Chapter 45 It’s Time
~ DONAVYN ~
When I was ushered into the king’s office, the queen was already present. As was another woman I’d met some weeks earlier, but whose name I couldn’t remember. She looked me up and down like a slab of meat
“Donavyn, you remember Lady Faye, from the Kingdom of Fyrehold?” Diaan said casually, as she was handed a goblet of wine by one of the servants.
“Yes, of course.” The woman Bren was introduced to yesterday. “It’s lovely to see you again, my lady,” I said with a formal bow.
“Oh, it’s lovely to see you as well, Donavyn.”
When I straightened, it was to note—then quickly turn from—the sickening light in her eyes.
As I regarded the king, who sat in a wide chair he kept for private audiences, I was reminded that, although Diaan had often made me uncomfortable with her personal attention, she’d never been quite that lascivious. Thank God.
“Sire, I received your summons and came as quickly as I could. I hope your messenger told you how far I was. I assure you I came urgently.”
“Yes, yes, very good, Donavyn,” Alexi said, waving my words off as if they annoyed him. “We’ve had news, and some progression—which is why the Lady Faye is here.”
I purposefully closed my eyes when nodding to her again, teeth gritted. “News, Your Majesty?”
But it was the Lady Faye who answered me. Stunned—why did the king let her intrude? He was usually very particular about controlling conversation, especially in his quarters, and with women—I was forced to turn and face her again so as not to be rude.
“Donavyn, I spoke with your assistant yesterday—a delightful young lady,” she added as an aside, along with a knowing look. “I am very gratified to learn that you’ll be visiting Fyrehold. I’ve been awaiting the chance to travel home—”
I caught Diaan burying herself in her wine to obscure an eye-roll, and my nerves began to jangle.
“—and I have asked Their Majesties if they might take pity on me and allow me to travel back with you.”
I froze.
Anger rose first—the king forcing my hand in ways he knew I couldn’t deny. Especially if the woman would welcome us into Fyrehold and offer social credibility among the nobles.
Then cold, hard fear.
She’d heard we were travelling soon?
That meant Alexi was making the outward, innocent appearance of this mission very public.
When I’d suggested hiding in plain sight, I’d hoped we’d stay under public notice until after we were gone.
But how could I argue? This trip wasn’t covert—only it’s purpose.
While any Shadowfang mission travel might be open and its team visible within the Keep, we always shrouded the mission directives behind benign purposes, even among Furyknights.
Ruin and his team had enjoyed a public farewell.
But few had known they were headed for Draeventhall, and none beyond the Shadowfang were aware that their purposes were political.
Furyknights traveled on behalf of the king and queen often.
We conducted research, trained dragons and men, and handled delicate messages or simple reconnaissance.
Our comings and goings were not closely observed—except by those with reason to suspect.
A public awareness of our travel was not without precedence, but I couldn’t help feeling like Alexi had simply pounded one more nail into the coffin of my delay.
I glanced at the king, whose expression didn’t change. He merely tipped his head at Lady Faye who still awaited my response.
“Of course,” I said, as casually as I was able, though every fiber of my being screamed no. “I’m not certain exactly when we’ll fly, but I’m sure we can accommodate you with our team.”
“That’s why I called you urgently, Donavyn,” Alexi put in. “We’ve received word that your assessment team is returning and see no barrier to the mingling of our herds. I wanted to discuss—”
The most bone chilling scream—high and thin—echoed in the skies outside the palace.
Diaan startled. “What the hell was that?!”
My heart sank. I immediately reached for Kgosi, but he was too far away. Without thought, I rushed to the window of the chamber, leaning close to the glass to see far enough east.
That high, mournful cry sounded again—and this time was answered. A quartet of voices first, then an orchestra, then a cacophony.
“No…” I breathed, then cursed under my breath when I finally caught sight of the circling dragons—and more flying to meet them over the woods just outside the Keep.
“Donavyn?” Only Alexi could make a demand with such a singular tone. I swallowed hard and turned back to him.
“Forgive me, Sire,” I said with a glance towards Lady Faye. “It’s the dragons, I…” I trailed off, praying he’d take the hint, and to my relief, Diaan did.
“Faye, the General carries so many responsibilities. I’m certain he will host you graciously in your travel. Perhaps it’s time for you to ready yourself and your maids. We will discuss the logistics and send a messenger with details for you.”
Unable to defy an outright suggestion from the Queen, Lady Faye got slowly to her feet, clucking and smiling, though there was a glint in her eyes. “Yes, yes, I look forward to—”
Those awful screams rose in a new wave, and now long, mournful dragonsong began under it. The kind I’d heard only a handful of times in my career.
They are singing their pain for the dead.
God, I wanted to be anywhere else. I wanted to be with Kgosi. With Bren. With the herd. Wanted to gather my men and reassure them, and ask them to both observe, and respect their dragons’ needs.
Instead, I stood there, impotent, while Diaan hurried Faye from the room, then turned the moment the door closed on her.
“What the hell is going on?”
“The dragon that returned from Draeventhall is dead,” I said, almost choking on the lump in my throat. “The dragons are mourning.”
