45. Reckless
~ VOSKI ~
When Grace dropped, my heart plummeted with her. There was a split-second glimpse of her face—eyes round as saucers, mouth wide open, and hands clawing at the air—until she turned in the air, and her terrified scream lifted the hair on my nape.
It was the scream of a man in battle who saw his death coming.
It was reflex to dive after her, and it was only Kham’s quick instincts that saved me from throwing myself off. He screamed and banked suddenly into my dive, catching my weight and pushing me upright again—but that increased tension on the net and yanked at Ekko, Ronen’s dragon.
“Grace! NO!” I screamed, leaning as far over his shoulder as I could, while Ronen cursed and Ekko tried desperately to correct so the net wouldn’t be lost.
‘Breathe, Voski—Koa will catch her,’ Kham insisted in my head. But even his tone was tight.
As we’d been trained, the squad peeled off one by one, to descend.
“She can’t—she’s not—”
Bent in half over his shoulder, hand clamped on his neck strap, I watched, pleading with God to save her, as Koa folded her wings and dove, allowing her greater bodyweight to plummet her past Grace, then angled her body and snapped her wings wide, to rise from underneath her.
I grunted in sympathy when Grace slammed to her dragon’s back—bent in half over her neck, her legs dangling one side, her arms the other.
Her head snapped and I was certain she’d smacked her face on her dragon’s side. But even with the shriek, she had the presence of mind to grab for purchase, and Koa wisely tilted to descend again, wheeling into Grace’s bodyweight until she’d stopped sliding and could control her position.
We all watched, Bren and my brothers descending to her, calling encouragement and instructions on how to reach the safety strap and clip in.
It could only have been seconds, but it felt like hours, before Grace was able to straddle her dragon and attach the clip to her belt.
I slumped on Kham’s neck, my face in my hands, swallowing back nausea.
‘It’s safe. She’s safe. Breathe, Voski. She’s safe. My mate is powerful and strong. She will not let yours fall.’
I trembled. So scared, and so relieved, I didn’t have the energy to argue with him about referring to Grace as my mate.
I would have vomited if any of my squad fell in flight, let alone an unclipped Flameborne.
But when I opened my eyes, she was still on Koa’s back, and the female now flapped faster, slowly rising.
Ronen and I caught eyes, and he made the gesture for us to wheel, which we did.
With the net strung between us, neither dragon could make a move independent of the other.
They were the slowest, most frustrating minutes of my life, waiting until we could wheel together to join the others who’d clustered around Koa and flew as close as they dared, all checking with Grace and offering encouragement—and cheers once they were certain she was safe.
As we finally came into position just above them and I could see Grace, hunched over Koa’s neck below me, my heart spasmed. There was blood on her arm, and more on Koa’s neck.
She was hurt.
‘Kham—’
‘Her nose. It is her nose. It pains her, but she can think and see. She’s safe.’
From here, I could see how Grace’s hands shook as she wiped her face—leaving a deep, red smear up the sleeve of her shirt—then gripped the neck strap to steady herself.
“You did great, Grace!” I called, my voice hoarse. “Just for God’s sake, stay clipped in!”
“I missed it, but I’ll do it!” she called back.
I blinked. What the fuck? What was she—?
“I can do it! Koa can drop me on the net and I’ll do it again. Please. Just be patient—I’ll do it!”
I looked at Ronen over the net, and found his expression as shocked as my own.
“Grace, you don’t have to—”
“Flameborne, at ease!” Ronen barked, glaring at me. It was a good thing he was out of reach. I would have punched him. “Just rest a moment, Grace. Then we’ll move on.”
“Move on?!” I exclaimed. “You can’t be fucking serious!?”
‘Voski, shut your mouth, and that’s an order.’ Kham didn’t even speak—he sent me the direct instruction, in Ronen’s voice, from Ekko.
I snapped my mouth shut, but continued scowling at my squad captain.
‘Tell him she’s hurt! She can’t be expected to complete the flight.’
To my surprise, it was Gil’s voice in my head next, relayed by Kham from his dragon, Runar. ‘Take a sec, Ronen. What would we ask her to do that would test her more than what she’s just done?’
‘Nothing,’ Ronen replied through the dragons a heartbeat later, ‘But we have to keep her focused. She’s probably going into shock. We need to get her onto the net—fast.’
‘I don’t think that will be a problem. She’s fucking fearless,’ Gil replied.
