Page 177 of Ashborne: Defiance

I cleared my throat and turned to look around the table. My brothers circled us, elbows on the tabletop, all grinning or staring, waiting for the story.

They’d asked me to tell them everything that happened in the air today, and while their interest was gratifying, I’d made the mistake of telling Bren about Koa’s name for Kennik. Now, they all wanted to hear.

My smile faltered when I ran into Voski’s gaze. He’d taken the seat directly across from me. He didn’t talk as much as the others—except to make a joke at Gil’s expense, or to tease Harle—but his eyes glittered with keen interest, and they locked with mine now.

The roof of my mouth was suddenly very dry. It took two swallows of ale to wet it.

“Um, well, it’s hard with Koa sometimes. She doesn’t have a full grasp of language. She often speaks to me in pictures, instead of words, and I don’t always know what she means. But, well, she’s trying.”

I glanced at Bren, and she nodded to urge me on, beaming.

“Um, when it was obvious that Kennik wasn’t remembering the formations, I wanted to communicate with him. He was my pivot, and we needed to coordinate. I couldn’t move until he did. I asked Koa if she could reach him through his dragon. I asked his name. And she told me… she told me, his name is Kennik, the… the…” My cheeks heated and I buried my face in my ale again. “I had forgotten about the dragon names. I thought, when she said it, I thought—well, I thought she called him a rude name. And it wasn’t until she showed me the image that I realized she meant his dragon name,” I ended lamely, taking another too-big swallow of the ale, because I was embarrassed.

Voski frowned, and the others leaned in.

“Wait, what?”

“What did she say?”

“Is it bad?”

Bren nudged me, but I shook my head. “I can’t say that word!” I whispered to her, though I think I may have been a touch too loud, because Voski smirked.

I hardly ever saw him smile. It pressed lines into his cheeks.

He was very handsome.

I took another sip, and almost choked when Bren crowed, “She told Grace he was Kennik the cock!”

“And they say the dragons don’t understand human nuance,” Voski drawled.

The brothers exploded, slapping the table.

“Maybe he’ll be renamed, the ass after this!”

I spluttered, choking on my ale as they threw insults back and forth, each attempting to out-do the other with a barb for a man who wasn’t even here to defend himself. I knew I shouldn’t find it funny. But I couldn’t stop giggling.

And every time I turned to look at the next brother, calling out his jab, I felt the gaze on my skin, like the metal poker that was used on the fire. Blazing. Pointed. Hot.

The conversation devolved into pure, hilarious roasting. I caught Voski watching me laugh and had to sit up straight and close my mouth several times, because those midnight eyes of his were dark and avid and clawed on my skin.

My heart began to flutter, then pound. But no one seemed to notice except me.

And then someone placed a fresh mug of ale in front of me and I frowned. “I didn’t ask for that. I still have—”

I cut myself off as I realized the other mug was empty. In fact, there were two or three empty pints in front of me. Several clustered on the table. The serving girls collected them, bantering with our brothers as they did so. And the men enjoyed teasing them as well.

When one of the women leaned over my shoulder to grasp the handles of the two mugs in front of me, her chest was quite plump, and right under my nose. And I felt that gaze again.

It was instinct to look, to snap eyes to meet his—expecting to see him salivating over that plump chest next to my jaw.

But Voski’s eyes were locked on mine.

I froze.

When she stood up, the air moved, and tendrils of my hair tickled my neck. Like soft touches at my nape.

My skin prickled, and my already warm cheeks heated further. Why? I didn’t want to look at the woman’s breasts.