“Oh dear, God,” Diaan whispered, surprising me with her apparent empathy.
Alexi frowned. “Must they make that awful racket?
Sometimes I sincerely wished to punch him in the throat.
“Yes,” I said bluntly. “The dragons honor the dead by giving voice to their pain—a pain they all experience because they’re linked in the herd.
Every dragon submitted to Kgosi’s dominance will feel the loss of Ciar’s soul.
And those too far away to sense it, will experience it fresh when they return and link with Kgosi and the herd. ”
Diaan’s mouth turned down and she returned to the sideboard, waving the servant out of the room and—to my shock—pouring herself a new goblet of wine.
Alexi muttered, wincing when a new wave of screams rose.
I knew the dragons would stop screaming soon, though their songs might rise and fall for days. But a part of me grew petulant and decided not to share that with the royals.
Though the bonded riders would feel it most deeply, sharing their dragon’s pain, no one could hear the herd mourn and be unaffected.
Let the king squirm, and be reminded of the grief of war.
“Sire,” I said as the latest wave of cries trailed off. “I need to go to Kgosi—he carries the herd through this and—”
“Donavyn, there is no time.”
My blood ran cold. “What? What are you—”
“I’m sorry for the dragon's loss, but I don’t think you heard me: We’ve heard from the team sent to Fyrehold. They’ve agreed to the exchange, and they are on their return. I even have permission for your paths to cross over their border. There is no further reason to wait. I want you gone. Today.”
“Alexi,” Diaan said sharply, eyeing him from over her goblet. “If the dragons aren’t at their best…?”
“Even beyond that point,” I said, keeping my anger carefully in check, “We don’t yet know what precisely happened in Draeventhall. At least, we hadn’t an hour ago. I need to return to Kgosi. He was pressing Ciar for answers, hoping we might gain new insight—”
“Insight or not, mourning or not, I am not discussing this further!” Alexi snapped.
“Diaan has assisted your girl and says she’s able to think on her feet, and showed aptitude—along with just the right amount of uncertainty.
She will be fodder for the gossips, of whom Lady Faye is the worst. That woman has been a fly buzzing in my ear, but now perhaps God deigns to reveal her purpose in hastening your travel.
Regardless, the time has come. I don’t know what causes you to drag your feet when I’ve already allowed you to take the girl with you, Donavyn, but whatever it is, my patience is at an end. It is time.”
“If we haven’t gained more information on Draeventhall, we fly in blind—”
I knew I’d gone too far when Alexi pushed to his feet with alacrity, and none of the stiffness or lumbering one might expect of a man his weight and age.
I was reminded that the king—albeit quietly—continued to train, and was not unskilled in combat himself.
He strode to my toes, and while I stood over him by two inches, he carried the authority of his crown.
“The less we know, the more imperative it becomes for you to begin your investigation,” he hissed.
“If I didn’t know you better, Donavyn, I might cry coward.
Instead, you concern me that your personal situation may be affecting your judgment.
Do not make me worry that sending you with the girl is a mistake,” he said darkly.
I stared him right in the eye, everything in my body shoving me forward, desperate to put him to the floor—something I was certain I could do, regardless of his training. But his crown?
It would be a death sentence to lay so much as a finger on him without his permission.
I swallowed hard and spoke through clenched teeth.
“Your instructions are, of course, my guiding light.” I bit the words off.
“Where you point, I will go, Sire. But do not let yourself be convinced I am anything but advising you, to the best of my ability and experience. Removing Kgosi and I when the dragons mourn and the kingdom faces war… it is not wise.”
“We need to know what’s happening in Fyrehold—and even you agreed, the girl is the best channel of infiltration. Not to mention that we’ve already paved the fucking way! Don’t tell me now that you question the plan!”
“And if Lady Faye’s sudden interest isn’t coincidence? If it’s a trap?”
“It isn’t,” Diaan drawled from behind me, as if she were half-bored.
I wasn’t fooled. She was attempting to keep Alexi from emotional decisions—and warning me to do the same.
“Faye is nothing but a freeloader, sick of having her purse strings pinched by the king. She remained because she knew we’d host her as a royal guest. She only wishes to leave now because Bren’s appearance has filled her head with dreams of returning home on dragonback.
It is an asset to you, Donavyn—she likes Bren.
She very much likes you. And she knows if she arrives with both of you and the dragons, she’ll be wined and dined by every household in the court for weeks, all of them thirsty for her stories about the two of you.
In truth, she can help your cause. My advice, keep her happy.
If she feels connected to you, she’ll have you invited to every powerful house in Fyrehold within a month. ”
Dammit. Fuck.
I knew she was right. Saw this for the provision it was. But everything in me screamed that the timing was wrong. But staring at Alexi did nothing except force me to submit.
The king would not be moved—and had reached his limit of my persuasion.
Taking a deep breath, I bowed my head and muttered, “You can trust me. We’ll prepare the dragons to fly first thing in the morning and—”
“You’ll leave before High Moon tonight, Donavyn. It’s time.”