Onyx Storm (The Empyrean #3)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Everyone, welcome our newest member of your leadership team. Professor Riorson,” Devera announces.

sliding over my skin like velvet. “A word in private?” “Not a good idea.” I shake my head slowly. “I’m certain I’ve had worse ones.” He holds out his hand. “You’re now a professor.” Clutching the straps of my pack keeps me from reaching for him. “I’m a cadet.” “And?” Xaden glowers at me. “Oh shit,” Dain says quietly. “Article Eight, Section One of the Code of Conduct.” “Wait. You two broke up?” Bodhi’s voice rises. “Yes,” I answer. “No,” Xaden says at the same time, glaring at his cousin, then jerking his gaze to mine. “No,” he repeats.

“We live by the Codex—” I try again. “I live by you. When have I ever given a fuck about the Codex or the Code of Conduct?”

“I am yours and you are mine, and there’s no law or rule in this world or the next that will change that.”

“It’s in their quarters.” I wince. “General Aetos’s quarters. Don’t worry, Dain’s agreed to help me find it.” Xaden cracks his neck. “‘Don’t worry’ and ‘Dain’ do not belong in the same sentence.”

Xaden steps to the side as Loran falls to his knees in the very space Xaden had stood, and the sword falls, too, abandoned as Loran grabs for the shadows tightening around his throat. His face blotches, and the other squad starts to shift uncomfortably before Xaden drops his hands. The shadow falls back into position, and Loran gasps for air. “I’m either completely in love with your boyfriend or utterly terrified of him,” Ridoc says under his breath. “Not sure at the moment.” “Both,” Cat answers from his left. “You can be both. Trust me.”

bite back my smile. “I’m never scared of him.” Xaden’s eyes find mine, and my pulse skips. “And he’s not my boyfriend.” Rhi snorts and Ridoc offers me a sarcastic thumbs-up. “Agreed,” Xaden says. “That’s far too casual a term for what we are.”

“And if you haven’t learned how to shield, I suggest you spend some time with Professor Carr before facing off against a flier or anyone wearing a classified patch.” He glances at Imogen. “And you’re going to teach us how to defeat you?” Aaric asks from behind us. A corner of Xaden’s mouth slowly curves upward. “I can teach you to try, but there’s only one person capable of taking me down one day, and it isn’t you, Graycastle.”

“Good.” The bond strengthens when he talks, and I change directions slightly, following the connection. “I can wield from anything that casts a shadow, but no one knows the strongest threads are always my own. If you can sort through them, feel their difference, you’ll be able to track where I am in the darkness.” “Is that really what you need me to learn?” I run my hands through shadow, but it all feels the same. “You have to learn the difference for both our sakes.” The bond surrounds me in the same instant that he wraps his arms around me from behind, and a stronger shadow—his—tilts my chin toward my shoulder and up. “Only you.”

“You’re astounding,” he says, already one of the shadows. “Why only me?” I ask, turning endlessly to find him. “You need to be able to find me.” Shadows rush against my skin, and less than a breath later, they’re gone, leaving me stumbling near the front of the mat, staring at Xaden’s retreating back as he climbs the stairs. “Class is over. I expect you all to come prepared next session,”

“Why only me?” I repeat, more than aware of the other cadets staring as I find my balance, studying me as if hoping to discover a mark, since Xaden walked away unscathed. “Xaden!” He doesn’t so much as pause his ascent. “Because you’re the only one capable of killing me.”

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

“You ready to join in, Second Squad?” Garrick asks, crooking his fingers directly at Imogen. “You don’t want anything to do with these.” She lifts her hands. “Why don’t you put them on me and we’ll see?” A corner of his mouth tilts and a dimple pops in his cheek. “Oh gods, just stop flirting and fuck already,” Ridoc says. Every head slowly turns in his direction.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?” he asks me in a hushed whisper. “Oh yeah, you did,” I reply, patting him on his back. “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.”

His eyes widen at me. “You really did it.” “I did.” The conduit hums in my left hand. “Hate to tell you, Sorrengail, but not only did you leave yourself exposed, you also missed.” He grins. “Did I?” I look pointedly to the smoking hilt of his melted blade behind him, and he follows my line of sight, visibly tensing when he spots the ruined dagger. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” “By Malek, I fucking love you,” Xaden says. “And if I’m exposed, fine. The rest of my squad is alive.” I shrug. Xaden’s gaze cuts to mine.

“Straight to business?” I feel the weight of his stare as he studies my profile. “You aren’t going to ask how I’ve been? My brother’s missing, you know.” He sounds exactly zero percent worried. “Is he?” I fold my arms. “Or did Cam just need some space from your ego?”

