Page 18 of Flameborne: Chosen

I offered a wry smile. “So did we.”

She gaped at me, then turned, those loose strands of hair floating around her face as she scanned the lip of the launch hollow, finally registering that all of those men and dragons were there to seeher.

“This… this can’t be,” she breathed, taking a step back as if to flee.

Instinctively, I slipped a hand to the hollow of her spine and leaned closer so none of them would hear us. “I’ll admit this is a surprise to all of us, Flameborne Bren, but don’t shrink from it. Furyknights are, at our hearts, servants. We honor our dragons who humbled themselves to bond us and serve our nation. So, stand tall for Akhane, Bren. She has Chosenyou.”

“Chosen me for what?!”

“As her partner. Her rider. The only human with whom she’ll open her mind intimately. And as her brother—excuse me, sister-in arms. If she becomes a battle dragon, you’ll ride her to glory. And together you’ll help us defeat the enemy.”

It was a marvelous goal. Inspiring to most men. But Bren shrank from it, horror in her wide eyes.

“What… what happens if I say no?” she asked.

I punched down the impatience and offense that wanted to tell her to straighten her spine and find her balls—after all, she had none to locate.

AwomanFlameborne? Surely this was a mistake?

‘Dragons do not makethosemistakes, Donavyn,’Kgosi growled.

I cleared my throat. “Any Flameborne who doesn’t pass the trials will become a servant to the crown. There are many possible options: Messengers, runners, scouts, hunters, healers—if you or your dragon show aptitude. Or, with a female dragon, you could become a nanny and teacher for the hatchlings.”

She sucked in a breath. “And Akhane? Would that… would she be satisfied with that life? Perhaps that’s what she Chose me for?” She looked up at me, that earnest shining in her huge blue eyes that matched a cloudless sky.

I swallowed hard. “You would have to ask her,” I said diplomatically.

Kgosi huffed in my head.‘You should tuck your tail over your genitals while you’re at it.’

Bren turned her head hopefully, eyes finding Akhane behind us, and I suspected she did exactly what we all did the first time—reached out to her dragon with the hesitance we all had at the beginning, uncertain when they would hear us, or how. But a moment later a shiver rippled down her spine.

“I… I think…” Her face fell and my heart sank with it.

In many ways it would be a relief if she rejected the call—having a woman sincerely train for the trials created obstacles and complications I didn’t want to try to untangle. But since the two were bonded, if Bren wouldn’t answer the call, then we’d lose Akhane as a fury—and given her size, a likely battle dragon.

And something deep within me—more than the disdain of my dragon—said that this woman was not seeing herself clearly. That her lack of confidence didn’t come from lack of capability, but—

“I’ll try,” she said, though her brows pinched a V over her nose. “I can only try.”

To my surprise, Kgosi lifted his head and roared, and was immediately answered by every dragon within earshot—which, for dragons, was several miles.

Around and around the hollow, and echoing across the land, those deep, ancient voices raised in celebration. A cacophony of pride and honor, designed to both impress humility upon a young Flameborne, and buoy them with confidence.

‘She is Little Flame,’Kgosi told me when the noise had died down, but the humans in the clearing were beginning to mill about, murmuring in agitated tones.

I sucked in a breath.

Little Flame.

She’d been given a dragon name.

There was no going back now.

“Little Flame it is,” I said quietly.

Bren looked at me, nodding uncertainly as I gestured for her to head up the incline again. I was glad to see her steps were already stronger, and halfway up the side of the bowl, she pursed her lips into a determined frown.

I left my hand at her elbow so there was no chance she would slip and embarrass herself in front of the men—some of whom would soon be her brothers, though she didn’t know it yet.