Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2)

by Rebecca Yarros

“I wanted to talk to you before breakfast but didn’t get a chance. I think the school is hiding something from us.” I nearly trip over my own boots but catch my balance before I can make a fool out of myself. “I’m sorry?” She can’t know. She just can’t. I barely survived losing Liam… I can’t fathom anything happening to her. “I think there’s something going on in the Healer Quadrant,” she says, lowering her voice. “I tried to take a first-year to see Nolon yesterday after formation turned into a firepit, and he looks like absolute shit. I mean, the man could barely stand. And when I went to ask him if he was all right, the new vice commandant said he had more important things to do than talk to cadets and basically escorted him to that little door in the back of the infirmary, which is now guarded. I think they’re hiding something back there.” I open and shut my mouth a couple of times, torn between confusion and relief. “Maybe they brought some of the injured riders from one of the outposts for mending,” I offer. The backlog would explain why Bodhi is still in a cast.