“You love him, don’t you?” She asked as she combed through her hair with her fingers, thinking about their tender moment earlier.
“I do.” Adrian answered with a soft smile now. “Dusk and I are like mortal enemies sometimes, fighting mercilessly. We’re like brothers other times, supporting each other through thick and thin. And sometimes… we have a spark between us. But even though that’s there, we’ve never shared more. I love him, I hate him, he vexes me… and still, I care about him. But I’ll never indulge in physical love with him. I’m just not wired that way, not really. Not with him.”
“You are truly heterosexual, aren’t you? Now that I’m in Dragon-society, it seems rare for our kind.” Layla spoke now as she sat at the table, taking up her bourbon. Watching Adrian, she enjoyed the honesty coming out of him this evening, though she wondered if he was simply admitting things because the Bind was making his emotions stable – or because they were up against the wall with Hunter.
“I don’t know if I’m completely heterosexual, Layla.” Adrian spoke thoughtfully now, cradling his bourbon as his vivid Mediterranean-blue eyes dug into hers. “I used to think I was, but because we’re all in the Bind now, I’ve been reconsidering my attitudes about love. I’ve watched a lot of Dragons be heteroflexible over the years, including my own mother Juliette. But Issam was dismissive of love between men. Thus, I grew up believing an alpha Dragon had to be all male, all the time. It was Dusk who taught me an alpha can be both strong and gentle, loving and wild, and to love whomever he chooses. I think Reginald and I clashed for a long while because he knew I understood his position but disrespected it; whereas he built his entire career and prestige from being a male Dragon who took whomever he wanted to bed.”
“Another alpha drake who loves whomever he chooses, like Dusk.” Layla nodded.
“Quite.” Adrian chuckled now as he glanced down at his drink. “And when I found out Rhennic desired relationships with men but hid it because he believed he had to show his clan a certain alpha persona, I finally understood myself. I felt Rhennic’s care for others through the Bind, and understood that it transcended sexuality. Your Bind helped me understand true love, Layla. And now… I’m looking at the world differently. Though my main proclivities are still as they are.”
“Do you want to have an experience with a man?” Layla asked now, cocking her head.
“I don’t know.” He answered, though something intrigued lit his eyes. “I don’t usually think about men. But sometimes, like when I was watching the orgy with the rest of your men in Antigua…”
Just then, the shower shut off and Dusk exited the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Though it broke Adrian and Layla’s sharing, neither of them were perturbed as Adrian rose with a brief kiss for Layla, then moved to the bathroom to take his shower next. Adrian and Dusk shared a look as Adrian moved past. But then Dusk was coming to the table in his towel, plopping down in the seat Adrian had vacated and finishing Adrian’s bourbon for him.
“Well. Was he just telling you all about his deep man-on-man fears?” Dusk spoke with a sly grin as he sipped Adrian’s abandoned drink.
“Were you snooping on our conversation through the Bind?” Layla laughed, loving his cheeky wit as she slapped him lightly on the shoulder.
“Maybe.” Dusk grinned wider now, then sobered as he put Adrian’s drink down. “But really, Layla, Adrian’s just not a true bisexual. He’ll approach having an encounter with a manifhe’s good and ready for it, and not a moment sooner.”
“I know.” Layla smiled now, wondering how in the world she had gotten so lucky as to have both Dusk and Adrian as her primary mates. “But I can’t say the thought of Adrian getting it on with one of my other men doesn’t heat me the fuck up. He’s just so damn sexy… you’re all just so damn sexy. And it makes me horny.”
“I’m sure. You nasty little drakaina, you.” Dusk waggled his dark eyebrows at her luridly now as he laughed, then downed the last of Adrian’s drink. But with one last chuckle, he rose from the table with his Head Concierge-style briskness, his mind moving ten thousand miles a minute as he shifted into go-mode for Reginald’s party. Moving to Layla’s walk-in closet, Dusk threw the doors wide, then stepped inside and flipped on the lights to the crystal chandeliers. As Layla followed him curiously, she found him fussing through hangers along one wall, amidst the clothing she’d brought from Riad Rhakvir.
“Dusk? What are you doing?” Layla asked as she cocked her head.
“Oh, just finding a few things I asked Amalia to put in here, in case of a party emergency.” He spoke slyly as he liberated three crystal garment-cases from the racks. As he moved back out, Layla saw the cases contained two very fine suits and one exquisitely beaded peacock blue gown. The gown was in fact the same one Adrian had bought Layla a year ago in Seattle for her first day at the Red Letter Hotel Paris, and Layla smiled at it as Dusk brought it out with his and Adrian’s suits, laying everything out on the bed and unlatching the cases.
“A party emergency?” Layla asked as she grinned, watching Dusk take out their wardrobe. “Only you would consider an impromptu soirée an emergency, Dusk.”
