Page 38 of Ashborne: Defiance

‘You aren’t funny. I’m angry at you. You humbled me. In front of both of them.’

‘You needed humbling. You were being stubborn.’

‘I was trying to do the right thing!’

‘You were treating your mate like a child and—’

‘She is not my mate! I have resisted the bond! Now we can go about our lives.’

Kham sighed and I hoped he was giving up, but a moment later he sent, in a tone so tight it appeared that pause had been to stop himself flying into a rage. ‘To resist a bond doesn’t erase its existence, Voski. To deny your mate is not to say you do not have one.’

My thoughts skittered away from that quickly, and focused on the task at hand. ‘My concern is valid,’ I pointed out. ‘She’s noble, she’ll have been missed. If they don’t learn she’s safe, it could cause war between our kingdoms!’

‘Then address the anxieties of your people—but do not ignore the wishes of your mate.’

‘She’s not my—’

‘I will not say this again, my brother. To deny the truth is not to remove it from existence. That is the nature of truth: it exists without need for your acceptance.’

I set my teeth. ‘I can’t have you referring to her as my mate—Koa will do the same and then she’ll hear about it and—’

‘And ask why you denied her? A valid question, and one you should answer. While you’re at it, tell her how to correctly refer to you.’

‘I’m not having this conversation right now.’

Kham growled in my head. ‘That’s your right. But don’t let yourself believe you’ll avoid it forever, Voski. You’re too grown up for that. Or at least, I thought so, until these past days.’

I hunched against his words and set to scrubbing my skin again, now that I’d been wet long enough to dislodge the dirt and grime. ‘You care about her feelings in this, but not mine?’

‘Of course I care for your feelings. What I will not entertain is your pride. It is a barrier for all of us. If you truly wish to keep them both safe, you’ll be the leader you are, and facilitate her return to Vosgaarde with us. Koa has no ties here. She will fly to Vosgaarde to meet Kgosi and submit to him as Primarch of the herd. We will rejoin the herd as a pair.’

I went still. ‘But… if we do that… if she comes as Koa’s rider… Kham, Grace will be Flameborne! A noblewoman can’t train to be Furyknight!’

He snorted his disapproval of that. ‘Any human chosen by a dragonfury is Flameborne. And any Flameborne may become Furyknight—if she and Koa wish to train.’

‘But—’

‘Would you have allowed another to make that choice when I chose you, brother?’ Kham asked carefully.

I scowled. ‘Of course not. But I’m a man. Furyknights are men.’

‘Tell that to your squad-sister, Bren,’ he responded, sounding amused. ‘I’ll be certain to tell Kgosi that you have determined a woman he accepted is insufficient—’

‘That’s not what I meant, and you know it!’

‘Then do not aspire to speak to Grace’s choice. Females who hear the Creator’s call, and follow it, may do so, whether it is what you would choose for them, or not.’

‘But she’s clueless! She’s been served her whole life! She wouldn’t know what she was getting into! And Koa couldn’t tell her, because she’s never been part of a herd, or trained at the Keep either! She isn’t even from Vosgaarde—Kham, they’re both Fyrehold females! Koa can’t teach her anything about what it means to be a Furyknight!’

There was a slow, smug sense from Kham that raised my hackles, as if he smiled at me down the bond—the kind of smile that said I’d fallen neatly into his trap. ‘Then, it sounds to me, as if the one Grace needs to hear from is you. A Furyknight and wing leader? I cannot imagine anyone better equipped to educate her. Can you?’

I muttered a curse and returned to my scrubbing without answering.

And the fucker laughed at me.

14. Pick a Side

~ VOSKI ~