Then, with one final glance at Donavyn, and a grateful rush through the bond, I turned to that door and pushed it open.
The room was long and narrow, the two long walls covered in bookshelves and pictures, while the other end of the room was a pair of very tall windows over a built-in bench seat.
Furniture in this room was big and functional, designed for large, active men. Pillows and rugs had been scattered all over by messy Furyknights.
The moment I opened the door, my father rose from that bench seat, leaving a hand back to still my mother who’d taken a seat there as well.
“Bren!”
I couldn’t breathe, but I tried to walk as naturally as possible to cross the floor towards them.
By the time I was close enough to speak comfortably, my mother had gotten to her feet, though she stayed well behind my father.
Their eyes were wide on me. But my brothers must have followed me in, because my father’s gaze shifted to something over my shoulder and his eyes grew even rounder.
“Bren, I’m so glad you’re safe.” My father rushed forward to embrace me. I was so shocked, I just stood there, stiff and uncertain. When he didn’t let go immediately, a tiny part of me wanted to sink into that hug and weep for his approval. But I swallowed it back and stepped out of his arms, then turned around him to hug my mother.
I did rest my head on her shoulder, but only briefly before letting her go. She didn’t speak, but her eyes welled with tears and she seemed overwhelmed.
When I stepped back, my brothers gathered at my back, and I wasso grateful,because I didn’t face them alone, one against two.
‘You can do this, Bren. You are a new creation. A Furyknight. Whatever news they bring, they can’t steal that.’Akhane’s voice was a surprise. She must have left the stable to come closer so I could reach her.
I had to swallowanotherpinch in my throat. I needed to speak.
My father stood, uncertain, looking between me and the men at my back.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted.
So much for being cool and collected.
“We worried about you, Bren!” my father stammered. “Especially your mother.”
A low, unhappy grunt rose behind me. Donavyn.
“Well, I’m sorry you were worried. As you can see, I’m doing well.”
My father frowned, confused, his eyes sliding from face to face behind me. “Is Ruin here also? I asked for him, but I was told he isn’t on the grounds—”
“No, Father,” I said firmly, wishing the floor would open and swallow me because of course, he would ask. And now my brothers would know that I’dknownRuin in my past life. “I haven’t seen Ruin. He left the day I arrived and he hasn’t returned.” I almost told him Ruin was dead—let father hearthat!But I didn’t want to feel his name in my mouth again. “Please, why are you here?”
My father’s head jerked back. “We’ve been trying to find you since you disappeared! I was turned away the first two times I visited. This time your mother came with me and we stayed in the city. Didn’t you get my message? I left it with the scribe in the black building.”
The Quartermaster’s scribe?That’sthe message Benji had given to me?
Dear, Lord. I could have learned this was happening. I couldn’t believe I’d never opened it.
For a moment, all the ways I’d messed up—all the little details I’d missed, all the trials and trainings I’d failed, everything I’d said or done wrong in the preceding months, rained down on me. I quavered.
‘Bren, I’m here. I can—’
‘No,’I sent back, dropping my eyes from my father’s and shaking my head for a moment. I wouldn’t do this. I wouldn’t let him take me back to that place where I was so weak. If Ruin couldn’t defeat me, my father wouldn’t!
I raised my head again and took a deep breath, rolling my shoulders back.
My father was still speaking, his eyes flicking between me and my brothers now that I’d gone silent, as if he wasn’t sure who to address.
“…told you were in the stables. I know you love the horses, Brenny, but you don’t have to work here. You’re—”
