“Hey. Are you expecting to not survive this?”
“I am merely preparing myself for any eventuality, Layla,” Reginald spoke, his grey-blue eyes hard now as she gazed up at him. Taking her hands down, he cradled them to his heart. “I can’t see the future, not like my father Hunter can. I can’t see who will live through this, if any of us do. Hunter has devastated more civilizations than we are even aware of. We shall fight as well as we may, but it might just be that. A good fight – and nothing else.”
“That’s not going to happen, Aldo.” Adrian had joined them at the bar, and reaching out, he gripped Reginald’s shoulder. “We’re in a stronger position now than Hunter ever expected, especially with all the extra surprises we’ve gained in the past twenty-four hours.”
“Adrian’s right. Now is not the time to lose courage, brother.” Fury joined them as their elder brothers Atlantos and Typhos migrated to the bar also, dressed in similar charcoal-grey suits with dark blue ties and pearl men’s cuffs around their wrists. Facing his twin, the vast fierceness of Fury’s Dragon flashed in his midnight-silver eyes. “Our real father has tried to ruin our lives many times, but we stand strong still because we have love and togetherness; he stands weak because he merely dominates others. His armies do not love him; and though they fight as one under his yoke, they do not fight with hearts and beasts united like we do.”
“Fury’s right, Aldo.” The intensely elegant Atlantos spoke quietly now as his dark pearl-grey eyes flashed beneath the chandelier lights, Typhos nodding beside him. “Typhos and I didn’t come here from Deep Harbor because the Sirens love the Paris Hotel; we came because we love you. You and Fury and Layla saved our people and brought us into a new age under Leni’s rule – and now we’re flourishing again like we haven’t done in centuries. The power of the Bind is far more than you think it is; we all see it, which is why we’re here. Trust your heart, not that ancient fatalism you’ve been carrying around for ages. Because Ty, Leni, Vindaris, and I know the brightness that can come from the Bind’s liberation. And it’s not a weak thing.”
“Don’t let my sadness get to you, Aldo.” The last member of their Bind had arrived, Rhennic standing behind them now as Reginald turned. Reaching out, Rhennic cupped Reginald’s neck in his big hand. “You’re fierce, and you always have been. Chambord, Antigua, and Seattle have taken a hit, but one day of battle does not define the war. Hunter attacked us first because he wants to shake us. I let myself be shaken, but no longer.” Reaching out to Dusk now, Rhennic squeezed Dusk’s hand, and Dusk gripped him back as the two exchanged a strong look. “We are one. None of us fight alone, not anymore. Let yourself feel our loving hearts when you’re in trouble, Aldo. Come on – open up.”
As Rhennic pinned Reginald with his gaze, Layla frowned, not understanding what Rhennic was getting at – until she suddenly felt Reginald’s energy flood open through the Bind. It was a tumultuous sea of wrath and worry that Reginald had been hiding, heaving all through Layla and all around them now at the bar. As her face opened in shock at those deep, tempestuous emotions, hidden all day from the Bind by Reginald’s formidable mind-magics, Layla’s heart flooded out to him – all her Bound men flooding love into Reginald also. And Layla finally understood why Reginald had wanted this party tonight.
Because he’d thought he wasn’t going to see any of them ever again, come tomorrow.
“There…” Rhennic spoke with a kind smile now as he pulled Reginald close, setting their foreheads together. “Don’t try to hide your emotions from me, Aldo, you never could.”
“You see me so well,” Reginald sighed with relief now as he let Rhennic’s big frame corral him. As the Bind and the Durant brothers came around Reginald, Layla could feel a sweet harmony sing through them now with all the tones of the wind and sea. Glancing over, she saw Fury had his arm around Reginald, pouring his massive Siren-drake through his twin in love and comfort along with the rest of his brothers. As tears gathered in Layla’s eyes, Adrian stepped in, winding her solemnly in his arms. Layla smoothed her hands over his, their fingers intertwining as she reached out, winding her fingers through Dusk’s also.
As Reginald was held by Rhennic, that fierce, loving sea of Fury’s and the Durants’ cascaded through them all. The entire party had stopped now, feeling that deep love pouring through the room as everyone watched with wistful smiles. At last, Reginald heaved a deep breath and pulled back from Rhennic’s embrace, giving his long-time lover a kiss in front of everyone. As Layla felt that kiss pour all the way through her via the Bind, she felt her world sparkle with joy. It wasn’t just Rhennic’s or Reginald’s joy, but a deep joy flooding through everyone at the party now – that they were together, that they had tonight to celebrate it.
And that they would fight as one when the time came.
