Page 50 of Ashborne: Defiance

I nodded, but I barely heard him over the thought screaming in my head.

Get her to safety. Now.

18. Untrusted

SOUNDTRACK: Blurry by Zero 9:36

~ GRACE ~

“Wake up, Grace. Wake the fuck up!”

I shoved upright, out of the dream, blinking. But all I saw was darkness and black and blue trees and midnight eyes and—

Eyes.

His piercing eyes appeared right in front of my face. I gasped, jerking back, but strong hands clamped onto my arms and stopped me. My bottom ground into the dirt as I struggled for a few seconds, while he muttered curses. Then I blinked again.

“Vane?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” he hissed.

“I… what?”

With more colorful words and raking hair out of his eyes, Vane straightened, then pulled me to my feet and planted me on them. I swayed, then caught my own weight, blinking rapidly because I was still half-asleep.

My stomach growled audibly and his jaw flexed.

“Are you awake now?” he whispered.

I looked over his shoulder. Two large shadows in the trees moved toward us. The dragons. I scanned the space, but there were no other men or dragons. “Are you alone?”

“Yes,” he snapped. “Now, tell me what the fuck is going on!”

I frowned and pressed my eyes with the heels of my palms. “What’s going on, is that I was asleep, and now you’re angry and—you tell me what’s going on! Did you find Bren and Donavyn? Or—”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were betrothed to a fucking lord?”

Oh dear.

I wanted to shrink from the pure, unadulterated rage in his eyes. And maybe, a little bit, from my own cowardice.

“Because I hoped it wouldn’t come up?” I said quietly. Honestly.

Vane’s eyes narrowed until they were nothing but pinpoints of light in the dark. “You sent me back to the castle, when you’d disappeared for a week, and didn’t think it worth warning me that someone powerful might have come looking for you? The king is receiving messages, and the court is having fits, Grace!”

I sucked in. That wasn’t good. That wasn’t good at all. Why would the king take an interest in Lord Breckon’s marriage union?

This seemed like the moment for one of those coarse words Vane and the other men were so fond of, but I wasn’t sure which one actually fit, and—

“Were you trying to bring the entire kingdom down on my head? Letting me walk into the lion’s den without even a hint? Did you want me to be blamed for your disappearance?”

“What? No! No one would connect you with a lady!”

I couldn’t make out the details of his expression in the dark, but the scoff of disdain as he pushed away from me and stalked toward the dragons told me plenty.

“Vane? Vane, what did they say? What happened? Did they follow you?”

“Of course not!” he barked.