When I slid to a halt, smoke drifted from her nostrils and her eyes remained narrowed.
I put my hands up. “Akhane,please.I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m only rushing to comfort my mate.”
But she didn’t lift her head or her wing to offer me entry.‘She protects her bonded One,’Kgosi said tiredly in my head.‘There is darkness in you, Donavyn, and she senses it. Your mate cannot bear more darkness right now.’
I frowned.‘I would never… I’m notdark.Bren is my mate. I’d never harm her or—’
“Be easy, Akhane. He’s safe.” Bren’s voice was slightly muffled by her dragon’s wing, but Akhane lifted the wing and turned to look at her as Bren pushed slowly to her feet, one hand on Akhane’s leg for leverage.
“Bren,” I breathed.
But she didn’t look at me. What was going on?
“Bren,” I said slightly louder. My heart sank when she flinched. “What’s wrong?” I murmured. “Talk to me.”
Bren’s shoulders crawled towards her ears, but she still didn’t answer me. I stared in horror as she patted Akhane’s leg, then stepped out from the circle of her dragon’s limbs, but her eyes darted left and right, scanning the stable as if for a threat.
I didn’t move. This had to be about that fucker Ruin. If she was reliving those moments of violation, I didn’t want to upset her further. It was the only thing I could think of that would cause her to pull away.
I needed her to know that I’d protect her. That we’d find these assholes—and now I had a reason to do so without even mentioning her name. A reason the king would accept withoutquestion. This was a terrible event, but it opened doors, and replaced the need for our trip to Fyrehold—
“You knew,” she whispered.
Bren had come to a halt a few feet away, still in her flying leathers, arms folded under her breasts. Her cheeks were pink and shining with tears, dirt smeared where she’d wiped them away. But, with eyes red and puffy, she stared an accusation at me.
I frowned. “What are you—”
“You knew. You knew it was Ruin. You… you knew why I asked about him,” she murmured, her lips trembling and eyes swimming with hurt and anger.
It took only a moment to mentally scramble back to my thoughtlessness back in the woods.
Just a couple short weeks earlier, Bren had shared awful memories with me through the dragons. Things that had almost destroyed her. But in relaying those memories, she also thought she’d obscured the identities of the men who’d raped her. Yet, today, I’d warned her about the dragon’s rider. That he was Ruin’s best friend. Andnot Ruin.
Shit.
For a split second I considered trying to cover—to soothe her. But I shook off the dark urge. Lying would only break her trust again, and anger her further. So, I nodded.
Her chin jutted forward and her eyes filled again, but I plowed on.
“Bren, I understand why you didn’t want me to know—but it’s good that I do. I know who to protect you from. And this gives us—”
“You lied,” she breathed. “You let me think I’d hidden them from you. But youknew. The moment you saw that dragon, you knew who he belonged to, and you knew I’d been hurt by that man.”
My chest ached. My ribs didn’t want to move. “Yes,” I said softly.
“Why?”
“Why, what?”
“Why would you hide it from me that you knew who they were? Did yousendthem? Or—”
“No!”I inhaled sharply, raised my chin, and locked eyes with her so she’d see how deeply I meant every word. “I knew you didn’t want me to know—but you showed me inadvertently. And I didn’t tell you because… because those men deserve to die for what they did to you. You’re my mate, Bren. And they were under my command when they acted so abhorrently. So, I resolved to avenge you. I will makecertainthey never hurt you again, or anyone else for that matter.”
“But—”
‘This is what you’ve hidden from me?’Kgosi’s voice quivered with grief and disapproval.
I swallowed and answered them both. “I have no desire to tangle you in this.Iwill handle it. They’re my men, and they were grossly wrong—”