“It’s an impromptu soirée at the Hotel Head’s suite, Layla,” Dusk grinned at her, though his look was meaningful. “And Reginald has exquisitely elegant taste. He won’t be dressed in a burlap sack tonight, so neither shall we. Even if the world is ending.”
“The world isn’t ending.” Layla scoffed as she reached out, touching her beaded dress. With expert attention to detail, she saw Amalia had been at work on the gown, adding shimmering crystals that cascaded through impossible rainbow colors to really make the design pop, and extending the train of silk so it was a massive affair now, like a real peacock’s tail. Shaking her head, Layla saw the waist and bust of the gown had been reinforced so all the new beading wouldn’t drag the design down. But the whole thing still managed to be sleek as shit, and would drape in an elegant 1930’s style with the vastly low back.
“Yes, I know the world’s notactuallyending.” Dusk spoke soberly now as he corralled her around the waist. “But it feels like that sometimes, for us. Which is why I got you this.” Lifting a crystal jewelry case from the items upon the bed, Dusk extended it. “Open it.”
“Okay.” Blinking, Layla reached out, claiming the case and opening it. Inside was a gorgeous wrist-cuff done in bright rose gold, ornamented by a series of Egyptian Twilight Realm cartouches made entirely of rose quartz, sapphire, and diamonds. Layla whistled softly as she lifted it out. “Holy hells, Dusk! It’s beautiful!”
“This bracelet is from the Crystal Plateau.” He spoke solemnly as he took it from her and slipped it on her wrist, fastening the latch so the cuff sat snugly against her skin. “It belonged to my ancestor, Queen Ishet Arlohaina; my mother Sky and I found it recently in an old vault that had been sealed off in the under-city while we were prepping for guests. The trove was full of Queen Ishet’s personal items, including chronicle-orbs of her life. This was a bracelet she crafted with her magics, and she wore it everyday of her reign to give her strength. I’ve imbued it with some of my own powers for quick healing and determination in battle, so it can bolster you in the upcoming fight against Hunter – just like my ancestor once did against her own enemies.”
“Thank you, Dusk. I love it.” Layla spoke as she teared up, feeling a deep, soothing hum coming off the bracelet and rolling deep into her body. It was bolstering, and Layla felt stronger as she stood tall now, images of the Crystal Plateau washing through her from long ago. “I’ll wear it with Reginald’s pearl set tonight, and Adrian’s gown – if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.” Dusk smiled handsomely as he stepped in, kissing her. But then the shower was shutting off and Adrian was exiting the bathroom, coming over and shaking his head with a smile to see what Dusk had procured for them. As Adrian corralled Layla around the waist, kissing her and pressing his honed, wet body up against hers, she felt herself heat again. And then he examined the Egyptian bracelet at her wrist and lifted an eyebrow at Dusk.
“Didn’t want to be outdone by the rest of us giving Layla gifts, huh?” Adrian joked mildly.
“Couldn’t let the rest of you alpha drakes give her all the pretties. If I can’t shower her stupidly with money and gifts, what’s a Crystal Dragon Kingship good for?” Dusk laughed, shedding his towel to the floor as he began to take his suit off the hanger. With a smile and a shake of her head, Layla headed for the bathroom to get ready, taking her gown with her.
“You two are impossible.” She grinned as she went. “I’m going to go dress without distractions. You drakes just go ahead and cock-fight all night about who’s more male.”
“Go get sexy, then.” Dusk smiled cheekily back. “Adrian and I will be out here. Cock-fighting.”
Layla laughed, and then she was in the bathroom, shutting the door. As she hung up her gown on a gilded hook, she heard Adrian and Dusk talking, but Layla didn’t spy through the Bind. Even though they were all sharing so much now, it was still generally better to let private conversations be private. As she pulled on her slinky beaded peacock gown, she felt its decadence glide over her skin like Dragon-scales. Heavy and smooth, it was an alluring combination; Layla marveled at how secure it felt as she got the thin straps into place and the cascading skirt draping from her hips. The whole thing felt ancient yet modern, strong yet supple, ostentatious yet lovely at the same time. As Layla faced herself in the mirror, beginning to twist her curls up at the side of her neck, she marveled at the things magic could do.
She and her drakes had been so focused on war lately that Layla had forgotten the beauty of the magical world. She indulged in it now, admiring Amalia’s reconstruction of her gown from Seattle as she finished with her mother Mimi’s diamond hairpins and started on some smoky makeup to make her gold irises pop. In a way, the gown was a metaphor for Layla’s life; something fashioned in the human world that hadn’t come into its full power and grace until it found maturation in the Twilight Realm. Opening a blue silk box on her dressing-stand, she pulled out Reginald’s pearl and diamond jewelry set, donning the filigreed platinum necklace and earrings, and finishing with the bracelet on the opposite wrist from Dusk’s gift.
