Page 101 of Ashborne: Defiance

“Yes. Though, barely. Grace didn’t even understand what Koa had done when the dragons linked. It happened when I caught Grace following me. Koa must have just Chosen her. I had a knife to her throat. I thought Grace was a spy and I’d captured her. But Koa came for me—and of course, Kham took exception to Koa’s aggression. But then they faced off and… well, you can imagine.”

Donavyn huffed. “I can.” But he caught eyes with Ronen again, before turning to me. “So, your dragons bonded, but you two didn’t?”

“No.”

There was a beat during which his lips thinned. I held his gaze evenly, though my stomach simmered.

“You haven’t had any particularly strong draw to Grace? You’ve felt no drastic effects from their bond?”

I slammed my mind closed. I didn’t think Kham was close enough to hear, but I didn’t want him to hear me lie. “No. Not particularly. That is, there were some issues when the dragons actually mated, but we both resisted and now we’re fine—”

There was a knock at the door.

Donavyn’s frown deepened. “Come in!” He raised his voice so he’d be heard through the thick wooden door. A moment later the latch turned and two of the three captains of the Furyknights, the highest ranking men below Donavyn, filed in, accompanied by a handful of sergeants, men who were high level squad wing leaders, or specialists of senior rank.

Donavyn stepped around his desk to greet them all and accept their salutes with short patience, but as he passed me and Ronen, he leaned in. “We’ll talk more about this later. For now, leave it.” Then he gave Ronen a pointed look, who nodded. I was confused, and a little nervous, but then Donavyn turned to the others and filled them in on the important points of what had occurred since our arrival.

“…Voski will fill us in on what happened in Fyrehold after we were taken away—then we’ll discuss the new Flameborne, and the new addition to the herd.”

As the men nodded and turned expectantly to me, Donavyn faced me as well. “Son, you’re invited into this circle because you’re respected and you have information these men need.” Then to the others. “There’s more to the story than you can know. But rest assured, Voski has proven both his skill, and loyalty. His words can be trusted.”

The men murmured approval. I nodded my thanks quickly. Then, with a glance at Ronen, I started from the day before Donavyn disappeared. The day I’d uncovered the code that revealed the plot to take Donavyn’s life, weaken Kgosi, and overrun the dragon herd. “…When the general disappeared, I feared the worst. I left Gil at the castle to continue investigations there, and I went for Kham. We were going to fly, try to locate Kgosi and see whether the general needed help…”

As the men leaned in, listening, my heart pounded. Not because I spoke to a roomful of men who had authority over me. I was accustomed to that. But because I knew there’d be questions about Grace. And I found myself suddenly very nervous. And protective?

Minutes later, bristling in anticipation, I had explained the events that took my time and attention away from the pursuit of Donavyn and Kgosi. I told them what I’d found after checking in with Gil at the castle, and then briefly touched on the flight home.

“…she is noble and naïve. Yet, I can see why she’s been chosen,” I said honestly. “She and Koa will be assets to our ranks. But we’ll have some unique challenges in the process. Her people will be looking for her, though she believes that will cease once they can’t find her in Fyrehold. I’m not so sure, because she—”

“Her life starts new here, just as any Flameborne’s would. We can handle families. What we need to know is how to move forward with her here.”

I swallowed and nodded. “Whoever takes them will have to keep an eye on her. Koa is extremely independent, having been feral and without a herd. Meanwhile, as a lady of the court, Grace can be unaware of the finer details of functioning as part of a team. Yet, she’s very resilient. So eager to rush ahead, she’s often heedless of her own safety.”

Most of the men chuckled at that, and Ronen gave me a grin.

I might have shown similar tendencies in my first year.

“The queen will be overjoyed,” Captain Mont, the Commander of the Flame Wing—our forward guard in battle—muttered.

Donavyn nodded. “She will. She’s been waiting for another dragon to choose a woman.”

“She wasn’t chosen because she’s a woman,” I interjected, then blinked as every man in the room looked at me with some measure of surprise—or displeasure—at the correction I’d directed at a man who outranked all of us.

I gritted my teeth. It was always a hazard of returning from a spy mission, where rank lines blurred, depending on roles. In this case, Donavyn and I had communicated as peers in private. I needed to adjust my mindset now that we were back in ranks.

Ronen, my immediate superior, shot me a look, but kept his mouth shut in this circle.

“Sorry, sir,” I said quietly.

Captain Mont, eyes blazing, swelled with offense, but the general cleared his throat and stepped in before I received the tongue-lashing.

“Apart from the obvious limitations for modesty, we’ll treat Grace as we would any other Flameborne. Just as we did with Bren.”

“Sir, she’s a noble,” Mont spluttered. “You can hardly shove her into Kgosi’s stable and hope for the best.”

“Actually, we can—or at least, a similarly humble housing arrangement. We’ve been here before, and we have the evidence to prove that a woman can, indeed, reach the pin. Her nobility means nothing to the dragons. And I won’t stand in her way—particularly since her dragon has submitted to Kgosi. There will be challenges, yes. But we’ll have a new bloodline in the herd, as well as growth in our ranks.” His expression was casually confident, but his eyes gleamed as he looked around, daring any of the men to challenge the fact that his mate was anything less than a fully fledged Furyknight.

Bren had been instrumental in helping us uncover the plot that could have torn the Furyknights down by their foundations. Not to mention that her dragon was the Primarch’s mate.