I snarled. ‘Not fearless, she’s fucking reckless. No self-preservation at all. You can’t put her in a position to hurt herself again!’
‘I won’t, Voski,’ Ronen said sharply, warning me through the dragons.
I swallowed, but didn’t take my eyes off her hunched figure below me. Bren flew alongside her, leaning over. I didn’t know what she said, but Grace nodded and wiped her nose again.
More blood.
Nausea punched at my throat.
‘She’s going to have to cast off. We can’t risk her unclipping until we’re sure Koa can lower her to the net—she’s too willing to take risks.’
‘Willing? She fucking looks for them.’
‘Shut it, Voski. You’re only in this conversation because you’re on the net.’
I scowled and swallowed hard. Even though in the Shadowfang Order I outranked Gil and was a peer of Ronen’s—here with the squad, I was just a member like the others. Normally, I liked it that way. But in moments like this, it burned.
Ronen and Gil went back and forth a couple of times. I closed my eyes when they talked about Grace having to unclip to get to the net, but Ronen said he wouldn’t let her do it until she had a grip on the net.
‘…as long as Koa’s got the control to match our pace precisely, she’ll be fine.’
‘I think Koa’s proven that she’s a skilled flyer,’ I sent dryly.
Moments later, Ronen started issuing orders again, and my heart rose into my throat.
“Furyknights! Scatter!” he bellowed, sending the rest of the squad off and away, to leave Grace and Koa flying alone, which turned my blood cold.
“Flameborne, do not unclip until you are expressly ordered to do so. Do you understand the instruction? Repeat it back to me in your own words!”
“Yes, sir!” Grace’s voice was high and tight with pain, but she looked up at Ronen, and for the first time, I caught sight of her face, splattered in blood, dripping down her chin, and her teeth red. “I am not to unclip from Koa’s harness until you give me an order to do so.”
“Very good,” Ronen called calmly. My heart thudded.
‘She is safe,’ Kham assured me.
I prayed she stayed that way.
“Flameborne, order your dragon to fall back. Let us pass. Then she’s to rise and position herself over the net.”
It took bare moments for the maneuver. I practically bounced in my seat, waiting for Koa to position herself where Grace would be safe even if she fell. But finally, they were there. Tension crawled up my spine.
“Flameborne, in a moment when I give the order, you’re to cast off. That means you slip off your dragon and let yourself hang by the safety strap.”
“Yes! I know! I did it with Voski!” Grace reassured him.
Ronen’s brows rose, then, with a dark look at me, he continued. “Very good,” he said tightly. “Once you’ve stopped swinging back and forth, tell Koa to lower you to the net. You do not unclip until you have a grip on the net with one hand, and can use the other to unclip. Do you understand?”
“Yes!”
And then she fucking did it. Leaned forward on her hands, just like I’d shown her. Pulled her feet up to balance on Koa’s broad back, then dove off with barely a hesitation.
Ronen cursed, and I shook my head, my heart rising into my throat again.
But Grace whooped. And though it was shaky, by the time she was swinging alongside her dragon’s belly, she laughed.
She fucking laughed.
I could barely watch as Koa slowly lowered herself between our dragons—all three had to flap in time, and take very great care.
We didn’t tell Grace so, because she needed to focus on getting herself to that net, but Koa’s position had to be slightly ahead of our dragons because the momentum kept Grace dragging behind her—and Koa needed room to flap without tangling Ekko’s or Kham’s wings.
But that only gave Grace a very few feet to get to the net.
I held my breath until she was down, and her hand locked on the netting. And then she had to wrestle with the large clip of the safety strap with one hand.
It was a harrowing few seconds until she was able to get the thick clip pulled back enough to slide it off her belt.
But finally, Koa screamed and gave a swift down-flap to lift herself above our dragons, and power forward. She didn’t drop until she was clear of them—when she positioned herself under the net once more, where she could catch her rider if Grace fell again.
Please don’t let her fall again.
Grace bounced twice and would have gotten to her feet again, except Ronen barked at her to stay on hands and knees and get back to the center of the net, where she was to sit, facing forward.
And finally we could let the dragons drift closer, allowing slack in the net so it would curl around Grace.
She was safely twisted up as the pendulum of her weight caught in the wind of our flight, turning and twirling her, until she was little more than a round teardrop below our dragons, flying wing-tip-to-wingtip.
And only then could I actually take a breath.