Page 58 of Flameborne: Fury (Emberquell Academy #2)

“Yes. I do. It’s time, Donavyn. I should have trusted you sooner, and I should have trusted them, too.

They’re part of this and I’d want to know if it happened to them.

You were right. They were right. At the beginning Ronen told me, we have to do everything together.

Gil said we have to talk it through. We all promised as a squad to be there for each other.

But I didn’t know what any of that meant.

I was afraid of it. I should have trusted them.

I have to. We have to. Otherwise this will never work. ”

I was desperately aware of seven sets of eyes on us—Ronen’s burning with contained fury, and the others watching with mingling worry and rage.

I reached for her mind, needing that connection, grasping at the bond like a lifeline. ‘It’s your decision. I believe they can be trusted. But you have to be ready.’

‘If we don’t tell them, they’ll figure it out. I need them to help me hide and stay close to you. If they know, they’ll understand. And I can’t stand that they’re all looking at you like you did something wrong, Donavyn. It wasn’t you who caused all of this.’

I was touched. My simmering anger at the men faded to the back of my mind as I drank in the sight of her standing with her chin up and her shoulders back. Pride. Strength. Even in her fear, she grasped courage.

I took a deep breath and nodded. ‘Tell them. We’ll figure it out.’

Her lips pulled up in a grim smile, then she turned to face them.

I stood at her back, my arms folded, glaring at her brothers over her shoulder to keep their mouths shut as she haltingly filled them in.

I warned them to take care with my eyes when they showed shock, and urged them to speak when they were concerned.

They asked their questions, voiced their disbelief, and gaped at both of us. But by the end, though she hadn’t told them who inflicted that disgusting violation on her, she’d told them the skeleton of the truth of what they did. And where we now found ourselves.

She admitted she’d been wounded. We were now bonded. And she’d found healing and strength in that.

She confided her worry that the other Furyknights would only ever see her as my mate, rather than a rider who’d earned her pin, so she’d kept the mating secret. But she needed them to know, because she and I couldn’t be separated. Not now.

“But what about Kgosi?” Gil asked, frowning. “If you’re Donavyn’s mate, why did he attack like that? He tore the building open. They’ve already started work to fix it, but he’s never been aggressive to Furyknights before. What happened?”

I waited for Bren. It was her choice how much she shared, though through the bond I gripped her and offered every reassurance I could.

She swallowed hard. “I… I was scared and overreacted. I hurt Donavyn. Kgosi came to save him. From me.”

They all looked more confused than ever after that. I warned them with my eyes to stay silent and let her find her words.

She blew out a heavy breath. “I almost killed our bond. I reacted out of fear and… I cut through it. Tried to get free. I didn’t know that’s what I was doing, but it didn’t matter.

It hurt the dragons and Kgosi came for me because he thought I’d done it on purpose.

We fixed it. But it took some time. The dragons needed to take us to be apart from everyone else to make sure things were healed,” she said uncomfortably.

Her brothers all looked shocked. “I didn’t even know that was possible!” Harle blurted.

Bren huffed. “Neither did I.”

There were a couple more questions from Voski and Einar. But most of her brothers watched on with disbelief. One by one, as they took this in, their postures shifted from wary to protective. And Ronen’s gaze eased from burning intensity, to shadowed with fear, to resignation.

“…I’m begging you to keep this a secret,” she said quietly, looking at each of them in turn. “I’m trying to trust you. I know you can be trusted, like Donavyn. We don’t know how this will work. But I want to prove myself. And I need your help to get the chance to do that.”

Then she let go of the breath that had made her voice so tight and waited for their responses.

The others murmured to reassure her, but Ronen turned to me.

There was still a shadow in his gaze, but I suspected it was concern for where this might take us, more than wariness of me.

“That must have been very difficult,” he said quietly.

I snorted. “You have no fucking idea.”

“The bond—”

“Is stronger than it’s ever been. But we needed some time to settle into it,” I said, grimacing.

Ronen shook his head and raked a hand through his hair, clearly shocked and uncertain what to do.

That made two of us.

But minutes later, as their questions petered out and everyone breathed again, Ronen turned to me, wincing.

“We were ordered by the King to find you both,” he said quietly, an apology in his eyes. “If you don’t go back, they’ll send more men soon. He’s very worried about you, Sir. And angry because he doesn’t know whether to prioritize pursuing you, or the enemy.”

I nodded, the weight of my position and responsibility pressing down.

“We’ll fly back and return to our mission,” I said reluctantly.

“But I’ll ask one favor of you first: Return ahead of us.

Right now. Tell the King we’ve been located and are on our way back, ready to fly for the enemy.

We’ll only be minutes behind you. But, please, tell him that Kgosi took us away.

Didn’t give us a choice. Don’t tell him the rest. Leave that to me. ”

Ronen nodded. “We brought your harnesses. They’re in the meadow.”

I thanked him, then his squad straightened in their stances, focusing once again on the purpose. Returning to work. As would we, in a very few minutes. But first…

Bren had turned to look at me from the moment I’d implied I’d tell the King, and she hadn’t taken her eyes off of me.

‘Let them go ahead. I’ll explain when they’re gone.’

She frowned but didn’t question me. Farewelled her brothers, taking their brief hugs, which made me twitch. But then they all ran back to their dragons and Kgosi lifted his head to call to them.

‘They’re free. We’re all free. Life returns to normal,’ he sent.

I huffed. Life would never be normal again. But I also wouldn’t change it for the world.

I stood at Bren’s back until we saw the dragons rise from the nearby meadow and into the air. Then, as soon as they grew distant in the sky, she turned to face me, her brows pinched over her nose and her arms folded.

I looked down at her, put my hands on her arms to hold her to me, but didn’t have time to speak.

“You’re going to tell the King,” she said.

It wasn’t a question, but a statement. And one she didn’t like.

I nodded, shoveling reassurance to her through the bond.

I didn’t let her go. “I don’t have any choice, Bren.

I had to tell the Queen, but swore her to secrecy, yet now I know I can’t trust her word.

He’s already begun to see your value as a Furyknight.

We can’t afford for him to hear it from anyone but me.

If he thinks I deceived him about you, he’ll dismiss everything he’s heard so far.

He’s our King , Bren. We ride at his pleasure.

He should know. It will stop him obstructing strategy that keeps us together, and I think he’ll listen and keep our secret.

But either way, we can’t afford his wrath.

He must hear this from my lips and no one else’s. ”

Bren’s frown deepened and she went very still.