Sitting amidst those artful corals was a tall man with short silver hair like Atlantos. Though still upright, King Léviathan Durant had an aged stoop to his strong, lean shoulders. Hands as gnarled as his throne’s corals betrayed severe arthritis, and as Layla watched him rise, she saw how time had weathered Reginald’s father. His extreme stiffness made him inhale with pain as he came to standing. Wearing an elegant robe of pearl-grey velvet, his garb was like a knight from the Middle Ages, belted at the waist with a woven swath of pearls and diamonds. The tunic’s long sleeves partially obscured his misshapen hands with their platinum pearl and diamond rings.
Though nothing could hide his greatly advanced age.
Layla had never seen a Dragon so old. She had thought Queen Justine Toulet of the Storm Dragons or King Falliro Arini of the Phoenix had been the oldest she’d ever meet besides Hunter. But gazing upon King Léviathan Durant now, she knew she’d been mistaken. A feel of numerous millennia spilled from King Durant, even though he’d only sat on his throne a few hundred years. But it was clear the ancient Battle-Lord had survived the ages not just from skill but also brute power, protecting the Morregain Queens and consolidating their empire for generations.
Until it had been his turn to rule.
He was still sharp. King Léviathan’s piercing white-blue eyes missed nothing as Reginald and Layla approached. Arctic as a high-north sky, the elderly Siren King’s eyes were neither furious nor impressed as he watched them come. Léviathan Durant had no gold in his aged silver hair, his chiseled face deeply lined. As Layla and Reginald arrived at the low dais, Léviathan’s haughty bone structure reminded Layla more of the dead Bastien rather than the impressively beautiful Leni or Reginald. With a blink, Layla realized Reginald and Leni looked like their mother – the rest of the siblings sharing more of Léviathan’s intense, calculating features.
“Royal Dragon Bind.” King Léviathan Durant spoke in a voice that smoothed with every harmony of the tides, though it also rasped with time. “Be welcome in our halls.”
“King Léviathan Durant. I give you my thanks.” Knowing niceties were prime currency here, Layla used her Courtesan’s grace, sinking into a deep curtsey at Reginald’s side. Though she kept a hand on his arm, Layla practically dipped her ass all the way to the pearl-encrusted floor, though it was not as elegant in her casual clothes as it would have been in an evening gown. Staying down for a ten-count, she took a deep breath as she held her bow to the Siren King.
The smallest smile quirked King Léviathan’s lips as she straightened. But rather than a warm smile, it was judgemental and cold as he beckoned Reginald to approach the throne with Layla. As Layla mounted the steps of the dais upon Reginald’s arm, the Siren King watched her. Watched them both, as Reginald presented Layla before his father with a tight nod. That cold smile quirked Léviathan’s lips more – not pleased. His arctic blue eyes were actually ice-white with a ring of intense blue around them, Layla saw now that she was closer. But those eyes did not thaw upon his youngest son, nor upon Layla, as they stood before him.
“Father. May I present Ms. Layla Price of the Desert Dragons of Morocco and the Mediterranean. The Royal Dragon Bind.” Reginald spoke archly, and Layla could feel stiffness all through him as he introduced her. It wasn’t nervousness or anger, more like a tight forbidding as if Reginald already knew how this meeting would go.
And it wasn’t going to go well, no matter what he or Layla did.
“I know who she is, my son.” Léviathan Durant spoke, watching Layla with coldly assessing quietude, his flowing voice only a bare murmur for her and Reginald’s ears. “I would know the feel of a Royal Dragon Bind even in the blackest waters of the Marianas Trench.”
A shiver moved through Layla as King Léviathan spoke. As he mentioned black waters and trenches, she could suddenly feel those places in the deeps of the sea. A devouring sensation swirled through her, and though she had a feeling Léviathan wasn’t actively using his magics, he was simply that powerful. Like the late Storm Dragon Queen, Léviathan Durant had a tremendous maturity, and with it came outstanding power.
A power no-one had yet been able to match, not even his own sons.
