Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

I stare at him, my mouth dropping open slightly. He’s not asking to hear that I want him. He wants to hear that I love him.

Yeah u dummy!!!

“You’d be amazed what you can get when no one wants to share space with Fen Riorson’s son,” he answers quietly. My stomach sinks. I can’t think of a single thing to say to that.

:(

“Because they only hold so much power. Once it’s used, it has to be imbued again.” “Hold on. Imbued with power?” “Yes. Imbuing is a process of leaving power in stasis, in an object.

Plot

“Despite what you may assume, I am not six hundred years old.”

Lmao

“One more. Just to prove that you can listen to orders if your dragon will not.”

Im gonna kill him

“No. I, unlike some people, don’t feel the need to know everything someone else deems private.”

Lmaoooo

“The Northern Esbens are believed to have been the hatching grounds of the orange dragon before unification, though, true to their unpredictable nature, they often chose new valleys in the same range,” I whisper

I missed her babbling

You might think that I don’t notice that you’re pulling away from everyone, but I do.

:(

Why the hell would leadership be developing ways to weaken us?

Plot

My dad hoped I’d go into the infantry like he did. He thought riders were pompous pricks, and in his defense…we really are. —Recovered Correspondence of Lieutenant Xaden Riorson to Cadet Violet Sorrengail

I love these

“And then I looked up wyvern.” She spells out the individual letters because there’s no sign for the winged creatures. “And nothing. We have no recorded folklore like what you read.”

Plot

“Can you tell me what you’re looking for? I won’t record your requests, not if you’re thinking the same thing I am.” “Which is?” “That our Archives are incomplete, either by ignorance…” She breathes deeply. “Or intention.”

Oh jesinia

“But there’s something I want in return,” she signs quickly, angling her back so Aoife won’t see. “Name it.”

Oh??

“And when he walked out of that secretive room he’s got with Varrish in the back of the infirmary, he was with an air wielder who looked just as haggard,”

Plot

“What did you do?” Imogen whispers without looking at me. “What needed to be done.” We both stand as the first-years do, but unlike them, we don’t stumble as we gain our feet. “You sound like Xaden,” Imogen says.

Heh <3

Sloane’s mouth opens and shuts once. Twice.

Thats what i thought brat

“I did that for your brother,” I tell Sloane, keeping eye contact even though the hatred shining through hers hurts like hell. “He was one of my closest friends, and I promised him while he was fucking dying that I’d look after you. So here I am, looking after you.”

Not that she deserves it

“If it’s Malek’s will that I join my brother, then so be it. Liam didn’t need help,”

Can i slap this girl or what

“I have fifty of the letters Liam wrote for you.”

Damn

“I’ll definitely apologize to Malek when we meet,”

Lmaoooo

“You’d keep my brother’s letters from me? If they still exist, they’re mine. You really are a piece of work.”

Man SHUT UPPPPP

“I see it now.” “What?” I ask. “Why Xaden fell for you.” I scoff. “Truthfully.” She puts her hands up. “You’re fucking clever. Way more clever than I gave you credit for. I bet you keep him constantly annoyed.” A smile beams across her face. “How glorious.”

Hehehehehee

handing over The Fables of the Barren.

??

My eyes widen when I open the door and find Varrish standing there instead of Bodhi,

Ughhhh go away

I might be here, but Xaden is on twenty-four-hour duty in the operations center. And I don’t have clearance.

NO DAMMIT

I mean it’s weird that he’s writing you letters.” “Why? I think it’s…sweet.” “Exactly. Does he strike you as a letters kind of guy?” She shakes her head. “He’s not even a talking kind of guy.”

Lmaooooo

Devera shifts her weight and then lifts her chin, looking up at us. Does she know? Gods, I want her not to know. I want her to be as good of a person as I think she is. What about Kaori? Emetterio? Grady? Are any of my professors actually trustworthy?

:(

“Say those three little words, and I’ll have you naked in seconds.”

Hello

“I don’t remember anything about the First Six being…” A tick of his jaw later, his gaze jumps to mine. “You’re hiding something from me.”

