“You were at Mimi’s funeral?” Layla’s head spun, suddenly recalling an older Moroccan man coming up to her and paying his respects. He’d given Layla a jasmine plant in a small cobalt pot. And now that she recalled him, she remembered his eyes and how much they had struck her at the time – incredible aqua eyes that had pierced her with all the colors of the Mediterranean Sea.
Adrian.
“That was you… it was you who gave me the jasmine plant at the funeral…!” Layla breathed, astounded.
“I was there.” Layla saw Adrian’s face soften as he watched her remember him. “I disguised myself and placed that plant in your hands so you would remember me. So that when you saw me again, when you saw my eyes and smelled my scent, we would have a visceral connection that you could remember – and trust.”
“And you’ve been watching me ever since then?” Layla breathed, reeling at the depth of Adrian’s secrets.
“From afar.” Adrian’s eyes were gentle now, imploring. “I had a watch set on you from that moment on. Even though your magic hadn’t opened yet, I was able to get… someone I trust… to fix you in his sights and keep an eye on you.”
“And the gallery?” Layla gaze focused on him; piercing like talons.
“Was pure kismet.” Adrian spoke softly, something beautiful in his eyes now. “I had no idea you would be there, Layla. Really I didn’t. I came to acquire the hamsa-cuff and when I walked in the door I was astounded to find that the artifact had already drawn its intended master right to itself. Talismans have a mind of their own, Layla. This one chose you. And when I stepped in through that door from the street – I knew that destiny could run no other way.”
“You should have told me.” Layla vibrated with heat, her entire body trembling with the intensity of her fury as she held up her left hand and the Moroccan cuff. “When you clapped this thing on my wrist, you should have told me everything.”
“I couldn’t.” Adrian murmured, his gaze intense now. “You didn’t know anything. You thought you were human.”
“So you should havetoldme!”
“Aren’t you listening?!” With a frustrated gesture, Adrian raked a hand through his short dark hair. “I was being tailed that night, and you didn’t even believe in magic! Our meeting was already in peril and if I had told you the truth, you couldn’t have protected yourself if you’d mouthed off to the wrong person that you were Mimi’s child!”
“Excuseme?!” Layla practically screamed it at him, molten heat ripping through her veins. “Mouthed off?!Is that what you think of me? That I’m some mouthy, difficult woman who doesn’t fit into your well-orchestrated schemes, Adrian Rhakvir?”
“I never said that.” Adrian growled, though his eyes held no apology, only burning rage now that was a blistering match to Layla’s own heat. “I only wanted to keep you safe. All these years, I just wanted to keep you safe so that you could—”
But here he cut off abruptly, and Layla felt they had come to the crux of the problem between them. She felt it like a festering wound in the center of their surging magics, like a viperous black pit. The conglomeration of Adrian’s secrets had a deep, dark center, something he didn’t want to tell her.
Something that perhaps he didn’t even want to admit to himself.
“So I couldwhat, Adrian?” Layla growled. “Say what you were going to say or I walk out that door and you’ll never see me again. Truth or bust, bucko. Truth or bust.”
He held her in his simmering gaze for a long moment. Wrath poured from him, searing through the room like a stinging sandstorm. But Layla held firm in that blistering heat, her own beast roaring through her veins that he was trying to bully her, or intimidate her, or get her to back down. She wouldn’t do it, and neither would her Dragon. As Adrian’s power roared, Layla matched it swirl for sting, until she vibrated so hard a growl came from between her set teeth.
Something about that sound startled Adrian. With a swift inhalation, he pulled his magics back, his gaze going from molten to desperate. “Layla, please—”
“No. Spill or I walk.” She growled again, as she trembled from her beast’s inner fury.
He watched her, his beautiful eyes bleak. And then he closed them. As if pulling the last of his temper back with a will, the room around Layla’s simmering power suddenly came to an empty silence. She pulled back as well, using the hamsa-cuff for its intended purpose and pulling all of her heat and fury back inside her wrist – until the mark on her skin seared, though she was more calm now as she watched him.
At last, Adrian opened his eyes, truth shining from them.
“A Royal Dragon Bind is a powerful creature, Layla Price.” He spoke softly. “Mimi Zakir was a resurgence of the Bind Lineage from centuries-dead bloodlines; re-awakened, and in weakened form. But you are a true Royal Dragon Bind, Layla. Your father, whomever he was – and Mimi didn’t know him, he was a one-night stand in Paris – he was a powerful holder of the Bind Lineage in his bloodline, maybe even a true Royal Dragon Bind, unknown to the world. And though no-one has seen or heard of him since, you are the product of their union, a strengthening and solidifying of the Bind Lineage.”
But here he hesitated again, and Layla knew he was holding back the worst of it.
“Go on.” She spoke coldly, crossing her arms at her chest.
“There are a thousand talismans that could have marked a Royal Dragon Bind and opened you to your magics,” Adrian continued with a sigh, holding her gaze though a bleak woe was in his eyes now. “A thousand talismans kept in private collections all around the world, that could have made their way to you somehow and claimed you. But there was only one talisman spoke of in lore, that did what I needed it to do. Only one talisman ever made… that could Bind a Bind. And that one found you even before I found it.”
“What?” Layla’s brows furrowed. Something stilled inside her, cold. “What do you mean, Bind a Bind?”
“Your talisman.” Adrian nodded at the cuff on her wrist, his gaze bleak but still level. “It’s called the Hamsa Bind. It was wrought long ago to trap a Royal Dragon Bind. Rather than just being able to wake a Bind’s latent powers and help her or him control their magics, it also has the ability to bind that power to one who is strong enough to wield it. A Royal Dragon who has enough strength can place that cuff on the wrist of a Royal Dragon Bind and secure her to his purposes. If he touches her skin and the cuff at the same time it’s secured in place, the magic inlaid into the cuff will bind them together. Securing them to each other via an unbreakable magical bond. So the Royal Dragon can… use the Bind’s power. Wield it. Once they form a bond strong enough, a bond of—”
Adrian cut off again. Layla shivered with wrath, her blood stone-cold now. Deep inside her body, she saw her Dragon’s eyes go black and vicious, ready to bite.
“A bond of what, Adrian?” She growled, so soft it was almost a hiss. “Say it.”
