“Eat with revelry, my King.” Rhennic spoke to Dusk with a pleased chuckle. “Because these are some of the last forbidden fruit of the year. Even though they’re not trueaurumpears yet, since they haven’t matured a whole year on the trees, they’ll still knock you to the floor. Have at it.”
“I most certainly will.” Dusk chuckled now with a flash of diamond light in his sapphire eyes and well-coiffed hair. And then he was taking a bite – flooding joy and pleasure all through the Bind as rumbles of immense satisfaction rolled off him. Unsteady now, he sank to a seat on the fountain’s rim, closing his eyes and chewing slowly. “Gods… damn, those are so good.”
“Enjoy.” Rhennic spoke to the others now as he handed the pears around. Holding Layla’s gaze and handing a pear to her last, he clinked pears with her softly in a toast, and they both bit down together. Ecstasy flooded Layla as the bliss of the entire universe inundated her from that bite. Chewing slowly like Dusk, she reveled in it with a sigh as everyone in the Bind now shared that immense joy and pleasure.
Rolling all through them in bite after bite.
“Wow. I think I might need to excuse myself.” Dusk spoke at last as he finished his final bite, setting his pear core aside on the fountain.
“Excuse away.” Rhennic chuckled as he heaved a pleasured sigh also, settling to the rim of the fountain beside Dusk and gazing contentedly at the revelry all around.
“Do you think this is what our lives will be like from now on? Peace like this, and celebration?” Fury suddenly spoke with a poetic wistfulness as he lingered at the fountain with them. Wearing a sleek silver-grey suit tonight, Fury was the height of fashion as he finished his pear. Swirling one hand in the fountain to rinse his fingers, he made water spouts leap up from the basin, dancing with dolphins, narwhals, and more.
“Not always, I’m sure.” Adrian spoke now as he curled Layla under his arm where they shared a lightning-stone bench together, surrounded by roses and lilac. Sans jacket tonight but wearing a snappy pinstriped charcoal vest and trousers, Adrian was elegantly comfortable for the midsummer evening as Layla cuddled close to him. “But I doubt we’ll ever face anything as monstrous as Hunter again. Though if we do, I’m certain we’re up for the challenge. Don’t you think?”
“I know we are.” Reginald responded now as he gazed around the night, sitting in a throne-like stone chair near the fountain and wearing one of his tan and gold pinstriped suits, plus his ornate pearl Siren-talisman on his wrist tonight. “Though we’ve entered a time of peace, now is when our characters shall truly be tested – maturing our Bind in the decades and centuries to come. Because that’s where real relationships are tested… as time goes by.”
“Speaking of time.” Dusk winked at Adrian now. “Any news on your upcoming Desert Dragon Kingship ceremony in three days, buckaroo?”
“Head King’s Guard Armaud Ahalwii says everything’s set – Rachida and Emir and a lot of my Moroccan clan have been helping with the preparations, in addition to the Dragons at Wahdi Atlamenta.” Adrian smiled as he answered Dusk, pulling Layla a little closer. “Since we had King Mathii’s funeral just after the battle, the city’s had a week to grieve. But he’d been King-in-absentia for so long that most modern Desert Dragons didn’t even know him. Excitement is apparently ramping up, and tens of thousands of Desert Dragons are flying in to see a new King crowned. It’s going to be quite the event – Bedouin-like camps are already spreading out over the entire city, like a massive Burning Man.”
“Knowing Desert Dragons, there will probably be a lot of fire.” Layla chuckled as she cuddled closer to Adrian and he kissed her hair. “Do you feel ready to step up and take the throne?”
“I really don’t know, Layla.” Adrian spoke with a sweet wistfulness now as he glanced down at her. “I think I need more mentorship on being a Lineage King than Lethou Mathii was able to provide me. We had a great start before Hunter struck. But there’s still a lot I’m going to have to figure out on my own.”