Pls theyre soulmates

“I haven’t hidden shit from you. I’ve simply told you selective truths.” He draws back like I’ve hit him.

STOP FIGHTING AND KISS ALREADY

“I’ll know. I’m an incredible judge of character.”

Suspicious

“Knows that we what? You’ve been pretty damned clear that we’re not together.” Wait…is that hurt in his voice? I hate the way my ire dulls. It’s easier to live in the anger.

Girl pls

“I never said you weren’t brilliant. I never even said your plan wasn’t brilliant. I said you’re putting yourself in danger and I’m just asking you to be honest with me.”

<3

“And I suppose I could use some rest. It’s hard work, mending a soul. Been at it for months now.”

Plot

“You can sign,” I whisper at him. “You speak Tyrrish,” he replies. “One is far less common than the other.”

Educated babies

“Both ways, but you’re shutting me out while I’m trying my damnedest to open up to you.” Says the man who’s never so much as told me he loves me. If he does. Gods, I’m so sick of having to make the first move when it comes to this man. And today isn’t the day to open myself up to that rejection, too.

Ughhhhhhhhh

that either of us could be killed at any moment, and the last words we said to each other were in anger.

SO MAKE UP ALREADY

I gasp as Tairn’s massive fangs sink between the joints of Solas’s scales, piercing his neck, and Kaori sprints to get out of the battleground. Varrish turns and stiffens as crimson rivulets run over Solas’s orange neck scales, dripping off several of the ridges.

Shit

“On your knees.”

Omg

“Fine. Yes, it’s awful that Aurelie fell. That she died. But I think I’m a better rider for having been there, having watched her fall to her death and known that if I didn’t get my ass moving, I was going to be next.”

Damn

“You weren’t there!” My anger slips from the box I painstakingly built for it, and power whips through me, scalding my veins. “You didn’t hold him, watch the light fade out of his eyes, knowing that there wasn’t a physical thing wrong with him but he was dying because Deigh lay eviscerated just a few feet away. Nothing I did in those moments before mattered! Gods, I held on to him so tightly!” My hands curl into fists, my nails biting into my palms. “My shoulders almost dislocated, he was so damned heavy, but I held on! And it didn’t matter!”

Oh god

“And the look on his face?” My voice breaks and my eyes burn with the memory of Liam’s head in my hands. “You don’t see it every time you try to sleep. You don’t hear him begging you to take care of Sloane. You sure as hell don’t hear Deigh scream…” I lace my fingers on top of my head and look away, waging war with the grief, the pain, the never-ending guilt, and as usual, I lose. There’s only that box and the blessed emptiness I know is achievable if I can get a little control, but the words won’t stop coming. It’s like my mouth has disassociated from my brain and my emotions are running the show.

Cue the tears

In the years after my father died, I forgot what it felt like to be loved. Then I entered the quadrant and became the monster everyone needed me to be, and I never regretted it. But then you gave those words to me, and I remembered…and nearly lost you, too. I’m striving to be better for you just like I promised, but I need you to know that monster is still there, screaming to use every ruthless part of me to get your words back. —Recovered Correspondence of Lieutenant Xaden Riorson to Cadet Violet Sorrengail

Literally kill me

“We’re all dead if you fall off my back and break your impatient neck.” “Because I’m the impatient one.” I swing my small pack onto my back, then place one of the heavier packs on each of my shoulders. “I can’t believe you allowed someone up here to secure the bags. I’m impressed with your restraint.” “The section leader attached the bags to the saddle before I put it on, naturally.” “And here I was thinking you’d evolved.”

Lmao theyre so funny

As complicated as our connection is, it’s also undeniably simple. He’s the horizon, and nothing exists beyond for me.

Kill me???

“Kiss me.” Just for show.

LIAR

Weightless. He makes me feel totally, completely weightless, like it’s possible to fly on nothing but waves of sensation.

Them kissing is so hot????

“Fuck the show.”

I agree

He leans in and brushes a kiss over my forehead.

Kill me

He brushes a flight-loosened strand of my hair behind my ear and grazes his knuckles gently down the side of my cheek.

PLS