The Forged Bond of Ashborne

1. Mine

SOUNDTRACK: Tomorrow Waits by Klergy and Mindy Jones.

~ VOSKI (Pronounced VOSS-kee) ~

The meadow had always been my sanctuary.

Hemmed by tall trees that blocked the view of anyone on the ground from flyers, the open space blanketed in lush grass year round, and peppered with wildflowers in spring.

Even on a gray day, this place held joy.

Quiet, lit only by the sun, and accompanied by the music of nature, it was the first place I fled when I needed peace.

I called it the solitude because it hid me from every eye by God’s.

The fact that Grace had found me here twice was harrowing. Or should have been. Today felt different. I was so weary of fighting the draw to her…

Grace, in this place, was sunrise. The light glimmering on her hair. The rose in her cheeks. The sparkles in her bright blue eyes. She should only have been here in peace. In welcome. In joy.

Instead, the chilling, dissonant notes of my fear had brought us both here.

She stood at my toes, tears in her eyes, her skin blotched by her grief. And I was given a front row seat to her heart break.

I’d deceived myself. Ignored the truth. Not wanted to hear it.

Ignorance of the bond hadn’t kept Grace free of its pull. It had confused, and wounded her. My denial hadn’t freed her, it had stolen her spark.

But that fact sucker-punched me two minutes too late.

Pure, unadulterated panic lit my blood on fire when she denied our bond.

Pain sang through my chest and stole my breath, but it was the tearing, the shrieking loss, the grip of dragon talons on my heart that sent me diving for her.

“Grace—no!” I threw myself to the grass beside her, reaching for her, trying to pull her face up so she’d see me, but she pulled away, the bond, that tugging, pulling drive, suddenly frozen. Painful.

“D-don’t want your c-comfort when you wish you d-didn’t have to g-give it!”

I grimaced “I was scared—I am scared. But I was trying to explain, not—”

‘Voski, what have you done?!’ Kham and Koa screamed in the distance and my stomach dropped to my toes. This hurt them as well.

Grace whimpered and grabbed at her chest—the pain there. My pain.

‘Kham, what’s happening?’ I sent at the same moment I pleaded with her, “Grace! What are you doing?! Stop!”

“I’m f-freeing you…” she mumbled through thick lips and my heart went into spasms.

‘Kham?!’ Why wasn’t he answering me?

“…No more torment for either of us. Koa says it will die. And we’ll be free. That’s what you wanted!”

Pain. Like a blade laid to a fibrous rope, sawing. Strands frayed, snapping under pressure. The bond would be severed if she didn’t stop.

“Grace, no. No!” I stared at her in horror, no longer able to deny that I had done this. I’d pushed her away, denied the bond, resisted the pull toward her, and vented my anger because I was too damn scared to take the risk.

I was still terrified. But as the cord between us was abraded, it became clear: I was more frightened of this.

“Please, stop, Voski, I can’t do this any—”

“You can—we can! Grace, we will!” I rasped, cupping her face and pulling her chin up, forcing her to meet my gaze.

My heart broke—tears trickled down her cheeks. Her skin was blotched and dirt-smeared where she’d tried to wipe them. She was devastated. And I’d done that.

“I should never have said those things about begging God to take it away. They aren’t true—please, Grace. Don’t give up. Please.”

Her eyes widened. That blade she’d laid against the cord that tied us hesitated, and with it, the singing pain in my chest eased.

We stared, both of us still. The threat faded slowly, and something hot and embracing crept up in its wake.

“Grace?” It was a plea. I begged. On my knees, just as I’d done as a child. Yet, that memory felt different. That had felt as if my life were on the line. This felt like my soul could be torn from me.

I hung, breathless, that blade hovering over the bond, waiting for her to choose. Begging God to let me fix this. To keep her—

“I’m scared.” Her voice was so small, but the blade began to retreat.

Relief scorched through me. “Me too,” I breathed the simple truth.

She stared at me, brows winging up. A rush of warmth and need in my chest swelled. I searched her shining, blue eyes and all my fearful resistance was scoured away by the pain in her gaze.

I didn’t want to hurt her. I wanted to heal her.

I had no idea how the hell this would work. But I resolved to try. And as I swayed closer, and she didn’t push me away, I couldn’t resist her a moment longer.

I took her mouth.

My heart flooded with sweet, undeniable relief to finally have her in my arms, and my lips on hers. Such overwhelming relief, I groaned.

In shock, Grace went still. But half a breath later, her lips parted in a hesitant welcome, and something warm, full, and healing crashed in my chest, as heavy and overwhelming as any wave on the Dragonmaw Cliffs.

