32. This Will Be Interesting
~ VOSKI ~
Ronen angled to cut behind the stables to more quickly reach the paths between Academy buildings, deeper in the Keep. Grace was distracted, staring around in awe, her eyes sparkling again.
She was beautiful when she smiled like that. So, it was disconcerting that when I tugged at her elbow, her head snapped in my direction. She beamed for a moment, then her expression fell.
I tipped my head in the direction we’d take, and once I was sure she understood, turned back to Ronen.
Only to find my squad leader staring very pointedly at the hand that I’d touched her with, then meeting my eyes with a dark gaze and his lips tight.
I knew that look, so as he opened his mouth to ask pointed questions, I rushed into the silence.
“No,” I said quietly. Emphatically. Praying Grace wouldn’t understand what I was answering.
Ronen arched a brow, letting me know he still had questions, but to my relief, with a glance past me, toward Grace, he kept walking.
“So, your dragons mated?” he asked casually. Too casually.
I eyed him. “Yes.”
He shot me one look that said we weren’t finished speaking on the issue, then took a deep breath. “Where’s Gil?” he asked quietly. His tone careful.
He braced for bad news. I could have smacked myself for not reassuring him sooner.
“He’s safe—or at least, he was a few days ago. He only stayed back to ensure there were no whispers about us. He’ll be here tomorrow, or the following day.”
Ronen’s shoulders dropped with relief. “Good. That’s good.”
I wanted to thank him and reassure him that, in many ways, this mission had been far less dangerous than others we’d endured. But Gil and I had been called into Fyrehold as Shadowfang—the silent spies and agents among the Furyknights, unknown even to the normal Furyknight ranks.
Although Ronen knew of the shadow ranks because of his rank, he wasn’t one of us. There was always a tension when we were taken away without his knowledge.
In pure rank, Ronen and I were matched. Yet, my authority was held in secret. I led a squad of spies, just as he led my Furyknight brothers and sister. But because my work was in the shadows, my rank was unknown to those who weren’t also Shadowfang.
I gladly handed over daily responsibility to Ronen when I wasn’t under orders. Yet, times like this, I wished I could offer him all the transparency and reassurance I could offer another Shadowfang leader.
Ronen carried that weight more than the other squad leaders because, since my squad-sister Bren had accepted the oath, he now had three of our squad secretly in the Shadowfang.
Most squads had none, or one.
“What happened here while we were gone?” I asked him, keeping my voice low so we’d hear if anyone else approached on the path. “Are Bren and Donavyn injured? Obviously, Kgosi and Akhane are safe and strong, so they’re alive, but—”
Grace hurried her steps to match my stride. She’d obviously heard me mention Bren. I grimaced. But Ronen glanced at her, then must have decided since she was Flameborne, that he could answer openly.
“Yes, they’re safe,” he said, “Though Donavyn and Kgosi are both still recovering. We can cover the details later, but the short answer is, the brothers on the mission to Draeventhall are all dead. And since you left, the king sadly passed away—an injury that was too much for his heart, I believe. The queen has taken the throne. Donavyn’s agreed to work with her.
“Outwardly, very little has changed, but Vosgaarde is in upheaval. The queen is changing a lot of the rules—some would say, too quickly. I think mostly for the better. But you know how men can react to change.”
I sighed, because I did.
That niggling voice in the back of my head wanted to insert itself, but I pushed it down.
“What’s she changing?”
Ronen snorted. “Women. Everywhere,” he said, with a wry smile.
“She’s recruiting an entirely female guard to work shoulder-to-shoulder with men in the castle.
But probably the biggest change is that Kgosi no longer submits the dragons to the throne—only to their bondsmen.
And women,” he corrected himself quickly with a glance at Grace.
Grace smiled.
“So, the queen still supports Bren?”
Ronen’s jaw went tight. “More than that, she’s openly announced to the kingdom that Bren is the first known female Furyknight.”
Grace gasped.
I grimaced. “So much for keeping her status close to home.”
Ronen nodded. “It has freed up Bren and Donavyn—he revealed their bond the moment the battle smoke cleared. He essentially told the rank and file, including the captains, mind you, that they could accept their bond and his ability to lead with it, or they could take it up with him personally. To my knowledge, no one has challenged him.”
I was shocked. “He just announced it?”
Ronen nodded. “He hadn’t yet vowed to the queen.
The future was in flux. It was clear to anyone listening that he’d walk away if they didn’t trust him to lead fairly.
No one wanted to lose him. And the queen already knew of their connection, and trusts both of them.
She’s named Donavyn as her primary advisor—disbanded the old council completely, though she kept one or two—and she continues to speak personally with Bren.
I’m not entirely clear on the purpose of those meetings but, she’s the queen,” he said with a shrug. “If she calls for Bren, Bren goes.”
I gaped. “So, everyone knows?”
“More than that—we’ve already had a handful of women arrive at the Keep, asking for work in the stables, or in any capacity that will allow them to be near the dragons.
One of them is forty years old! Kgosi told the dragons there is no further resistance to the Choosing of females.
