Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?” His voice lowers. “If not, I’m a fool, because you are magnificently beautiful.”

His gaze locks on my skirt, heating every time the slit reveals a section of my thigh. “You’ve been wearing that all night?” “That’s what you get for walking behind me,” I tease, coming to stand between his thighs again. “I can’t really argue about the view from the back, either.” He tilts his chin to look up at me.

“I don’t deserve you.” His arm curls around my hips and he tugs me closer. “But I’m going to keep you all the same.” “Good.” I lean in and brush my lips over his. “Because I think I’m in love with you.” My heart beats erratically, and panic claws up my rib cage. I shouldn’t have said it. His eyes flare wide and his arms tighten around me. “You think? Or you know?” Be brave. Even if he doesn’t feel the same, at least I will have spoken my truth. “I know. I’m so wildly in love with you that I can’t imagine what my life would even look like without you in it. And I probably shouldn’t have said that, but if we’re doing this, then we’re starting from a place of complete honesty.”

“Oh gods.” “Which one are you calling out for?” he asks against my flesh. “Because it’s just you and me in this room, Vi, and I don’t share.” “You.” My fingers tangle in his hair. “I’m calling out for you.” “I appreciate the elevation to deity, but my name will do.”

Thunder booms, shaking the paneled glass in Xaden’s windows. “That’s one,” he says, kissing his way up my limp body. “Though I do think we’re going to have to work on the fireworks show or people are always going to know what we’re doing.”

I’m not going to survive this. I’m going to die right here in this bed. “Then I’m going to die with you,” he promises, kissing me. I’m so far gone, I didn’t even realize I said the words out loud,

Goodness gracious are we blind?

“Oh no, no, no.” My hand covers my mouth as I glimpse the destruction. “I’m pretty sure I blew your window out.” “Unless there’s someone else throwing lightning around, then yeah, that was you. See what I mean? Explosive.” He laughs. I gasp. That’s why he threw himself sideways, to shield me from my own wreckage. “I’m so sorry.” I scan over the damage, but there’s only sand on the bed. “I’m going to have to get that under control.”

“I really wish I could.” There’s enough regret in the voice that I believe it. “Someone better be dead if I get out of this bed, Garrick,” Xaden retorts. “I think there’re a lot of people dead, which is why they’re calling the full quadrant to formation, jackass!” Garrick growls.

He finishes lacing his boots, already armed to the teeth as I’m picking up my sheaths, pretty sure I’m missing one of them. “You’re going to freeze out there.” “I’ll be fine.” I drop to my knees and locate the missing dagger, hauling it out by the strap of the sheath before standing again. “Here.” Xaden throws one of his flight jackets over me, trapping my hair. “If Garrick’s right and we’re under attack, then my guess is they’ll order the older years to staff the mid-guard posts, so you shouldn’t be out in formation too long. I can’t stand the thought of you being cold.”

“Hey, Aetos,” Rhiannon says, leaning on my shoulder and quickly draping her hand over my collarbone to hide Xaden’s insignia and rank. “Good morning, huh?”

Dain says, turning around to face us as Rhiannon leans over my shoulder again, blocking Xaden’s insignia.

“And not that I owe you an explanation, second-year, because I don’t, but Sgaeyl and Tairn can’t be separated for longer than a few days—” Of course. Now it makes sense. “That you know of!” Dain exclaims. “Or can you honestly tell me Sgaeyl was at her wit’s end when you showed up at Montserrat? You’ve never fully tested how long they can be apart.” “Feel like asking her yourself?” Xaden quips, arching a brow. A low growl rumbles as Sgaeyl stalks forward, menace gleaming in her eyes. My heart launches into my throat on Dain’s behalf. It doesn’t matter how often I’m around her—there’s always a part of me that sees her as the death sentence she is.

Do you know Tairn won’t survive your death? Or has it all been a ploy to earn your trust, Violet?” I suck in a sharp breath. “You need to stop right now.” “Please, do quit while you’re behind, Aetos,” Xaden seethes. “You want the truth? She’s a fuck of a lot safer with me beyond the wards than she is with you within them. We both know it.” The look in his eyes is similar to the one in Sgaeyl’s, and it dawns on me why she chose him. They’re both ruthless, both willing to annihilate whatever stands between them and what they want. And Dain is in Xaden’s path. “Stop.” I put my hand on Xaden’s arm. “Xaden, stop. If you want me to go with you, I’ll go. It’s that simple.” His gaze shifts to meet mine and immediately softens.