She whimpered, and that little sound was so tiny, so precious, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her up to her feet, holding her as tightly as I dared, panting, sipping, delving that sweet, uncertain mouth—

She sucked in and jerked her head back, eyes wide once more, one hand planted on my shoulder as if she’d push me away.

I went still, heart pounding—but the pain continued to ease, thank God. Did she know she’d walked a knife-edge of almost severing our bond? It was my fault. But I wouldn’t let her do it. I couldn’t. I shoved my fear beneath the need and held on.

“You… you’ve done this before,” she whispered, her brows pinching, her eyes welling again. “You kissed me. You’ve held me. You do it, and then I think—”

“I was wrong,” I croaked. “I was running—but not from you.”

“You literally ran from me!”

I grimaced and stroked her hair, but didn’t back away. She deserved an answer. A real one. I had led men. I had ordered dragons. I could make a single woman safe!

I swallowed hard. “Well, I’m not running anymore, Grace. I didn’t run because I didn’t want you. It was because I was afraid of me. But these last few days… I’ve been fighting the urge to run to you.”

Her forehead pinched and her grip on my shoulder tightened. “I want to believe that, but—”

“It’s true. I swear to you. I—”

“You show me care, then you go cold. You say I’m destined for this, then scream at me when I say the wrong thing, or—”

“I tied myself to that tree because I wanted you like an animal. I made myself stay away because I was terrified of hurting you.”

She blinked. “You… you get violent when… when you—?”

“No. No, it’s…” I winced. “There’s more than one way to destroy a person, Grace. Since we’ve been here, I’ve been strung tighter than a lyre-string, raging the second one of our brothers touched you, or smiled in your direction, even though I knew I had no right—”

“But you did have a right! If we’re mates—”

“I thought if I denied it, if I didn’t let it complete, it would fade away. I thought you’d be safer, and I’d be…”

I sucked in a breath as she stared, her eyes round and pleading. “You’d be what?”

She leaned back a hair to meet my eyes more fully, and my entire being shook with the urge to grab her, to hold her there, don’t let her go. But I knew. She had to understand.

“Voski, what are you afraid of?” she breathed.

My breath rushed out of me. I should have let her go, given her space. But I was as terrified of releasing her, as I was of losing her. There was no way through this but to tell her the truth. Yet I shied from that. Until the bond sang with pain once more, and I scrambled.

There was some I could tell her.

“The reason I knew what you needed after you took down that man in the alley, is because I’ve been through it,” I muttered, trying to measure my words in a reeling head, push back the veil of the shrieking fear.

But Grace frowned. “You’re a soldier. All soldiers have—”

“No, Grace.” God. I’d never told anyone about this except Kham. The words were right there. They hung on the edge of my vision every day. But I’d kept them tied down. Chained. Now that I wanted to pull them loose, to shake them free, they didn’t want to come.

The chains were heavy.

I swallowed hard. “My first kill was at fifteen years old,” I said hoarsely.

“Before I met Kham, or any dragonfury. Before I’d even left home.

” Her brows shot up. But I had to keep speaking, or I wouldn’t be able to drag these words free.

“I was raised as a weapon. Taught to survive at the cost of others. But one night when I was still young, I used those skills and unraveled everything. I…” I blew out a breath and prayed for courage, heard Kham call for me in the distance.

My heart raced. “I killed… a man. Then, later, I learned I had killed the wrong person. And it… it almost killed me.”

Her frown deepened. “Who? Who did you kill?”

“A noble,” I said through my teeth. “A noble who was wrong and…” It felt like tearing my leathers open, baring my chest, and offering her a knife to put through my heart.

I’d never spoken about this out loud. “But Kham saved me. He saw that I was more than the events of that night. That I could be more. So, trust me, I know how it feels to be saved. I know how important it is. I also know I’m capable of hurting anyone.

Be it with a knife or… other means.” There was so much more, but I’d already given her such a burden to carry.

“I tied myself up to keep myself away from you because the bond is mighty. Grace, I still fear what I might do if I give in. I can’t lose control.

Not with anyone, but especially not with you. ”

‘This is what you’ve been hiding? Why you resisted her?’ Kham sighed in my head. ‘You should have spoken this. Brought the darkness to light.’

He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t even want to think about this.

“Grace,” I croaked. “I didn’t resist because I didn’t want you. I resisted because I’m afraid I’ll destroy us both.”

She gave a breathless little huff, and I felt her shoulders drop a hair.