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“I told you I would.” His gaze bores into mine, and my pulse skips. “Back in Aretia, remember? Right after I put you on my throne, spread those beautiful thighs—”
“I told you I’d feel jealous and then I’d kick his ass. I might have turned, but I’m still a man of my word when it comes to you.”
“You’re Xaden Riorson.” I rise up on my toes and press a kiss to his chin. “Shadow wielder.” Another at his jaw. “Duke of Tyrrendor.” My mouth brushes just beneath his earlobe. “Love of my life. You have nothing to be jealous of.”
“Did you love him? Violet, you have to tell me.” The sharp edge of desperation in his voice does me in. “Not the way I love you,” I admit softly.
“This will only ever be yours. You could leave me or even meet Malek, and it still would be. I’ve made my peace with knowing there’s no getting over you.”
“I love you,” he says against my mouth and rolls his hips. “I love you.” The confession ends on a gasp as I feel just how hard he is for me. My hands slip down his muscled back over the leather of his flight jacket. “I miss you.”
“We have about twelve hours before you’ll start to feel the pain of distance from Andarna,” Tairn reminds me as we cut through the night, opening the conversation to Sgaeyl and Xaden’s pathways.
“Was it the plaque that says Home of Amelia, First of the Drifts that gave it away?” Xaden asks, nodding toward the right side of the door.
“As your senior wingleader, I’m ordering you to stand ready,” Aura seethes. “What use are you as our ‘greatest weapon’ if you can’t wield at a moment’s notice?”
“The only rank that matters out here is cadet, so with all due respect, fuck off.”
“He’s been a great deal closer when you’ve wielded,” Tairn reminds me, and—
“I just…need to go.” He looks away and grips the orange in both hands. “One of us needs to go with you. Ever since…” Pain flashes through his dark-brown eyes as he brings his gaze back to mine. “Ever since Athebyne, one of us has been by your side.” He lifts his finger. “Except the time you snuck out on your little siblings-only trip to Cordyn. The school splits, and we go with you. Basgiath falls under attack, and we’re there. Heading into Poromiel for Maren’s brothers? It’s us. We get separated, and you either get dragged into an interrogation chamber and tortured for days or nearly roasted
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“I’m just as good of a fighter as any of you, and while you’ve been focused on rehab and Rhiannon is chasing first-years to keep them in line, I’ve been the one reading every fucking book Jesinia shoves at me and spending extra hours training—” The skin on the orange splits. “It really pisses me off when you guys act like my sense of humor somehow lessens my ability to show up for our squad.”
“Are you trying to tell me that you can freeze the water in someone’s body?”
“Yeah, you’re coming with me.” I push the orange into Ridoc’s hand, then motion toward the door. “Though it has nothing to do with the ice—there’s no magic where we’re headed—and everything to do with the first point you made.” “Bad things happen when we’re not together,” he says quietly. Only go to war with those you trust implicitly.
“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?”
“In case you missed it when I crossed the parapet, I am not in your chain of command,” I fire back.
Fury gets the best of me. “And I speak with the authority of Tairn, Andarna, and the Empyrean. Or did you forget that two dragons also lost their riders?”
“If I wasn’t in love with you already, I would be now,” Xaden says, crossing his ankles.
“For the Deverelli mission, my squad will consist of Lieutenant Riorson, Lieutenant Sorrengail, Cadet Gamlyn, Cadet Cordella”—I glance back over my shoulder to get his rank—“Captain Cordella, Cadet Aetos, Prince Halden, and whatever favorite guard follows you in case you stub your toe,” I say to Halden. “When we succeed, I reserve the right to switch out members after the first expedition.”
“Cadet Cordella deserves to have someone she trusts, too.” I tilt my head at Halden. “Dragons don’t carry humans who haven’t crossed the parapet or climbed the Gauntlet, so you’re lucky gryphons are kinder in this regard, or you’d never keep up. Lieutenant Sorrengail is the only rider capable of creating her own wards. Cadet Aetos is the only rider I trust who speaks fluent Krovlish—which is the second most common language used in Deverelli. Cadet Gamlyn is dedicated to my personal safety, and even if Lieutenant Riorson weren’t the deadliest rider in the whole of our forces”—I glance at Aetos,
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He doesn’t even have an heir should…tragedy befall, though I might be persuaded to agree to his absence should he consider my daughter’s proposal.” “Proposal?” The blood runs from my face. “One of about a dozen since they gave me the title back. Nothing to stress over.”
“I ask permission of one person on the Continent, and it sure as Amari isn’t you.”
“No snide remarks,” I say to Ridoc with a quick smile. “I’m proud of you.” “I kept the inside thoughts inside,” he replies with a flash of a grin as Xaden approaches.
