Page 23 of Flameborne: Fury
Help me. Help us. We need to find her!
The minutes until Gil returned with Faren crawled by. But the moment that little asshole strode into the stable looking fearful, but defiant, I almost went for him.
Without preamble, Gil walked him straight to me and tipped his head. “Tell the General what you told me.”
Faren stood at attention, pale. But his jaw was set and his eyes blazing. “I did my job. I took her papers. They were sealed. I don’t know what was in them.”
“I don’t believe you,” I snarled, taking the step that put me at his toes and glaring down at him. “You’ve sought to sabotage her chances for this since the first assessment.”
“And I paid the fucking price for it. I didn’t do anything today except the jobyougave me!”
“I didn’t give you this one.”
“Well, someone did!”
“Who? How did you get the orders? Which Officer brought them to you?”
For the first time, his defiance faltered. “I don’t know.”
“Do you expect me to believe—”
“He woke me from my bed in the night. He was in uniform. I haven’t met him before, but I’mnot a Flameborneso I don’t know all the Officers yet! It was dark, and I was asleep. He shook me awake and hissed that I had a job to do, that I needed humbling. He told me to dress immediately, take them to her, bless her mission, then leave her to prepare. So, I did!”
Kgosi groaned again, lifting his head high and opening his mouth, his nostrils flaring as he tasted the air.
‘I gave him entrance to the stable,’he sent, his tone dark and tight.‘I believed he’d been sent. I smelled no deceit on him, Donavyn. Only anger.’
“Why were you angry when you came to give her the message?” I snapped at him.
“Because I was woken early to do a job I didn’t want to do! I’m a fuckingmessenger.And I had to come give her orders? Bless her? Watch her fly off and earn her pin? I waspissed.”
I went still. “You watched her fly?”
He frowned. “No. I meant—”
I cursed. But I was starting to think.‘Do you scent any deceit in him now, Keg?’
‘He’s agitated. Angry. There’s a great deal of inner conflict. It’s difficult to say. But my heart says no, Donavyn. He speaks the bitter truth.’
A tight coil of rage and pride knotted in my chest and wanted to rise out of my throat, but I fought it down. I put a finger to that little fucker’s chest and made certain he knew he wasn’t cleared. “Is there anything you haven’t told me? Any clue where she might have gone, or what might have been in those papers?”
He shook his head tightly. “It was a folded piece of parchment with a wax seal,” he muttered. “The Officer left the moment I threw back my blankets.”
Shit.
I wanted to scream, my body recoiling from all of this, but I couldn’t give in to the fear. “If I find out you’re lying, or there’s even a hint that you were involved in this, you’ll never fly again,” I vowed.
Faren’s eyes went wide. “I didn’tdoanything except my job!”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.”
He opened his mouth and I saw in his eyes—the accusation, the snide remark, thethoughtthatIwas the one who’d played dirty. But he wisely closed his teeth and saluted.
“Yes.Sir,”he said through a clenched jaw.
“You may go. But you’re grounded for today—” His mouth opened again and his eyes bulged, but he held himself back. “I need you available in the event I have more questions,” I growled.
“Yes,Sir,”he said tightly, but his eyes blazed. When I nodded, he turned on his heel and marched out of the stable, hands clenched at his sides.
