31. New Mission
~ VOSKI ~
‘Kham?’
‘I’m here.’
‘Where am I?’
‘Open your eyes.’
I didn’t want to, and I couldn’t remember why.
I couldn’t hear or feel anything outside my body. Anything at all, except the deep, painful ache in the center of my chest. The hollow shaped like her, that was now cold and shivering. Not what it should be.
I curled myself around it, trying desperately to warm it, pleading with it to breathe.
‘Voski… open your eyes. Nothing is solved by avoiding—’
Grace. Taken by her noble Lord, against her will.
I sat bolt upright, sucking in a heaving breath, my skin cold and clammy, blinking and blinking, trying to come out of the dream, and find my feet.
I was disoriented by the stark light and dark, in pieces around me, and dark lines over my sight. The sounds of water, and low voices echoed. I could smell damp. My head hurt.
It took a few more breaths to find my bearings and understand that I was in the dungeons.
I blinked more, until I could focus.
Wet stone below the cot where I sat that gleamed gold, sliced by black, because of the lantern light outside the cell.
Shadows that shifted, half from candlelight, and half because there were bodies. And voices.
I pushed off the cot, almost lost my feet, grasped my head and took several deep breaths in an attempt to keep my stomach in place, and clear my sight.
Then finally, my instincts prickled. I blinked once more and my vision cleared. And the nausea in my stomach eased from a churn, to a simmer.
Finally, carefully, I raised my head and focused on the bodies outside the cell, blinking again, because I wasn’t sure I believed what I saw.
Donavyn. Ronen. Gil. And the queen?
They huddled, speaking quickly, and not even glancing at me.
“…I can’t send Furyknights into Fyrehold—even for benign reasons. Even if a messenger could overtake him, the moment he speaks with Burk and our subterfuge is discovered, we ignite unease that could tip toward war in a heartbeat.”
“But Vosgaarde is so much stronger than Fyrehold,” Ronen protested.
“Not as we currently stand,” the queen replied darkly, and Donavyn nodded.
“I don’t have as many dragons available to fight as I did, and those I do, aren’t held so tightly.
Most are needed here to protect borders under threat by those testing our strength.
If they find a hole in our defenses they’ll exploit it immediately.
I am sympathetic to this plight, but I can’t risk the safety of the entire kingdom for the sake of one couple and their dragons.
We have to find a way to work within the confines… ”
My heart sank as the events of the day rushed back to me.
“Where’s Grace?” I croaked, heart scrambling. Frantic. I could feel her, alive. But that was all. Where was she?
They all turned to look at me. Gil swept up a waterskin from the bench and hurried over to offer it to me through the bars.
I took it, surprised by how thirsty I was, listening to the others as I gulped at the water.
“He took her, but Kham’s assured Kgosi that he can find Koa as soon as you’re able to travel.”
“He will not be traveling,” the queen pressed.
Donavyn nodded grimly to her, then turned to me.
“Koa remains with Grace. At least we know she’s competent functioning without a herd, or her human.
She’ll be safe and healthy, and will protect Grace if there’s need.
Kgosi’s ordered her not to attack, and she has agreed, though everyone is a little nervous about how strictly she’ll hold to that if she perceives Grace is under physical threat. ”
“Grace is under threat,” I said, wiping the back of my mouth.
Donavyn shot me a look, then turned back to the queen. “How long would it take to get permission to send a pair into Fyrehold? Just one man and his dragon. As soon as we can get someone there, Koa can lead them to Grace’s location. I’m sure we can form a plan—”
“If Breckon has the ear of the king, he’ll be guarding against that.
I hadn’t planned to approach Fyrehold again until my throne was more established—they’re the most likely to understand how close we came to being conquered—and as you noted, most likely to be involved.
I’m still not confident His Royal Ass wasn’t behind this.
Yet, we’ve proven that we won. Still, I don’t want to embolden him.
If I reach out too soon, it will shift the power balance.
I will do it when necessary, but I will not beg.
And if Breckon has laid this out for the king, I anticipate he’ll either greatly delay the permission, or give an outright refusal, though he will pretend his reasons are far less personal.
“Why am I in a cell? What are you doing? Why did you let him take her?” I demanded.
Gil grimaced, but it was Ronen who strode up to the bars, warning flashing in his eyes. “You could have fomented war. We had no choice after you attacked him!”
“I attacked him because no one was stopping him—he was about to strike her!”
