Page 72 of Flameborne: Chosen

I was embarrassed, and frustrated, and quickly losing any hope that I would become a true Furyknight.

Ronen had been very patient today even when the others were short.“Bren, don’t give up,”he’d said kindly.“Every new Flameborne is like a blind puppy. We all fell a lot, lost a lot, and failed every day in those first weeks. The true spirit of a Furyknight perseveres.”

It wasn’t the need for perseverance that frustrated me. It was theconstantfailure.

Today, teeth gritted and near tears, I had finally managed to pull myself up to within reach of Akhane’s withers. Then lacked the strength to pull myself up those final inches and fell back to earth, dropping on my ass in front ofall of them,sitting down on my tailbone so hard that a fresh wave of tears pressed to the surface.

I looked ahead of me on the path to look at my “brothers,” examining their bodies—their height and strength, their tanned skins and vibrant health.

Ronen had assured me that the longer I was bonded, the stronger and healthier I’d become. That the dragons shared some of themselves with us, which helped us thrive.

But, I was so weary my hands and knees trembled, my hands bled and oozed, my ass hurt, and my pride whimpered.

Ahead of me, Harle turned to look and saw how far behind I’d fallen. He turned back to his brothers and muttered something, then they all turned—none of them smiling—to wait for me.

“It’s okay,” I muttered. “You don’t need to wait. I’m just sore.”

“We sit together, we eat together. We fail together, we win together,” Gil said simply. The Wing Lieutenant’s eyes were the kindest of the group, but he was a quiet man I didn’t know how to read.

Einar, the one with stark white hair and narrow eyes, stared at me like he was furious. I shivered when our eyes met and quickly looked away—only to run into the bright, intense gaze of Voski. Everything about him was as dark as Einar was light. I’d thought he was funny the first day when he kept teasing Harle about shitting himself, but now I seeing the sharpness in him, and wondered if it wasn’t humor at all. But a genuine mean-streak. I dreaded the moment he turned that on me.

My heart quavered. I looked down at my feet as they parted slightly to let me walk into the group.

“I don’t think I’ll eat at the dining hall today,” I muttered. “I need to bathe and wrap my hands and—”

“Bren, you need to eat,” Gil said softly, but firmly.

“I will. I just—”

“Come with us to get a plate. Take it with you.” It was an order, so even though my anger and frustration bubbled—I just wanted to be somewhere no one was staring and thinking about how I failed!—I nodded. “Yes, Sir,” I muttered.

“Look at that—at least one of you knows how to show respect when you’re angry.”

The others grumbled and protested, but Gil rested a hand on my shoulder and stared at them until they all swallowed the words back and turned back to their conversation as we walked. Strangely, Gil didn’t take his hand from my shoulder when their attention drifted away. Like he’d make sure I kept pace with them.

“I hope Beatty is on the cook line tonight,” Harle said at one point, rubbing his hands together. “She smiled at me yesterday.”

The men all guffawed.

“Beatty smiles ateveryone,”Oros laughed.

“Not likethat,”Harle replied with a wicked grin.

“She likes you, huh?” Jhoare said, subtly nudging Einar in the side where Harle couldn’t see.

“Yeah…” Einar added, with a glance at his friend. “Harle, you go first so we can all see how Beatty smiles at you.”

A couple of the others snorted, but Harle was still smiling. “You laugh until I ask her for a walk and while you’re all laying on your bunks playing cards, I’m out in the moonlight getting a handful of—”

Gil cursed, his hand tightening on my shoulder.

Jhoare elbowed Harle sharply who blinked and frowned, looking back and forth as if he was confused. “What?”

Voski rolled his eyes, then tipped his head towards me—at which point Harle’s eyes bulged. “Oh, right. Sorry, Bren.”

“It’s fine,” I said tightly.

Voski snorted derisively. I wanted to glare. I wanted to tell him to shut the hell up, but I kept my eyes fixed forward and kept walking.