Yes. Yes. Forever, yes.
Did Furyknights have the same traditions for a wedding ceremony? I’d have to ask him.
I had just finished dressing when the first dragon screams rose. I startled, but Akhane was thoughtful and took a wide spiral over the Keep, drawing close enough to speak with me for a time and explain. By then, the dragons had begun to sing.
The weight of their grief was heartbreaking. I was almost overcome by it, and considered skipping breakfast entirely. But Terra’s earlier advice reminded me that would only make me weak at training. I spent a few minutes speaking with, and trying to comfort my dragon, then I pulled myself together and headed for the door.
I was about to open the apartment door to check there was no one in the hall when Donavyn's voice, ragged and urgent, echoed in my mind.
‘Bren?’
I stopped dead.‘Yes?’I immediately sent a rush of love and reassurance through the bond. Kgosi was feeling the loss of Ciar deeply—Akhane had already warned me—and Donavyn’s voicewas tight and rough, even in the link. I knew he felt Kgosi’s grief, just as I felt Akhane’s.
‘Where are you?’
‘I slept in. I was about to leave the apartment—’
‘Don’t move!’
His urgency seemed desperate. The first coil of warning tightened in my chest.‘I won’t go! But what’s happened?’
‘I’ll explain in a moment. Just… don’t leave.’
I frowned and dropped into the couch to wait, worry bubbling in my chest, reaching for Akhane in case she was still close. I didn’t know how far away Donavyn was, so it was a surprise when the door opened bare minutes later.
A jolt of nerves stabbed my heart at the haggard look on Donavyn’s face.
“What’s happened?” I whispered, my insides coated in dread.
He closed the door, then turned and dropped his head into his hands. “It’s been a very trying morning,” he graveled. I leaped to my feet and hurried to him, but he had already dropped his hands and was coming for me, his eyes pinched with pain, but bright with need as well. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he whispered as he reached me.
I’d expected grief. Or bad news. Some new trial, or perhaps the hate of my father spilling over into political consequences for Donavyn. But he said nothing, took my face in his hands, and kissed me like a dying man.
When he finally pulled back, he searched my eyes, as if the answers to eternity were there.
“Donavyn? What’s going on—are you hurt?”
“No, no. I’m safe. I’m… I just need you,” he whispered, then kissed me again. And this time he didn’t stop. A jagged bolt of need shot through me from the bond. I trembled with it.
Oh, God.
Donavyn’s ragged breath rushed out of him when our lips met, and he buried his fingers in my hair, devouring me as he walked me backwards towards the bedroom.
I had a fleeting thought—the dragons, training,time—but then he made a strangled sigh in his throat and held me against him so tightly, all other thoughts beyond this tattered need fled.
The bedroom was dim—I hadn’t opened the curtains. Donavyn already had my jacket and shirt unbuttoned before we reached the bed. He tossed them aside, then sucked in, pulling away just long enough to tear at his own buttons, while I rushed to get my leathers off, grateful that I hadn’t had time to put on my boots yet.
I stooped to unlace his boots, whispering to him, though there was no one to hear. “What’s happened? What’s frightening you? I can feel it—”
“Nothing but the thought of losing you,” he hushed, kicking off his boots, then pulling me up, taking my mouth again as he threw aside the last of his clothes.
The dragons. The mourning. Of course.It had turned my mind to what would tear that kind of cry from me, as well.
Relieved, and sure he was buried in grief, I took him in my arms and arched into his body, stroking him and whispering his name, calling him closer.
Donavyn’s hands painted my body from neck to breasts to sides, to hips. His breath thundered and his body quivered. He kissed me as if it might be the last time, and even though his urgency was alarming, it also consumed me.
In the bond heburned.His fingers trembled as they followed the contours of my body, and his breath rushed when I touched him.