“I’m not scared, no one is hauling me, and believe it or not, Violet, sometimes my orders actually don’t revolve solely around you. I do have other skills, you know,” he teases with a grin, flashing a dimple as he hip-checks me. “I’ve never once forgotten how amazing you are, Liam.” And I mean it. He coughs, and I gesture him off. “Now, I need a moment of privacy.” He bows with a wave of a hand, as though introducing me to the forest behind us, and I head off into their shadowy depths.

“Let. Me. Go,” I demand as Xaden strides toward the pair of gryphon riders, Garrick at his side. Fear squeezes my heart like a vise that he thinks he can take on the gryphons and their riders himself. “I can’t do that,” Liam apologizes, his voice lowering. “I really wish I could.” Tairn roars from my right so hard that spit flies, smacking Liam in the face and making my ears ring. Liam drops his hands and backs away slowly, putting his palms up. “Got it. Point made. No touching.”

“I wonder what your king would be willing to pay in order to get back the daughter of his most illustrious general. I’m willing to bet your ransom would be worth enough weaponry to defend all of Draithus for a decade.” Ransom? Oh, I think not. Tairn snarls. “Fuck,” Bodhi mutters, moving closer to me. “Try. I dare you.” I crook my fingers at them, releasing just enough power that light flashes within the clouds above us. Shadows race menacingly from the pine trees on the edge of the meadow as Xaden raises his hands at his sides, and both gryphon riders tense when the darkness pauses only inches from their feet. “You take a step toward that Sorrengail and you’ll be dead before you can even shift your weight,” Xaden says, his voice dropping lethally. “She’s not up for discussion.”

His father may have been the Great Betrayer, may have cost my brother his life, but Xaden’s treachery cuts just as deep. He flinches as my eyes narrow into a glare.

THE SIGNS BRUH THE SIGNS

I glance to where Tairn watches, his head low as though he might have to incinerate Xaden at any moment. “Care to add to the discussion?” “Not yet. I’d prefer you come to your own conclusion. I chose you for your intelligence and courage, Silver One. Don’t let me down.” I barely restrain myself from flipping the middle finger at my own dragon.

“You love me, and—” “Loved,” I correct him, sidestepping so I can get some fucking space and then taking it. “Love!” he shouts, stopping me in my tracks and earning us a glance from every rider within hearing distance. “You love me.”

“You’re giving me a weapon after just telling me that you’ve been deceiving me for months, Riorson?” “Absolutely. I have another, and if what the fliers say is true, and venin are headed north, then you might need it. I never lied when I said I can’t live without you, Violence.” He backs away slowly, his lips curving in a sad smile. “And defenseless women have never been my type, remember?”

“We know we didn’t lie. We just didn’t tell you everything,” Andarna says, flying in the pocket of air behind Tairn with the least wind resistance as we make our way to the outpost. “That’s lying by omission,” I argue. There’s a lot of that going around today. “She’s right, Golden One.” Tension radiates through every line of Tairn’s body and the very beats of his wings. “You have every right to be angry.” He banks, following the mountain range along the border. The straps on my saddle bite into my thighs. “We made a choice to protect you—without your consent. It was an error, and one that I won’t make again.” The guilt he feels overwhelms my own emotions, melting the hottest of my anger, and I begin to think.

“Guys, I see something just past the trading post,” Liam says from the battlement. “Oh shit.” Xaden’s face drains of all color, and he crumples the missive in his fist before looking at me. “It says our mission is to survive if we can.” Oh gods. Dain read my memories without my permission. He must have told his father to where they’ve been sneaking off. I’ve unknowingly betrayed Xaden…betrayed them all. “That’s not…” Garrick shakes his head. “Guys, this is bad,” Liam shouts, and Imogen races to his side. “This isn’t your fault,” Xaden says to me, then rips his gaze from mine and turns to his friends, who are running down the ramparts to join us. “We’ve been sent here to die.”

“Sgaeyl says she has never run from a fight, and today will not be the first. And I’m not going to stand by while innocent people are dying, either.” He shakes his head. “But I’m not going to order any of you to join me. I’m responsible for all of you. None of you crossed that parapet because you wanted to. None of you. You crossed it because I made a deal. I’m the one who forced you into the quadrant, so I won’t think less of anyone who wants to fly for Eltuval instead. Make your choice.” He tears his hand through his hair. “I don’t want you in harm’s way.” In a perfect world, that would be all I need to hear. “If the others get to make a choice, then so do I.” His jaw flexes. “We’re riders,” Imogen says as another explosion sounds. “We defend the defenseless. That’s what we do.” “You saved every single one of us here, cousin,” Bodhi says. “And we’re thankful. Now, I’d like to do what we’ve trained for, and if it means I don’t go home, then I guess my soul will be commended to Malek. I wouldn’t mind seeing my mother anyway.” “I’ll tell you the same thing I did after Threshing our first year when we decided to start smuggling weaponry out,” Garrick says. “You kept us alive all these years; we get to decide how we die. I’m with you.” “Exactly!” Soleil says, drumming her fingertips just above the dagger sheathed at her thigh. “I’m in.” Liam steps forward so he stands at my side. “We watched as our parents were executed because they had the courage to do the right thing. I’d ...

