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After the Youths’ Dance calory The Fire Dance The dance of sex

Consorts, husbands, and males ere handfasted could wear short loincloths if they wanted to The otherbut were not yet forness to beco but their Jewels and their pride

A hot dance A grinding dance whose steps were as for pleasure

You’re not old enough for the Fire Dance, Jared

But I’ve !

Yes, you have But in most other ways, you’re still a youth

I’ a ain before the spring dance Everything has a price, Jared You can’t take aa man’s responsibilities, too You may be ready for the one, but you aren‘t ready for the other

Jared watched the fire rise toward the sky

Had that been part of it? Still sulking like the youth he truly was, had he ignored the warnings and accepted that witch’s invitation in order to defy his father’s judght Hehadn’t been ready for the Fire Dance He had briefly enjoyed aforward, Jared inspected the wound on his wrist It had already begun to clot

He called in the knife again, reopened the wound, then vanished the knife Using Craft and the blood dripping froh to contain the altar and enough space around the bonfire for a single dancer

As soon as the circle was cast, he used healing Craft to seal the wound

He closed his eyes, swaying slightly He could hear the dru the Shalador an to beat in time with the drums

His blood heated

He opened his eyes

On the other side of the bonfire was another olden skin

Jared’s breath caught as the wild stranger bared its teeth in a sed him to embrace--toaccept --what it e, the Warlord had co the san the Fire Dance

Round and round they went as theRound and round Skin glistened with sweat from the heat of the bonfire and the heat of the dance

Emotional chains that he hadn’t knoere there broke and melted away Social restraints burned in the fire

Faster and faster Heart pounding Feet pounding

Side by side now, they danced, drawing the male fire closer and closer to the surface until it consu else

The drums became more insistent as the , dancing

His body throbbed as the Warlord, with a savage s hier

The drums faded, and the Fire Dance came to the end

Jared sturound, exhausted and painfully aroused His body quivered and burned as he stretched out full length on the cold ground

Too sensitive to bear the prick of grass, he rolled onto his back and stared at the ht, how he needed!

His rationalword for the intensity of his condition

Rut

Except for Warlord Princes, Blood e, almost uncontrollable need for sex That Warlord Princes went through the rut once or twice a year was one of things that made them what they were--and one of the reasons they were considered so dangerous During the rut, their te could provoke them into violent destruction Other males weren’t safe around a e that was entwined with hot desire