“Seriously, though.” Halden tsks. “No hello? Not even a compliment on the tailoring of my uniform? Or the fresh haircut? I’m heartbroken, Vi.” “You’d have to own a heart to break it,” I immediately counter. “And the only hair I remember is your professor’s covering your face when I walked in on her riding you. It was auburn, right?”

“Ouch. You wound me.” Halden rubs his chest. “Yes, I cheated, but you have to remember, I was still suffering from the loss of my twin. I was…” “Stupid? Thoughtless? Cruel?” I suggest. “Grief doesn’t excuse any of that. Never did.”

He clears his throat. “Tell me, is it true what they say? You and…Riorson?” He says Xaden’s name with cringe-worthy disgust. “If you’re asking if I’m in love with him, then the answer is wholeheartedly yes.” I glance Xaden’s way and find his eyes already on me. “If you’re prodding to see if we’re still together, then let me assure you, we’re adhering to the Code of Conduct in the way you never bothered to do. You can report that to your father.” “I wasn’t asking for my father, Vi. I was asking for me.”

He lifts a hand toward the loosened strands of my braid, but never makes it. Shadows blast straight through the wards and hit Halden in the chest like a battering ram, sending the crown prince of Navarre flying backward—straight into the rock wall. Shit.

“Sorry about that,” Xaden says, his tone implying otherwise. “I was blocking a potentially lethal blow to the first-year and seem to have knocked the wind right out of you.” I arch an eyebrow and slowly look over my shoulder at him. “Seriously?” “He was going to touch you.” The glacial rage in his eyes has mine widening. “Right, because that’s the mature response.”

“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.” I’m going to fucking kill him.

Xaden stands at the threshold, his hands gripping the frame on both sides, his flight jacket unbuttoned, and his head bowed. My immediate elation is slain by logic. “What are you doing?” I whisper, trying to look past him to see if there’s anyone else in the hallway who could report him. “Did you love him?” The question is a low rumble of sound. “Someone is going to see you!” “Did. You. Love. Him?” Xaden lifts his head and pins me with a look that borders on feral. “I have to know. I can handle it. But I have to know.” “Oh, for Amari’s sake.” I

was with Halden years ago.” “Yeah, I picked up on that.” His brow knits as he nods. “I picked up on a lot of things he was thinking.” I blink. “That’s not how your signet—” “Did you love him?” he repeats. “Holy shit.” My hands fall from his jacket. “You’re actually jealous.”

“Yes, love, I’m jealous.” He splays his hand over the small of my back and tugs me toward him. “I’m jealous of the armor that holds you when I can’t, the sheets on your bed that caress your skin every night, and the blades that feel your hands. So, when the prince of our realm walks into my classroom and starts talking to the woman I love with what can only be considered intense familiarity, and then has the audacity to ask her out right in front of me, naturally, I’m going to get jealous.”

“And you are?” Sawyer asks, leaning on his crutches. Ridoc’s eyes narrow. “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.”

“In case you missed it when I crossed the parapet, I am not in your chain of command,” I fire back. “But you are in mine,” Aetos warns. “And I speak with the authority of Melgren.” 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.

“At least say what you mean, Ilene.” Halden sends a sideways glance her way. “You don’t trust him and would like to see your bloodline in not only Morraine but Tyrrendor.” “He led a rebellion!” She slams her hands on the tabletop. “My father led a rebellion,” Xaden says without taking his eyes off me. “I took part in a revolution. There’s a difference in the words, from what I’m told.”

“Drake Cordella?” Mira shouts, and the three of us turn as she charges across the room toward Drake. “As in the nightwing drift?” He gives my sister a charming yet cocky smile. “You’ve heard of me?” “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. “Ooh.” Ridoc winces. “He’s going—” Drake hits his knees, and Cat gasps. “—down,” Ridoc finishes. “You must be Mira Sorrengail,” Drake manages to say, pain etched in every line of his face. “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?”

“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?”

“You’re such a centenarian. Perhaps my kind will not be such killjoys. Perhaps they will feast as they see fit. Perhaps they will— Ooh! What is that?” “A Mammoth Red-Horned Tortoise and absolutely not! The shell will embed between your teeth, and I will not carry you and a festering tortoise shell— Get back here!” His voice fades as they fly out of range.

could just about cry as I realize we’re right in front of the room Mira and I occupied during our last visit, and I spot the set of doors beyond that I know are Xaden’s. How am I going to make it to the top floor? “Will you still keep me if I have to crawl up the stairs?” I ask Tairn. “You’re not crawling,” Xaden answers. Wrong pathway. Gods, I really am in trouble.

“So, not a professor.” Xaden’s eyes narrow, and my whole body tries to sway, held upright by Xaden’s shadows. “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. “What are you doing?” I hiss. “Doubling up as ordered,” Xaden says, throwing open the doors to his room and then kicking them shut once we’re through.