Page 45 of Ashborne: Defiance

She had already turned to look at the city ahead and below again, extending one hand thoughtlessly to pat Kham’s neck.

I swallowed the biting words back, but the simmer in my chest had me on edge.

“I wouldn’t lie to you about returning you,” I said starkly. “You were obviously made to fly,” I admitted reluctantly.

Grace went very still, only her hair fluttering in the wind, until she turned her head to look at me again, wide-eyed. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course. You were Chosen. The dragons know. No matter what, you’ll fly.”

Her eyes welled again and she reached up to wipe them on her sleeve. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me.”

No, it wasn’t.

…Her hips bucked into my touch and she gasped, her head sinking back as she sought her pleasure. She was stunning.

“You’re so fucking beautiful. Oh God, Grace—”

“Please.”

She offered the word on a breathless laugh and pulled me closer. And I held her tight. So tight—

I sucked in a breath and yanked my thoughts back to the present, trembling, forcing my body back under control and turning to look away. Down. Anywhere but at her.

I wouldn’t remind her of those moments when I’d lost control and breathed her name and wanted her.

I couldn’t.

It wouldn’t help either of us.

16. Two to Trust

~ VOSKI ~

We’d landed the dragons a mile out of the city where they could hide among the trees. I buttoned up my jacket to cover the worst of the stains on my shirt, and brushed off my dirty leathers. God, I would be glad to get out of these. While I unharnessed Kham, I ordered Grace to sit under a thick pine with branches descending almost to the ground. She’d be hidden from casual eyes if she was careful.

Though she squatted as I’d bid, with her back to its trunk, her expression was sullen, darting left and right as if watching for a trap.

“I told you, I am not setting you up,” I growled as I attempted to straighten myself, yanking at the front of my jacket that was creased and marked with blood, dirt, and sweat. I had no doubt that I stank, even after the wash. “I’m the one who was followed!”

“I was looking for Bren!” she replied coolly, all sign of her previous delight about flying, utterly gone. She’d returned to the closed off, proper demeanor she’d had at the castle. Like a pompous, wary cat.

I rolled my eyes and turned to leave—but something occurred to me.

Turning back, I fixed eyes on her until she noticed and slid her gaze from the dragons back to me. “What is it? You said don’t move. I won’t move. I’m not a child. You don’t have to—”

“Why were you willing to follow a man out into the forest, for hours, just to find a woman you barely knew?”

Grace blinked and my instincts prickled as I watched her measure whether or not to tell me the truth. In those moments, I imagined confessions of espionage, perhaps clues to her political alliances—

“It was an adventure,” she muttered finally.

I frowned. “Excuse me?”

Her gaze narrowed. “I was supposed to return home… well, a few days ago now. But at the time, I had only days left to be free. Bren was always nice to me, and I was envious of her life. I was worried when no one knew where she or her general had gone. I thought you knew. And I wanted to make sure that wherever she was, she had gone there willingly. I thought, perhaps, I would help if she needed it,” she said tightly.

I wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or snarl. “You believe I would have held her against her will?”

Grace’s brows pinched over her nose. “No! I thought if anyone knew where she was, or could find her, it was you. She obviously trusted you. I thought perhaps you’d all had plans or were doing something with the dragons—I didn’t know! I just wanted to make sure she was happy and safe. And it seemed interesting.”