Page 173 of Ashborne: Defiance

More waiting. More not being able to fly alone. More time that Koa has to struggle because she hasn’t practiced in the link with the others.

I sighed.

The officer turned me to face him and leaned down, his brow furrowed. “You have a bruise and scrape on your temple too. Did you hit your head during that landing?”

I frowned. It was all a blur.

Before I could remember, there was another scream, and then the whomph-whomph-whomph of dragon wings.

We both turned as a third dragon made the final descent, skidding, clawing talons into the soft earth to drag himself to a halt in the short area left now that two large dragons already huddled at its end.

To my shock, it was Kham.

A moment later, Voski appeared, sprinting. “How bad is it? Holy fuck, Grace—are you hurt?!”

He rushed to my side, forehead pinched to lines, and reaching for me, pulling me to his chest and holding me, so tightly I could barely breathe.

My disappointment. That squeeze. The worry in his voice. The shocked look on the officer’s face. The sudden wash of relief when Voski touched me… it was all too much.

To my utter horror, I buried my face in his chest and burst into tears.

60. Stand for it

~ VOSKI ~

“She didn’t fail—she made the same split-second decisions that any capable Furyknight would have made!” I snapped through my teeth, fighting to keep my voice quiet when all I wanted to do was roar at them all. Captain Gunnar, the Wing Commander of the Flyers, gave me a warning look, backed up by the warning in Ronen’s eyes.

I’d been asked to report, and usually these men would be fine with my tone. But the queen stood in this circle, alongside Donavyn, the captain of the other Flameborne’s squad, and the officers who’d been near that fucking mess at the end.

I needed to keep it together.

The queen, gray winging her temples, kept her chin high, and listened avidly. She’d always liked to be around Furyknights, and didn’t back away from drama. However, I was surprised she didn’t step in, or offer an opinion. I hadn’t had many opportunities to be in her presence, but she’d never struck me as a quiet woman. Yet, she watched each of us as we spoke, her lips pursed like she pressed them together in order to say nothing.

And she kept meeting eyes with Donavyn.

Captain Gunnar waited to make sure I wouldn’t add anything further, then nodded. “I agree that the talent is there in the girl. She’s definitely strong enough to be allowed to fly solo. But, her judgment? In the end, the wing leaders will need to make the final call—you’re going to have to watch these two. And for different reasons. It appears we have one stretched beyond his capability, and one whose capability out-stretches her wisdom.”

Donavyn clawed a hand through his hair. “Let’s take them one at a time. Grace proved her ability to land when she returned to the Keep. But we need to hear from those who were in the air with her over that clearing—whether Kennik was wrong or not, were there mistakes on her behalf that could have avoided this?”

“No, sir,” Trey said quietly. All of us kept our voices below the level where it would be heard by the gathered men. Not that it would do any good. The dragons would hear, and tell them. “I even asked Aki, because we were behind them. But she’s certain: Kennik incorrectly followed her line. And she attempted to urge him away. He appeared to have trouble remembering the formations from the beginning, and apparently argued when she correctly informed him that he should split off.”

“There are reports from all the watchpoints,” Ronen said calmly. “She was managing him. Accurately. He missed several cues.”

Another squad captain, the one over Kennik’s squad, stood at Ronen’s other side, shaking his head, and sighed heavily. “I knew we should have held him back. But he was determined. I thought I might have underestimated him. I didn’t think he was dangerous.”

Donavyn needed only one look at the wing leader to affirm that sentiment, then he moved on, rubbing his jaw. “So, he took her line?”

“Undoubtedly,” I said. “Even the dragons agree—”

Donavyn shot me a look, and I shut my mouth, but ground my teeth. Why belabor the point? Why even discuss it? All of us could see that other fucker hadn’t learned the formations. He was late and inaccurate from the first. And then he was dangerous.

Behind me, the four Flameborne stood in a line awaiting the verdicts, all of them sweaty and impatient. I felt a gaze on the back of my neck, but when I turned to check on her, Grace was staring at her boots.

She stood slightly apart from the other three, one arm held stiffly at her side. There was a scrape on her cheek and a bruise at her temple and she looked forlorn. My chest ached, and had since the moment I’d been forced to take my hands off her because there was another man watching, and I couldn’t give him any reason to think she was more than my squad sister and Flameborne in training.

The let-down after all that adrenaline had shaken her. She’d cried in my chest for a few choking breaths. I’d held her tightly, asking her if her ribs hurt, or her breath was obstructed, while she shook her head. I prayed she was just shaken, grimacing at the officer, and pretending I didn’t heave a sigh of relief when she clung to me.

But, I had to let her go the moment she reached up to wipe her eyes and clear her tears. I swallowed thinking of that memory. Letting her go had burned in my muscles.