Page 6 of Ashborne Phoenix

It was the first time I feared my mother lied to me.

But it would not be the last.

I don’t know what I said, because my knees did give out then, and the maids swooped in, laughing and reassuring me as they hurriedly redressed me.

Then, as the last of my buttons was closed, the door opened and I flinched as my father entered the chamber, his eyes finding mine immediately. Everyone except Mother went still, quiet, mice under the eyes of a hawk.

“Come, Vane,” he said gruffly, in the low voice he used with men. Finally, something small and warm curled into my chest. “Come, little man.”

He offered his hand and the maids let me go.

When I placed my hand in his, his calloused palm engulfed mine, but he nodded once, solemnly.

“I told you this day would come.”

I nodded, because he had.

Then he smiled. “I’m proud of you, son,” he said. Then led me from the room. And with every step I took toward him, my knees grew stronger.

Born to Wield

~ VOSKI ~

Blinking back to the present, in the dark chamber Grace had been provided next to Breckon that was so reminiscent of the manor home in which I’d grown up, I trembled. I hadn’t dredged up those memories in years. Had done everything in my power to push them aside when they wanted to rise. Now, recounting them to Grace, they lived and breathed again. Even my inhale shook at the remembered tangle of terror and hope and ambition.

“I didn’t know, Grace. I was too young. I believed them when they told me—”

“I know,” she whispered, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she reached for me. But I recoiled. We’d barely started. I couldn’t let her touch me while I told her—showed her—the depravity and perversion from which I’d been saved by Kham.

Her brows pinched and her eyes grew worried when I backed away and wouldn’t let her touch me. But I swallowed hard and shook my head. “Just… let me finish. I need to get this out,” I whispered hoarsely.

Grace took a deep breath and clasped her hands at her waist, nodding slowly. Then she settled herself back on the bed.

“Tell me all of it,” she breathed. “I’m ready.”

I almost laughed. There was no way she was ready. But her quiet certainty only made me love her more. So I made myself inhale, closed my eyes, and started talking again…

It was the most confusing season of my life. I was terrified. I woke screaming from nightmares anytime I slept. And yet, every word from my parents’ mouths, every smile, every pronouncement to the servants was… pride.

The master has embraced his purpose.

The Heir Apparent lives.

Kneel in the presence of him.

That was the strangest part. My days were… normal. Better than normal.

Father had bought me the stud, and trusted me to ride him. Athos was a handful, even for the grooms. But when I placed a hand on his thick neck, something crackled under my skin, and he snorted, then settled.

Mother walked on air, fluttering with delight and ambitious pride. She told anyone who would listen that I had shown myself true, and was becoming the man that she would follow.

And whenever the Adherents came to the manor, they bowed.

Even the old ones.

I was accustomed to the deference of the other Cruor children, and to the indulgence of the servants. But overnight, something shifted.

Men bowed to me when I walked into a room.