Page 131 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

“I’m not telling you this as his mate, I’m telling you this as your sister: He needs you more than me. You know that! There’s so few people we can trust. I know he can trust you. Voski… please…”

His lips pursed and he muttered a curse under his breath as he clawed a hand through his hair, but he nodded reluctantly.

“Thank you. Thank you!” I hugged him quickly, squeezing hard, but not letting myself hold on, because I was fraying at the edges. I had to get out of here. Had to get onto Akhane and hold her instead, and fly.

We had to fly like the wind.

“Don’t worry about me. Akhane will keep me safe.”

Voski didn’t talk, just nodded, his eyes dark and intent as he clasped my arm, then let me go, watching me, grim-faced as I drew back, trotting down the stairs and looking at him over my shoulder. “Thank you,” I repeated, then swallowed back the lump in my throat. “God bless you.”

Then I ran.

The chill wind of night flight dried the tears from my cheeks. Akhane had remained mostly silent as I’d harnessed her and prepared for takeoff. To my surprise, Kgosi wasn’t present, but then, neither was Donavyn. So maybe I understood.

The first minutes of flight were breathless and dark. I wrestled a heavy weight of grief and fear that curled its fingers around my neck and wanted to drag me from my dragon’s back. And I felt a similar turmoil in Akhane. The yearning to return battling defiance for our enemies.

Below us, Emberholt city shrank slowly, the circular walls of each district lined with streetlights and lanterns even at this late hour.

I remembered my first view of the city from Kgosi’s back, Donavyn’s steel arms around me and his chest vibrating at my back as he growled instructions in my ear. My stomach churned with the ache to return, but I swallowed and focused on Akhane.

‘We need to lean east. Avoid Hanson’s country estate and those dragons.’

‘Yes. Kgosi made it clear,’ she replied in a weary voice, though the hint of her dry humor was there. Kgosi had, apparently, been quite clear with his instructions.

Neither of us spoke again for almost an hour. I wondered if my dragon, like me, fought with her own emotions. Or if the dragons, so certain of their place in this world and their purpose, accepted these unknowns with the same aplomb they faced other challenges.

‘I am certain of my path, Little Flame, but that does not mean I love less than you,’ she chided me.

‘I’m sorry, Akhane. I didn’t mean—’

‘I know. But remember… You are safe with me, as I am with you. Your tears honor your mate—and my yearning honors mine. We do not lower them by missing them, or fearing their loss.’

That sent a clang of fear through my chest. ‘You fear losing Kgosi? You think… you think Carnage can beat him?’

‘Of course, I fear it—even the strongest of us must fall at some point, Bren. I would be foolish to ignore the risk. But no, I do not believe Carnage will remove Kgosi from the herd. Not without dishonor.’

‘Would the other dragons accept him as Primarch if he cheated?’

‘I don’t know, and that’s the truth. I worry many would fear the loss of the herd—the scattering that occurs when the Primarch is removed without a strong replacement—more than a Primarch who has proven strong, yet without scruples.’

‘They’d rather have a bad, strong Primarch, than no Primarch at all?’

There was a quiet disapproval in her as she considered her response. ‘Not all, of course,’ she admitted. ‘But while my kin are powerful, they are not flawless, Little Flame. And those who waver in weakness… yes, I fear they would grasp at the safety offered by a dragon like Carnage over the uncertainty of a scattering herd.’

Holy shit, even though I knew that was possible, I hadn’t had time to consider what might happen if Carnage somehow undermined Kgosi in a way that allowed him to take the Primarcy.

But it was, I realized, precisely what Ruin planned to do to Donavyn: Remove the powerful leader without proving yourself stronger, then stepping into the void left by his absence. And I could easily see how many of the Furyknights would follow a character like Ruin… I had been awed by him. For years.

‘I think perhaps men and dragons aren’t so different as I thought,’ I told her.

Akhane gave a low grunt that vibrated in her chest and spine, under my seat.

‘Doesn’t it offend you, though, when you think about that?’ I continued, the flare of anger briefly overriding my fear. ‘Doesn’t it just piss you off when you think of these males who’ve been so strong and powerful just handing themselves over to these fuckers, when they had such incredible leaders that they should have protected?’

Akhane’s ribs expanded, then contracted in a heavy sigh. ‘I try not to focus on anger, but on what is right, and what is true.’

‘But if the people and dragons we’re fighting don’t care what’s right—’