“And had you allowed it happen, I might have had valid reason to keep her here,” the queen snapped. “Instead, we had to indulge the bugger, and now we scramble.”
I looked at her in horror as she turned back to Donavyn and continued debating the merits of political approaches to the Fyrehold King.
Was it true? Had I really been the reason she was gone?
But I couldn’t let a man hit Grace! “The mere threat of his violence should have been enough,” I rasped, staring at the queen. “You’re so attentive to women, want to help them thrive. Why wouldn’t you protect her?!”
“You watch your mouth, Furyknight!” Donavyn snapped.
The queen’s eyes flashed, but Donavyn stepped between us.
“Your Majesty, he’s afraid, and dealing with a threatened bond.
He’s not himself. This bond has loosened something in his mind.
Have no fear, I’ll take care of it. You approach Fyrehold as soon as is feasible, and request Grace’s return.
Perhaps… perhaps some bargain can be struck.
In the meantime, leave me to deal with this one,” he growled.
My nerves fluttered when his eyes struck sparks at me.
She looked at Donavyn very frankly, then let her gaze slide to me, Gil, and Ronen before she spoke.
“You do not send dragons against this man. While I have no doubt they would be effective, their work would be recognized, and the trail lead immediately back to these events. Too many saw him here. And too many servants, and other contacts he’d have made before he came here know also. We cannot take the risk.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Donavyn said solemnly.
She looked at Ronen, Gil, and I, until all of us mumbled the same. Then her lips thinned. “You are clever, resourceful men. But no single one of you are worth my kingdom. If you bring the Furyknights, or Vosgaarde, into ill-repute, or under suspicion from Fyrehold, you’ll answer directly to me.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle them,” Donavyn assured her, his tone dark with disapproval.
She nodded as if the argument were resolved, before turning to the rest of us. “I trust Donavyn. And he leads you. Hear his orders as if they come from my mouth. Am I understood?”
I nodded, along with my brothers, though it seemed an odd reassurance to offer right on the heels of her challenge and warning.
The queen gave me a pointed look as she took her skirts in hand and swept into the dark stairway that led back into the castle, and disappeared behind a heavy door above.
The moment I knew she couldn’t hear, I turned to Donavyn and begged. “Let me go. I’ll follow the bond. I can use the best of my stealth. No one will know.”
“You will keep your mouth shut!” Donavyn marched toward the bars, his eyes blazing.
I bristled, and had to stop myself backing away when he leaned right into the bars and pointed at me through them.
“Before today, if at any time I had been asked which single man I trusted to send anywhere, into any environment, with needlepoint precision for the task at hand, I would have named you. But today I learned that becoming a mate stripped you of your self-control, and I fear, your integrity!”
My jaw dropped as Ronen stepped in for me.
“Sir, Voski has struggled, but no one understands the need for subterfuge better. And he isn’t bloodthirsty like some,” he said with a sideways glance at Gil, who shrugged. “Surely you of all people understand—”
“I do,” Donavyn snapped. “But you do not.”
Ronen frowned.
“I’m not speaking of Voski’s willingness to hide the matebond, though that was questionable. I’m referring to his murder of a citizen without even notifying us.”
I almost frowned. Almost questioned him—then remembered.
Grace.
The thief, who wasn’t a thief, but one of Breckon’s spies. I swallowed hard. I couldn’t tell them that it had been Grace who killed him. As a Flameborne, she held no authority for capital force. She’d be disqualified and never become a Furyknight.
She had to become a Furyknight.
“Sir,” I breathed. “He was coming for me—”
“Then you should have told us!” Donavyn thundered.
“Sir, Voski is—” Ronen started, but Donavyn snarled over him.
“Voski is a liar who breached conduct so seriously, even if events hadn’t outstripped us today, I would have dragged him in front of a Tribunal.”
Ronen’s brows shot up. “What?!”
Panic fluttered in my chest as our General swelled, glaring at me.
But his tone remained quietly furious. “Not only did you nearly lay hands on a noble, despite our warnings, not only did you take the life of a citizen and hide it, you have confessed to a breach of your vows, and removed any lasting trust that might have remained.”
“They were all separate events—” I scrambled. But he snapped over me.
“I could have forgiven one of these, Voski. Hell, even disciplined you myself for two. But all three together? And at the same time? The queen lays responsibility for you at my feet and you want me to stand in your stead while you show such disregard for any goal or priority but your own?”