“I’ll help you through it,” Dusk spoke with a kind smile to Adrian now, “and so will King Huttr, Rhennic here, and Queen Leni. We’re all here for you, Adrian – gods know I’ll probably need to bounce Kingly headaches off of you, too.”
“You, me, and Dusk are all going to be learning this together, Adrian.” Rhennic nodded as he chimed in. “And I couldn’t think of two better people to be Dragon Kings, honestly. Or two people I’d like to negotiate with more through the coming centuries.”
“As long as you both always let me win.” Dusk grinned now, waggling his dark eyebrows at both Adrian and Rhennic.
“Hardly.” Adrian smiled back at Dusk, his blue-green eyes sparkling with gold. “We’re just going to have to go into the Sahara and brawl it out like we did when we were ten.”
“A good brawl is always welcome.” Dusk winked back, laughing.
“I myself can’t wait to enjoy all of your company in a time of peace.” Fury spoke up again as he made his dolphins of water leap high into the air, delighting a passel of Storm Dragon younglings nearby. “Iwillbe contacting each of you to accompany me on my travels around the world this year. If you’d like to join me for a stint, of course.”
“Right. How soon are you leaving?” Layla asked now, holding Fury’s gaze as he regarded her with his beautiful midnight-silver eyes. He had already told them of his intentions to travel the world for at least a year, now that battling Hunter was done, and probably more before making a second home for himself in Seattle. Of them all, Fury was the only one without obligations to a Clan or Lineage now, and he preferred it in his poetic, passionate way.
“I’m leaving right after Adrian’s Kingship ceremony at Wahdi Atlamenta.” Fury spoke quietly as he regarded Layla with his sober gaze, though he kept his artworks dancing in the fountain for the children. “All the arrangements for the first leg of my trip have been made. I leave from Mauritania to Morocco, then to Spain. From there, I’m riding along the Mediterranean by motorcycle through both the Twilight and human worlds… and then, we’ll see.”
“A motorcycle?” Dusk laughed, jostling Fury’s shoulder. “Why you bad boy, you!”
“I never said I didn’t have a bohemian streak, Dusk.” Fury chuckled, though he looked soberly back to Layla. “Will you bless my journey, Layla?”
“You don’t need my blessing to go off around the world and find yourselfEat, Pray, Love-style, Fury.” Layla spoke with a kind smile now, feeling the Bind between them glow with loving silver light as they watched each other in the settling evening. “But if it’s important to you, I give you my blessing. Go – be a free bird and have fun in the world, finally. And call me when you get to Thailand. I’ve still never been there, and I think it’s probably awesome in the Twilight Realm.”
“It surely is.” Reginald spoke with a chuckle as he took up his wine and sipped, as if even he couldn’t quite imagine all the wonders that populated Thailand in the Twilight Realm.
But just as Reginald opened his lips to say more, Rhennic was suddenly surrounded by laughing young Storm Dragon women from his Court, seizing his hands and tugging him along behind them with garlands of flowers so he could give his King’s speech for the night. As Layla and the rest of the Bind laughed, Rhennic was hauled away by all the prettiest Storm Dragon maidens, up to a wide balcony on the second level of the Château. And raising his hands with a boom of thunder in the evening and a beautiful eruption of lightning up above in the clouds, Rhennic lifted his voice to the night.
Addressing the Storm Dragons as their King at last.
CHAPTER 29 – GOLDEN
Three days after Adrian’s Kingship ceremony at the palace of Wahdi Atlamenta, Layla floated in a sprawling lagoon in Adrian’s new private gardens. Taking their first afternoon to simply be together as people, the Bind were all lounging in Adrian’s extensive new apartments at the palace today, in various states of undress as they moved around the verandas and had a bite to eat from the sumptuous feasts that had kept coming for days. Relaxing in the hot and cold pools out in the gardens, they cavorted or napped, read books, or simply donned sunglasses and nothing else as they laid out on chaise lounges to get a tan.
In one of the most decadent vacations Layla had ever enjoyed.
