14. Pick a Side
~ VOSKI ~
“You can wash now,” I muttered as I stomped past Grace, who’d sat down in the clearing where I bound myself.
This place viscerally reminded me of the torturous hours fighting my own flesh.
I wanted out of here. But, in order to do that, I had to figure out what the fuck to do about the fact that the court of Fyrehold probably believed one of their precious nobles was dead, or abducted—and at the same time, figure out what had happened to my general, Donavyn.
My squad-brother, Gil, who’d joined me on this mission, would be convinced something had happened to both of us by now.
For the fiftieth time, my stomach plummeted to my toes.
I’d been so consumed. So diverted. For almost a week! Now, two kingdoms hovered on the edge of war, because I had a fucking noblewoman to turn into a dragon rider?
Who said God didn’t have a sense of humor?
I slapped at the head of a weed as I stormed across the clearing.
Donavyn Arsen, the Battle Commander and the general of the Vosgaarde Furyknight Army, and the king’s most respected strategist, had disappeared.
I’d come out here to find Kham so we could fly in search of his dragon, Kgosi, the Primarch of our home herd.
Those two would never be willingly separated on enemy soil.
My dragon, Kham, was a goldscale. They were gifted with a long mental reach. He could speak to another dragon at a much greater distance than others. If Kgosi was anywhere within miles of our flight path, Kham would find him.
Except, how would I keep a noted, Fyrehold noblewoman hidden in her own kingdom, and search for my general, who’d disappeared just days after we uncovered a plot to kill him?
The weight of the conflicting duties pressed me into the earth.
“Vane?”
I stopped walking, startled. I’d assumed she’d gone off to the creek the moment I told her I was done. But here she was, just feet behind me. And once again, I hadn’t heard her.
Kham wanted me to tell this woman my identity?!
Rage heated my blood. “How do you do that?!” I snapped. “How do you sneak up on me? No one sneaks up on me. Are you a witch?”
Her head snapped back and she took a step away. “I’m… what? No!”
I swallowed back a curse and made myself take a breath before speaking again. “This isn’t arrogance, Grace—ask the dragons. I have a gift. I know when I’m being followed, or ambushed. I know when enemies are close. I can feel them. But you? You just appear! From nowhere!”
She blinked, her mouth open. “But, I’m not your enemy.”
Spoken as simple truth. Bald fact.
For a moment, at the look of hurt on her face, my heart swelled, and the urge to apologize, to soothe her fear, to get closer, rushed through me—immediately followed by the voice in my head that had saved my life on more than one occasion.
You don’t know she’s not an enemy, you merely hope.
She plays the innocent woman, the helpless maid—yet she’s proven she has skill and training no normal woman, let alone a noble, would have.
Don’t trust that wounded shock—they use it to make you soften, to lower your defenses.
“I saw you,” I spat.
Her eyes went wide like a child discovered with their hand in the sweets. “You saw me what?”
I took a step closer. “I saw you. In the castle. Sneaking through the hidden passages. Watching private rooms.”
Was it my imagination that she felt relief before her brow furrowed? “If you saw me, weren’t you there as well?”
“Yes! That’s exactly my point.”
Her frown deepened. “So, I’m an enemy for watching the same people you suspected?”
“No! I mean—yes, possibly. I mean… gah!” I stopped stammering—she made me look like a fool!
—and raised my chin to use my height to stare down at her.
Grace’s worried look only increased. I cursed under my breath and made myself slow and think.
“I meant to say, I know that you’re not all that you pretend to be, Lady Grace.
So, don’t expect me to trust you. I don’t.
And don’t play the innocent maiden. I know you aren’t. ”
Lines appeared on her forehead. “I don’t pretend to be anyone except who I am. But, how do you define innocent?”
I set my teeth. I wouldn’t be drawn. “Go wash,” I ordered her. “But don’t wash your clothes. When we take you back, if they discover you, it has to be convincing that you were merely lost—”
She drew herself up to her unimpressive height. “I told you, I’m not going back!”
I rolled my eyes. “I only meant that you have to travel with me. And I have to go back and give orders to my brother. I will hide you, but in the event you’re discovered, you must have a cover.”
