Page 47 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

‘How much do you trust Horace?’

‘I established Horace personally before he stepped in for Vosgaarde. I’d trust him with my life.’

‘Even after he gave us up to Ruin?’

I sighed. ‘Horace knew we’re on the same team. It was a natural conclusion, especially when Ruin presented himself, knowing you were there.’

Her lips twisted and I internally winced at the mention of Ruin finding her like that.

‘Is there any way we can use him to intercept one of Ruin’s messages—something that won’t tip Ruin off? Some way for us to see what Ruin’s sending back into Vosgaarde—and to whom? Because he’s either going to send news for the king that is honest and useful. Or he’ll send to the mole, so we’d have an identity. A connection at least.’

I was about to dismiss the idea for the risk it posed, when I remembered something very important.

I rubbed my cheek and Bren tipped her head. ‘You look very smug all of the sudden. What is it?’

‘An idea,’ I said. ‘It might not work. But… it also might.’

16. Eyes in the Sky

~ DONAVYN ~

Late morning the next day, I tromped back from the king’s carriages, towards the stable, while the nobles who’d joined us all tottered back to the castle to sleep off the hangovers they hadn’t been able to avoid because their king had insisted on an early morning hunt—hours after the sun rose.

I’d wanted to skip it myself, but not because I was ill. Rather, because I had more important things to pursue. Neither Hanson nor Ruin had shown at the hunt, despite the fact that all the gathered nobles had been invited into the castle for the festivities, and were remaining for the duration. I wasn’t sure whether knowing Ruin was close and thereby, accessible, was a gift, or a curse. But it did mean that we could be more assured of visiting those dragons without being discovered when we knew where he was.

I wanted to leave right then, to check at the castle if the men remained abed and we could fly. But there was no time. The king had insisted that I join them, and the only benefit was that, to my surprise, Rayv, the Furymaster, was there. And the morning I’d thought would be wasted indulging a king and his courtiers, was instead spent mostly discussing the wild herds of dragons—we’d seen several fly over. The king was annoyed with them, because his hunting birds were wary of them and would stop hunting, instead watching for the dragons as if they were predators.

As I stomped across the mile to the stable, I replayed the conversation in my head.

“Sometimes I think they know what they’re doing and they’re laughing at us,” Rayv said, shielding his eyes from the sun as he followed the silhouette of a large redscale as it circled far above. “They always seem to appear more when the king brings his birds out, as if they like watching him get annoyed.

Knowing the dragon’s sense of humor, I wouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest. What surprised me was that, as Furymaster, Rayv wasn’t sure that the dragons would tease in precisely that way. But I had more important questions.

“The feral dragons circle a lot? Doesn’t your herd chase them off?”

Rayv sighed. “Not anymore. Years ago, yes. But in the past decade, our numbers have dwindled so much—especially with moving the dragons outside the city walls, I’m not even sure they realize we still have dragons here,” he said wistfully.

“But didn’t you say their herds mate with yours?”

“Yes, yes,” Rayv said with a dismissive flap. “But who knows how much the ferals understand about our arrangements with the herd? Those that connect with our dragons never seem to go back to true wild—only wary of us humans, rather than rejecting proximity altogether.”

“So… they stay close to the Primarch?”

“And the herd, yes. Even if they won’t take a rider.”

“How many do you have that are connected to your Primarch, but weren’t borne from your dragons?”

Rayv scratched the back of his neck. “It would have to be half the herd at this point.”

When I looked shocked he tried to reassure me. “They aren’t aggressive! And they’re very strong. I wish we could bring them closer somehow, get them to consider bonds. They’d be fantastic fighters—very long wingspans and tails. Trimmer than Kgosi, but many would match him for length…”

He’d gone on, clearly nervous to convince me not to give up on the potential for mingling our herds, but every word I heard only made me more confused about why this man even possessed a role in this kingdom. And secondarily, how Hanson—or, apparently, Carnage—managed to keep these feral creatures in one place.

I’d already had plans to visit the stable and speak with Kgosi when we returned from the hunt. But after that conversation, I walked even more quickly from the castle, grateful none of the Lords attempted to join me.

‘Where are you, Kgosi?’ I sent as I drew closer to the buildings.

‘We’re sunning.’ Kgosi sent an image of himself and Akhane out in the orchard near the stable. But when I reached them, I discovered they weren’t alone.