It’s only a matter of time—” he cut himself off with a glance at Grace, then grinned and shook his head.
“Well, it’s no time at all, is it? We already have our next female Flameborne.
I anticipate more to come in the very near future. ”
I opened my mouth to agree, but we’d just stepped out into the sunshine, on the path between the stable and the Academy buildings. Before I could speak, a feminine voice rose behind us—shrill and excited.
“Voski!”
We both turned and stopped walking as Bren, fresh-faced and in her leathers, her brunette hair braided back, and the Furyknight pin shining on her lapel, sprinted up the path.
Her smile was so wide it split her face.
“It is you! Thank God, I’m so relieved!” She threw herself into my chest and I hugged her, smiling—then scowling when she planted a kiss on my cheek.
I dropped her immediately, wiping my face and cursing while she laughed.
“Pah! What are you—”
“Where’s Gil, and who—”
Bren turned and froze, staring at Grace. “Holy shit… Grace?!”
Grace beamed, but I felt her nerves as she bobbed an awkward curtsey, then blushed and waved a hand. “Hi. Yes. I… I’m here—oh!”
Bren threw herself at Grace, hugging her tightly, and laughing.
My heart warmed as Grace sank into her embrace, near tears with joy. Both women beamed as they stepped back, both still holding each other’s hands. Bren peppering her with questions, and Grace babbling snippets of explanation between exclamations about how happy she was to see Bren.
She bounced on her toes, and hugged Bren again, before launching into a story about Koa—while Bren’s eyes went wider with every second.
“She seems confident about the dragon,” Ronen commented, too quietly for the women to hear.
I snorted. “Reckless, more like.”
“Interesting.”
“Fucking annoying, actually. Give her an instruction and she launches into the dance before you’ve even finished telling her the steps.”
Ronen didn’t respond. We watched the two women bounce and hug and gasp at each other.
“And your dragons are bonded, you say?” Ronen offered in that overly casual tone again.
“Don’t start.”
“It’s just that, when Bren and Donavyn’s dragons bonded—”
“Her dragon is feral, and barely knows our language. Don’t expect her to know the intricacies of herd bonds or how they might affect us,” I said, shoving my hands into my pockets and desperately searching for a way to divert the conversation.
“We’re going to have to help Grace understand etiquette and herd dynamics more than the usual Flameborne—Koa won’t be able to teach her. ”
“I’m sure Kham will help,” he said.
I felt his eyes on the side of my face, but kept my gaze on the women. “I’m sure he will. He’s besotted with Koa—and she’s learning quickly, according to him. It won’t be a problem for long. It’s just unfortunate that it will be worst at the beginning of Grace’s training.”
“Wait, you’re Chosen!?” Bren gasped.
Grace nodded quickly, her eyes welling again, and I felt that pinch in my chest—the warm flood of her thrill twisting around the aching hollow that was there, too.
I caught myself fighting a smile as Bren threw her arms around Grace’s neck, and they squeezed each other tightly. “We have to get you Acknowledged!” Bren squealed. “Ronen, did you hear?”
“Yes!” Ronen raised his voice to make sure they’d both hear him. “That’s why I sent someone to find the general—is he coming?”
“I’m here.” A deep, gruff voice rose from the shadows behind the stable path from which we’d emerged moments before.
Ronen, Bren, and I snapped to attention as our general, and Battle Commander, and Bren’s dragonbond mate, Donavyn, trotted toward us.
Grace was flustered for a moment, then quickly attempted to mimic Bren’s posture and stance. Which looked ridiculous and adorable, as she clamped a fisted hand to her chest over a stableboy’s linen shirt, and that very dirty blue cloak.
I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or roll my eyes. She wasn’t yet sworn in, and clearly had no idea. But it was good that she made an effort.
But Donavyn muttered at all of us to be at ease, and with only a passing glance at Bren, walked straight to Grace, to offer his hand and bow over it as he had when they met in the neighboring kingdom of Fyrehold, acknowledging her high birth.
Ronen frowned.
“Oh. Yeah. She’s a noble,” I muttered.
His head snapped toward me, and I fought a grin, because it was always satisfying to take my brothers by surprise.
But there was no time to explain because Donavyn rose out of the bow, then stepped forward, grabbed my arm and pulled me into a tight hug, thumping my back so hard I worried I’d lose my breath.
“Thank God, you’re back safe,” he murmured in my ear, then released me immediately and stepped back to look at each of us in turn, and took a deep breath. “Kgosi will be back with the herd in an hour. I need someone to explain to me what the fuck happened just now.”
He looked at me and Ronen, and we both nodded.
“My office,” he said.
As he started up the path to the officer’s building, Ronen and I following on his heels, Grace and Bren hooked arms and whispered to each other in quick, hushed tones.
Donavyn’s eyes trailed back often to his mate—his features softening into a smile whenever his gaze landed on her—but he strode forward, beckoning to Ronen and me to keep up.
Out of respect, we walked at his sides, though an inch behind.
He was never a stickler for those kinds of honors, but he did catch eyes with me, then Ronen, before raising his eyebrows and muttering, “This will be interesting.”
I huffed.
He had no idea.