“Come.” Reginald sighed at last, gazing around at everyone, his sea-grey eyes sparkling with gold and his aura relaxed at last. “Let us take this night for pleasure. Because I for one, do not wish to waste a moment of it.”
“Hear, hear.” Dusk raised his glass now, but it was Adrian who solemnly locked eyes with Reginald. Power blazed in Adrian’s eyes, every color like a star as he stared them all down.
“This Bind will not fall.” Adrian spoke now like the commander he was, his voice carrying all through the room on his winds. “I will move the heavens and earth to put Hunter away when we face him in battle tomorrow night, and I know each of you will do no less. Which is why I love all of you. And trust you all with my life and everything else that’s precious to me – until the end of my days. Cheers to you all. Because none of us could do this alone. And we won’t.”
Raising his drink, Adrian’s blazing eyes swept everyone in the party.
And everyone raised glasses back – readiness crackling all through the room.
CHAPTER 15 – REAL
It was late when the last of Reginald’s guests finally departed, leaving only the Bind lingering in drunken inebriation in a group of sky-blue and gold silk chaises by the low-lit fireplace. The midsummer night had cooled, the high windows of Reginald’s fourth floor apartment thrown open to catch the deep night breeze as stars twinkled in the sky. Spinning pleasantly from countless bourbons, Old Fashioneds, glasses of wine, and now back to bourbon, Layla had curled up in her peacock gown on an ornate Victorian scroll-back chaise between Adrian and Dusk, her back leaning against Adrian with his arm around her as her feet stretched into Dusk’s lap. Massaging her feet decadently, Dusk poured rumbles into her as the Bind talked, unwinding and soothing her as they sluiced through the rest of the group also.
Unwinding everyone and loosening tongues in the drunken midnight hour.
“Fuck him.” Fury slurred now as he gazed at Layla and Dusk with an elegantly haughty glower, sipping straight vodka from a crystal highball glass. “If my father Hunter wants to fuck with us, I say fuck him. We don’t need him; we never did. He can go fuck himself.”
Layla had never heard Fury cuss like that, and apparently Dusk hadn’t either, because he chuckled as he said, “You’re sounding more and more like me these days, Fury. Better watch that mouth, or Reginald’s going to wash it out with soap.”
“I quite agree with my brother, actually.” Reginald spoke now from the kingly Victorian armchair he now occupied as he sipped his umpteenth martini, made himself since Rake had long since departed to get some sleep. “Orrinis a bastard; I find I want to swat him like a fly and see how he likes it.”
“Tell us how you really feel.” Rhennic chuckled into his drink, lounging decadently on the chaise beside Fury, sans jacket with his sleeves rolled up and his feet bare as he slung one arm up over the couch’s back. “I can’t say I disagree, Aldo; my blood boils from what Hunter did at Chambord. I want him to get what’s coming to him.”
“But is vendetta our best course of action against Hunter tomorrow night?” Adrian mused thoughtfully now as he swirled a brandy, the fingers of his other hand stroking Layla’s bare shoulder where his arm was slung up on the couch.
“I’m killing Hunter, Adrian, no matter how it happens.” Fury spoke back hotly now as his silver Siren-drake flared in his eyes.
“I don’t disagree.” Adrian spoke back levelly, continuing to stroke Layla’s shoulder as he talked. “Hunter deserves to die from everything he’s done to us, and to others. But what will killing him in cold blood or vicious wrath cost our Bind?”
“You’re talking about the fact that my Bind-power is love, aren’t you?” Layla picked up on Adrian’s thoughts now as her inebriation cleared just a little; his musings something she herself had been mulling over ever since they’d seemed to have excellent luck in the past day, to take down Hunter’s dominance. “Since my Bind-power fulfills deepest heart’s desires, you’re wondering what happens if our deepest heart’s desires are dark instead of bright when the moment comes? Hateful instead of loving? That if we give in to hatred, that this good luck we’ve been having against Hunter – and have had basically this entire year – might turn sour and fail.”
“Precisely.” Adrian nuzzled her cheek now as he heaved a sigh, his fingers caressing her skin as if he couldn’t stop touching her in his current drunken state. “Hunter still has a thread of power inside our Bind, potentially influencing our ability to do the impossible, because of him. Our luck has been almost ridiculously good in the past few days; I know you all see it. What if that’s only happening because we as a group have been focusing on light and love—”
“And if we focus on retaliation, we lose that light.” Layla spoke as immense clarity seared through her, the Star Bind shining in her mind. For a moment, it was so bright it blazed her vision white, and Layla felt a wash of universal love pour through her from making contact with it. But in the next moment it cleared, leaving her shaking her head drunkenly as all her drakes looked at her.
