As I crossed the courtyard between the buildings, something shifted in my chest. Each step felt as if I planted my foot on a rock. As if I knew where the next should go. So much about the future was uncertain, but my role in it wasn’t. And that was mind-boggling to me.
‘I have told you, Little Flame,’Akhane interrupted my thoughts,‘You’re here for your purpose—which will differ from your brothers’, but complement theirs.’
‘I’m starting to see it, Akhane. I hadn’t. I always felt so off-balance, so uncertain… I hadn’t realized how far I’d come.’
‘We see it.’
I smiled to myself.‘We?’
“She’s talking about me and my dragon.” The voice was deep, warm, and gruff, either from the lack of sleep because we’d stayed up too late last night, or the ragged roar he’d bellowed this morning before we said goodbye.
I looked up to find Donavyn falling in step with me, two feet to my left, his eyes on the building ahead, but a light in them that I could feel through the bond.
“You and Kgosi can hear Akhane and I?” I shrank from that thought. Sometimes I talked to her about—
‘I shared with Kgosi, and he speaks out of turn,’Akhane sent, sounding slightly miffed.
“He only agreed with her, and asked for my affirmation,” Donavyn muttered.
My chest tightened with a peculiar kind of joy. I wished I could grab his hand, hug his arm, pull him into a kiss. Instead, I looked up from the corner of my eye and kept my face blank, but shoveled a thrust ofneedto him through the bond, along with an image for Akhane to pass quickly to Kgosi, of Donavyn, sweaty,head thrown back and the tendons on his neck standing proud as he groaned.
I knew the moment it reached him because his toe caught on the cobblestones under our feet and he pitched forward, cursing under his breath.
I giggled as he quickly righted himself, then looked left and right to see if anyone had noticed. But no one was nearby.
‘That is not fair,’he muttered in the bond.
‘I was just sending her your affirmation,’I returned, biting my lip and keeping my eyes forward because I knew if I looked at him, I’d laugh out loud, and I was supposed to be just another Furyknight, walking casually alongside the General because we happened to be moving in the same direction.
He huffed, but his steps brought him inches closer.‘While Ithoroughlyenjoy seeing you enjoy yourself, this isn’t the time or place. It would be improper of me to return the favor. Which is deeply unfair.’
I gave a one-shouldered shrug.‘I’m confident I could keep my feet if you were to share anything improper with me. I’d enjoy the chance to see your thoughts,Sir.’
I grinned like a child, because I knew he wouldn’t dare. While we could send images to each other, it was something we still had to practice. And forthiskind of thing, he wouldn’t take the risk of kicking the bond into urgency when we could be discovered by another Furyknight at any moment. I was sure of it.
Until he proved me wrong.
A moment later, Akhane bugled in my head and sent abarrageof images Donavyn had sneakily sent through the dragons.
Me, half-naked and looking at Donavyn over my shoulder, mouth open in a gasp.
Me, laying on the bed, covering my body with my arms, laughing because he’d just tossed me onto the quilts like a plaything.
Me, undressing demurely in the bathing room, but his glance at my eyes and the jolt he felt at the heat he found here.
Again, and again, and again. And even though my cheeks heated and my belly trilled, Ididkeep my feet, though I slowed my pace to make certain I wouldn’t trip on an uneven stone.
And I also noticed something. When that volley of images ended, I was warmed, and amused, and turned on. But also, a little disappointed in myself.
‘Do I hide from you as often as that?’I sent plaintively, because it hadn’t felt that way to me. Yet, many of his memories involved me covering myself, or blushing, or giggling like a schoolgirl. No wonder he was always grabbing my hands and telling me to display myself. I hadn’t realized that covering myself looked sonaïve.
I was an adult. And a Furyknight. I’d endured pain, despair, and trial. Yet, I was here.
My time with the queen that morning came rushing back to me, because she’d challenged me to be more certain of my own allure—and to use it. She’d said it was merely a weapon in my arsenal when among the Court.
“To nobles, flirting is a battleground, and a field of play. It means nothing but a clashing of wits—and courage. Use what you know. Be yourself. But besure,you are a desirable woman.”
She’d said the words with such certainty—and a hint of dry irony—I hadn’t been sure how to respond. But here we were.
