Page 155 of Flameborne: Chosen

“Why?”

Before he could answer, one of the men on the other side of the fire coughed loudly, then muttered,“He’s hung like one.”

The laughter was raucous. Even Ronen chuckled and shook his head. But Jhoare didn’t seem to care. He met my eyes and smiled.

“Edomsays it’s because I’m strong and noble, and I’m goodhearted about serving,” he said.

“But it’s actually because he’s gotastoundingassets, and unmatched stamina,” Voski said, then winked.

“Yes, so careful not to get your head turned, Bren. Horse is definitely popular with the ladies.”

“Horse? I…” then it dawned on me. I clapped a hand over my mouth.

“What?” Ronen asked. “What’s wrong?”

“All this time, I thought you were all calling himwhore.”

They howled with laughter. It echoed into the starlight sky overhead.

“I mean, it’s still fitting!” Einar offered, and they all dissolved into roars of laughter again.

I giggled too and found myself almost on the verge of happy tears as they laughed and teased each other mercilessly. But as things quieted down, the others turned to Ronen and once he’d wiped his eyes and cursed a couple times under his breath, he turned to me.

“Bren, we came here tonight to celebrate you—but also all of us together. As squadmates we’re going to be in each other’s lives for a long time. That means sometimes we’ll get sick of each other or let each other down. But you’re one of us.Really.And as you move into the next phase of training, it’ll be rough. Very rough, sometimes. We want you to remember that we all know what it’s like because we walked the path first. Even Harle,” he said with a smile.

Harle muttered a cursed and the others chuckled, but Gill nudged his shoulder and whispered until Harle smiled.

And then I saw it, thisbondbetween them. They teased each other mercilessly and would needle just to be annoying. But something tied them together. Something I lacked. Avulnerability.

They knewhowto tease each otherbecausethey let each other in.

And they’d let me in too. If I allowed it.

I swallowed hard, simultaneously terrified by that, and deeply drawn to it.

Unaware of my thoughts, Ronen cleared his throat and turned back to me. “From this point on, we want you to remember that when it gets hard, we’re at your back—and we know you’ll be at ours. We want you to promise us, just like we’ve promised each other, that if you ever find yourself in a place you don’t understand, or where you feel threatened, you call on us. Day or night. Let us help you. You’re one of us now. You shouldn’t ever face anything alone.”

I was touched. My throat pinched and I had to swallow twice and clear my throat before I could thank them.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

“Well, we mean it,” Ronen said.

But then Voski broke in. “So, why don’t you tell us what happened up in the air today?” he said, the humor gone from his voice which was back to the low, cold drawl. “During the Banner Seize?”

I went still. “It wasn’t—”

“Yes, it was,” Ronen said quietly. “We won’t get petty, or stupid,” he said, glancing around the fire at the men. “But we do need to know what you’re facing. Have those Flameborne ever approached you outside the Trial?”

“No. Not at all,” I hurried to reassure them.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.”

“But it was the same guys, right?” Harle piped up. “The same ones who were coming at you when you delivered that roll-over?”

There were some chuckles, but though I nodded, I didn’t find it funny. I didn’t want to think about Faren and Lorr. “Yes, it was them, but—”