A deep shiver passed through Layla as she heard Hunter’s admission that she had devoured his heart. It was no light thing to say; yet as Layla stared at him and felt their Dragons reach out towards each other again with that golden-bright aching, she realized the truth. Hunter was right; he’d changed that day she had tasted his blood upon the little silver knife.
And he’d been changing ever since.
“My Bind-power,” Layla breathed, staring at him as so many things clicked into place. “That day I tasted your blood… my magic tasted your deepest heart’s desire, didn’t it?”
“It did.” Hunter nodded, setting his wine aside before his gaze returned to Layla’s. So many things were in his frank stare, though Layla could feel how well he was controlling his drake from rushing out to her. “You tasted the deepest desire of my heart that day; a desire I didn’t even know I had until you found it. From then on, your power began subtly changing me – exposing my rawest self beneath everything I thought I wanted. Every time we came together, it would show me a little more; change me a little more back towards my original nature. For a while, I stuck to my agenda, telling myself you were only helping me find my own body and face again. But then I realized the truth… and began to regret how I had misused you.”
“You told me once that you had an agenda of world domination through the Royal Dragon Binds,” Layla spoke as they dug into this strangeness between them. “That you wanted me to resurrect Nimir so you and he and Nadia could all be a power trio again, and bring the Binds together to unite the entire Twilight Realm under you. Is that not still true?”
“Yes and no.” Hunter spoke quietly as he regarded her. “That was my original agenda. For tens of thousands of years, everything I did, every way I battled and manipulated and schemed was for that to come to pass – to bring the prophecy of my enemy’s Ascendant to fruition. Many did I push into death and madness, trying to see who had this power to grant mydeepest heart’s desire. When you were born, I felt a golden song in my heart, just as I told you. I knew you were she – the Golden Dragon Bind that Nadia’s Ascendant had spoken of. I thought your birth meant that I was close to gaining what I wanted. I did not expect what actually began to happen… That you would begin to grant mydeepest heart’s desire– without any of the things I thought I needed.”
Hunter’s gaze was deep as he regarded Layla across the table. She felt their Dragon-magics reach out to each other again, and this time both she and Hunter let them, as if both realized it was time. Slowly, Layla felt her drakaina and Hunter’s drake coil around each other in a vast, loving dance. It was so sensual, so beautifully embracing, that Layla went perfectly still, her eyes closed and her head falling back. In that clear space, she could feel the endless dance of the cosmos, the beautiful love of the ether flowing all through Hunter’s dawn-bright scales. She felt it flowing through her drakaina’s also, a luminous gold-white color that shone like a thousand burning suns as it coiled through Hunter’s endless beauty.
And for the first time, Layla realized Hunter’s true name had meaning.
“Orrin.” Her eyes opened, seeing him stare at her with a deep endlessness in his eyes. “Your true name comes from theouroboros, the serpent that devours its tail and never dies.”
“Yes.” Hunter spoke as he gazed at her with a powerful quietude. “For my magic has that endless quality, Layla, the ability to reach out to the stars a thousand times and return, gaining knowledge as it digests itself over and over. But over time, that devouring moved me further and further from my original nature. Each time I created a new persona and let myself be devoured by it, even to the point of being able to use completely different magics, I became more and more lost from myself. Each time I became someone new and devoured a different side of the universal perspective, I forgot how to be myself, and even what that was. I let myself become obsessed by wrath and fury, and by trying to understand the Pattern in the ether so I could manipulate it – and I forgot what my original self was. I became only will and mind with no heart. It was you… who began to find and restore my heart.”
“Do you still want world domination?” Layla breathed, seeing what he was telling her now.
“I don’t know.” Hunter smiled wryly. “It seems a muddled goal to me now… like something I had thought a shining diamond was revealed to be only coal. When I saw you resurrect Fury at Deep Harbor, I was excited for I felt my goals suddenly become achievable. Yet I also had discovered only minutes before that I wasn’t sure I wanted those goals anymore. Not resurrecting Nimir, not reclaiming Nadia, not ruling over the Twilight Realm with the Binds united – not any of them. Through all of our strangely resonant reactions to each other, Layla, I was made a different man. The man I initially was – before darkness devoured my heart.”
“The Orrin before the Hunter.” Layla blinked.
“Don’t you see?” Leaning forward in his chair now, Hunter laced his fingers upon the table. “Your magic is returning mywholeness, Layla. I had thought peace was mydeepest heart’s desire. Everything I have done in my long life was because I wished for peace – between Nadia and I, inside my own self, and throughout all the Binds and the world. But when you tasted my blood, you showed me I was going about getting that peace all wrong – and that what I really needed to do was reclaim all the different parts of myself I’d been losing, and make themwhole. I believe your power somehow Bound me that day, Layla, without either of us knowing it. In a way so subtle even I could not feel it until it began to change me. And I think also… that my power Bound you. Again without my intent or even knowledge it had been done.”
