Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

It is the valley above Riorson House, heated by natural thermal energy, that is its greatest asset. For there lie the original hatching grounds of the Dubhmadinn Line, from which two of the greatest dragons of our time—Codagh and Tairn—descend.

Because love, at its root, is hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for what could be. Hope that the someone you’ve entrusted your everything to will cradle and protect it. And hope? That shit is harder to kill than a dragon.

“Touch me and I swear to the gods, I’ll cut your fucking hands off and let the quadrant sort you out in the next round of challenges, Dain Aetos.”

“What else? You going to threaten to kill me, Riorson?” he retorts, the disgust on his face so similar to his father’s that my stomach sours. “No.” Xaden shakes his head. “Why should I, when Sorrengail is perfectly capable of doing that herself? She doesn’t want you to touch her. Pretty sure everyone in the quadrant heard her. That should be enough for you to keep your hands to yourself.” He leans in, his whisper barely reaching my ears. “But in case it’s not, every time you think of reaching for her face, I want you to remember one word.” “And what is that?” Dain seethes. “Athebyne.” Xaden pulls back, and the pure menace in his expression sends a shiver along my skin.

He smiles—really fucking smiles—and it almost makes me rethink my decision.

“Secrets make for poor leverage. They die with the people who keep them.”

“I’d much rather have you under me on the mat than spare time.”

Trust me yet?” My heart jolts. I can almost taste his kiss, and gods, I want it. “With my life,” I whisper. “That’s all?”

I meant what I said on the parapet. Even when I’m not with you, there’s only you.

“She made it,” I whisper up to Liam.

“If Solas comes near you again, he knows I will devour his human whole and let him rot within me while his heart still beats, and then I’ll take the eye I so graciously left him.”

“Let me guess—warded for sound and to let in you, me, and anyone you tug through?” The idea of him using that soundproofing for breaking armoires with someone else is enough to curdle the soup in my stomach. We might not be together, but jealousy’s not exactly a rational emotion. “No, Violet.” He lifts both swords overhead, then slips them into the sheaths on the pack behind him with practiced expertise and a hint of a smirk. “Just you and me.”

He’s gone before I can even think of a reply. With trembling hands, I unfold the paper—and smile. Xaden Riorson wrote me a letter.

“Stop playing around and end it,” I say through our bond, using it for the first time since Resson. “Always so violent.” He thumbs a drop of blood off the split in his lower lip, his gaze flashing to mine, and I swear I see a hint of a smile before he turns on Jarrett. Jarrett swings once, then twice, missing Xaden both times. Then Xaden strikes with two quick punches, putting his full weight behind them unlike before, and sending Jarrett to his hands and knees in the dirt. Jarrett’s head hangs as he shakes it slowly, blood dripping from his mouth. “Damn,” the rider next to me says. “Exactly.” Is it wrong to smirk? Because I can’t seem to control my facial muscles. Xaden stands back as the riders fall silent in the chamber, and then he extends his hand.

“Violet.” Xaden’s voice drops to that low, quiet tone he only ever uses when we’re alone, and usually naked. Very naked. “Hmmm?” Gods, I miss the feel of all his skin against all of mine. “Tell me what’s spinning around that beautiful head of yours.” He moves closer, invading my space without touching me.

Home. Gods, he tastes like home.

I’m a fucking fool for saying this, but when haven’t I been a fool when it comes to you?”

“But I’m begging you, Violet. Don’t offer me your body unless you’re offering me everything.

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.

“Violence, remember it’s only the body that’s fragile. You are unbreakable.”

“I’m in love with Xaden Riorson.”

“I would have done the same thing you did because I’m just as reckless for you as you are for me.”

“There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, remember?”

“You’ll lose everything you’ve worked for.” My voice breaks. “Because of me.” “Then I’ll have everything I need.” He lowers his face, leaning in so he’s all I see, all I feel. “I will happily watch Aretia burn to the fucking ground again if it means you live.” “You don’t mean that.” He loves his home. He’s done everything to protect his home. “I do. I’m sorry if you expect me to do the noble thing. I warned you. I’m not sweet or soft or kind, and you fell anyway. This is what you get, Violet—me. The good, the bad, the unforgivable. All of it. I am yours.”

“You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.”

For all that he says he isn’t soft, isn’t kind, he’s also the only man I know whose back is covered in promises made for other people.

“My house. My chair. My woman.”

and more importantly for implying there’s any other future besides the one where you and I are endgame.”

“I love you. She will never sit in this seat. She will never wear a Tyrrish crown. She’s never had me on my knees in front of her.”

Xaden loves me. He chose me. I will be the most powerful rider of my generation.

“I’m not used to people taking care of me. Thank you.”

“Love, you’re the smartest person I know.

“Less than a minute,” Xaden whispers as Sgaeyl moves toward him—toward us. “That’s how long it took for you to fall out of love with me.”

Violet. I might be skilled enough to land a death blow, but you alone have the power to fucking destroy me.”

“I love you. The world does not exist for me beyond you.”

I am the storm.

“But your home…” It’s softer than a whisper. “You are my home.

“You are not a black dragon, or any of the six that we know of. You’re a seventh breed.” “Yes.” Her eyes widen in excitement.

“I chose you not as my next, but as my last, and should you fall, then I will follow.”

“Me,” he whispers, a faint, almost indistinguishable red ring emanating from his gold-flecked onyx irises. “You should be scared of me.”