“No kidding,” Mara says. “I’m pretty sure she just threatened to turn Luke into a decorative ice sculpture.”
“She threatened worse when I started learning to control my dragon.” Ember’s smile is shaky. “You should’ve heard what she said she’d do to my instructors if they went easy on me.”
“Your mother terrifies me,” Mara says cheerfully.
“She terrifies everyone.” Ember looks at me, worried. “But she knows you’ll keep us safe. She just—”
“Wheels up in five,” I say, not in the mood for emotional reminiscences. “Get your gear loaded.”
I grab my bag and head for the jet before anyone can say anything else. The Gulfstream waits on the tarmac, sleek and dark against the mountain backdrop. I load my gear, then slip the extra comm unit and medical kit into Ember’s pack when she’s not looking.
Mara catches me. Raises an eyebrow.
I ignore her.
Five minutes later, we’re airborne.
The cabin hums with engine noise. Mara’s already asleep in the back, head tilted against the window, arms crossed. I claim a seat near the front and pull up the mission files on my tablet.
Supply routes. Extraction protocols. Backup plans for the backup plans.
Ember sits across the aisle by the window. She’s pulled out one of her books but hasn’t opened it. Instead, she stares at the clouds, profile soft in the low light.
I force my attention back to the logistics report.
It doesn’t work.
My gaze keeps drifting. The line of her jaw. The way sunlight catches her platinum hair, making it gleam like spun silver.
She shifts, pulling a blanket over her lap. Her eyes drift closed, head tilting against the window.
I’ve been fighting wars since before she was born. I have scars older than her memories.
She’s so goddamned young. And I could be flying her into danger.
The thought sits heavy in my chest.
My dragon stirs again, attention fixed across the aisle. I shove it down hard. She’s twenty-one. She packedbooksinstead of ammunition. She’s Vanya’s daughter, for God’s sake.
This is just responsibility. The weight of keeping her safe. Nothing else.
Ember’s breathing evens out into sleep. The cabin light catches in her hair, turning the strands luminous.
Heat crawls through my veins—unwelcome, unwanted. My dragon rumbles with something that feels dangerously close to satisfaction.
No.
I close the tablet. Close my eyes. Focus on my breathing, my heartbeat, anything except the scent of lavender and smoke that seems to have embedded itself in my sinuses.
It’s going to be a long mission.
Chapter 2
Ember
The hum of the aircraft engines settles into my bones as I press my forehead against the cold window. In spite of my nerves, I’ve managed to sleep on and off for the past few hours. Now, below, the Atlantic stretches, endless and dark, moonlight skating across its surface like scattered silver coins. I can’t stop grinning.
My first real mission. Not a training exercise. Not babysitting supply runs or filing reports in the archives like I thought I’d end up doing when I joined Aurora. An actual field assignment with Luke Kenan and Mara Jones, who’s currently sprawled across two seats with her tablet balanced on her knees and her neon-pink headphones askew.
