Page 79 of Ashborne: Defiance

‘A time just for teaching and learning.’

‘Yes. Classes. Kham classes me.’

I giggled. ‘You were right the first time. He’s teaching you—but don’t let the words worry you. I like the way you talk, Koa.’

A rush of love and warmth poured over me from the bond. ‘Your heart happy makes my heart happy,’ she sent with a low rumble of joy. ‘The Creator made you for me.’

‘And you for me.’ Tears pricked my eyes and made me swallow, but I couldn’t stop beaming.

Even if my heart ached that Voski had fled once again. Even if I hated that everything I said or did seemed to make him angry—or at least, suspicious—I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

Koa was a gift. I wouldn’t give her up. Ever.

‘No matter what, Koa, if I’m harming you, you tell me. If I’m doing it wrong, you show me. I’ll do everything I can to be right for you. I don’t know what it will mean to become a Furyknight, but I know you can be a fighter, and I’ll do anything I can to earn my place with you.’

‘No need. It is yours. The Creator made us for together,’ she sent emphatically. ‘We face mountains with shoulders side to side.’

“Yes,” I breathed as she dropped her head against my chest, blowing breath over my feet and scattering the dirt. I leaned my cheek on the broad flat between her eyes and hugged her face. “I’ll meet every obstacle with you, Koa. You’re my life now. And I’m so, so happy that’s true.”

She chirped and nudged me, and the warmth and ache in my chest grew.

I didn’t know why I could feel such love and certainty, and yet still have this hollow in my chest. But I knew for sure that she was the source of my joy. And I wasn’t ever giving her up.

Not for anyone.

26. Tested

~ VOSKI ~

We were already in flight when the next morning dawned, gray and heavy, with the promise of rain to come. I warned Grace and the dragons that we needed to fly as far as possible before the storm set in. If we weren’t too delayed, we would reach Vosgaarde the following day, a fact that both excited and terrified me.

What would we find?

Kham assured me he could reach Kgosi—if the Primarch was there—or any other dragon from enough distance to give us fair warning of what we would find. But that still meant flying until we were mere miles away before we knew what awaited us.

My head ran on a loop of what-if plans. Where to hide the girls if the Keep was in ruins, or the Furyknights were at war. How to hide them so Kham and I could enter the fray without leaving them at risk.

How far to trust Grace if I was forced to leave her away from the Academy, and alone.

How to locate Donavyn if he was there.

How much to tell, and to whom, if he wasn’t.

How to measure who to trust when any Furyknight might be working with our enemies—and if Donavyn or Bren hadn’t made it back, or had been defeated, how to ensure that the truth was known.

There was a rock in the pit of my stomach when I thought about it, but I kept going back over every possible strand of the web so I wouldn’t be left scrambling.

But the longer we flew, and the heavier the cloud-cover grew, the lower my hope that we’d see the Keep the next day. And the shakier I became.

I knew Grace was exhausted. But that was precisely when leaders among the Furyknights were taught to test our charges—no one ever faced war feeling energized. Plus, if we did fly into a Keep at war, I needed to make sure she wouldn’t panic. So, I decided to press Grace a little. Perhaps a lot.

“You’ve been remarkably brave in flight,” I said carefully.

Grace was startled—we’d flown for the past hour without a word. Yet, she nodded. “I love it,” she answered simply.

“We should reach the Keep in a couple of days. Would you like to try an exercise that might help you in your training as Flameborne?”

“Yes! Of course!” she twisted in her seat to stare at me over her shoulder. “What should I do?”