“Through the earth,” Adrian nodded. “But it’s a rare Royal Crystal Dragon talent, and he can only do it with much time and energy spent, and thoroughly knowing the vibration of the person he wishes to transport. Are you ready?”
Was she ready? Layla’s answer wasno.She wasn’t ready for this. She hadn’t been ready to have her friends get abducted by the Crimson Circle. She hadn’t been ready to face not knowing if they were alive or dead. She wasn’t ready if it happened to Dusk, or Reginald, Rikyava, or Adrian. Rake André had been harmed in whatever had happened tonight. So had little Amalia DuFane and her friends Jenna and Lars from Concierge Services. Adrian and Dusk’s plans to get her here tonight and keep her safe from the Crimson Circle had resulted in other people getting hurt.
The message was clear: if their enemies couldn’t get to Adrian or Layla, they would get to anyone they could.
“What are we going to do?” Layla whispered, glancing up at Adrian, knowing her eyes were still too wide as that terrible blackness roared deep inside her.
“Whatever we can.” Adrian spoke with a dire calm, as he smoothed his hands over her shoulders.
CHAPTER 10 – SHATTER
Adrian led Layla to a small patch of rose quartz on top of the dune that she’d missed in the suddenness of her arrival, a two-by-two foot flagstone partially covered by red sand. They stood upon it, and as he pulled her close in his arms, a similar vibration as when she’d arrived thundered through the air. The patch of crystal they stood upon shivered, the dune’s sand sloughing away in waves until a clear crystal cocoon shuddered up around them, sealing her and Adrian in. The whole thing vibrated like a wailing banshee, but Layla wasn’t panicked this time. In a flash, she felt like she was sucked into the earth and hurtled through it, her ears popping – before she and Adrian surged back up inside the pool of the crystal bath-house.
Plumes of water jetted up around them, sloshing back as the crystal cocoon shattered, the shards quickly reabsorbed into the pool’s floor beneath the water. Dusk was waiting for them inside the bath-house, and as they made eye contact, Layla saw how disheveled he was. His tie from the night before was askew, his shirt half-unbuttoned, his immaculate dark hair mussed like he’d been raking his hands through it all night.
Blood stained one French cuff of his shirt.
As Layla and Adrian arrived, his eyes raked them quickly, and seeing they had robes, he put aside the one he was holding for Layla, taking up a pile of clothes instead. As Adrian helped Layla rinse colored dust from her body, doing the same himself, Dusk stepped in with their clothing.
“Dammit, Adrian!” Dusk cussed as he handed over a pile of clothes to Layla and then one to Adrian, his sapphire eyes flashing fury. “You shouldn’t be here. I told you that you could help handle this from a distance, safe at Riad Rhakvir.”
“Layla needs me here.” Adrian growled back, tense but with a readiness about him. “It’s not a move I make lightly, Dusk. But if the Crimson Circle’s agents see me, it will let them know we’re not afraid.”
“It’s not just your own life you’re placing in danger. My god! Do I have to spell it out for you, Adrian?” Dusk had stepped up beside Adrian, growling so low he made the floor of the bath-house shudder beneath their feet. High above, the crystal dome rattled as Dusk ripped a hand through his hair, a hard wave of light refracting through his midnight-scaled ridges. “You always do this! Thinking only about yourself, not considering the whole network of people who will be affected by your actions! And now it falls to me to clean up your bullshit – again!”
Dusk was working himself into a fury, trembling with a vicious vibration like a porcupine on the defense. Waves of light refracted through his scales and hair now, and the cutting intensity of it made Layla’s eyes widen. Her Dragon was fully alert, watching Dusk with a coiled wariness. Layla could feel her power trying to decide between snapping at him in his unbridled wrath or trying to reach out and soothe him.
“Dusk! Easy!” Adrian made a soothing gesture, reaching out to Dusk with his magic in a calming wind. But Dusk wasn’t having it, throwing up one palm with a surge in his growling intensity that actually thrust ruby crystals into the air now. Layla had never seen him do that, and it shocked her into stepping back a pace – her hands coming up automatically in a protective gesture to form a shield-wall.
Dusk saw her step into her sudden defensive posture, still naked, and something in him broke. Stepping away from her and Adrian, he moved to the waterfall that poured down one crystal wall of the bath-house. Turning away from them and setting both palms against the crystal so they were immersed in the waterfall’s flow, he hung his head and Layla heard him breathe deeply, trying to get his shit under control. Gradually, the spearing nimbus of power around him disappeared, as the refractions flowing down the back of his neck slowed.
