Page 57 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

~ DONAVYN ~

Sometime later, I felt Kgosi stir nearby and I tensed. I’d sunk deep into my thoughts, my anger and desire for revenge wrestling with my honorable purpose. Where the two collided, it could all come undone. And yet, there was no choice.

I’d been so preoccupied, I was unaware of the sunlight brightening, casting deeper shadows through the leaves of the tree above us.

We should be flying.

Grief and simmering frustration tightened my chest. I clung tighter to Bren.

Still in my arms, still curled into my chest, she slept, her head against my shoulder, her hair fluttering against her cheek.

She stirred when I gripped her, but didn’t wake and I took a deep breath, in an attempt to slow my rapidly beating heart.

It shocked me how deeply I could feel her—all of her at rest in this moment.

Peaceful and calm. Sinking into me like a baby in a cradle. But that peace would be short lived.

‘We will be disturbed soon. Her brothers approach on orders from the King,’ Kgosi rumbled in my head, his tone both resigned and irritated. ‘They’ll land in moments.’

‘Their dragons defied you?’ I asked, surprised and worried about what that might mean.

‘They won’t come near after they land. They beg mercy from me. Their riders were ordered. I cannot fault them for it.’

I nodded. I’d always told Kgosi not to punish his dragons if they acted on the King’s orders to my men. This was the first time I regretted the advice.

For a moment I stared down at her, overwhelmed with sadness and weariness. And a selfish kind of frustration.

We needed solitude.

We needed time.

‘It is my experience, Donavyn, that the Creator rarely allows us to adjust in comfort. We are most usually forced to accommodate pain while navigating the very circumstances we didn’t choose. I believe it is His way of ensuring our focus and reliance remains in His power, rather than our own.’

‘I don’t disagree, but I can still resent it.’

‘Don’t.’

That single word was sent dripping in the authority he carried—and my soul bowed to it in a heartbeat. Kgosi was often profound, but usually kind. Or cuttingly sarcastic. He rarely dominated me. I didn’t have time to observe that to him before he continued.

‘There is no time, Donavyn. For this moment, I urge you to accept the purpose we’ve been handed and submit your will to it. Without acceptance this will become ugly for more than just you and your mate.’

‘But—’

‘You don’t know the cost yet, Donavyn. Trust me. All will be revealed.’

I let my head sink back against the tree trunk. I trusted Keg more than any man. And he so rarely asserted his will on me, even that reassured me that his reasoning was sound. And yet…

‘I can’t let any of them hurt her again, Keg. Not even for you.’

‘I don’t ask you to sacrifice your mate—she is given to your hands for protection, as mine is to me. But watch your heart, Donavyn. Your rage is not the path to rightness.’

I grit my teeth.

Then Kgosi appeared in the trees, his head low and eyes on me, the shadow of Akhane following him.

We met gazes and he gave me a warning look along with one of those deep rumbles that made the ground tremble.

I frowned, but Bren woke, sucking in a breath and sitting up, grabbing my arm and clinging as she blinked her way back to reality.

She saw the dragons, then turned quickly back to me, her eyes wide.

I tried to keep my expression soft as I stroked her hair back from her cheek. “Your brothers are worried. The King ordered them to find us. The dragons brought them. They’ll be here in moments.”

She blinked again, then frowned. I felt the sinking disappointment, and nervous zing in her.

I nodded. “Me too, but we knew, Bren. So, we have these minutes still. Do you… are you… what do you need?” I murmured, fumbling for the right words.

She took a deep breath and her chin rose. She looked for Akhane, and I watched her draw strength from her dragon—felt her seek it. There was a moment where her attention was on Akhane, and I sensed the desire to do right, despite her own, selfish wants, and I was humbled.

She was back in her leathers now, and for a moment her pin came into sharp focus. It stole my breath.

I knew what that pin meant. I’d lived what that pin meant. For decades. And it was reflected exactly in her desire to be reassured by her dragon, and turn her mind to their purpose.

But knowing everything else, remembering what she’d been through, it struck me what getting up from this seat and returning to our dragons meant.

Purpose. Responsibility. And battle.

I wavered.

‘Keg, I don’t know if I’m strong enough.’

‘Your king calls for you. Our purpose is duty, Donavyn,’ he returned grimly.

‘Do you really accept that? Are you willing to throw your mate into fire and death and see what happens?’

Kgosi growled in my head, but I didn’t flinch. ‘Do not vent your fear on me, Donavyn.’

