Page 113 of Flameborne: Chosen
But when I swallowed and looked up, Saul was waiting, one hand outstretched, asking to see my hurt arm.
I extended it out to him, with a wince, surprised to see a slash in the leather sleeve.
This jacket was dragon hide. The only thing that could cut through dragonhide easily was dragon fangs and claws and…
Tail blades.
All the dragons had those wings on their tails, the flat, razor-sharp blades that they used like rudders in flight. I’d never paid much attention, always assumed they were for navigation but…
Saul hissed and winced as he took my hand gently. “Can you take off the jacket?” he asked, his voice shaky.
I unbuttoned it with my free hand, desperately aware of all the eyes on me, then pulled my free arm out of the sleeve and shook the jacket off my back so it hung off the bad shoulder—Saul drew it slowly down—my elbow and forearm stung terribly when the weight of the jacket pulled on it—but then he got the jacket off and supported my elbow as he bent it up and turned my arm across my stomach.
He held my forearm between both hands and then looked at Bich over his shoulder. “Like this?”
The dragon blew a breath from her nostrils, that boiling steam and smoke pouring around us, but quickly drifting away.
I stood there for a moment while Saul frowned at my arm, then just as I was about to ask, his eyes lit up and he smiled, nodding. “Yes, yes! I feel it!”
A sweet, deep warmth appeared in my elbow, then crept along my forearm. My hand tingled and there was a sharp flare of heat, right under Saul’s palm.
Then, nothing.
Saul gave a little shiver, then smiled at me. “Did you feel that?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “What did she do?”
“I don’t know, but it was fucking cool,” he said, laughing. “Try it. Bich says move it around and make sure it’s not still hurting.”
I let my arm slide down to dangle at my side, then bent my elbow and flexed my hand. “Yes! Yes, it’s fine. Like nothing happened. Thank you, Bich!” My strength was back, thank God. I felt the rush of relief from Akhane. But when I turned to thank Saul again, he was staring past me, his brows high and an uncertain flush on his face.
I turned, following his gaze, to find Donavyn, Captain Gunnar, and the other three Flameborne marching towards us.
And none of them looked happy.
The dragons eased back as they stopped in front of me and Saul. Captain Gunnar gave an order for the others to line up with us, then stood, feet shoulder width apart and his hands in fists, looking very stern as we took our positions and stood to attention.
“At first I thought we’d have an excellent assessment today, and I was pleased. But that, Flamebornes, was an absolute shitshow,” Captain Gunnar muttered.
My stomach sank.
“Flameborne Faren, please explain to me why Flameborne Kearney’s arm wassliced throughby your dragon’s tail?”
“It was an evasive maneuver, sir,” the man muttered sullenly. “She didn’t dive as she was supposed to. I told my dragon to get us out of the way—”
“You were told to hold your line.”
Faren blinked. “I did, sir. But she—”
“You were told to hold your lineregardless of what happened around you.Were you not?”
He swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Then why was your dragon’s tail flying and able to hurt another Flameborne?”
His lips tightened. “I made a mistake, Sir.”
Gunnar grunted, then turned to me. “And you—I can’t decide whether to skin you alive, or offer you a commendation.”