“Dusk? Are you alright?” Adrian’s voice was low and careful as Dusk’s shuddering quieted.
“No.” Dusk didn’t turn around, and Layla heard him let out a long, slow breath. “You just don’tthink, Adrian. You plot and plan, but you don’tthink. Layla’s friends weremy responsibilitywhile they were here! Their safety is my responsibility. This whole damn Hotel’s safety and everyone in it is my responsibility! Because of our plans to make Layla a Courtesan to infiltrate the Crimson Circle – which she and I are doing foryou, Adrian – people got hurt. Rake and Amalia, Jenna and Lars! Because you can’t ever keep a fucking low profile and not poke the bear, our friends arein the fucking infirmaryand Layla’s have been abducted! I’m trying, Adrian, God knows I am. I amreallytrying to keep all this shit together. For you. For Layla. For us.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Adrian’s words were soft, and as Layla glanced at him, she saw tenderness in his face. Adrian rarely apologized for anything and she saw Dusk respond to it, straightening with a hard sigh though he still didn’t look around. Despite how much the two adopted brothers fought, despite how much they railed against each other, Layla suddenly saw the truth shining in Adrian’s eyes as he moved to Dusk. Adrian’s brother meant more to him than anything, and Layla heard it with the words Adrian spoke next. “I know how hard all this is for you, Dusk. I know what you’re sacrificing to keep us all safe.”
“Do you? Because it just might make us all significantly less safe. Sooner than later.” Fury was hot in Dusk’s eyes as he turned, setting his hands to his hips and staring Adrian down. His words were cryptic, and though Layla didn’t understand them, when his tormented gaze flicked to her, there was so much hurt in his eyes that she stepped towards him. He watched her come, still naked, and she saw his gaze flick over her body as she neared, his eyes disastrously pained.
As Layla reached out, he held up a palm. “Don’t.”
“Tough.” Completing her reach, she took his raised hand, winding her fingers through his. Dusk glanced down at their twined fingers and Layla heard him hitch a hard breath. It wasn’t quite a sob but it wasn’t far from it, and it made alarm race through her all over again. Stepping close, Layla reached her other hand up, stroking her fingers gently through his hair.
“Talk to me, Dusk.” She spoke softly. “What’s going on? I’ve never seen you like this…”
“I couldn’t protect them.” Dusk looked up from their twined hands, giving her the full force of his startlingly blue eyes – all the more vivid for the red that ringed them. As Layla stared up into his handsome, devastated face, a tear blinked from his dark lashes and rolled down his cheek. “I had one job for you… one thing I could do thathecouldn’t.” Dusk nodded his chin at Adrian. “I could protect you, hold your heart. Keep you safe here at the Hotel and keep you happy by bringing your friends here to be with you. But Ifailed, Layla. I failed to keep them safe, and now your heart is broken because ofmy plans. And now there is nothing I can do for you. Do you know how it feels to always be inhisshadow? My own fucking older brother?”
Cupping his cheek, Layla felt the impossible smoothness of Dusk’s skin contrasting with the ridges of serrated scale that began at the end of his high cheekbone, and the soft dark stubble he wore now for winter. Gazing up into his eyes, Layla poured all of her love into her touch, making him feel what she felt for him. It caught Dusk’s breath and his eyes burned white-hot like diamonds as he watched her, though they were still haunted.
“You arenotin his shadow, Dusk,” Layla spoke softly. “Everybody knows it, especially me.”
“Don’t lie to me, Layla.” His snort was awful. “You and I know each other too well for that.”
“Yes, we do. And because you know me, you know I would never lie to you.”
Layla stared Dusk down, not relinquishing their touch, but digging in with the force of her heart and magic. She felt something luminous and golden spear out from her, flooding down her arm into her palm upon his cheek. It startled him, making him blink, his gaze becoming terrible with hope and hurt. Lifting up, Layla set her lips to his. She poured all that golden sensation into their kiss, feeling it flood up from her heart and in through his lips – down into his heart.
Dusk gasped against her lips – and then he was crushing her close in his arms, fierce and tender, kissing her hard as tears slid down his face. And from the combination of his severe exhaustion, his misery, and his fury, he suddenly broke. With a hard shudder, Dusk gasped as he clutched her tight, shivering and shaking.