But even as Layla shivered to feel King Léviathan’s deep magic, she also felt a wash of sun-capped whitewater pour through her, banishing the King’s deeps. Standing tall before his father, Reginald had pushed back his father’s power with a rush of his own, and Layla suddenly understood why people said Reginald was the heir-apparent. Facing his father, Reginald had no fear, only a ready resistance; and Layla saw knowledge shining in the eyes of both father and son that Reginald would be the one to eventually replace King Léviathan upon the Siren throne.
But Reginald was the prodigal son – and Layla saw that knowledge in his father’s eyes also as those cold blue orbs swung back to his youngest child.
“Show me the Bind.” Léviathan spoke quietly, watching Reginald.
Layla saw Reginald startle as his golden brows knit. “I don’t understand what you’re asking, my King.”
“If you are Bound to this woman, this outlander Desert Dragon from far away shoals, then show me.” The King commanded again quietly, though his eyes were blue iron. “Show me the tides that Bind. Show me the magic. Show me how your heart was captured by her floes, my son. And I shall give you my approval to be with her.”
Layla frowned as she felt Reginald do the same. His fingers clenched upon her hand, and that one small movement let Layla know Reginald had not expected this challenge – and was uncertain where this conversation was going now.
“The Bind doesn’t work that way, my King.” Reginald spoke formally. “It’s not something a person can see. Not like a wedding-choker or a bracelet.”
“She wears your first love’s pearls,” Léviathan gestured to Layla’s jewelry with something dangerous creeping into his arctic eyes now. “So show me how she captured my strongestsirion, and I will acquiesce to your union.”
“We do not seek to marry, father.” Reginald spoke low now, a hard edge flashing in his grey-blue eyes. “We are Bound. It is different.”
“You could have any number of whores and darlings,” Léviathan growled now, like a pounding of rocky shoals in a slow-building storm. “And indeed, have had at your Hotel for many years. If she is different than the rest of your conquests, then show me the difference. If she has truly won your affection, my youngestsirion, I wish to see the proof.”
“There is no proof,alteno.” Reginald snarled back now with a cutting intensity as he lost patience with his father’s games. Reginald’s nasty rebuke was low enough that no one in the hall could hear, but Layla felt his power flood her as he narrowed his eyes on his King. “Our Bind has no heart-strings I can show you. I told you, it doesn’t work that way. You have never been Bound, and cannot understand.”
“But this is the woman for which you killed your brother Bastien, your own flesh and blood and your Clan Second.” Léviathan’s gaze swung back to Layla, vastly chilly now. “If you cannot give me proof of your union, then give me other proof. Let me see her Bind in action. Let me see her Bind another of your brothers, right here, right now. They are handsome, they are wealthy and powerful. Let her Bind one more of my sons before my eyes and turn them into slaves to her will – and I will give you my blessing to be with one another.”
Layla’s guts gripped as she finally saw the catch-22 of this whole shebang. She understood now why Reginald had never invited her to visit – because he’d known it would go badly with dear old dad. But even though Reginald had known his father wasn’t going to approve of their Bind come hell or high water, he’d not known his father was going to pull such a cruel trick. As Reginald’s lips fell open, his eyes going a furious ice-blue as he stared his father down, Layla’s Dragon rose up inside her with a wash of charred bourbon-orange scent like Christmas on fire.
Hijacking her mouth.
“No.”
“Excuse me?” The Siren King’s cold blue gaze swung to her as Reginald glanced to her also, eyebrows raised in surprise.
“I said no.” Layla spoke again, lowering her chin and giving the Siren King the full force of her furious gold-green Dragon gaze. “I won’t dance for you like a puppet. I won’t Bind someone to appease this sick power game you have going to wrangle your headstrong youngest son back under your old, arthritic fins. Binding someone is not something I do lightly, because with it comes a bond of love and understanding so deep, you couldn’t evenfathomit in the depths of your fucking underwater trenches. Reginald doesn’t need manipulative shit from you; you’re hisfather. Love your son or hate him, but he is who he is. And I like who he is. More than like – I love who he is. Grow a pair and see him as the man he is… or get out of his way, old drake.”
