A Valley of Darkness (A Shade of Vampire #52)(46)

“Yeah…” I paused, swallowing. “Speaking of… Why did you take it in the first place?”

“Well, my dad took his when he was my age. It’s a tradition in my family, on my father’s side. They’ve done it for centuries before me. It’s meant to strengthen a dragon’s character. You keep your distance, hold your physical instincts under control during several of your formative years, and you come out stronger, more resilient.”

I had wondered on more than one occasion what the limits were, regarding dragon celibacy. From what I remembered, as far as definitions went, being celibate meant you abstained from any… intimate contact. But I wasn’t sure about the specifics, i.e. the exact extent of such an oath. As I mulled it over, I forgot to stop talking.

“I get that celibacy means you can’t have sex, but does it mean you can’t kiss, either? Like nothing? Nada? No kissy, no touchy?”

Blaze’s head turned in an instant, his eyes wide.

I immediately brought my hand up to my mouth, realizing I’d voiced a very intimate thought, a question I’d asked myself before, in the privacy of my room back at our GASP base, while watching Blaze spar with Field a week earlier.

I must’ve looked horrified by my own loose tongue, but he seemed to find it funny. A huge grin bloomed on his face while I prayed for the earth to swallow me whole.

“So sorry,” I gasped. “I… I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“It’s okay.” He laughed lightly, handing me another wildflower. “But to answer your question, yes—basically. Celibacy refers to abstaining from intercourse, but it’s pretty much assumed that a dragon will abstain from the other things too. It’s not written anywhere that kissing, for example, isn’t allowed, but personally, I hold back from everything. There’s no point in opening the door to temptation when you’ve sworn an oath to keep your distance from it, is there?”

“Right… I see you take your celibacy oath quite seriously…”

“I do. It’s very important to me,” he replied, but his gaze was telling me something else, as it settled on my face and softened. He then looked out, watching the ocean lapping at the rocky shore. “I know I’ll come out stronger when it’s over. That lasts a lifetime, and I can’t set that aside…”

“Makes sense.” I sighed, feeling deflated for no obvious reason.

You were thinking of kissing him, weren’t you?

Before I could pummel my mouthy inner fire fae, I noticed movement above us. I looked up, squinting against the morning sun, and saw two dark figures watching us from the first level of the city, at the top of the carved stairs.

They wore dark gray outfits, with hoods, smoky goggles and masks. Blaze noticed me still and frown, and glanced up the mountain. I caught a glimpse of something blue on both their arms.

“I think they’re Correction Officers,” Blaze muttered, moving closer to me. “They’re not wearing uniforms but the blue insignia is a giveaway…”

“What do you think they want?” I wondered. “They must have followed us down here. They sure are determined, tracking us in the sun like this…”

“They’re probably just watching. They’ll report back to Lord Kifo and tell him where we’ve been.”

“Good for them,” I said, gritting my teeth, then continued scanning the grass around me. Blaze walked by my side, occasionally throwing them a sideways glance.

We headed up the stairs, picking a couple more flowers along the way, and further discussing the disappearances and our role in untangling this whole mess. By the time we reached the first level, the Correction Officers were gone. The awnings had been pulled out, and several Exiled Maras were out and about.

Part of me was still reeling from my flight on Blaze’s back. I’d ridden dragons before, but something about Blaze’s ride had left me with a permanent tingle in my limbs, and a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. With his majestic dragon form imprinted on my mind… I couldn’t help but feel extra safe around him.

No Mara in their right mind would dare to come close or even try something against us. That would be suicidal. Whoever those Correction Officers were and whatever they wanted, they were no match for Blaze. They weren’t even a match for me. As long as I had my lighters with me, or any source of fire in my hand, I could burn them to a crisp.

I couldn’t trust the Exiled Maras anymore, not after what had happened to Minah. But they were at a bigger disadvantage, because we’d brought a fire dragon and a fire fae to Azure Heights.

All they could do was watch and keep track of our movements.





Jax





I chose the northern side of the mountain to place Patrik’s satchel. I wasn’t at all comfortable not having Hansa where I could see her, especially after our incursion into the Valley of Screams, but I took some comfort in the fact that she wasn’t alone.

The alleys snaked down this part of the city, and I reached the last set of stairs leading to the ground level. The trees were taller, their crowns thicker on that side. I was fully covered by a hood, due to the lack of awnings above, but the bright morning sun was relatively tolerable given the predominance of natural shade offered by the trees.

I reached the bottom of the mountain wall, and stopped for a minute to take in the view. The beach was covered in rough pebbles, the ocean foaming as it washed over them in soft waves. It spread beautifully, dark and blue, to the right. It seemed to go on forever, while the green plains stretched to the left, herds of moon-bison scattered across and grazing by the streams pouring in from the gorges.