Seeing it in her, too.
“The Ice Dragon will out.” He spoke softly as he watched her. “Even in the midst of Desert storms. They say you have a mind like steel – something I also share –and the deep black wrath within that some call thefinal strike. Is it so?”
“It is.” Layla nodded, though she frowned now. “But who says?”
“We have our informants, paid well.” Nadia spoke pleasantly, though her gaze was direct also. “No fortress as strong as this lives without them. They track Royal Dragon Binds who are as-yet-unaligned with us – or are directly under Orrin’s sway and we wish watched. Many eventually wish to leave his Bind. And those we help as much as we can.”
“Long ago, you were strong in war,” Layla spoke as she turned back to her father. “And Hunter sought to use that. He pursued you and you fled from him. And had been fleeing ever since until Nadia found you.”
“To be fair, Nadia was watching me for many millennia before she made contact and helped me come here.” King Ruslan spoke solidly, his gaze still holding no apology or regret. “I only arrived here twenty years ago, after wandering for many thousands of years to keep ahead of Hunter’s gaze. For a long time, Nadia did not trust that I had become a changed man during my wanderings. And so she watched me, until she was certain.”
“She did not want a warlord here at the Hidden City.” Heathren spoke now, his silver-white gaze piercing upon Ruslan, though his aura was still calm.
“Indeed.” Ruslan nodded to the Ephilohim, respect passing between them just as it had before. “She wanted to know she could trust me, and sometimes trust is deeply hard to earn, especially with a history like mine. I was strong in war, once. I am still, but I put it to better use now. Once upon a time, my aim was to conquer all Dragons because I believed there was a better way for us to live than the constant clan fighting such as happened a great deal at the time. My ego was much involved; it was only after Hunter made contact and began manipulating me did I start to see how much damage I dealt. Hunter is truly zealous; I was merely practical. And when the practicality of uniting all Dragons under one banner was proved false, I rebelled against Hunter. It was then that he began destroying everyone and everything I loved to wrangle me back under his talons… until I learned enough etheric magic to escape his notice and flee.”
Sitting back, Layla digested her father’s words, realizing there was a deeper story here than she had ever thought, all of it involving Hunter. As she and her conqueror father stared at each other, she felt something swirl between them, like a bright-dark wash of ether, though neither of their Dragon-magics rose. It was hot and cool all at once, a soaring yet plunging sensation that almost made Layla go back into trance, out to the vast universe. But she didn’t, and lifting an eyebrow, King Ruslan’s gaze was impressed as he regarded her – his river-green eyes sparkling from whatever had just happened as Nadia and even Heathren watched with impressed looks.
“You are learning etheric magic – you resonated with my test.” King Ruslan spoke softly as he gazed at Layla. “I can feel how your Dragon is trapped inside you right now, but I now see there is far more to you than meets the eye, my daughter. Did you trap your drakaina’s power inside you on purpose, to learn these more ephemeral arts?”
“No. That was a gift from Hunter.” Layla spoke with a lifted eyebrow. “He tricked me, made me throw a big ball of Bind-energy at him when we battled recently. It dealt him serious damage, but when my drakaina saw what she had wrought, she curled up inside my veins in misery. She’s been that way more or less ever since.”
“But like a true warrior, you have begun to find your balance without your sword, haven’t you?” Ruslan spoke again, watching her intently. “You took the closed state of your drakaina’s power and used it to deepen in an even greater power while she sleeps. You have faced both the best and worst of yourself, the darkest and the brightest, and known no fear of either, yes? Gaining you deep access to the universal ether.”
Layla paused, suddenly frowning. She remembered something from her brief time with the Ascendant then; what he had told her during their moment with each other in the Mirror. “You havefaced both your perfect darkness and perfect light via the Mirror,discovering the balance of opposites that you share with your father, and your ancestor.That’s what he meant, didn’t he? That you and I – and Nadia also – now share this time facing ourselves in the deep etheric state, seeing both the good and bad inside ourselves and accepting it.”
