Page 46 of Ashborne: Defiance

“Interesting? Interesting? You’d follow a strange man out into the wilderness for interesting?!”

She scowled at me. “I didn’t go to fight you. I only followed! If you’d met her and she was safe, I would have turned around and gone home. Neither of you would have known I’d even seen her. But you didn’t stop. You kept walking. So, I did as well.” Her lips pressed thin. “I followed for hours before you caught me—had you found Bren earlier, you wouldn’t have known,” she said defensively.

I wanted to snap at her to consider what a ridiculous risk she’d taken, but Kham rumbled in my head.

‘She does not underestimate her own skill. It was a risky choice. But not a foolish one.’

I hunched at the implied disapproval and warning—he wasn’t above humbling me when he believed I needed it. And I didn’t want him telling Koa that the only reason I’d known Grace was there was because he—

“Oh? Oh!” Grace’s eyes widened, then she smiled. “You didn’t sense me?”

I stiffened. ‘You told her?’

‘I only commended my mate’s rider on her skill at tracking. What she drew from Koa’s compliment was entirely up to her.’

I shot him a glare through the trees, but then turned back to Grace, suddenly fighting the urge to squirm in my boots.

She pressed her lips together like she tried not to smile, but her eyes twinkled.

“I wasn’t obscuring my passage,” I said tightly. “Anyone with any measure of skill could have followed that trail.”

She nodded, but her lips twitched up at the corners. “But you weren’t, because you didn’t know you were followed?”

I crossed the half-dozen paces between us, gratified to see her mischievous smile fade as I drew closer. “The moment I became aware, you were unable to locate me. Your skill is admirable, but it does not make you flawless. Don’t toy with me, Lady Grace. I don’t trust you. ”

Her face paled. But her chin rose. “Then, why should I trust you? You’re telling me to sit out here and wait for you like a good girl, but maybe I’m foolish to believe you? I’m not going back, Vane. Koa says I can stay with her forever. And I will!”

She pushed to her feet, hands clenched at her sides. But I felt the flutter in her—she was no fighter. She was a rabbit under the eyes of a wolf, preparing to flee.

I leaned in, and she swayed back, fear in her gaze. But I didn’t touch her—and I ignored the leap in my belly when I caught the hint of vanilla and apples that somehow still clung to her skin, despite days of grime on her clothing, and a soap-less, hurried bath in a creek.

“You have been Chosen, Grace. Which means that dragon,” I pointed at Koa off to my left, “believes your heart reflects her own. That you are intended to live your lives in partnership. There is no greater loyalty, no deeper unity, than you will find with your dragon. And while she doesn’t know it yet, the herd will increase her. She will rise in the ranks of a family, and as her strength grows, so will yours. You two reflect each other, support each other, and love each other. It is an honor to be Chosen. And a responsibility—you carry her heart with you, despite her much greater strength. And she will enter battle on your behalf, whether it is a fight she would have picked or not. Your dragon is not just a means to escape a life you don’t want!” I snapped. Her breath caught and that sparkle returned to her gaze, but when I leveled that finger at her chest, she flinched. “If I learn that you’re a spider, spinning a web, your skill in tracking will do not one ounce of good. I will personally cut your throat and—”

‘Voski!’ Kham barked in my head, giving a deep, warning growl, in the same moment Koa screamed and whirled, breaking branches from a tree as she lunged.

I stood my ground, my lips pursed. Didn’t take my eyes off of Grace, whose gaze was round and filled with fear.

“They don’t deserve deception,” I muttered. “And neither do I.”

“I’m not—”

“If your heart is good, you’ll prove it. And when you prove it, I’ll be the first to applaud your courage. But do not sit here and tell me what you will or won’t do. Once you’re chosen, your life is no longer your own. You follow your dragon. You shelter her future. Your needs come last behind hers,” I snapped.

‘An excellent speech,’ Kham rumbled. ‘May I remind you of it the next time I urge you to take your mate and complete the bond so that we all might be strengthened?’

I straightened and looked straight at him, speaking out loud so both the females would hear me. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for listening to you—and neither would she. Yes, you chose for us—in this, Kham. And I listened.” I frowned, then added in the link. ‘I wouldn’t press you to a bond you didn’t trust.’

He rumbled again, but didn’t argue. Instead, he turned, weaving around Koa, nudging, and crooning to her as she remained, twenty feet away, staring at me.

And I stared right back. “I have no concerns about you,” I told her directly, praying she’d listen. “You’re Kham’s mate. We’ll protect you.” Then I turned back to Grace. “You have yet to prove that you’re deserving of the loyalty my dragon gives you so freely, merely because you belong to her.”

It was supposed to be a warning, but Grace blinked, then turned to look at Kham and beamed. “Thank you, Kham!” she said, clutching her hands to her chest. “Thank you! I trust you, too!”

I wanted to curse.

Had she not heard a word I’d said?

But Koa chirped at her, and Kham rumbled again, then the dragons touched noses and blew breath together, before wandering deeper into the forest, tails dragging in the dirt, leaving me there with Grace, who hadn’t left her spot under the tree, but watched them go, a small, wistful smile on her face.