“You were instrumental in bringing the wards down in the Montserrat offensive last year.” Her eyes narrow. “I was.” His grin expands. She knees him straight in the groin. Oh gods.
“You must be Mira Sorrengail,”
“Guess you’ve heard of me, too.” She crouches down to his level. “If you ever endanger my sister’s life again, my blade will replace my knee. Got it?”
To his credit, he lifts his head and sucks a breath in through his teeth. “Heard.”
“You get one chance to form your own squad, and you choose your ex, your current lover, the quadrant’s resident smart-ass, two people who have tried to kill you in the past year—one over said current lover—and whatever Dain is? These are your choices for the most important mission any rider could possibly undertake?”
“And…you.” It’s not my finest comeback. “Don’t forget Halden’s guard,” Ridoc adds. “I’m sure they’ll be super useful.”
“Clearly it was common sense that attracted you to the heir.” Sarcasm drips from Tairn’s tone.
“You understand completely. Am I here as a professor? Or the duke? Or—” “Obviously you’re a fucking duke,” Halden snaps. “Lewellen made sure of it, didn’t he? The second most powerful title in the godsdamned kingdom goes to a Riorson of all bloodlines.”
“No!” Halden’s shout echoes down the hallway. “Not a fucking professor—”
“Just wanted to clear that up,” Xaden interrupts, then lifts me into his arms. “We’ll see you once we’re rested.” He takes off past Tecarus, striding down the hall.
“Of all the things I’ve done, that’s the one you can’t believe?” His voice softens, and he lifts his fingers to the side of my neck. “That’s what I thought. Your pulse is racing. I counted at least twice that you almost collapsed out there.” He lowers his head to mine. “Did you really want to crawl up the stairs?”
“Now you don’t have to.” He presses a kiss to my forehead. “You just rode for two straight days with only twelve hours of rest. I knew you needed to get off your feet and lie down, and I could have just given you my room, but selfishly…”
“I’m done sleeping in a bed that doesn’t have you in it.” His thumb strokes along my pulse.
“A word to the wise…” He glances between us. “I may collect rarities, but King Courtlyn absconds with them. Do not wander off from each other, do not advertise what a rare jewel you are, and at all costs—do not make a deal you cannot keep.”
“I wonder what they taste—” Andarna starts. “No.” My protest catches me by surprise. “They’re dolphinum, and they’re just too pretty to be your snack.” Even prettier than the drawings I’ve seen. “You’re going soft.” Andarna snorts.
The Brown Swordtail opens his mouth and roars louder, blowing back Ridoc’s dark-brown hair and covering my friend in a layer of goopy saliva. Gross. Ridoc slowly lifts his hands and scrapes the slime off his face. “Yelling at me doesn’t help. It’s like shouting in a language I don’t speak.”
“I think we’re the only ones who can speak to one another.”
She blinks, then looks over the group quickly. “From the state of everyone else, I’d say you’re alone in that department.” Her brow furrows. “Do you think it’s because you’re bonded to two? Or is it Andarna?”
I close my eyes tight, then reopen them just to be sure I’m not imagining things. Nope, he’s really staring out at the water like we’re in the valley above Riorson House and not in enemy territory, completely cut off from magic. “Hey,” I say gently. “Hey.” He tilts his head down toward mine and gives me a soft—but real—smile.
“There’s no magic here.” He tugs me against him. “No power. No lure. No taunting reminder that I can save everyone if I just reach for it and take what’s offered. It’s only…peace.”
For the first time since fetching the luminary, I seriously debate Tecarus’s offer.
There is a saying in Deverelli: The word is the blood. When they make a trade, broker a deal, it is considered law. I cannot help but wonder what part of the deal the Krovlan rebels did not uphold. —Subjugated: The Second Uprising of the Krovlan People by Lieutenant Colonel Asher Sorrengail
Xaden scoffs, and the smirk transforms into a smile as we pass under a patch of dappled sunlight. I stare at him like it’s first year all over again. He’s in a short-sleeved uniform top like the rest of us, baring those gorgeously toned arms, but it’s really the relaxed posture, the ease of his smile that have me utterly transfixed and, I can admit…a little confuddled. Xaden Riorson is a lot of things, but happy isn’t usually one of them. “It’s perfectly fine if you die first, Cordella. I’m exactly where I want to be.” Then the man fucking winks at me, and I almost fall off my damned horse.
“Anyone feel like our home is a completely dreary shithole?” Ridoc asks
“Speak for yourself,” Xaden says, swinging his leg over and dismounting next to me. “Aretia is the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He hands me his reins, turning those gorgeous, gold-flecked onyx eyes into weapons capable of melting the underwear straight off my body as he looks up at me. “And my home is the first.”
“I miss the bond,” I whisper before I can think better of it.
