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“Pain isn’t a competition,” I assure him. “There’s always enough to go around.”
“I won’t have to.”
oh period
Gods, I love this man.
same (think)
“It is,”
cute.
of weeks. “You know, that whole slay-them-in-darkness thing was badass”—Ridoc lifts his finger—“but I totally had him.” “You didn’t.” Xaden strokes his thumb over mine, and Garrick’s shoulders shake with a quiet laugh as we descend the final flight of steps to the main entrance. “I was about to have him,” Ridoc argues, shaking that finger. “You weren’t,” Xaden assures him. “How could you possibly know that?” Ridoc drops his hand.
lmao
way and studies Xaden’s eyes. “It will be if you give us five minutes alone,”
oh!?
alone
word
“I’m pretty fucking sure the only reason he and Bodhi aren’t sleeping at the foot of our bed is that they know I would have killed them for it before, let alone now.”
“That’s not happening. I told Imogen to get fucked.” A smile ghosts
oop-
don’t know what you paid to access that power, but it didn’t change you—” “It did,”
love me?” I hurl the inquiry at him like a weapon. His gaze snaps to mine. “What kind of question is that?”
kiss. “I could reach the rank of Maven, lead armies of dark wielders against everyone we care for, and watch every vein in my body turn red as I channel all the power in the Continent, and I would still love you. What I did doesn’t change that. I’m not sure anything can.”
oh hell yeah
“That should scare the shit out of you, Violet.” “It doesn’t.” I rise on my toes and brush my lips over his. “Nothing about you scares me. I won’t run, Xaden.” “Damn it.” He drops his
“I sensed them,” he finally answers. “The same way they sense me.” My stomach pitches, and I reach for the wall, splaying my palm over the rough-hewn stone to keep my balance. “That’s not possible.” “It is.” He nods slowly, watching me. “That’s how I know I’ve changed, how Garrick and I have managed to slay more than a dozen of them this week. I can feel them calling to me, just like I can feel the source pulsing beneath my feet with its incomparable power…because I’m one of them.”
“Scared yet?”
a little bit yes
Gods help her, my love, I’m afraid our daughter has atrocious taste in men.
lmao help
stare. “Scared of you?” I shake my head. “Never.” “You will be,”
“Subtle.” I fight the tug at the corner of my mouth. Melgren gestures me inside but doesn’t take his eyes off Xaden. “Never going to be,” he replies as I walk into the hall. “I have every faith in your ability to protect yourself, but say the word and I’ll rip the doors off their hinges.” “You’re such a romantic.”
lmao
seems the only logical action, if only for just a few moments. Gods, is he beautiful. His face is softened in sleep, and all the tension he usually carries in his jaw, his shoulders, is strikingly absent. The last week has been hard on him, being constantly torn between his duties as a rider and
waist a second before my hair is swept to the side and Xaden sets his lips to the juncture of my neck and shoulder in an open-mouthed kiss. Oh, yes. I gasp as an immediate flare
of heartbeats. “Mine,” he growls against my skin, and his hand skims the hemline of my nightdress before dragging it up my thigh. “Mine,” I counter, tightening my
“Yours,” he says like a promise, and my breath catches at the intensity in his eyes. Gods, it feels like my chest is
love you so much it hurts.” I slide my hands down the warm, bare skin
“Good, because that’s exactly how I love you, too.” His thigh
whimper and lace my fingers behind his neck. Holy shit do I need this man. “That’s one of my favorite
line of my underwear, and I fucking melt. “Second only to those little gasps you make in the moments before you come.”
oh!!
“Changed my mind.” He slides two fingers inside me. “That’s my favorite sound.” His fingers stroke deep, then curl upward
help me
“Bright and hot and fucking perfect.” And I want all of him, his cock, not
the scent of burned wood, and Xaden whips both his hands to the headboard above me. The torture twisting his face sobers me up in less than a second. He looks like he’s in unbearable pain.
fuck? “I’m sorry?” I watch in utter confusion as he gathers his control, then nods like he’s certain of himself again. “I forgot.” He slowly lets go of the headboard and sits back on his heels, gripping his thighs, then letting his hands fall at his sides. “I woke up and saw you sitting there, and it was the most natural thing in the world to reach for you, but I’m not natural anymore. Fuck, I’m so sorry, Violet.” Oh. “I forgot, too.” The second
Did he just channel?
