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The Offering could be ht have been had been severed by his own fear and refusal to accept it

He couldn’t reclaim the power that was lost forever, but maybe, with the fire dance, he could finally meet and embrace the man he should be

Gray opened the door to his roo for him

“You ready?” Ranon asked

He looked at the other Warlord Prince, a er friend than any he’d ever had Tonight there was heat in Ranon’s dark eyes Heat and a glitter that wasn’t temper but wasn’t far removed

“I’m ready” May the Darkness have mercy on him if he wasn’t ready If he failed this time, too many of his dreams would fail with him

They walked out of the Queen’s Residence together, then stopped when they reached the street Currents of fe the streets, stropping against Gray’s inner barriers

Ranon closed his eyes and breathed deep Gray had the sense that his friend was breathing in more than air

“Do you hear it?” Ranon whispered

He didn’t hear anything, but he felt it in his blood

The dru the men to the dance

Ranon took in another breath, then let it out in a sigh as he opened his eyes “Come on, Gray It’s time to dance”

Cassie was there tonight a the women who had come to watch the fire contained in a vessel of male flesh

Cassie

“Yes,” Gray said as he began walking toward the sound of the drums “It’s time”

Cassidy looked around as she set up her drum and stool between Shira’s and Reyhana’s This park, narown bushes with a pile of stones in the center of the almost impenetrable mess Gray had been frustrated that the elders wouldn’t let him clean up this park when they let hirumbled and fussed about it so much the elders finally told him politely but firmly to keep his hands off the place

Now there was a large circle of fine sand that had been carefully raked The tue fire pit piled ood that was ready for a flarass filled the rest of the space, and bushes defined the boundaries and provided soht archways created entranceways to The Dance

“This wasn’t cleaned up in the past couple of days,” Cassidy said quietly Or as quietly as she could over the sound of the to

Shira smiled and looked a little e” She shrugged “Illusion spells Lots of them, woven in and around one another The Dance is always tended, even though most years it wasn’t safe to use such a place”

“So you didn’t do these special dances?” Cassidy asked

“We did But not like this” Shira sht “It was too risky to do the whole celebration together, so it would be spread out over the weeks between the Autumn Moon and the next fulltiht for these dances”

It hurt that they hadn’t trusted her enough to release the illusion spells and reveal The Dance for what it was, but it also told her how deep the fear ran in the Shalador people She didn’t ask Shira what the penalty had been for those who had been caught doing these dances She didn’t want to know