Page 73 of Ashborne: Defiance

“That is none—”

“I want to help!”

I’d snapped my head around so he could see my eyes, but he was already glaring at me, his jaw tight. As I stared, he leaned closer to emphasize his words.

“You are not in a position to help. You are someone with secrets. And until you’ve proven yourself loyal, staring with big eyes won’t convince me otherwise,” he said through his teeth.

God, he was so frustrating!

“My secrets are only mine. They’re only to protect myself!” I protested.

“I saw you in the walls, Grace.”

“Because I was looking for Bren!”

“So you say—”

“So it is. Ask me! Anything! All of it. I’ll tell you anything.”

He rolled his eyes, but I had the distinct impression it was because he couldn’t bear to hold my gaze any further. “A liar can lie to your face—”

“The dragons will know, won’t they?”

He went still. “Know what?”

“If I’m lying. Won’t Koa be able to tell?”

His eyes darted to his dragon, then aside to Koa who flew next to us. She lifted her head and called, and Kham answered.

‘Thank you,’ I sent to her.

‘Stay your course, Firebird. He needs challenge.’

I pressed my lips together so I wouldn’t smile, because the image she sent me was of Voski, strutting as if he were arrogant and self-absorbed—and tripping on a tree root.

When I could meet his gaze without laughing, I cleared my throat and looked over my shoulder again. He stared at me intently, his eyes dark. Not with anger, but something far more fragile.

I swallowed. “I mean it,” I said quietly. “Ask me. Anything. I’ll tell you. I am trustworthy. And whatever’s happening to Bren, I want to help.”

24. A Woman’s Tale

SOUNDTRACK: Runaway by Steve Howie

~ VOSKI ~

Grace made a frustrated little growl that would have been adorable if my heart wasn’t threatening to pound out of my chest. I saw the shadows in her gaze a moment before she blinked and faced forward.

“You don’t want to trust me,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“That… isn’t entirely true.”

She scoffed. “I may be innocent in many ways, Voski, but I am not an idiot. I have navigated the hostile waters of the court for my entire life. No matter what you may think of their empty-headed banter in the ballroom, those people eat subterfuge for breakfast. It is impossible to deceive them without honed skill. And equally impossible not to be deceived by them unless a soul is very perceptive.” She hesitated, then glanced at me over her shoulder one more time before sighing. “And I also know the hunted look of a man in a conversation he wishes to leave, with a woman he would rather avoid.”

Those shadows again. And this time I felt the pang in her.

Shit.

“You misread—”