Page 160 of Flameborne: Chosen

“I should have known you were nothing but a royal whore dressed in dragon leathers. At least the rest of them know now—”

The slap came from nowhere. I didn’t consider it. But he barely flinched when I left a red-handprint on his cheek and thecrackechoed through the stable. A dragon groaned somewhere deeper in the building and a door rumbled on its sliders. But I didn’t take my eyes off of him.

Faren stared at me with pure malice in his eyes. Flames of rageburning.

‘Bren, just breathe. Help is coming—’

“Fuck.Off!”I screamed at him. I wanted to push him away, but I didn’t want to touch him. I wanted to humiliate him, yet I wanted nothing to do with him. I wanted to see him shamed, yet wanted to be nowhere near those raging eyes and strong hands balled into fists.

I was terrified. And alsoso fucking angry.

Faren offered a malicious grin. “That sounds more likeyourgame.”

“You have n-no right to say those things just because you were p-punished for—”

I flinched when he stepped up on me, towering over me and spat through his teeth. “Because you open your legs for the King, my training gets delayedthree fucking months.I didn’t do anything wrong—but I’m getting punished for not falling at your feet like the rest of the fucking Furyknights—”

“What?!”

“Don’t stare at me like I’m the villain here when you’ve arrived where you don’t belong and aren’t wanted by anyone but some old pervert King. This ismy life!”he roared.

“It’s mine, too!”

“That is suchbullshit!”Spittle landed on my face because he spat the word with such fury, his teeth clenched and lips peeled back, eyes wild.

“No, it’s not! I was Chosen! I’m going to be a Furyknight—”

“You can’t even fucking harness a dragon, yet no one’s allowed to touch you.” His arms flew wide, gesticulating as he roared at me. “They pass you for First Rank when you don’t even finish the task—”

“Because you stole my banner!”

“I didn’t touch a fucking thing!”he roared, shoving me backwards, his hand on my chest, the flat of his palm pressed just above my breasts, pinning me back against the stable wall. My head spun when it cracked back against the stone, and despair roiled through me. But my body crackled with fear. Heart pounding, I clawed at his hand, grateful he hadn’t cut off my air. But as I scrabbled at his grip, cursing at him to let me go, he just narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

“ArealFuryknight could fight me,” he sneered. “ArealFuryknight wouldn’t scratch like a cat. He’d put me on my ass and—”

“I’m glad you understand that.” The voice was low, dark, and seething—and immediately followed by a familiar fist that plowed into the side of Faren’s jaw below his ear, sending him staggering down the aisle and away from me.

45. No Remorse

~ DONAVYN ~

I was woken from a deep sleep by the warning rumble of my dragon and his body shifting.

I scrambled to my feet as he rose to his, but I was bleary-eyed and disoriented. It had been a long time since I’d slept with Kgosi without being on a mission. It took me a moment of blinking toremember where I was—that Akhane was there too, but pacing and shaking her head, making the small vocalizations of agitation and concern.

“What’s going on? Where’s Bren?” I asked, glancing at the open door to the little room which was wide open and no sign of light or movement.

‘She needs you,’Kgosi said darkly.

My heart stopped. “What do you m—”

The feminine scream that rose to echo through the stable was a curse, but also broken in distress.

I launched into a run, powering out of the stable and down the aisle as two voices rose—a male and a female—while the disturbed dragons in the stables raised their calls and rumbles.

Seconds later, to my horror, I found Bren backed up against the wall, clawing at a man’s hand which wasplanted on her chest and pinning her to the wall.

“ArealFuryknight could fight me,” Faren sneered. “ArealFuryknight wouldn’t scratch like a cat. He’d put me on my ass and—”