Page 70 of Silent Jay

The priestess grunted. “Who are you to be asking such personal questions?”

“My name’s Ogden.” Ogden held out his hand.

After a long pause, the priestess reached out with a cybernetic hand and returned Ogden’s handshake.

“I love meeting dragons from other elements,” Ogden continued. “Tell me about what I missed. Does the heat from their fire magic affect the air enough for you to use it? Are their steps generating any pure Ley Line magic?”

Ogden’s straightforward, curious personality took the priestess off guard, but she opened up.

I let them chat and watched my mate as she danced. Every time the head of the fire temple stopped the practice, Jay twirled her hair with the dumbest look on her face. It didn’t take me long to realize she was purposely frustrating the entire process.

“You’ve found someone special,” the air priestess suddenly said to me. “Don’t mess this up.”

I grunted.

All three of our gazes rested on Jay as she twirled and grinned.

I wasn’t very good at subtly. The idea of sitting here peacefully with Jay’s kidnapper was eating me alive. “Did you bring her here?”

The air priestess frowned. “I woke her up.” Her sculpted eyebrows furrowed. “If I’d realized the storm I was unleashing, I’m not sure I would have had the courage.”

The eldest priestess let out a dramatic sigh, which Jay copied in the form of a wailing squeak. I wasn’t sure who I felt worse for.

The air priestess chuckled. My suspicion of her eased. Jay’s kidnapper wouldn’t be sitting out in the open talking about their part in the abduction, right?

Tyson’s winged shadow circled.

As much as I wanted to stay, I didn’t want to watch my mate fly off in the fire prince's arms. Leaving Og to his studies with his new friend, I slipped off the mountain.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

JAIYANA

My last evening of training ended with Drama Llama patting my head and telling me I was going to be great while stress-sweating through her robes. I clasped my hands together at my chest, popped up a back leg, and assured her Tyson’s water thing would be amazing… or at least squeaked the sentiment.

Maybe it’s better you can’t talk.

Probably.

Tyson whisked me off my feet and continued to explain the main sporting event on the island which somehow didn’t involve their dragons. It blew my mind. No one on this island seemed to spend time in their beast form. Tyson was a massive fucking fire dragon, and the only way to relight his dragon’s elemental fire was while human?

Bull shit.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Despite the risk of losing it while flying, I pulled it out. Another picture of a cat photoshopped into food appeared on my screen. Sister Abby didn’t share much personal information, but her meme game was on point.

I expected Tyson to fly us to his fire city. Instead, we landed in a clearing between elemental territories. He’d set out a gold blanket covered in finger foods. Candles flickered, and roses peeked out between plates. A small waterfall trickled at our feet while the stars twinkled around an almost full moon.

My breath caught in my throat. I wasn’t a woman prone to romantic gestures, but this was fit for a queen… and Tyson set it up for me. My insides melted, along with my panties and part of my rational mind.

I couldn’t help myself. I took a picture of the setup and sent it to Sister Abby. That’s what girlfriends were for, right?

Tyson held out his hand and guided me to the blanket. The action was absurd and over the top. I ate it up like I was still pretending to be Betty. Except now I was me, and all of this was complicated.

I hadn’t tested my theory: I needed his kiss to break another piece of the curse. But we didn’t have the just friends agreement I made with Rehan. Even if we did, as often as I wanted to kiss Tyson, I wanted to slap his infuriating ass.

“I’m a good cook,” Tyson smirked, hand-feeding me another meat-filled pastry he’d shaped into little flames. “And happy you're not a vegan.”

My taste buds exploded with rich spices, lamb, and apricots. I’m pretty sure I drooled. Fuck me. Why did he have to be a fantastic chef? And where the hell did he get lamb? I spotted a cow farm, but it was a bit hot for sheep in the tropics.

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