Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3)

by Rebecca Yarros

I reach for Xaden mentally, but there’s only a thick wall of chilled onyx.

“I am as unknown as he is, and you still trust me,” she says. “I will not be another battle you have to fight.”

Andarna the sweet lil unicorn

“I scorched the venin during the battle,” she interrupts in a rush of words that run together. “You…did.” My brow puckers as I spiral downward toward the interrogation cells. I’d been too shocked at her appearance, the way her scales had shifted, to think about the burning dark wielder. As far as I know, we’ve never caught one on fire. Tairn hadn’t said anything, either.

“I’ve been thinking about it all night. Magic feels different when I change color. Maybe my use of power in that moment altered the venin, weakened her enough to blister.”

This feels like a hint about Vioets second signet

There’s only one other person besides Bodhi and Garrick I can trust to prioritize Xaden’s best interests, only one other person who can know the truth in its entirety. “Tell Glane I need Imogen.”

Sooo Imogen is going to erase Jacks memory

“Well, that was graceful.” I jerk my goggles to my forehead. “You fly next time.”

Lmfaoooo

“You told the second-years what Mira’s up to?” Imogen whispers with a sharp bite of accusation. “Only the riders,” I retort just as quietly. “If we get caught, it’s treason, but if the fliers do—” “It’s war,” Imogen finishes.

Wtf is Mira up to?!?!

Her long silver braid swings free of her hood as her attention whips in our direction, and her eerie red gaze jumps to mine and widens slightly under a faded tattoo on her forehead. My blood chills when a smirk tilts her mouth, distorting the red veins at her temples, and then she…disappears. I blink against the sudden breeze that rustles a loosened strand of my braid, then stare at the empty space she’d occupied. At least I think she had. Am I seeing things now?

Long silver braid?!?!?

“With my shields up, I didn’t know you were in the interrogation chamber until I was halfway down the stairs.” “What?” I blink. “Then how did you know to come help?” Silence stretches between us, and a prickle of apprehension makes me shift my weight, aggravating my lower back. “I sensed them,” he finally answers. “The same way they sense me.”

Rutroh!!!

“Not sure I’d brag about being in the wing that produced Jack Barlowe!” Ridoc counters.

Lmfaooo

beard—“I like our odds. The last time a shadow and lightning wielder fought side by side, they managed to drive the venin back into the Barrens for a few hundred years. We’ll figure out how to do it again.” I fumble the conduit and nearly drop it. Xaden and I are the first of our signets to live simultaneously since the Great War?

Interesting...

“Swear you’ll sound the alarm if I go too far, that you’ll keep it safe, even if it’s from me.”

“Are you all right?” I ask Tairn, my voice cracking. “I am not deceased.”

My new moto

“If I’d been there, beyond the wards, I would have drained the very earth to its core to keep you safe.”

Homie is looooosing it

“Our dragons came looking for us. They knew what they were doing.” “Giving you a better chance of survival?” I rest my hand over his heart. “If you wax sentimental. More like building their own army.” A corner of his mouth rises. “More signets equal more power.”

Ohhh shit. What are the dragons planning & what do they know that they arent sharing

“She wielded lightning,” I whisper, and his brow furrows. “Xaden, I think we’re wrong. I don’t think they’re limited to lesser magics. I think maybe…they have signets, too.”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?

“Yes. When we’re new, we’re not as adept at hiding ourselves. I’m told it’s so we’ll be found and raised by an elder, usually a Sage, but in rare cases a Maven may take interest.” A corner of his mouth lifts. “Initiates, asims—we’re all traceable to one another, but the great hall could fill with Sages and Mavens and I’d never know. Neither would you.” His eyes sparkle, and red veins pulse at the corners of his eyes. “Makes you wonder who’s been channeling here for years, doesn’t it? Who’s been trading information for power?”

Has Aetos been trading information for power?!

“Cure?” He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “You talk like I’m diseased, when what I really am is free.” He wavers. “Well, free in part. We trade some of our autonomy in the exchange for unfettered access to power. Maybe you see it as a loss of our soul, but we aren’t burdened by conscience or weakened by emotional attachment. We advance based on our own capabilities, our own talents, and not at the whim of some creature. There’s no cure because magic does not negotiate, and we do not wish to be cured.”

“Did you scream for Riorson to save you when they locked you down here and broke your bones?” “I’m sorry?” Blood drains from my face. He did not just ask me that. Jack leans forward. “Did you cry for Riorson when they strapped you to the chair and watched your blood fill the cracks between the stones on its way to the drain? I only ask because I swear I can feel it when I lie on the floor—all your pain singing to me like a lullaby.”

“But he’s right, you and Riorson bicker like you’ve been married fifty years and neither of you wants to do the dishes.” “That is not true,” I protest as Sawyer nods. “Agreed,” Ridoc says. “And it’s always the same fight.” He lifts his hand to his chest. “I’ll trust you if you stop keeping secrets!” He drops the hand and scowls. “It’s my secretive nature that attracted you, and why can’t you just stay out of harm’s way for five fucking minutes?”

Lmao! This freindship roast is giving me life

It has now been confirmed by three different sources that high-level venin—we believe Sage and Maven—can and do wield signets.”

Don’t worry’ and ‘Dain’ do not belong in the same sentence.”

