Page 96 of Ashborne Forged

“Whoa, sir, you can’t really mean—” Gil started.

“I certainly can. And if this is the mutinous rot that has infected my most trusted squad, I shudder to think what will come of the rest of us.”

Ronen jerked to attention. “Sir, Voski isn’t—”

“Voski faked orders to slip away with his mate,” Donavyn snapped, glaring at Ronen.

Ronen’s head snapped back, while Gil’s shoulders slumped.

“What?” My Squad Captain turned to look at me. “Is this true? Those orders—the messenger… with Grace…” He trailed off as he saw the apologetic look on my face, and the impact of Donavyn’s words sank in.

I begged with my eyes. “I know it was wrong—”

“Wrong?!” Donavyn roared. “It was a breach of everything we vow, to build trust and unity in our ranks. After you murdered a citizen, after you lied to us about Grace, it’s the final blow, Voski. You threw away your integrity for the sake of taking your mate—she wasn’t even in danger! If you’d just told me, I would have released you!”

I clawed hands into my hair, those words echoing the queen’s insistence that if I hadn’t interfered with Breckon before he struck Grace, she might have kept Grace here.

Was it possible that it really was me who was the problem?

‘Kham—’

“Ronen, go find your squad and inform them of everything that’s happened,” Donavyn said grimly. “Tell them Voski has been stripped of his pin, and is no longer a Furyknight. Any orders he has issued that are still in effect must be reviewed by me.”

“No,” I breathed. His gaze offered no relief, and little sympathy. No Grace. No squad. No family. “Sir, please—”

“Assure them that Kham remains under Kgosi’s protection, but under our new structure, he will not be assigned kingdom missions, and should not be informed of them.”

“Donavyn, please! I vowed to you!” I gripped the cell bars, white-knuckled.

He stared at me, clouds of hurt and rage in his eyes.

“Those are the orders, Ronen. Will you fulfill them?” he said quietly.

Ronen’s throat bobbed, but he nodded. When he looked at me, his face was shocked, and sad. And my heart clenched.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he murmured to me earnestly. “You could have trusted me. I would have helped.”

“I’m sorry, I—”

“This is… it feels like too much. I’ll always care. I’ll be there for you, however I can… but—”

“Ronen, you have orders,” Donavyn said starkly.

Ronen, his face suddenly haggard, nodded again, then reached through the bars to clasp my arm, before trotting off to the dark stairs the queen had used, taking them two at a time, and not looking back.

I was sick. Ill. Defeated.

“Please! This is my family. This is my home. I know it was wrong, but—”

There was a strange light in Donavyn’s eyes when he cut me off. “You and your dragon are no longer tied to the crown. To Vosgaarde. Or to the Furyknights in any way,” he muttered. All heat of anger gone from his voice so his tone was dead. “Your name, your dragon’s name, anything to do with you will be removed from the records. Your conduct is now entirely your own. We will not claim you. Or protect you.”

And then he stared at me. Through the panic, through the anger, through the fierce sense of injustice—surely the good I had done outweighed these crimes?—the first flicker in his gaze, the hint that there was a second layer here, clanged in my instincts.

“We will not assist you. We will not stand for you,” Donavyn warned. “Never again… until you prove that your commitment to what is right outstrips your selfish ambition.”

But it already did. “There is nothing selfish about my desire to save my mate from that bastard!” I snarled.

Donavyn leaned in until his nose was between the bars and his eyes flashed. But instead of addressing me, he spoke to Gil. “Voski is no longer one of us,” he said flatly. “Gil, you are to escort him to collect his personal items, then ensure both he and Kham leave the Keep. Let it be put about the men that he is outcast until he has proven he can be trusted to put the needs of others before himself. A call made only by me.”