Page 3 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

~ brEN ~

I was determined not to cry, but Akhane whipped us into the sky so quickly, the chill night air made my eyes water. I cursed as I wiped the tears away. Thankfully the pools were only a few minutes flight away from the Keep.

When we landed, I removed Akhane’s harness so she could rest, slung my satchel over a tree branch, then peeled off my dirty leathers and unbraided my hair.

The sun was sinking, but the evening air was warm. Akhane slipped around the small pool to a wide, flat rock on its other side and lay down, spreading her wings flat to sun as she curled her neck to rest her head on the warm stone and watch me bathe.

Shaking out the towel from my satchel, I carried it to a smaller boulder next to the water where I undressed.

The strange ache in my chest felt like impending tears.

It frustrated me. I swallowed it back and walked into the warm, steaming water, sighing with pleasure as the wet heat drifted up my body, raising a rush of goosebumps that skated up my spine.

Bathing at the Dragon Keep was a hurried, and usually very chilly affair.

Most days I simply washed with a rag and bowl in my room.

But whenever we’d been hot and dirty, like today, I was forced to the lake, or to the servants’ quarters in the Academy buildings.

The women there were hospitable, but saw me as Furyknight, so treated me like they were there to serve.

I didn’t want them to feel they had to work in their off-hours, so I tried to avoid using their bath as much as possible.

All this meant that these occasional days when there was both time and energy to get out to the mineral pools were a treat. And today I needed something.

I walked in until the water was over my waist, then sank down and lay back to let the water embrace me.

I needed to bathe properly, use the soap cake I’d brought, and scrub my whole body—and hair. And face. I needed to clean off any trace of what had happened this afternoon and—

‘Tell me, Little Flame. It will ease your heart,’ Akhane sent gently. I didn’t lift my head to look at her. I didn’t need to.

‘I did tell you. He kissed me. He kissed me like he wanted to—but then he regretted it. He apologized. He was a gentleman, but… but he discarded me. He said he was ashamed.’

‘Ashamed of himself, I have no doubt.’

‘For kissing me. Yes.’

‘No, Bren. Your human rules, the boundaries you set yourselves, they are restrictive. Donavyn associates his honor with obedience to those. All the men do. It’s baffling to me.’

I frowned, but continued floating. ‘You don’t believe in obeying the rules?’

‘Of course—but rules that give no room to follow the Creator’s leading? Those seem unwise. To say the men should not hurt each other honors the Creator’s heart. But to say that humans cannot admire each other because of the roles they’ve been assigned? I see no wisdom in that.’

I was bemused. ‘It’s funny, I thought you’d be shocked when I told you. I thought you’d growl at him.’

‘For admiring you?’ she sounded amused.

I snorted. ‘No. For touching me.’

There was a pause before she spoke, as if she measured her words.

‘Bren, I haven’t invaded your mind, but waited for you to share yourself with me.

Yet, I feel your heart and know your fear.

I weep to imagine what brought you to the place where we met.

But I herald that this good, strong man reaches for you and you do not flinch. That is significant.’

‘You don’t think he should stay away from me since he’s my Commander? And so much older?’

She gave a low hum. She didn’t like the question. ‘We dragons see this differently. We don’t fight the pull—when our hearts align, we embrace it.’

Suddenly uncomfortable in my skin, I squirmed and started to sink. I had to take a deep breath and force myself to relax so I could continue to float.

‘My heart has aligned with a man before, Akhane. It wasn’t a good thing.’

She growled and her shadow shifted. ‘Then it was not an alignment of the heart, Bren. But a thrill of the flesh. Wisdom comes in knowing the difference, in recognizing who your soul needs.’

The image of Donavyn, jaw clenched, eyes afire as he gripped my face and fought his need bloomed in my mind and sent an arrow of desire that struck behind my navel. But right on its heels came the picture of him stumbling back when I reached for him, his face horrified.

Ashamed.

Dishonored.

Don’t know what got into me.

I had to put my feet down and stand because I shuddered with shame.

Wanting someone, yearning for them when they didn’t want you in return, it was miserable. ‘This is ridiculous, and impossible,’ I sent to Akhane, frustrated with her for the first time. ‘Please don’t give me hope, Akhane. He was horrified by touching me. He’s not for me.’

‘How can you be sure?’ she asked quietly. ‘He wanted to kiss you—correct?’