‘Tell me,’ I demanded. ‘Tell me how you can let her go when the call comes? Because it will come, Keg.’

There was a beat before he answered, a shivering moment of dread. Then he did as he’d always done and spoke the truth to me.

‘The call will come to you and I before it comes for them, Donavyn. So, ask yourself: is she strong enough to let you go? And if so, will you be weaker?’

I wanted to curse. I wanted to weep. I wanted to rage and punch and flame it all down. Because I knew he was right.

Battle was on our horizon, and I would likely walk into that shrouded fire before she would. And I knew she’d hate it. But I also knew she’d let me go. That she believed in me and trusted me, and wanted to follow.

Fucking dragons and their ability to speak words that cut past the flesh of deceit, and right down to the bone of truth.

‘Yes, she’d release me to it. And cheer me on.’

‘Precisely. So will you be bested in honor, Donavyn?’

‘It’s not the same!’ I insisted. But Kgosi didn’t reply, because we both knew I protested out of my fear, not my conviction. And besides, new shadows were moving among the trees.

Bren looked at me quickly, cupped a hand at the back of my neck, kissed me softly, but swiftly, then crawled out of my lap and to her feet before those shadows materialized into men.

Her brothers.

Ronen at the front, Gil at his shoulder, then Voski, Oros, Harle, Einar and Jhoare… all of them. They’d all come—bristling and furious and, according to Kgosi, stinking of fear.

I’d made it to my feet when Ronen found her with his eyes and his entire posture sagged with relief.

He rushed forward to hug her, calling to her brothers.

They surrounded her, babbling and demanding explanations—was she was injured, or afraid?

But amid their agitation, her Wing Leader raised his eyes to meet mine over her shoulder.

And for the first time, it wasn’t simple respect and submission I saw there. But caution. Wariness. Distrust.

Bren kept reassuring them, repeating to each of them as they joined the throng that she was safe and unhurt—better, in fact, than she’d been in a long time. But none of them listened.

They scanned her like the brothers they were—defensive, worried, ready to fight for her honor. It set my teeth on edge. Male hands on her. Male eyes on her. Males separating her from me—

When I stepped out of the shadows, Ronen squeezed her shoulder, murmured something and weaved out of the others to meet me on the grass a few feet from where they’d surrounded her.

“Sir!” Ronen barked, his salute brisk and appropriate, but his eyes burned with questions.

My anger flared. He believed I’d let her be hurt?

“At ease,” I growled, stepping around him towards the others who were touching her too much —but Ronen side-stepped and put himself at my toes.

Silent rage coursed through me as I drew up short. I quivered with it and had to take a breath, turning slowly to meet his questioning gaze with a fierce warning in my own.

“I said, at ease, soldier. This isn’t the time to tread above your station.”

“With all due respect, Sir, it’s you who told me to stand for my men even in the face of authority. True honor can bear scrutiny, you said. So, I need answers.”

I clenched my teeth so hard they threatened to crack, but he was right. And if our roles were reversed, I would have done the same.

I could feel Bren’s tension growing and it made me want to crawl out of my skin, but in my head I knew her brothers wouldn’t hurt her.

It was only my flesh, the heat of the new bond still between us, that insisted I pull her closer.

So, I leashed my defensiveness and with hands clenched at my sides, I stared at him.

“Ask your questions—but be mindful of her purpose, and our audience, ” I muttered reluctantly.

He nodded once, tightly. But his expression didn’t change. “Why did Kgosi order our dragons not to follow—was that from you?”

“No,” I said through my teeth. “That was his order as Primarch.”

“What happened? Why did he rip the roof open and attack her? The dragons won’t speak about it.”

“Because it’s none of your fucking business,” I muttered. “It has nothing to do with—”

“She’s my sister. My charge. And she could have died.”

“Perhaps as I am your Commanding Officer you can trust my assessment of the situation?”

“It was your dragon, Sir.”

“Who stands in authority over yours, as I stand over you. Your concern is noted, Ronen, but step very carefully right now.” I can’t tell you the truth without revealing her deepest heart and—

“It’s okay, Donavyn. I’ll tell them.”

I startled because she’d appeared at my side. Ronen, apparently as distracted as I’d been, jerked to face her as well.

She stared up at me, her eyes pleading. Her throat bobbed and she’d balled her fists at her sides to stop her hands shaking. I could feel it.

“Bren, you don’t have to—”