Laila

* Laila
* With Séverin
* With Séverin 2

**Laila** is a sensual, smart Indian chef who uses disguises and a public persona to hide the fact that she is terrified she is not a real person. Laila is the one who takes care of the group as a whole, tending to their more emotional needs. She is one of the main characters in the books. She has the magical (matter) forging ability to touch any object and read it to know everything about it. And she desperately needs Séverin’s plan to work.

## History

Laila was a stillbirth, but as her parents desperately wanted a daughter, they brought her to a magician who bound her soul back into her body. However, the magician warned her parents that his work will only last until her nineteenth birthday. This gifted her the ability to "read" objects, too learn the history of the object she's holding.

Laila is a world-class performer who amazes Paris with her dancing and helps Séverin in hope that it will lead her to a book, called "The Divine Lyrics", that might be able to save her life.

She, known as L'Enigme to the world, is a scandalous celebrity dancer who is described as a temptress. She is a cabaret star with a secret touch, one that can draw out the hidden histories of objects. Though she'd rather be baking and coaxing her friends into trying her culinary experiments, time is racing against her and her fatal secret.

## *The Gilded Wolves Trilogy*

### *The Gilded Wolves*

While Séverin and Enrique are out, stealing a compass that is rumored to contain a treasure map, Laila ensures that the courier of House Kore - who Séverin was pretending to be to steal the compass - receives an invitation to an important party before returning to her baking for their hotel, L’Eden. It is explained that the world functions on a magic known as forging that allows those that can use it - forgers - to create nearly anything they want. Their engineer Zofia arrives, only to steal some cookie dough and leave again. Laila then finds Tristan, the youngest of the group with powerful forging abilities like Zofia. When Séverin and Enrique return, all five of them work together to figure out the puzzle in the compass. It reveals the symbol for a legendary artifact known as the Eye of Horus, rumored to show the legendary Babel Fragment to any who look for it. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, Séverin receives a letter from Hypnos who knows he stole the compass.

After Séverin meets Hypnos, Hypnos asks Séverin to help him obtain the Horus Eye from House Kore and, in return, Hypnos will readminister the inheritance test on Séverin, as the previous test’s results had been fabricated to keep Séverin from becoming the Patriarch of House Vanth as a child. Séverin reluctantly agrees and returns to the group. They all promise to help him and use a party at an opera house called the Palais de Reves to interrogate House Kore’s courier to learn where the Hours Eye is.

At L’Eden, Hypnos gives them all invitations for House Kore’s party, ensuring that each one of them will assume an identity that is entirely different than the person themselves. Séverin reminds Hypnos that he is not their friend, clearly hurting him.

At the House Kore estate, everyone splits into their roles and begins working toward stealing the Horus Eye.

Laila retrieves the key from the matriarch’s office, and Zofia makes a fake one to get them inside. They all eventually meet in an underground atrium after Enrique, Zofia and Laila solve a puzzle to get themselves inside. There, they find hundreds of Horus Eyes and accidentally summon a soul-devouring monster, Ammit, when Laila finds the real one. She and Séverin work together to dispel it, and the group splits from Hypnos. However, when they reenter the greenhouse, they find that Tristan has been tortured by an item called the Phobus Helmet which makes one's' nightmares feel real. A man named Roux-Joubert, who both Séverin and Zofia met unknowingly throughout the night, takes the Horus Eye and tells them they have three days to give him Hypnos’ Babel Ring before leaving with Tristan.

The group returns to L’Eden and eventually figures out that Roux-Joubert is somehow related to House Fallen, the fourth house that was stripped of its power after trying to use a Babel Fragment to become gods. The group figures out that Roux-Joubert is in the catacombs and wants to use the Exposition Universelle to start a new revolution, though they are uncertain what that entails. Zofia learns that there is a secret entrance in the exhibit and works with a silver cloth that Séverin stole to create a barrier that will stop anyone from stepping through it. Séverin and Laila go to the catacombs as the others leave for the Exposition.

They find Tristan on a stage behind a red curtain, but both are captured. Tristan holds Laila at knife point, clearly traumatized (as they have kept the Phobus Helmet on him for at least three days) while Séverin is tortured by Roux-Joubert. It is revealed that House Fallen’s blood is actually golden, and it gives them the power to control men’s souls. Roux-Joubert wants to use the Babel Rings to awaken the Babel Fragment and proclaims that the doctor will allow him to ascend to godhood. He activates the fragment as Zofia, Hypnos, and Enrique manage to get into the catacombs from the other side. Zofia’s invention keeps the other House Fallen members from entering the catacombs until Roux-Joubert kills his companion and breaks open the doorway. A man in a bug mask, who Roux-Joubert calls the doctor, enters. They figure out that the Hypnos Eye needs to be placed in the center of a spiral pattern on the floor and, with Hypnos distracting the doctor, Laila is able to do it. This stops the fragment from rising as order guards, known as Sphinxes, arrive and record everything. The doctor and the surviving House Fallen members run while Roux-Joubert is left injured and furious. Hypnos promises that he will put in a good word for Séverin and the group celebrates their victory.

A week goes by and the entire group prepares for a full moon party.

At the party, Séverin sees Laila take the stage as her actress persona before reading a letter Tristan gave him earlier in the night. He realizes that Roux-Joubert has escaped, but is unable to stop the man as he charges into the party and throws the bladed hat. Séverin tackles Laila, not realizing that Tristan was the target. A week later, Hypnos and the matriarch of House Kore say they will give Séverin the inheritance test, but he refuses, determined to take down House Fallen for killing Tristan. However, grief pulls the group apart as the months go by. Laila tries to get to Séverin by kissing him, as the two still have strong feelings for each other after a one night stand months prior. In his grief, however, Séverin pushes her away.

Two months later, Séverin and Hypnos are planning on leave for a palace called the Winter Conclave. Laila agrees to go, but only if Séverin will take her as his mistress so she can have full access to the castle. He agrees, as he still loves her, and she burns an oath into his skin. She tells him that they will not be true lovers, as anything they do would not matter anyway before leaving.

## Appearance

Laila is described in the books as being Indian with a dark and glamorous skin. Severin describes that everything in the world is drawn instinctually toward Laila, including the atoms of light that illuminate her beauty.

She has a scar that runs down her back where she was fixed back into her body. She is described as looking ethereal in her "L'Engime" headdress and costume, which include peacock feather motifs and pearl jewelry.

## Etymology

* The word "**Laila**", is of Arabic origins and means "night", "dark" and the name is often given to girls born during the night, signifying "daughter of the night".

* "**Laila**" also means "holy", in the Nordic countries.

## Trivia

* Laila thinks that bunny rabbits are creepy. She doesn't like how their noses twitch.

## Gallery

Art by Nicole DealLaila alongside Séverin by Nicole DealLaila with Séverin by Diana Dworak