Page 159 of Ashborne: Defiance

“Thank you. I’ll get it!”

Donavyn looked at Ronen, who shrugged. “I believe her.”

“I do as well.”

“Then put her in,” Ronen said. “We’ll make sure she’s ready.”

When Donavyn nodded, Bren hugged me again.

‘Did you hear that, Koa? If we pass next week, we can ride alone—we can fly whenever we want!’

‘I am happy for that!’ Koa returned. ‘Very happy.’

‘I am too,’ I said, then hurried back to finish unharnessing her, so I could practice the whole thing again. ‘We’ll have to work hard, but we can do it.’

‘Yes, Firebird. We can.’

55. Back to Routine

~ VOSKI ~

A day and a half alone wasn’t enough, but it helped. By the time I returned to normal duties, I felt less like a bowstring quivering under too much tension.

That is, until I realized I’d been laying in silence and dark, recovering, while everyone else was extremely busy. The Keep bustled. The queen had ordered more patrols of the borders than usual, and now included sweeps of the city, both in flight during the day, and Furyknight boots on the streets at night, with their dragons just outside the walls.

Some of our brothers complained about being used like common guards, but I didn’t mind. On my first night shift in the city, I stationed Kham outside the walls where he’d be close enough to keep our link, and walked the streets talking to him for those hours. I would call him in to hover, and look intimidating, if we found trouble.

Citizens didn’t understand how intelligent the dragons were. They didn’t know a dragon would never use fire in the city outside of battle. So, just the sight of a dragon overhead, circling, screaming, was usually enough to send footpads running, thieves back into their dens, and the drunks shitting their pants as they fled.

On my first patrol, I snuck up behind a fist of thieves clustered in an alleyway, attempting to break into a back window of one of the boarding houses.

They startled like children when I spoke a quiet word of warning behind them. And when they eyed each other, obviously considering using their numbers to overpower me, it was a simple matter of calling Kham in.

I indicated my leathers. “I wouldn’t do what you’re thinking about doing,” I offered casually.

As the leader, a burly man who’d stood back, instructing the others on how to pick the locks, stepped closer to me with a sneer on his face, I just shook my head.

The moment they heard Kham flapping and growling on his approach—they couldn’t even see him yet—they were gone, hissing curses and slipping into the shadows.

My dragon was disappointed when he reached me, and there were no criminals to frighten. ‘I looked forward to chasing one of them down a street. I imagine it’s a story they’d tell their grandchildren one day,’ he sighed as he flew off, and I continued on my patrol.

The sound of his self-pitying disappointment was the first time in days that I laughed.

‘I’ll see if I can find a footpad for you to frighten,’ I sent with a chuckle. ‘One that’s trying to rob women, or something equally nefarious.’

‘Ah, you see! These are the ways I know that you love me, Voski.’

I grinned.

The rest of the patrol was uneventful. As was the following day’s flight to check the borders with the unclaimed lands.

Yet, through it all, even as my heart and body eased, there was a niggle. A tug. Pressure in my chest. An unconscious awareness, always, of her. The direction in which she lay. The urge to turn my feet in that direction.

On Fifth Day, I was assigned an hour of practice with Grace before my patrols. And I felt fucking nervous. It made no sense.

I was tense all morning as I mentally prepared to see and speak to her. I saw her briefly, most days. Usually in a squad briefing, or at a meal. But we hadn’t been alone. Hadn’t spoken privately since that debacle in the stable. Which had come right on the heels of me being forced to humble myself and acknowledge my harsh treatment of her.

The niggle in my heart pinched whenever I thought of that.