her. “Why else would he be pursuing you so hard? Maybe if we got your power back on and find out what that thing is, we could figure out how to bring him down with it.”
“Maybe.” Layla nodded, cradling her drink and feeling grateful Dusk was here to be her sounding-board.
“What about the other points you discovered,” Dusk prompted, “about why you’ve locked up your Dragon?”
“Those are the only two points that came clear during my final meditation.” Layla spoke, her turn to frown now. “I know there’s more, but I still don’t understand them well enough to say anything about them.”
“Still subconscious.” Dusk commented, though his gaze was alert.
“Yeah. Mostly.” Layla hedged around the topic now, not wanting to tell him about her final meditation with Rake when she’d felt that incredible wave of love for Hunter. Deep inside, Layla’s drakaina roiled in her veins again, and conflict surged in Layla. She actually felt her conflict shove her drakaina back down this time, and Layla frowned. She could feel herself suppressing her magic now, but couldn’t figure out how she was doing it.
Nor the final reasons why.
“Do you think it’s possible to get my drakaina back, Dusk?” She asked abruptly.
“I think maybe it’s going to take a fuck-ton of soul-searching,” he spoke back with no bullshit as he watched her with his lovely sapphire eyes, “but I do think it’s possible. Will you have to go through some serious discomfort to face what’s going on inside you? Probably. Is it going to be a real pain in the ass? I’m betting on definitely. But will it be worth it? Only you can decide that, Layla. Only you can decide if having your magic back is better for your life than living without it.”
“Is living with your magic better than being without it?” Layla asked.
“There are plenty of times in my life when I wished I didn’t have magic.” Dusk smiled kindly. “But mine’s never been easy to lock away, Layla. Fury went crazy dividing his human side from his beast self to try and deal with its power, and you can see how well that went. Our power is meant to be an integrated part of us. But your logical self is warring right now with your animal instinct, Layla. And right now… your logical self is strong enough to lock up your instincts. So much so, that none of them are available. Personally, I need both in my life. My logical human mind gives me important information about people, but often my Dragon’s instincts are where the real magic happens, if you will.”
“Well put.” Layla smiled, lifting her glass to him.
“Thank you.” Dusk smiled back, lifting his drink to her before they both sipped.
“So my logical human mind doesn’t want to deal with the things my Dragon’s instincts are feeling.” Layla mused, setting her drink down upon the table.
“What was it you felt when you did your meditations with Rake?” Dusk asked.
“Horror.” Layla spoke promptly. “I was horrified that my power had gotten so strong and had… burned Hunter like it did.”
“Horror that your power had gotten that strong,” Dusk countered with a deep knowing now, “or horror that you burned Hunter?”
“Both.” Layla answered softly, feeling her drakaina roil deep inside her again. “I think I feel… sympathy for him. Is that bad?”
“Stockholm syndrome is a real thing.” Dusk spoke carefully now, watching her like a hawk. “Hunter has abducted you on multiple occasions, Layla. Talking to you, convincing you to see his side of things. He’s not been vicious with you, but he has been with everyone else. It doesn’t take a genius to understand he’s been wooing you. Though whether his final aims with you are romantic, I couldn’t rightly say. Either way you slice this peach, it’s rotten. Either he wants you, or he wants to use you. And sweet-talking you like he has been serves his purposes either way.”
“You think he wants me?” Layla blinked, even as her drakaina gave a deep roil inside her.
“He wants something.” Dusk spoke very carefully now, a hot diamond anger in his sapphire gaze, though it wasn’t for Layla. “And I’m inclined to not give it to him, Layla. If he wants you to come be his mate or some bullshit like that, you can be damn well sure I will fight to the death to make certain it doesn’t happen. Hunter can go fuck himself. But he sure as hell isn’t going to be fucking you. Unless it’s over my very-dead Dragon corpse. And even then, he’d better make sure to melt my remains because my spirit will definitely be coming back to haunt his ass.”
“My chivalrous Royal Crystal Dragon.” Layla smiled at him, though something deep inside her was uneasy at his words.
“Chivalry has nothing to do with it.” Dusk spoke possessively, anger still in his gaze. “And I’m Crystal Dragon King now, not just any Royal. So if Hunter wants to come for you, he’s going to get a very nasty surprise with everything I can throw at him.”
It was a reminder to Layla how much Dusk had changed since becoming Crystal Dragon King as he stared her down, a hot wave of diamond-sapphire light flowing through his hair and scaled ridges. In some ways he was still the old Dusk, with a beaming smile and a big heart for everyone. But even without her Dragon-magic and her Bind to him open, Layla could feel how he was changing. Being in charge of a Lineage was maturing him in his depth, his righteousness, and his decisiveness to protect the things he held dear. Dusk had always been protective of Layla but now he was thrice that as she felt him bristle across the table with a rumble of power through the jet.
Dusk reigned in his power, but even so, Layla could still feel his vast rage at Hunter just under the surface. This last battle had been a close call for all of them. But even as she had that thought, she felt the jet suddenly begin descending. Stunned and thinking the flight would have taken far longer, Layla glanced out the jet’s window, seeing the broad blue Caribbean Sea far below. They’d been flying through the Twilight Realm, but as they descended towards a forested island below, Layla saw the flash of light and felt the disorientation of passing into the human world.
Blinking back to Dusk, Layla’s gaze was incredulous. “Is that Antigua? And how the hell did we fly here so fast?”
“The Intercessoria might just have upped the oomph of Adrian’s jet with a few little tricks since our last fight with Hunter,” Dusk smiled slyly as he lifted an eyebrow at her. “You know, to get us out of trouble quickly. Can you blame me for abusing it to get us to our vacation faster?”
“You rascal!” Layla grinned, shaking her head at him with a laugh. “Heathren Merkami is going to kick your ass the next time he sees you. And we passed through a portal – are we going to a resort on Antigua in the human world?”
