Page 122 of Flameborne: Fury
She took a deep breath, staring down at our hands. But she nodded. “I will.”
“Give me your word.”
She looked up and met my eyes. “I do, Donavyn. I will. But I can feel how angry you are and I don’t want thatto be how you live. You’ve helped me be able to breathe. I don’t want to feel better at the cost of yourpeace.”
I shook my head. “Having you close feeds my peace, it doesn’t steal it,” I said, demonstrating by putting my shaking hand at the center of her chest so the bond thrummed. She smiled and placed hers over it. But I wasn’t finished. I didn’t want to steal this from her, but she needed to fuckingsay it.
“You can tell me, Bren,” I said intently.Willingher to tell me. “I know they were Furyknights. And that is a cancer that needs to be cut out of our ranks. I cannot in good conscience allow any man to carry the honor and responsibility of our status when they’re willing to—”
“He’s not here, Donavyn. I’ve looked. I was wary. But he’s not here.They’renot here—at least, none that I recognize,” she said quietly. “One was a man I grew up with. The others… I don’t even know their names. Please. I want to move on and keep healing and…” She blew out a breath, then let go of my hand, but her eyes were downcast, and I sensed thezingof something uneasy in her chest. Something she still wanted to hide from me. Kgosi’s words echoed to argue with me. I wanted to scowl.
A mate protects their mate in whatever way is needed. She showed you the truth, Donavyn. That’s what was needed to renew the bond.
A downside of Kgosi’s age and perspective was that when he wasn’t in the throes of his bond-need, he was often far too patient, in my opinion. I ground my teeth.
‘Donavyn?’
I looked up quickly and froze in her gaze.
“Don’t bring him into this,” she whispered. “I’m happy. You’ve healed a piece of me I never thought I would get back. That’s why I thanked you. And that’s what I need right now.”
I sighed and swallowed back the burning rage. “Me too,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. Ididwant to live in this bond, in this unity. But knowing that bastard walked free, and wasadmired—
I pulled her into my lap, and she smiled, curling against my chest, even when I muttered and held her so tightly against me it must have been difficult for her to breathe. But I needed her touch as well as her heart. I needed her to ground me. I needed to have the reminder that she was here, inmyarms, not in his talons. And I needed to not let her know how desperately I fought to go to war andkill that fucking bastard with my bare hands…
48. Trust and Truth
~ DONAVYN ~
Sometime later, I felt Kgosi stir nearby and I tensed. I’d sunk deep into my thoughts, my anger and desire for revenge wrestling with my honorable purpose. Where the two collided, it could all come undone. And yet, there was no choice.
I’d been so preoccupied, I was unaware of the sunlight brightening, casting deeper shadows through the leaves of the tree above us.
We should be flying.
Grief and simmering frustration tightened my chest. I clung tighter to Bren. Still in my arms, still curled into my chest, she slept, her head against my shoulder, her hair fluttering against her cheek. She stirred when I gripped her, but didn’t wake and I took a deep breath, in an attempt to slow my rapidly beating heart. It shocked me how deeply I could feel her—all of her at rest in this moment. Peaceful and calm. Sinking into me like a baby in a cradle. But that peace would be short lived.
‘We will be disturbed soon. Her brothers approach on orders from the King,’Kgosi rumbled in my head, his tone both resigned and irritated.‘They’ll land in moments.’
‘Their dragons defied you?’I asked, surprised and worried about what that might mean.
‘They won’t come near after they land. They beg mercy from me. Their riders were ordered. I cannot fault them for it.’
I nodded. I’d always told Kgosi not to punish his dragons if they acted on the King’s orders to my men. This was the first time I regretted the advice.
For a moment I stared down at her, overwhelmed with sadness and weariness. And a selfish kind of frustration.
We needed solitude.
We neededtime.
‘It is my experience, Donavyn, that the Creator rarely allows us to adjust in comfort. We are most usually forced to accommodate pain while navigating the very circumstances we didn’t choose. I believe it is His way of ensuring our focus and reliance remains in His power, rather than our own.’
‘I don’t disagree, but I can still resent it.’
‘Don’t.’
That single word was sentdrippingin the authority he carried—and my soul bowed to it in a heartbeat. Kgosi was often profound, but usually kind. Or cuttingly sarcastic. He rarely dominated me. I didn’t have time to observe that to him before he continued.