“You’ll feel the moment when you’ll know that there’s nothing to leave. And it might break your heart, but when you feel it, you fly. Promise me you’ll fly.” Heartbeats pass before Andarna finally nods.

“Well, there went our air superiority,” Imogen says across from us, then shrugs. “Fuck ’em. They can die, too.”

“They have created abominations,” Tairn says, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “Did you know?” “I suspected. Why do you think I’ve been so hard on you during flight maneuvers?” “You and I are going to have to work on our communication skills.”

“I need you to survive this, even if I hate that I still love you.” “I can live with that.” A corner of his mouth lifts as he drops his hand and turns away from me, heading toward Sgaeyl.

“Find a good hiding place, Andarna. I can’t stand the thought of you being hurt.” “Go for the throat,” she says, walking into the abandoned outpost.

“Where did the wyvern go?” I ask Tairn. “Retreated into the valley. Don’t worry—it will come back.” Oh. Joy.

“I’m relaying orders to the others.” Of course he is. Xaden might command the riders on this field, but Tairn is clearly leading the dragons.

“Xaden, there’s more than one wyvern.” There’s a moment of silence, but I can feel Xaden’s palpable shock, then rage. “If you get separated from Tairn, call out, then fight until I get there.” “No chance of that happening. I’m not letting her off my back, wingleader,” Tairn growls as I get my first good look at the airspace above the city, flooded with dragons, gryphons, and wyvern, just like in the creation fable.

“We need to draw them away from the city,” I tell Xaden, turning back in the saddle as far as the bands across my thighs will let me to get a better vantage point of the airspace and the wyvern, some of which seemed to have slowed in order to circle the remains of the clock tower. “Whatever they want must be there,” Tairn says. “Agreed on both counts. Do what you can to give the rest time to evacuate,” Xaden responds. “We’re clearing the edge of town now.” He pauses, and a ripple of worry pushes through our emotional barrier. “Try not to die.” “Working on it.”

Lightning streaks the sky, earning us the notice of the horde of wyvern, one of which peels off its flight pattern and soars in our direction, its poison-barbed tails flicking behind it. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea. “We’re committed now,” Tairn reminds me. Right.

Sgaeyl is on the west side of the outpost, and my heart crawls into my throat when she flies low and Xaden does an impressive running jump off her back, landing with a roll onto the street below. Almost immediately, shadows pull in every direction and cover the people screaming as they try to run for cover from the snarling jaws of a hungry wyvern.

“Xaden!” I scream out loud, but he’s already noticed the wyvern, throwing a rope of shadows high above the buildings in a perfect lasso around Sgaeyl’s head, and she yanks him up off the ground and out of the path of the oncoming wyvern. One minute Xaden is dangling from the shadow rope and the next he’s back in his saddle as Sgaeyl banks for another low pass through town. But I was so focused on Xaden, I completely forgot about the wyvern on my own tail. Tairn hasn’t, though, and starts to climb higher and higher, leading the wyvern from the post as he gains altitude nauseatingly fast. “Violence!” Xaden screams. “Beneath you!” I look down and gasp. A stream of blue fire billows up toward us. “Bank!”

A blur of blue shoots between us, and the wyvern is knocked away by the body of a navy dragon—Sgaeyl. Her jaws tear through the side of the wyvern in several rapid, brutal bites, flesh ripping and blood spraying in the most vicious midair meal I have ever seen. Then she flips and catches the devoured wyvern by the head with her daggertail, sending its dead body sailing several hundred feet before crashing to the ground. Sgaeyl picks up speed, banks, and flies right by us, her wing gliding under Tairn’s almost affectionately—which is in complete contrast to the menacing glare that seems directed at me, wyvern blood still dripping from her jaws. Message received. It’s her job to keep an eye on Xaden’s back, and mine is to watch Tairn’s.

