Thaelyn’s throat closed around a rush of feeling so tender it hurt. “I choose you back,” she said. “Even when you are difficult and broody. Especially then.”
He laughed softly. “I am often difficult.” “Stay with me,” he murmured. “Here. A little while before we have to get back to reality.”
They lay again on the sun-warmed rock. The field hummed with bees, birds, and the color of flint. Time thinned. They told each other small stories, the kind one never thinks to say aloud. He told her how, at ten, he had hidden a piece of bread for a stable boy who had been denied supper, and how the boy had wept as if handed a crown. He had not understood then why kindness felt like disobedience. He understood now. They laughed, then quieted, then laughed again because this place was safe and what was growing between them was too.
“We watch,”came the whisper, as old as volcanic stone. “We approve.”
Vornokh, too, often held himself strong like a blade, but today there was nothing iron in his tone. Only the faintest curl of pride, as if even old fire understood what the heart creates when not in battle.
Thorne’s mouth curved. “He is trying not to be obvious.”
“Let him try.” She slid her fingers into his and squeezed. “It’s a nice change,” she giggled.
“We should go soon,” he said, though his body did not attempt to rise. “They will come looking for us soon, and I would rather not be found.”
On the way out, they walked slower, fingers linked, feet careful. Thaelyn looked back once at the valley before the bend swallowed it. The field rippled as the wind passed, a thousand pale hearts bowing and rising in the same breath. At the seam of the rock, Thorne stopped and turned her to him again. He looked as if hewanted to say something more, but could not find a way to put it into words that matched the way he was feeling.
She decided to save him. “I know,” she said, and lifted onto her toes to kiss him. He cupped the back of her head. The kiss tasted so sweet. When it ended, he rested his brow to hers.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“For letting the boy I was stand beside the man I am trying to be.”
She told him the truth. “They are both you. I accept all of it.”
They stepped back into the shadowed seam, then out into the world that expected their names and demanded their time. The path narrowed to let them pass. Far above, the dragons made a last lazy circle. As they walked, the sound of the stream faded until it was only a memory stitched to the inside of her heart. It would be there when she needed it, the way his promise waits.
At the last bend, Thorne stopped her once more. He took her hand and pressed it to his chest, over the steady drum that had learned a new rhythm here. His eyes were serious and full of light.
“When the next storm comes,” he said, “and it will, I want you to remember this place and my promise to you. Remember that I chose you here. Remember that you made me enough.”
She caught his face in both hands. “Then remember that the choosing goes both ways, and that enough is not a finish line. It is a home.”
They mounted their dragons. The mountains kept their secret.The field kept their dreams. The day moved forward, bright and unafraid. Words that were once spoken plain, beneath the watching sky, build a fortress that no enemy can destroy.
Their dragons touched down in staggered thuds and powerful gusts, wings folding. Dust spiraled as cadets watched. Laughter rang from several second-years. Garric patted Brynnek on the shoulder, murmuring something that made Brynnek roll his eyes.
Then, silence fell. General Solas stood at the edge of the field. Her presence was like a blade sheathed in velvet. Tall, bronze-scaled armor with navy trim, her silver hair bound high in a braid, and her eyes as unreadable as ancient tomes. Every cadet dropped into a line within seconds.
“Commander Dareth,” she said crisply, her voice clear across the open ground. “Walk with me.” He joined her, and the two approached the cadets together.
“Congratulations on your flight drills, cadets,” she said without preamble. A hush crept down the ranks. “There are confirmed events of organized uprisings along the eastern borders,” General Solas continued. “Second-year units will begin additional patrol rotations.”
She turned to the first years. “You are not exempt. Effective immediately, first-year cadets will conduct sky patrols along the perimeter of the Asgar Training Academy and the mountain ridge with a senior officer in charge. Your dragons are now cleared for live alert status. All patrol logs are to be filed by the end of the day.”
There was no celebration in that order—only the weight of purpose.
“Finally,” she added, stepping forward slightly, “Prince Kaen will be landing later today, on dragonback, accompanied by his royal elite riders. He is here on official business.”
The silence cracked with tension.
“Be prepared. All cadets are dismissed for two hours to gather gear, weapons, and full kits. You leave for assigned patrols before sundown.”
As the cadets began to scatter, Thorne stepped beside Thaelyn again. Their eyes met. Whatever joy lingered from earlier had quieted beneath the gravity of what was coming.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” Thorne said to Garric, who nodded and walked off toward his other friends.