“Indeed, Layla.” King Ruslan spoke quietly, still watching her with his piercing attention, though Layla only felt that vast etheric calm sighing from him. “Nadia and I have both soul-searched for eons to face our deepest darkness and brightest light, and forgive ourselves in order to reach the deep calm of the ether and make it useful to us. That you have managed it in such a short span of time… speaks of the formidable power you are becoming.”
“If I can get my drakaina back.” Layla countered, feeling something move between her and her father now, though she didn’t know what it was. “Which is why I’ve been searching for you. I need you to teach me how to open my magic back up. I need to understand what it is we share through our bloodlines that my drakaina feels instinctually but which I don’t want to face.”
“Don’t you understand by now?” Ruslan countered, still watching her with his formidable gaze. “You’ve heard my history from others, you know why Nadia would not allow me into this compound for so very long. You can feel my ice in your veins just as I can feel it. What does thefinal strikedo, Layla? What is it meant for?”
Layla sat very still a long moment, watching her father and suddenly facing precisely what it was about him that she didn’t want to see in herself. It was both ugly and beautiful all at once as she faced him and herself at the same time.
And finally found the courage to embrace both.
“Conquering.” Layla spoke softly, feeling the deep calm of the ether as she made peace with it. “Thefinal strikeconquers all foes – everyone, all situations. It is neither bad nor good, bright nor dark, but can be both. Conquering can be a blessing or a curse, depending on how it’s used.”
“And though you have conquered your fears of your darkest self and your brightest,” King Ruslan spoke to her with a deep knowing in his eyes, “allowing you deep access to the ether now, you do not have full access to your Dragon yet because there is one more thing that weighs on your heart… isn’t there?”
“Yes.” Layla breathed softly, feeling like her father had read her implicitly.
“Yes.” Ruslan echoed, holding her gaze.
“I sense, Layla,” Nadia cut in softly next to Ruslan now, “that this is the deepest reason you have come to us today. You wished to know the man who sired you and how his formidable power affects yours, yes – but this other part concerns Hunter directly. And that is the most unsettling reason why your drakaina hides right now, isn’t it? And the hardest to face.”
“Yes.” Layla nodded soberly, knowing they had to go here, that she had to voice it. “When I fought Hunter, it was partly my human mind that banished my drakaina, when I saw the terrible damage my power could do. But partly, my drakaina curled up inside me because she’d hurt Hunter. And I keep her banished because…” Taking a deep breath, Layla faced it squarely, then spoke once more. “Because my drakaina is attracted to Hunter. As a mate. And I am, too.”
“I know.” Nadia spoke, a deep understanding in her level golden gaze. “For once I was where you are, loving Orrin to my very marrow because of everything he was – bright, compelling, magnetic, and deeply powerful like suns being born in the sky. He is still what your drakaina sees in him… though he has also become something else over his tens of thousands of years of madness.”
Layla sat very still. Deep inside, her Dragon gave a mournful roil, and she knew how very true Nadia’s insightful words were. Something deep inside her could not give Hunter up, no matter how crazy he was; and Layla despaired then, wondering how she would ever face this dark attraction to him. She was coming to peace with how formidable her Dragon was now, the side of her that had come from Ruslan. But she couldn’t yet understand why she felt such a deep connection to Hunter.
Nor what she was going to do about it.
Gazing around in the silence, Nadia at last heaved a sigh. Sitting up upon her chaise, she clasped her long dark hands around one knee as a sad smile curled her full lips. “Though father and daughter must become acquainted eventually, I feel the time has come for us to discuss Orrin Alumedi, the one you all know as Hunter. Because all of us here in this room have been centrally-aligned in the conflict against Orrin for so many years, I feel the time has come for me to tell my full tale – about the origin of Orrin’s madness and everything that has happened since. Settle in; take refreshment when you need it, for it is a long tale. When I have finished, we will discuss what to do, as Layla is now as central to Orrin’s schemes as I once was. His madness cannot last forever, this I feel. But how it might break… affects us all.”
Settling back, Nadia regarded everyone in the room with her piercing golden stare.
And then took a deep breath, beginning her tale.