“Why do you believe that?” Layla breathed, feeling a deep shudder inside her as their Dragons coiled through each other again, beautifully content in each other’s presence.
“Because my Bind-magic does not bring those I Bind theirdeepest heart’s desire, not like yours does.” Hunter spoke to her knowingly. “My Bind-magic bringspossibility. The pure, bright possibility of a brand new day. A dawn when anything seems achievable, and the entire self leaps to accomplish the impossible. Over and over, I accomplish the impossible with my power, and so do those I Bind. Just as I have seen you now do… over and over since that night.”
“Accomplishing the impossibleis the core of your Bind-magic.” Layla breathed, seeing all too well how the pattern fit her life since the Dragon-party that night. Taming Adrian had felt impossible, yet she’d done it. Reconciling her Bound trio of herself, Dusk, and Adrian had felt impossible, yet it had happened. Incorporating near-strangers into the Bind, fighting the Crimson Circle, battling the White Chalice and facing off with Reginald’s father and Dusk’s King had felt so impossible they were ridiculous – yet Layla had succeeded. And now she sat here, having a calm conversation with her bitterest enemy, feeling the truth of how he had changed because of her power, which seemed impossible too.
And yet, it was happening.
“You and I are Bound already. Fuck.” Layla breathed as the entire weight of it slammed down upon her. Glancing up, she met Hunter’s gaze. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“It is what it is.” He spoke softly, watching her understand. “You and I are more Bound than we ever could have known, on a deeper level than either of us ever imagined, Layla. If I had not observed my own changes and the resilience with which you beat all odds again and again, I would not have believed it. But feeling our Dragons pull so strongly toward each other at Deep Harbor finally made me understand. I knew… and yet I still cast that vile lance at you. I told myself I had done it to make your power grow yet again. But I really did it… because I was fighting your influence over me.”
“That strike.” Layla blinked, seeing the truth of what Hunter was telling her. “That burning strike was actually supposed to eat away all my Binds to my men, wasn’t it? Including you.”
“Yes. I intended for that lance to disintegrate all your Binds, Layla – including your Bind to me.” Hunter spoke direly now, his gaze penetrating. “It was my own version ofnullaxI wielded at you, from the very depths of my power. I did it because you had Bound me… and I wanted it gone. I wanted to return to my original agenda rather than see my true self once more. I tried to kill our Bind. But I hadn’t counted on the power of your men’s growing Bind-magics to sustain it. I hadn’t counted on all of them wielding what I had given you – the power to do the impossible.”
“Your Bind had changed me enough to pass the ability of doing the impossible to my men.” Layla blinked, floored by everything being revealed. “Your own magic gave us the ability to keep our Binds when you threw yournullaxat us… only mine simply went into hiding because I had things I needed to face about myself.”
“Just so.” Hunter spoke quietly, something awful and beautiful in his dawn-bright gaze. “I tried to kill our Bind, Layla. But you threw it back in my face, not only keeping your Bind to me but all your other Binds also, and coming into the maturity of your power as well. Have you seen your eyes since you returned from speaking with Nadia’s Ascendant, as I feel you have?”
“No.” Layla blinked, suddenly confused. “My eyes? What do you mean?”
“One moment.” Rising from the table, Hunter went inside his cottage, then returned with a small shaving-mirror from the 1800’s. Handing it to Layla, he resumed his seat as she held it up, looking at her reflection.
Her eyes were gold. Previously, her irises had held a ring of gold around the green; but since her time with the Ascendant, her irises had become fully, stunningly gold. It was such a bright color, flooded with white behind it that Layla could hardly look at herself, dazzled by the brightness as if she’d stared at the full noon sun. As she watched herself, amazed, she saw a cascade of white-gold scales rush out from her temples and cheekbones, flooding into her black hair with a wash of gold-white light. As they retreated, gold flushed through Layla’s veins, dazzling through her skin.
Setting the mirror down, she blinked at Hunter, at a complete loss for words.
“Facing yourself has made you come into the maturity of your power, Layla Price,” Hunter spoke gently as he turned the mirror face-down upon the table. “Embracing everything you are – the good, the bad, and the terrible – has made you become the drakaina you were meant to be. You have made peace with how powerful your Dragon is, and how beautiful also. You have embraced it, despite your fears of how I might have manipulated that power.”
“I had to.” Layla stated simply. “I had to be whole.”