Lololol

I’ve always loved him in uniform, but there’s something about seeing him in tight-fitted sparring gear, swords strapped across his back, that makes me instantly wish this was a private teaching session.

Same sis

“Because you’re the only one capable of killing me.”

Ahhh fuck

For better or worse, my fate rests in the hands of Dain Aetos.

The redemption arc

My brightest light, I meant to prepare you but only had time for half the lessons you need, half the history, half the truth, and now time runs short. I failed Brennan the day I watched him walk the parapet, failed Mira when I could not stop her from following, but I fear my death will fail you. Your mother and I trust no one, and neither can you. —Recovered Correspondence of Lieutenant Colonel Asher Sorrengail to Violet Sorrengail

“Rumor is you’re headed northward.” Sloane folds her arms. “Unfortunately, that rumor may be true.” I grimace. Her face puckers. “Seems an odd place to search, given how cold it is. Don’t know about Tairn, but Thoirt hates the cold.”

Hmm.. Interesting comment

First love is irreplaceable.

“Fine, then who was Brennan’s first love?”

Naolin is six letters!!!!!

“Hello, who is your first love?” Oh, that’s not happening. I set my hands in my lap and notice more infantry pouring in above us. Nothing like being humbled in front of an audience. “My father couldn’t stand the first guy I really dated and never knew about the second.” Aaric turns his entire torso around to look at me. “How many letters?” I narrow my eyes. “Six.” He lifts two sandy-brown eyebrows. “I mean…it fits.” “Absolutely not.” Heat stings my cheeks.

Sooo Halden was her first? Interesting

“Knock me out? You’re usually the one begging for mercy a few orgasms in—” “Want to see begging? All I have to do is swirl my tongue around the tip of your—”

Ooop.

“Oh gods, just stop flirting and fuck already,” Ridoc says.

“Garrick’s going to blow you off the mat.” “Now that I might enjoy, depending on the method he chooses—” Ridoc winces. “I’m going to stop talking now.”

Cacking!!

“Anyone who’s ever dated a rider knows their first priority—their first love—is their dragon. Once you accept that, another man hardly feels like a challenge.” My lips part. He’s right. Our first priorities are our dragons. They’re irreplaceable.

Oh shit!

“Let’s get three things straight, Your Highness. First, I have remarkable hearing thanks to the shadows at your very feet. Second, I don’t control Violet. Never have. Never will. But third, and most importantly—” He lowers his voice. “She really, honestly hasn’t thought about you. At least not since the second she set eyes on me.”

Oh damn ZADDY

Violet, Just a reminder that while I want you to come of your own free will, I’m capable of taking you whenever I wish. Why do you not ask me for the answers you so desperately seek? —T

“They can get fucked.”

“You don’t speak,” I snap, meeting his gaze for the first time in months. “Not to me. As far as I’m concerned, you have the credibility of a drunkard and the integrity of a rat. You dare complain about missing six years of information on Aretia when you’ve hidden centuries of our continent’s history from public knowledge?”

SNAPS SNAPS! Go off sis

“Some of us just want to fuck with your feelings, not burn your house to the ground.”

Lmfao. You're not wrong Cat

“I heard you saying you’d kill my grandson if he took another step toward your beloved, young man. How illogically, toxically romantic of you.

Have to admit, that kind of confident violence isn’t what I pictured when Asher talked about you, but the brown hair, those…I guess they’re brown eyes, and how utterly smitten he predicted you two would eventually be for each other? Well, he described you almost perfectly, Dain Aetos.” Oh, fucking kill me now.

LMFAOOOOOO

“Everyone assumes she’ll wind up with you, but it’s my last name she ends up wearing on her flight jacket in formation.”

Hell Yeah

“I can fuck you as many times as we want, as many times as you can take, and I can’t lose control.”

“My consort,” Xaden replies casually. “Violet Sorrengail.” What the actual fuck? My jaw snaps shut so hard my teeth click. I want our bond back and I want it back right now. He can’t just announce things like that without at least a discussion.

Oop. Wifey?

“They somehow know about the Aretian wards and they’re moving into position for the inevitability of them falling.”

They are either in xadens head or simehow connected to Violet... Or this is the Naolin theory and he is still connected to Tairn

“But do you not yearn for temple? Usually the touch creates such longing that you can’t help but return. Or perhaps you now favor another god.” She glances up at Tairn, ignoring my outburst, and then her eyes slide to Xaden. “I still see us among your potential paths, should you decide to take it. Dunne will accept you. It is not too late to choose Her.”

“The lightning. Was that you?” he repeats, lifting my chin between his thumb and forefinger and searching my eyes. “No.” I shake my head. “I mean…” The heat. The anger. The snap. Weird. “Just coincidence.” Or Dunne. “There isn’t any magic here.”

Ohhh fuck.. What does thus mean?

The terraced seats carved into the wall are cracked down the middle, and the rock is charred black where lightning struck. “I didn’t,” I answer, pivoting to face her. “You have no magic here for me to wield.”

Xaden reaches across me and wraps his hand over my hip like I need protection. “Mom.”

Holy fuck

“Ah, there we go!” Faris claps twice. “What an excellent decision. Shall we go with three or four years?” “Lifetime. Anything less is unacceptable.” Xaden slides his hand to the back of my neck. “And her full name for the papers is Violet Sorrengail. Two Rs.”

Omg a wedding pls