Page 167 of Shadowborne: Reckoning

~ BREN ~

Dawn threatened by the time we left the queen. The light in her eyes when she looked at the humbled, defeated king sent shivers down my spine. So, I was glad when Donavyn finally pulled me out of the dungeon and we hurried back through the Palace and down the road towards the Keep.

After days of travel, and being up all night, I was grateful for the sharp cold of the pre-dawn air outside. My body ached from all that flying, from the fear, the pain of being separated from Donavyn… but it had been worth it. Thank God it was worth it, I thought with relief.

When we reached the ancient wood that surrounded the Dragon Keep, I was unnerved for a moment by the shadowy, gnarled trees, dripping with moss. They reminded me too much of the eerie light in the queen’s eyes when she looked at her husband before we left, and muttered something vague about how she’d deal with him. But the fear passed quickly as I leaned into Donavyn’s side and hugged his arm.

Which was when it occurred to me… I could touch him, even if we met others here. I didn’t have to let go.

I tensed and Donavyn turned his head sharply to look at me, his face worried, but I smiled. “I just remembered: You told them. About us.”

His expression softened. “I told you I would. I refuse to spend one more day in this Keep without you at my side. If they can’t see that we can work together, even with our care for each other… well, fuck them.”

I laughed, but it was shaky.

Minutes later, our breaths puffing clouds in the slowly paling night, we reached the launch hollow.

There were still countless dragons in the sky, and the distant cries of more. But, as the crooked trees opened near the wide crater carpeted in grass, the towering Academy buildings in the distance behind it, I saw it all with new eyes.

Just months ago, I’d walked into this place completely innocent of dragons, or the truth of the men who worked here—and even my own life. I’d sought this rugged bowl as a place of promise, but also of fear.

Tonight—this morning, I corrected myself, because the sky above the tree line was slowly turning gray—I looked at it with new eyes.

Where once I’d taken in the slashes in the dirt, the clods of grass ripped from the earth with fear, knowing they’d been torn by dragon talons. Now, I saw those—and the steaming, still smoking carcass in the deepened hollow, along with the spray of mud, blood, and dirt—as mere scars on our path to victory.

This was no longer a place of mystery and unknown. This was the place where dragonfuries gathered with their riders—the Furyknights—as partners in a mission for the greater good. This was where I met my dragon, where I trained, and took my orders.

And one of those men—the most valuable of them. The most handsome, the strongest in character if not also body—belonged to me.

For a moment, as we reached the edge of the clearing, I hesitated. Donavyn slowed, looking down at me with a question in his eyes. But I stared out at the torn ground below, the tendrils of smoke, the men moving to clear and clean, then my gaze followed the rise of the land to the trees on the opposing side.

And suddenly, I needed my dragon. My bonded one.

I bit my lip as Donavyn squeezed my hand. “Bren, what is it?”

“Akhane,” I breathed, then pointed.

The early morning mists on the other side of the hollow curled, roiling away from a disturbance, billowing against an impenetrable rock—the gray scales of my queen of dragons. She kept her snout low as she broke into the clearing, then lifted her elegant head, ears flickering and head turning. Searching for me.

The sight of her stole my breath.

Tall and proud, she slid into the clearing, head high and hot blasts of breath and smoke pouring from her nostrils at the tip of her broad snout as she snorted and turned her regal head to look directly at me.

Only months ago, this hollow had been mere space I moved through. Now, these knotted trees stood guard over a beauty and power so rich, the air shimmered because her marvelous scales pulsed and flickered with the same promise of heat that lingered in the dying coals of a fire.

Standing there with Donavyn, tears threatened to blur my vision, but I blinked them away. I wanted to see her as she’d seen me—so weak and broken. So finished. Nearly destroyed by men.

But not now.

‘Bren? Are you—’

‘I’ve never been better,’ I assured him as I smiled at Akhane and urged her to come closer.

I no longer saw the mist curling between the ancient trees. The pale dawn no longer promised a new day—now it was a mere reflection of her iridescent skin, glowing with power and strength.

I watched, transfixed, as she rippled to the edge of the launch hollow, a high whistle piercing the not-quite-dark, and I laughed, leaning closer, my breath clouding among the mists, as the air vibrated with a beautiful, deep rumble that rose from the bowels of the earth and trembled in my bones.

Then, just as Akhane’s fathomless, amber eyes turned and locked on me like jewels set in the precious metal of her silver scales, another shadow appeared.