Page 45 of Flameborne: Chosen (Emberquell Academy #1)

SOUNDTRACK: Daylight by Tommee Proffit and Sam Tinnesz

~ brEN ~

“Fuck!” I punched the air in frustration and the movement sent me swinging erratically again. Akhane crooned, sending a rush of reassurance through the bond, but I was livid.

I’d almost had it!

I watched sullenly as Donavyn and Kgosi landed in the clearing next to where Akhane stood very still because I was still swinging on that safety strap and needed some help to get down because the climbers’ clutches I used to get up and down to mount stayed at her withers until the mounting strap shook out.

Sometimes they fell to the bottom, other times they stayed up at her withers.

Either way, until Donavyn lifted me off the strap and they were within reach, I was stuck once I fell.

“This is so embarrassing,” I muttered as he trotted across the field again to climb the mounting strap and pull my loops down.

“Humility is a Furyknight’s crown,” he said, then grinned.

I scowled. “You say those things a lot, but I see very little evidence of it in the ranks.”

Donavyn grasped the mounting strap and clambered up Akhane’s side so effortlessly it simultaneously made me want to cry and dried my mouth.

It was warm tonight and he wore a sleeveless shirt tucked into his leathers.

His biceps bulged with every grasp of the strap in ways that made me think of laying between braced arms and—

He reached the top in seconds and tugged the loops out of where I’d tucked them, letting them slide all the way to the ground, then offered me an arm.

“What—? ”

“The only downside to those loops is that you’re relying on them.

What happens if you’re thrown free in battle and they’ve slipped down.

There are so many scenarios in which you might find yourself without them, Bren.

The stronger your arms, the sooner you keep yourself in place in a launch, and the less you’ll need them. ”

“I almost had it that time!”

“I know. Which is what gave me the idea. Come.” He beckoned me with that extended hand. “Put your arm over my shoulder until you’ve got a good grip on the strap, then get yourself positioned. You can hold yourself already. It’s the climbing up and down that’s the problem, right?”

I nodded sullenly, but did as he asked and let him pull me across to the mounting strap.

We’d done this dozens of times in the three weeks he’d been training me, but for some reason there was an itch in my skin tonight.

When he pulled me across his body so effortlessly and took my weight so that I practically sat in his lap my breath shortened.

Then he held me there between his arms while I unclipped, bracing behind me while I planted my feet on Akhane, either side of the strap.

When he moved against me and his arms brushed mine the skin on my spine pebbled.

Alarmed—I’d felt that kind of thrill before—I cursed under my breath, took a grip on that strap and braced. “I’ve got it,” I muttered, suddenly nervous, though I couldn’t have said why.

“I’ll stay behind you in case you slip. You’re stronger. I want to see you try this again.”

“You don’t have to stay so close. I don’t want to fall on you,” I mumbled, looking over my shoulder—then immediately turning back to Akhane because his face was right there.

“I think for your dragon’s sake, I do,” he chuckled and his hot breath tickled my neck. I was suddenly gripped by deeply conflicting sensations—a thrilling, trembling kind of delight undermined by deep-seated dread.

His was not the first heat I’d felt at my back, or breath on my skin. And with the uniform and the dragons… the memories of Ruin were inevitable. That’s why I was nervous. Because I enjoyed having him so close. Which was wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

If Ruin looked at me with disdain, imagine the Battle Commander of the entire Furyknight army if he ever caught a hint of my attraction?

I reminded myself that even Ruin admired Donavyn. But that only made the feelings worse.

I grew flustered and cursed myself because my voice was too high. “If I’m going to do this, I have to do it alone. You won’t be there in battle to crawl behind me,” I mumbled, my cheeks heating.

“You show me that you can do this with my assistance first—I don’t want to see you tumbling to the grass anymore. Then I’ll let you try it alone. ”

I sighed and muttered curses I’d been learning from my brothers—some were quite colorful. But did as he asked.

Adjusting my grip on the strap, I straightened my arms and leaned back to keep my weight counter to my feet, firm on Akhane’s side.

I took a small step back, then dropped one hand lower on the strap.

It was laboriously slow—but when I rounded the curve of her shoulder and still managed to keep myself braced against her without my feet slipping, my breath caught. I’d never done that before.

“That’s it… that’s it… well done, Bree!” Donavyn breathed, those words fluttering on the nape of my neck, and the heat of his chest brushing my back as he gave me as much room as he could so I carried my own weight.