“I can’t afford to lose control around you. Not even the edge of it.” He glances toward the headboard. “Not like that. Not at all.”
Aretia, according to your brother. All done.” He ties the corset strings, then shocks the shit out of me by placing a kiss beneath my ear before he walks to the weapons rack by the door. “Thanks. Do you want to?” I ask, tugging
“Now who sounds like the separatist?” His mouth quirks. “If we had stable
sw ret?
you’re asking me if I’m kidding you?” Brennan snaps back. “Usually, I consider myself pretty understanding about the fact that you sleep in her bed, and I look the other way when you two attach yourselves at the face, but we have a meeting in thirty minutes and I need to talk to you before then.” “Good morning, Brennan,”
“She needs to fucking sleep.” She cocks her head to the side at him. “Given how rested you look, I’m guessing you got plenty of that in Nina Shrensour’s bed last night. How disappointing for her.” “Damn.” Bodhi fights to smother a laugh. A slow smile spreads across Garrick’s face, and a dimple pops in his left cheek. “Careful, Imogen. You sound a little jealous.” “Who the hell would be jealous of a flier?” Her pointed glare promises a quick
continues walking, and Imogen glances sideways at Brennan as they pass. “Just wanted to make sure you were…getting some sleep,” she calls back as they turn the corner and disappear. Bodhi. Garrick. Imogen. My stomach tightens. They were checking to make sure Xaden hadn’t killed me. “You look like shit,” Mira says as Brennan
his Aisereigh name tag. “Given the rate they’re diminishing, I calculate six months before total collapse if we’re lucky. Finding Andarna’s kind could take decades. By the time she finds them—if she finds them—Aretia’s gone. You’d be risking Violet’s life for nothing.” My stomach hits the floor. Six months? I figured we’d at least have a year or two before the wards gave out. That path’s timeline just got complicated, but I’ll be damned if Xaden loses his home twice. “Six months.” Brennan’s gaze darts
“They’ll never agree.” “You and I both know it’s the only way to forge this alliance.” He nods. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
thought is oddly comforting. “That venin by Jack’s cell had silver hair,” I mutter, setting my dagger to an apple
pae?
Aetos cared who any of us were fucking last year—” “So not true.” Ridoc snorts and shoulder bumps me.
Aura Beinhaven stands centered in front of the crowd, holding one of the daggers she usually keeps strapped to her upper arms against the tan neck of a terrified first-year flier. And there’s no leadership in sight. “Find your squads and
“I didn’t hear you complaining when they were carting your little sister to the infirmary during the battle.”
damn
“You can’t.” I grasp Cat’s forearm with my empty hand. “Cat, you can’t. If you fall—”
no one would give. shit
“This goes against the Codex!”
oh shut up bro nobody asked
You are no longer in the chain of command.” The Navarrian riders mutter
damn right
“You no longer speak for Fourth Wing, Aetos. You’re nothing here.”
period
Weapons rise at the edges of my vision, but I keep my gaze locked on Aura and adjust my grip around my dagger. I may have some very mixed feelings when it comes to Dain, but there’s no way under Amari’s sky that I’m going to let Aura harm any Aretian
eh
“We answer to Aetos,” Ridoc shouts down the line, pointing his sword in Faber’s direction. “And there’s more of us than there are of you.”
do we th
think our boy is losing this one,” Aaric whispers. “He’s good, but he’s no Riorson.” Xaden hadn’t just led Fourth Wing, he’d commanded the respect—and fear—of the entire quadrant. My jaw clenches. But he isn’t a cadet anymore, and the entirety
