30. Jaiyana

CHAPTER THIRTY

JAIYANA

B rown eyes with red sclera. Where humans were concerned, red replacing the whites of eyes pointed to possession—beings who inhabited other's bodies. Which, except for very rare circumstances, was bad shit. I understood too well that good and evil were not black and white, but today's morality aside, taking control of another was and would always be a full slide to the evil side.

Our new band name?

Really, this is serious, focus.

Red eyes didn't prove possession. They also pointed to certain spells or possibly a ghost or demon. Hell, it could be a reflection from a different time.

"You look good in white," Rehan said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I giggle-squeaked. Ha, white. The fire priestesses' costume should have caught fire against my sin-filled ass. I'd given up my uterus at age eleven for my first hit of power, given kids matured faster a thousand years ago. Life had been about survival rather than picking the right career path. But, even today, I'd make the same bargain. I closed my eyes, remembering my first zing sparking my natural gifts and racing through my veins. My mouth watered.

You're a junky.

Probably.

"Hey, are you still thinking about those eyes?" Rehan tilted my head away from the mirror and the unnecessary poking I was doing to the complicated braid I'd stuck in my hair.

We'd gone over those eyes last night and again this morning. I didn't know what they were, but it was clear someone watched me. A shiver ran down my back.

I needed more information, spell components, and to break my curse, which involved kissing Tyson.

Maybe I should have gone about all of this in a different order.

You think?

Rehan gave me a concerned look, and I smiled back, reassuringly, I hoped.

"You can't take your phone with you." He placed my device on the counter. "But once the ceremony ends, Tyson should bring you back here. Our deal with the fire dragons hasn't changed." He pulled out his man bun. "If he doesn't, I'll come for you."

I reached up and ran my fingers through his shoulder-length hair. His gaze softened. I coaxed him into a chair and put a set of Viking braids down the side of his head, which matched my own. As much as I enjoyed Tyson's banter, Rehan and I seemed to be able to say just as much without speaking a word. It made butterflies fill my stomach.

You're falling in love.

Nope, just friends with benefits. We shook on it, and I'll have the same conversation with Tyson.

Sure you will.

Rehan carried me to the border, and my transfer from one dragon to another was surprisingly quiet and respectful. Layers of white covered Tyson's hips, leaving his chest bare. The two dragons exchanged unhappy but courteous nods. Their mutual respect over the ceremony made me feel a little guilty for not taking the priestesses' training more seriously, but not enough to change anything.

Unlike our other flights, Tyson stayed straight and true. We landed in the crater on the mountaintop, and the ground trembled under my feet. If anyone else mentioned it, they didn't speak up, so I pushed the sensation to the back of my mind. The priestesses separated me from Tyson and fussed over my hair and clothing. Once satisfied, they directed me to my starting rune on the far left of the crater. Tyson glowed where he stood, bathing in the setting sun. His gaze glued to me as we both waited for the moment to be upon us.

Drums beat, and the sun lowered, filling the world with the bright orange light of pre-sunset. The priestesses swayed, and I rocked with them. They called down a string of Ley Line magic from the shield, which tingled my fingers and whispered to magic I couldn't access.

The tingling around my fingers tightened. I stepped as one with the priestesses, sliding through the choreography we drilled. The magic of the Ley Lines kissed my skin before racing into my blood, using my body as a conduit. I turned twice in the same direction, completing a circle around Tyson, before pressing my palms into his hard chest in a parody of a lover's embrace.

The ground trembled harder beneath my feet. Around us, the priestesses continued to dance. Thick magic throbbed, making my knees shake, and my body ache as it flowed through me. Tyson's eyes blazed. The two dots of fire grew until gem red dripped down his cheeks. Fire flicked across his skin as his internal flame rekindled.

He placed his hands over mine and slid his palms down my arms, leaving goosebumps in his wake. With Tyson's flame lit, the power flowing through me cut off, and the priestesses froze. A hollow feeling in my chest crashed together with a throbbing between my legs. I squeezed my thighs together, wishing for both to be filled.

Tyson pulled me closer. Only my spread fingers, still pressed to his firm, hairless chest, came between us. His gaze burned into mine, daring me to stop him as he lowered his head. I didn't want to stop him. The power. The moment. I tilted my head back and closed my eyes. His lips were surprisingly soft, and his tongue demanding. I parted, and the fire dragon's heat dominated me. He pillaged my mouth making even my toes curl with need.

The ground rumbled harder this time, but I didn't care. Fire magic kindled in my stomach. Not my magic, but power I desperately craved. The rumbles turned into shaking, so violent I lost my balance. One of the priestesses screamed.

We tore away from each other. Tyson winced and grabbed his dick as Rehan's magic punished him for our moment of bliss.

That wasn't what made the ground shake.

