As the first female Furyknight, I was also the first woman ever sucked into a dragon bond, and Donavyn speculated that was why the bond had drawn us together so tightly.
Thinking of him, my body thrummed. Here I was, newly awake, and already aching to have him again. Was this insatiable hunger just because the bond was new? We’d only discovered ita week ago. Would it ease? Or, in twenty years, would I think of him and still ache to have him?
As I passed through the courtyard in front of the dining hall, running for the stables, I grimaced. Everything was so fuckingcomplicated.
I had already faced prejudice and cynicism in my climb to Furyknight. I’d already fought the sabotage of men who believed I’d only achieved the pin because of the king’spersonalfavor. But I knewI was meant to be here. Akhane hadChosenme for a reason.
Ihadto make it to this meeting.
I pushed the niggling thoughts aside, crossed the cobbled walkway, and took a shortcut through the thickets that bordered the launch hollow.
The moon still hovered a hairsbreadth above the silhouetted peaks when I made it to the little clearing with the lightning-struck tree stump, where I’d been told I’d receive more information.
When I first made it to the tree, barely panting, my nerves fizzed in my chest. But the clearing was empty.
I frowned, mentally reviewing the conversation I’d had with Ronen, my Wing Captain, and the leader of our squad.
…I stood at ease, trying to hide my nerves while Ronen leaned back against the desk at the front of the emptying classroom, his arms folded, nodding at each of my brothers as they passed on their way to the door.
It wasn’t until the door closed behind Voski, that Ronen clawed a hand through his unusually messy brunette hair and turned those penetrating, gray eyes on me.
When Ronenreallylooked at me, I always felt like a little sister caught sneaking out at night.
He wasn’t my father. But his disapproval meant more to me.
“You can ignore the patrol assignment I gave you for Thirdday,” he said without preamble.
Shit. I really had done something if he was taking me off a shift.
“You’ll receive new instructions that morning, that will be followed without fail, do you understand?”
I didn’t at all, but I nodded, and swallowed the lump rising in my throat. “New instructions from…?” Was he saying Donavyn had orders for me? My brothers knew about our bond—they had to. So why wouldn’t he have just—
“You will meet a messenger in the clearing with the lightning-struck tree no later than when the moon touches the peaks.”
I waited, but it appeared that was it.
I frowned. “High moon on the early morning of Thirdday, at the lightning-struck tree,” I repeated slowly.
“No one can know, Bren. And I do mean,no one.”Ronen’s gaze grew pointed. My heart sank.
It was happening.
We’d barely found each other. And now we might be separated? Already?
Donavyn had warned me: Between impending war and our roles in it, orders and missions for both of us might need to be covert. We’d agreed neither of us would push the other to reveal anything we’d been told to keep silent.
But Donavyn had warned me because he already knew how difficult it could be. Especially if those orders pulled us away from each other without notice.
That thought dropped my stomach to my toes.
Realizing Ronen still waited for a response, I swallowed hard and nodded. “I understand.”
“Do you?” he asked carefully.
“Yes. We’ve discussed this possibility in advance.”
Some of my Wing Captain’s tension ease out of his posture—but that only made me more tense. He must know it would be bad news.
