But was made from bones of Dragons.
The arch’s flowing tableaux had been made from aligned femurs, rows of skulls, and cascades of talons and fangs. Its grisly grandeur reminded Layla of the Paris catacombs, and she shuddered as she and Nadia walked up to it. It felt like a gauntlet of doom as hundreds of thousands of dead Dragons snarled down at Layla with their blocky skulls. As they neared, Layla felt the temperature of the air drop thirty degrees, her breath pluming white. She suddenly understood Nadia’s insistence on Dragon-made clothing as she shivered with a deep chill, reaching with determined fangs into her bones. A mist swirled around Layla’s boots now. Beginning at the arch, the mist thickened where the arch gave way to the canyon’s walls beyond, embedded with Dragon-bones. Facing the seething white mist and the arch of bones, Layla felt a terrible shudder take her.
As she stared into the maw of death.
“This is a Dragon bone-yard.” Nadia spoke reverently, halting as she nodded to the towering arch and the swirling wall of mist ahead. “There are only three places like it in the entire Twilight Realm. Though it has no name, it is a place of power for our kind. Dragons come to die here when their lives are spent, and when they do, they commit their magic to the land. The magic of a million or more of our kind imbues this site. It is a place of death, a place of rebirth, and a place of miracles for us. This is where I came in the last of my strength, to pray for a solution to my exhaustion with Orrin’s madness.”
“I thought all Dragons except Crystal Dragons generally turn back to human at death?” Layla asked as she glanced to the bone-arch, delving into the white mist.
“They do.” Nadia spoke as her golden gaze followed Layla’s. “But not here. The magic of our kind is so immense here, imbued into the stone, the air, and everything else, that it prevents the shift back to human. Dragons of all varieties who wish to preserve their majesty in a kind of… immortality… come here to die, and retain their bones. It was an ancient place even when I was young, forgotten by many but held deeply sacred by those who still knew of it.”
“So what now?” Layla asked, glancing to that swirling wall of mist and feeling dread.
“Now you continue on to the sacred center.” Nadia nodded to the arch. “Beyond the mist. And I remain here.”
“I have to go into that alone?” Alarm rushed all through Layla as something deep inside her gave a forbidding shudder. Far within, she felt her Dragon writhe, though it was quickly gone. Neither of them wanted to head in there, and though Layla had known the last step of her journey into the sacred site had to be alone, she balked deeply now.
Dreading going into that mist.
“Alone.” Nadia held Layla’s gaze with dire importance as her blue flames twisted through her fingers. “Every hero has their journey, Layla Price, and at some point that journey must be faced alone. Until now, you have had your men to help and guide you, and your own Dragon’s rages and lusts, and guidance from higher powers who have taken an interest in your fate. But though part of me wishes to show you how to navigate your inner conflict and reclaim your power, the greater part of me knows you must face it alone. No Dragon or angel can hold your hand through this phase of your maturation. Go in. Wander the mists and find what makes youyou… or turn back now, and live your life as human for the rest of your days. Perhaps safe from Orrin’s dire schemes if he gives up on you… but never whole again.”
And just like that, the decision Layla dreaded was thrust in her face. Did she truly want to become a Dragon again? Did she actually want to return to the heat of her power and re-Bind her men and make herself the center of Hunter’s machinations once more? As mostly human now, she couldn’t do whatever Hunter wanted with her power, and thus couldn’t endanger the people she loved. They would be safe from him if he gave up his pursuit.
But as Layla stared into the mist and debated living as human again, some part of her cried out in misery. Deep inside, she felt her drakaina writhe, roaring in heartbreak to even consider never being a part of Layla’s life again. Layla’s drakaina wanted to resurface; she wanted to come out of this terrible dark box Layla had thrust her in when she’d watched her power tear Hunter apart. It was a cold, lonely place down there, and it wasn’t her drakaina’s fault she was in there right now. It was Layla’s own refusal to re-embrace her power that was doing this.
It was her fear of being whole – and facing every part of herself.