“I’ll stay here. I have no need—”
“You’ll ride with me because our dragons cannot be separated yet, and I have to go.
My brother is in danger, and probably convinced that I’m dead—a fact he won’t leave without addressing.
Not to mention our superior—that is… others have disappeared as well.
I can’t take you back to our Keep—” her eyes lit up like I’d farted music “—until I have fulfilled my duties. And if, in the meantime, you’re recognized, your cover must be convincing.
I know you’re a spider. We’ll use that to our advantage.
So, for fuck’s sake. Go wash, then come back here, but don’t look clean. ”
Her expression of joy faltered to confusion. “You want me to… what?”
I growled and turned on my heel. Fucking women and their fucking inability to just take fucking orders. I was certain it was why women hadn’t been chosen by dragons before Bren—who took orders well. And besides, she didn’t really count because—
“Did you say you’re taking me back to the Keep—do you mean, your dragon Keep? In Vosgaarde?!”
I stopped in my tracks, the hair on the back of my neck standing up because I could feel her gaze burning on me.
I whirled, to find her staring at me, eyes wide, and a beaming smile on her face.
Fuck.
With a sigh, I marched back to her, voice low, and warning in my eyes, the same look I used for Flameborne who thought they could shirk their chores.
“I’ll take you back to the Keep,” I spat. “Because you’re chosen by my dragon’s mate. Koa has her place there as Kham’s mate. But you? You’ll have to earn yours.”
Grace’s expression shone like the sun. She clapped her hand and… was she dancing?!
“Thank you!” she gasped. “Thank you, Vane! I won’t let you down.”
“It’s not me who’s—”
“I’ve prayed for this day. Yearned for it. Begged God to get me out of that life. Thank you. This is everything I’ve ever wanted!”
The rush that coursed through me—the resonance with those words. I knew how that moment felt. I wanted to sincerely caution her. Gather her up and explain how hard this journey would be, but not to give up, that it was worth it.
But as I instinctively swayed toward her and her brows rose, I caught myself.
This is what they do. They trap you with their longing and their thrill—feed you a false sense of strength, as if you’ve saved them. Then they plunge the knife in your back the moment you trust them.
I straightened to my full height and took a step back.
“I said I would take you to the Keep,” I muttered.
Grace’s expression dampened. “I didn’t say that you would be a true Flameborne.
That is for more powerful men than me to decide.
I know you aren’t just an innocent noblewoman, out of her depth,” I hissed.
“Don’t believe that I’ve fallen for that disguise.
You’re very good at it, I’ll give you that.
But I don’t believe you. So, get the fuck in the creek, wash yourself so you don’t get sick, and then join me at the dragons. ”
I turned on my heel and stalked away.
“But, how do I know where the dragons are?” she called after me plaintively.
“Follow the bond!” I shouted back without turning around, because if I saw tears in her eyes I might crumble. “If you can’t do that, you’re no Flameborne!”
Then I marched on, searching for Kham through the link, and adjusting my line when I was certain I was out of her sight.
‘Such a gentleman,’ he drawled in my head.
‘She won’t make Flameborne if she can’t find her dragon without instructions.’
‘No, she won’t. And that was definitely the best way to prepare the inexperienced,’ he added with a sniff. ‘Let them flounder and fall. It builds character.’
I grunted. ‘That isn’t—I didn’t say—’
‘You didn’t have to.’
I wanted to curse. ‘I’m not her father, nor her wing leader!’
‘You’re the only person she knows who understands what she’s facing more than she does. But, by all means, leave her to drown in her own uncertainty. It will serve both of them well.’
I hunched my shoulders against a new burden of guilt, then frowned harder. ‘Why are you taking her side? You’re my bonded dragon. Shouldn’t you be more concerned with me?’
Kham sighed. ‘You still don’t understand, do you?’ he said, far more tenderly than I’d like. ‘You’re precisely who I’m worried about.’
I opened my mouth to argue with him—he had no reason to be concerned! But I realized I’d sound like a fool when I’d just told him the opposite. So, I kept my mouth shut.