Page 6 of Flameborne: Fury
‘No!’
‘Then why resist the heart and mind that have ignited your fire?’
I gave him a flat look.‘It’s unlikely I would ever marry now. But even if I did, it couldn’t be someone who had to take orders from me.’
‘Whyever not?!’
I tried not to roll my eyes. My dragon had the best heart. But little patience for what he deemed human flaws.‘I couldn’t marry someone who reports to me. She might believe she has to give in to me personally in order to be raised in rank—or, on the opposite end, she might believe she could breach rules as a soldier because I wouldn’t enforce them for my wife. We humans aren’t as wise or self-disciplined as you dragons. And we can’t don’t have the bond to measure each other’s motives. So, it’s up to those of us who lead not to use our power against those who follow. In case they feel they have to please us in personal ways in order to achieve their professional goals.’
‘Does she have to please you to advance as she should?’
‘Of course not! Why are you asking me these things?’
Kgosi rumbled again and stretched out on his side, with a heavy sigh.
“Did you hurt yourself today or are you ill?” I asked him, distracted from the conversation by my growing concern. He acted like he’d been in battle and was exhausted.
‘Donavyn, one thing you’ll learn when you reach my age and wisdom, is that most often we know what is needed, what is best, and even what’s true. We’re merely reluctant to admit it to ourselves. Sometimes, asking questions is the only way to force a soul to look in the mirror.’
I frowned.‘So, you think that my interest in her does come from bad motives?’
‘No, but apparently you do.’
‘How did you draw that conclusion?’
‘Because you’ve told me every reason she should not catch your heart, and every reason you’re wrong to draw her close—and yet she is. And you did. You are a man of honor, fighting a losing battle. There are only two possible conclusions.’
I blinked, my heart speeding up in my already aching chest. But he didn’t continue. “So, what are they?”
Kgosi gave one, long-suffering sigh, his massive ribs expanding and contracting, then he lifted his head and met my eye again.
‘Either, you two are drawn together by a power greater than your own. Or your heart is black in ways you’ve not yet recognized.’
I was stunned. Reeling.‘Kgosi, are you saying—? No.No.The Creator wouldn’t give me a woman that required a breach of my vows. He wouldn’t lead me into the dark.’
Kgosi rumbled and laid back down.‘But what, my dear Donavyn, if God gaveyoutoher?’
I was stunned.
But Kgosi wasn’t done.‘And what if you needed to enter the dark not for your own selfish pleasure but, to save her from it?’
3. Preposterous
~ BREN ~
I was determined not to cry, but Akhane whipped us into the sky so quickly, the chill night air made my eyes water. I cursed as I wiped the tears away. Thankfully the pools were only a few minutes flight away from the Keep.
When we landed, I removed Akhane’s harness so she could rest, slung my satchel over a tree branch, then peeled off my dirty leathers and unbraided my hair.
The sun was sinking, but the evening air was warm. Akhane slipped around the small pool to a wide, flat rock on its other side and lay down, spreading her wings flat to sun as she curled her neck to rest her head on the warm stone and watch me bathe.
Shaking out the towel from my satchel, I carried it to a smaller boulder next to the water where I undressed. The strange ache in my chest felt like impending tears. It frustrated me. I swallowed it back and walked into the warm, steaming water, sighing with pleasure as the wet heat drifted up my body, raising a rush of goosebumps that skated up my spine.
Bathing at the Dragon Keep was a hurried, and usually very chilly affair. Most days I simply washed with a rag and bowlin my room. But whenever we’d been hot and dirty, like today, I was forced to the lake, or to the servants’ quarters in the Academy buildings. The women there were hospitable, but saw me as Furyknight, so treated me like they were there to serve. I didn’t want them to feel they had to work in their off-hours, so I tried to avoid using their bath as much as possible.
All this meant that these occasional days when there was both time and energy to get out to the mineral pools were a treat. And today I neededsomething.
I walked in until the water was over my waist, then sank down and lay back to let the water embrace me.