“What if I can’t face what I am?” Layla whispered, feeling a dark dread curl all through her. “What if I get in there and I can’t figure out how to be whole, how to accept all the sides of myself I don’t want to see?”
“Then you die in the mists.” Nadia spoke soberly, her voice soft with the terrible import of everything Layla was facing. “And your bones join those who went in there intentionally to die.”
Drawing a deep breath, Layla let it out through pursed lips. All of a sudden, that horrible dread filled her to the brim. It was higher than her terror in Dragon-battles with Hunter. It was higher than when she’d been trapped by King Markus Ambrose, unable to get away. It was higher than when she’d almost killed Luke in Seattle, and it was higher than it had been in every heart-wrenching conflict she’d ever had with her mates. The feeling of destiny and her terror of it coiled up so high inside Layla’s throat that she had to swallow it back down.
Her eyes wide as she glanced back to Nadia.
“Go or do not go.” Nadia spoke to her kindly, as she reached out to clasp Layla’s hand. “But know that you are not alone as you walk the mists. All of Dragon-kind goes with you; with the power you shall find there. It is a blessing for those who seek to understand it. And to understand themselves.”
Nadia’s hand was warm and solid in Layla’s. As they stood together, Layla felt a curl of Nadia’s etheric power swirl with her Dragon-magic, coiling around them both. Layla felt that incredible power brush through her like a steadying hand, pushing back her fear enough so she could breathe. As she inhaled, she felt herself become steadier, though she still felt dread. But it was calmer now, more manageable.
And as Layla turned back to the mist between the arch’s bone-studded walls, she finally felt clear.
“I have to go in.” Layla spoke more to herself than Nadia as she stared at the mist. “I need to know who I am when I’m not pretending to be human, or running away from my Dragon. I need to face my fears, even if those fears go to the core of who I am. I have to become whole and deal with all this shit concerning Hunter… or die trying. Because if I don’t… I’ll never escape him. And I might as well die in there, if that’s the case.”
“Indeed.” Nadia said no more as she gave Layla’s hand a gentle squeeze, then stepped back, leaving Layla to face the mist alone. Nadia’s blue fire flickered behind Layla but Layla’s powers still weren’t open, and she knew that once she crossed beneath the bone-arch and walked into that terrible mist, the blackness of the night would take her. Stars had popped out in the velvet sky far above, but their meager light would be no help in that dense fog. Layla had no clue if it was a straight shot into the center of the sacred grounds or a vast labyrinth she’d have to navigate in those mists.
Dragon-bones snarling out at her all around.
Taking a deep breath, Layla pushed down her fear and squared her shoulders. Lifting her chin, she stared those mists down as if she could burn right through them with Dragon-fire. The first step was the hardest, her feet dragging like lead as her heart thundered in her chest and adrenaline thrilled her veins. But once that was done, the next step was easier, and the one after that.
Until she marched right into the mist.
CHAPTER 22 – LABYRINTH
As Layla was enveloped by mist and darkness in the Dragon bone-yard, she felt a moment of panic. Cold cruelty curled around her, dampening her silken garb and hair, even the plumes of her breath devoured by the mist’s denseness. It was like walking into a void as Nadia’s firelight was stolen away, white mist now turned black by the night coiling all around. Stroking her skin, the mist touched her like a lover’s caress, breathing over her with a dark sensuality in the night. But it was the scariest kind of sensuality as she suddenly found herself terribly alone in that etheric embrace.
Alone – and surrounded by the dead.
Remembering something she’d heard long ago about how to navigate labyrinths, Layla lifted her right hand, setting it to the wall of the narrow canyon. Beneath her fingertips, she felt the solid roughness and smooth contours of Dragon-bones; thousands of them piled atop each other as they jutted from the canyon’s walls. As she moved forward, keeping her touch on the right-hand wall, she imagined their roaring beast-forms surging up around her as she touched them. Passing through, she felt their jewel-tone or fire-bright or sea-dark eyes pin her as she stroked their remains.