The same fire priestess screamed again, and the ground under us split with a defining crack. Hot sulfuric air spewed out of the gap in a puff of dark ash. Rocks flew out, pelting us in debris. A large projectile hit a priestess and her eyes rolled back in her head. Just as graceful unconscious, her red robes fluttered in the violence as she plummeted toward the divide now cutting through the mountaintop.

I pushed off Tyson and dove for her, colliding with her body and rolling us in the opposite direction. The world shook again, and the ground beneath us suddenly dropped. I tucked the unconscious girl into my chest to protect her head and called on Rehan's water magic to make a bubble around us. Relaxing as much as possible, I rolled with the dirt, careening down the mountainside, and prayed we hit something soft at the bottom.

The world blurred. I closed my eyes, desperate to keep from getting dizzy, as our out-of-control fall made the world spin. My layer of water was enough to keep us alive, but not much else—every rock and stick dug into us, covering me in bruises. The water around me warmed unnaturally fast. The smell of sulfur became so thick I tasted the rotten eggs through the tiny air hole I'd left in front of my mouth.

I hit something hard and bounced off it with a painful squeak. Before our momentum built again, two arms stopped us dead in our tracks. The last of my water bubble evaporated around me. Heat licked at my knees, and I curled them to my chest.

"Wiggles, stand up!" Tyson roared.

I opened my eyes to a glowing red world of fire and flowing lava. Everything hurt, but I kept my death grip on the unconscious dragon as I dragged myself to standing. The ground quaked, and the earth shifted under my feet again. Fear filled Tyson's glowing dragon-slit gaze. He glanced down at the priestess in my grip. With only his dragon wings out, he couldn't fly with two.

The ground rolled, and Tyson pushed me right as it opened under us. Time slowed. I fell backward, and the earth swallowed my fire prince whole. I couldn't do anything.

Useless.

I hit the mountainside, still wrapped around the unconscious priestess, and started rolling again. Pain and spinning became my world. The slope evened out a bit, slowing our momentum. I stayed curled around the unconscious dragon, praying this ride ended soon. Eventually, scratchy branches stabbed into my skin, and our motion stopped. Everything hurt, but a massive boom from the mountaintop injected a new wave of adrenaline directly into my veins.

I dropped the unconscious priestess and looked back at where we'd fallen from. Lava poured from the top. Molten red glowed in the night, streaming over the spot Tyson had been. I couldn't see any sign of the fire prince.

The girl at my feet moaned, and my heart ripped in half.

I was a fucking useless mortal and couldn't do anything against molten rock, even if I ran back. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks. He was a pompous ass, but he didn't deserve to die.

The girl moaned again, and I reached down and lifted her into a fireman's carry. Every muscle in my body protested. But we had to get out of here. I walked, losing all sense of time. My left leg trembled, pain shooting from my knee before it caved, and I came down hard on the ash-covered underbrush. The ground shook again, and I crawled over the girl, holding my hands over my head.

Suddenly, the earth under us shifted, and I screamed. Nothing like the shaking I'd felt earlier, the ground dented, and a dome of dirt jutted out, protecting our heads. The world went dark, and the sounds of lava muted. A pair of green dragon eyes blinked at me in the darkness.

"Squeak!" I said, praying my need for help translated.

"That's a fire priestess," the dragon shifter said in a rich baritone I swear I'd heard before. "I don't know your name, but you're Rehan's mate? Right?"

The sound of rocks and debris hitting the dome made my breath hitch. What would happen if the lava covered us? How long could we breathe in here?

I needed to see something to calm my panic. In an instant, a tiny ball of fire bloomed at my fingertips. The shifter blocked his eyes with his hand while I moved my attention to the dirt dome covering us.

"Squeak!" I demanded, finding the dome's edge with my fist and beating on it.

The dragon lowered his hand, his green eyes human now, and stared at the fire in my palm. I reached for my phone, but all I wore was the stupid flimsy white shift, probably covered in ash and dirt now.

You're spending a lot of time on this island covered in dirt.

Not the right time.

Another round of debris hit the dome. I cursed and lost my fire as I covered my head unnecessarily. When the final plink shook the dome above me, the dragon pressed his hand to the dirt, and the dome rolled away from us. Cool-ish air hit my lungs, tinged with ash and sulfur. The outline of a man appeared in the dark.

He picked up the fire priestess. "Come," he said. "We'll get you both to a healer."

I shook my head and turned. I had to go back. There had been four more priestesses. And Tyson. Oh, fuck. I just left him. A vision of the ground opening under him filled my memory, and my breaths came out in short gasps. Real emotions or not, asshole or not, now that my charge was safe, I couldn't leave Tyson. I liked the dickhead.

I told you so.

I didn't make it two steps before something hard impacted the back of my head, and the world faded to black.