But my ass hovered over his lap, and his arms braced either side of my waist. If I fell, he’d catch me with his body.

He’d done it already. More than once.

Why, tonight, did the thought of that feel thrilling?

I cleared my throat and turned my mind back to the task, but we were almost there. As I descended the last few feet down Akhane’s leg, Donavyn dropped to the ground, and clapped for the few seconds until I joined him on the grass, elated.

“Finally!”

“Well done!” he beamed as I turned to face him.

“It’s easier going down, but—”

“Try it. Try climbing again.”

Shaking out my hands which were finally calloused enough that they didn’t blister on the straps anymore, I took a deep breath, grasped the strap, and climbed.

But as had happened the previous week when I’d tried this, I reached her withers and struggled with the transition from holding my weight on the strap, to pulling my body up high enough to get a leg over her spine.

I tried once and almost fell, caught myself, cursed and cursed again.

“You’ve almost got it, Bren. Stay there. I want to show you something.”

I thought Donavyn would move Kgosi and demonstrate the mount to me, but suddenly the strap behind me rippled and pulled a little further out from Akhane’s body. Moments later, his warm strength was at my back again.

My belly fluttered when he reached around me to hold the strap higher than my hands and I felt his thighs brushing the back of mine as he cupped me with his body.

I swallowed.

“You don’t have the strength to pull yourself up—I want you to take another step higher so your shoulder is to her withers—hook your elbow over her. Use your body to get up.”

“But, that’s not the grip they taught me.”

“The grip we use requires more upper body strength. This is awkward, but there’s no reason not to do it—it’s better than falling, after all. ”

I supposed he was right. So I did as he said and pulled myself up another step, but I was getting close to where the strap attached to the harness and the angle shifted.

I hurriedly threw one arm over her withers—the ridge at the base of her neck—and then I was stuck.

One arm over, but the rest of my body hanging.

“Flatten this handon her shoulder, Bren—yes, fingers down. That’s it. That’s it. Use that for leverage.”

I was at an odd angle and struggling, but I shoved upwards with the lower arm, and pulled up with the other elbow braced over her, and managed to get my chest on her withers, which was the highest I’d ever gotten on my own. My heart pounded—was I finally going to do it?

I bit my lip and scrambled higher. Now I hung over her withers, my hips over her spine, and my ass in Donavyn’s face.

My cheeks flamed.

“…Don’t overbalance, grab that spine on her neck for an anchor with your left hand, and throw your right knee over and— oh shit!”

I was in such a rush to get my ass out of his face, I pulled my knee up and tried to heave myself over her spine, but I misjudged and my boot caught him right in the chin. I felt the impact.

“Oh no! Sorry!” I scrambled desperately, clambering onto Akhane as that warm strength at my back suddenly disappeared. I snapped my head to the side just in time to see Donavyn land and thud to his back on the ground, his eyes wide and mouth gaping like a fish.

“Donavyn!” Thoughtless, I grabbed the strap and tried to swing myself back down, but I wasn’t properly balanced and lost my grip. Shit!

Looking down and paddling at the air to keep myself upright, I dropped, widening my feet to try not to land on him.

He cursed and rolled at the last second, but I’d been trying so hard not to land on him, I landed imbalanced.

My knees screamed at the impact and I stumbled, caught my toe on his leg and fell right on top of him.

Donavyn grunted as I landed on his chest—but his hands snapped up to my sides to catch me before I tumbled further.

We both lay there for a few seconds, gaping and not breathing because of the impact.

“Donavyn?” I gasped finally. “Are you okay?”

He snorted and groaned, then slowly rolled us both until I laid on the grass and he was braced over me, panting, his eyes tight with pain.

But then he froze.

His face was just inches from mine so that even in the dim moonlight I could see the stubble darkening his cheeks.

Our breaths mingled in the cool air and my belly flutters became a swarm.

Neither of us moved.

His eyes widened, locked on mine .

“Shit,” he muttered, tearing his gaze from mine and pushing to his feet, staggering a few paces away before he bent over, still trying to catch his breath.

I rolled onto all fours, wincing because my knees hurt, but pushed up to stumble to him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”

Donavyn straightened and shook his head, stepping backwards until I stopped advancing on him. “It’s fine. I’m fine.” But he stared, his eyes black pools with tiny pinpoints of light fixed on me.