‘Yes, but then he didn’t.’ I shivered with humiliation again. Keeping my feet on the bed of the pool, I let my body drop until my shoulders were under the warm water. I grimaced at the ache in my chest.

‘Don’t fret, Bren. Kgosi always reminds me that patience is wisdom. Humans are very erratic, but usually find their way. If the General is meant to be yours, he will be.’

‘How can you even think that? There’s nothing in this that says he’s supposed to be mine!’

‘Except his regard. He is not a man given to lusts, or frivolous connection. Kgosi assured me.’

‘Still. It’s misconduct. And he’s the General. Beside him, I’m a joke.’

Akhane growled and lifted her head, giving short, sharp flaps of her wings in protest. ‘Do not speak of yourself in that way, Little Flame. You’re a prize. No one knows that better than me.’

She sounded so fierce, I was touched. But as I walked out of the water to get the soap from the satchel, then returned to the water to wash properly, I couldn’t stop arguing with her in the quiet of my heart.

The truth was, Akhane valued different things than humans did.

So, she didn’t understand how preposterous this was.

We were too different. Her regard warmed me, and did soothe some of the ache of disappointment and embarrassment.

But by the time I’d cleaned and rinsed and the forest around us had grown dark, it was clear to me.

No matter how kind Akhane was, or how fiercely she believed in me, it changed nothing.

She wanted to talk more, but each time she tried to convince me that all wasn’t lost, I’d see that memory of his horror, and shake my head.

‘The truth is, I can’t afford to be caught up now anyway,’ I sent desperately.

‘I need to focus on my training, and growing stronger. I’m now Flameborne, Second Rank.

’ I tried to recapture the elation and excitement I’d felt this morning when my rank was formally announced, before we went to the tavern.

‘There’s only one Trial left, Akhane! I need to focus on that—on becoming a Furyknight.

The rest I can’t control. But I can control that. ’

Akhane sighed, but I felt her resistance ease. ‘That is a wise way to see it, Bren,’ she said, though her tone was weary. ‘You’re right. We’ll focus on the coming trial. Maybe after, then there will be time for other things.’

I grimaced into the dark and prayed I wouldn’t be haunted by this. Then turned my mind to the final trial.

It was all I could do.

~ DONAVYN ~

I stood in the trees, hesitant, peering between the trunks and branches.

The moonlight gleamed on the mists that rose from the rippling water of the mineral pool.

The low light under the canopy of the forest draped everything in black, while the moon gilded everything it touched in silver.

I heard Akhane’s huff, and the trickle of water as something much smaller moved in the pools.

Cautiously, I stepped closer, bending around a wide tree until the clearing was revealed and I froze in place.

Bren, skin gleaming wet and her hair dark with water and slicked against her back, stood in water up to her thighs. She took one more step before she leaned down and pushed off the pool bed, arms wide in a stroke to swim forward as her body slipped under the water.

Small, silver-tipped waves rippled and danced away from her, tiny crests crashing against her shoulders and over her hair as she swam across the pool, then turned to float on her back and stroked with only her arms to bring her back towards the bank.

Every muscle in my body tightened at the sight of her naked, wet, and floating through the water like a nymph.

Thrill danced with guilt and twisted my guts. I’d only come out here to make certain she was safe. That she hadn’t been driven to desperation again. But now I swayed towards the incredible sight of her pale skin, wet and shining under the tendrils of steam rising off the pool.

Then she reached the shallows again and stood and desire bolted from the thickness of my throat, to my groin.

Her breasts, pert and full with the heat, bounced slightly as she rose to her feet. I followed a sluice of water from her hair, down over the rosy skin of her nipple, then to her belly and that crown of hair—

Mentally cursing, I jerked my eyes from her, gritted my teeth and reminded myself of all the reasons I should leave.

First and foremost among them, I’d been the one to tell her this could not happen.

To stand here, gaping, when she didn’t know she wasn’t alone made me worse than the man in the tavern who’d frightened her.

I need to leave.

She was safe. Akhane was here, watching over her.

But then she sighed. Dragging my gaze back to her face, I was done.

She looked so sad. And even though I knew I had no right to it, I was certain she pined for me. The warmth that bloomed in my chest at the thought, the surety of her desire, set fires under my feet.

I stumbled forward, mumbling her name, apologizing, stammering as she caught sight of me and scrambled to her feet—then realized she was naked and covered herself.