“Why did you do that?” I cry, my fingers searching for purchase on his leathers to pull him closer. I settle for the back of his collar and yank. “Why would you risk it?” Gods, if anything happens to them… His gaze collides with mine. “That thing was going to take a chunk out of Tairn. You’ve saved my life and now it’s my turn. No matter what you think of me for keeping secrets, we’re friends, Violet.”

“None of this is all right. Please stay,” I beg, tears I can’t fight rolling unchecked down my cheeks. “Fight to stay. Please, Liam. Fight to stay.” “At Parapet—” His face twists in pain. “You have to take care of my sister.”

Just promise you’ll take care of Sloane,” he begs, his eyes searching mine as his breaths grow ragged. “Promise.” “I promise,” I whisper, taking his hand and squeezing, not bothering to wipe my tears. “I’ll take care of Sloane.” He’s dying and there’s nothing I can do. Nothing anyone can do. How can all this power be so fucking useless? The pulse under my thumb slows. “Good. That’s good.” He forces a weak smile, and that dimple makes a faint appearance before his expression falters. “And I know you feel betrayed, but Xaden needs you. And I don’t just mean alive, Violet. He needs you. Please hear him out.” “All right.” I nod, fighting to force a watery smile. He could ask for anything right now, and I’d give it to him. “Thank you, Liam. Thank you for being my shadow. Thank you for being my friend.” He blurs in my vision as the tears come faster. “It’s been. My honor.” Liam’s chest rattles as his lungs struggle.

Seconds later, I feel Xaden racing toward us, a torrent of his emotions overwhelming my own. “No, Liam,” Xaden chokes out as he crouches in front of us, the muscles in his face working to control his expression, but there’s no hiding the despair that pushes at our mental connection. “Deigh,” Liam pleads in a strangled whisper, turning his head toward Xaden. “I know, brother.” Xaden’s jaw flexes and our gazes lock above Liam as tears overflow my eyes. “I know.” He leans forward and lifts Liam into his arms, then stands, carrying him. “I’ll take you.” He walks slowly across the gravelly terrain to Deigh’s body, saying things I can’t hear from where I kneel, the rocks digging into my knees through the fabric of the leather as I watch Xaden say goodbye. Xaden lowers Liam, sitting him against Deigh’s unblemished shoulder, then kneels beside him, nodding slowly at whatever Liam has said.

Xaden’s head bows, and my breath freezes in my lungs as shadows momentarily whip out around him, like a blast of menace and sorrow. Seconds later, his soundless, soul-rending scream fills my head with such force that my heart shatters like glass against a stone floor. I don’t need to ask. Liam is gone. Liam, who never complained about being my shadow, never hesitated to help, never bragged about being the best of our year. He died protecting me.

“Violence!” Xaden grasps my shoulders, determination lining his features. “Liam told me to tell you that there are two riders with that horde.” “Why would he tell me and not—” An anvil sits on my chest. “Because he knew I’d have to be the one who holds off the wyvern as long as possible.” He studies my face like he’ll never see it again. “And I’m the one who can kill them all.” It will kill me to wield that many times, but I’m the best shot we have. The best shot he has to survive. “You can kill them.” He yanks me close and kisses my forehead. “There is no me without you,” he says against my skin.

The horde of wyvern behind Xaden’s wall will tear into Tairn and Sgaeyl just like Deigh. And Xaden… No matter how strong he is, Xaden won’t be able to hold them forever. His arms already shake with the effort of controlling so much power. He’ll be the first to die if I’m not exactly what he called me under that tree all those months ago. Violence.

“Aren’t you a little small for a dragon rider?” the venin hisses. “Big enough to kill you.” Tairn and I are dead if I don’t do something. “I need you to stay level,” I tell Tairn, unbuckling my thigh straps. “You will not unseat!” Tairn growls. “I won’t let her kill you!”

“Level the playing field,” Xaden orders. He’s split his power and shadows rush in from the cliffs at my left, throwing the world around me—and the venin—into a cloud of complete darkness. And I have the power of light. I’m the one in control now, and I know the terrain of Tairn’s back like my own hand. Moving to the right, where I can feel the slope of his shoulder, I take up a fighting stance, grip my dagger in my good hand, and let my power explode through the dark, illuminating the sky for one crackling, priceless second. The venin is disoriented, her back turned toward me. I plunge the runed dagger between her ribs—right where Xaden showed me all those months ago—and yank it out so I don’t lose it. She staggers backward, her face turning an ashen gray before she falls from Tairn’s back.

“We have to take out the riders,” I whisper. “Yes,” Tairn agrees, following my thoughts. “Excellent idea.” “You’re willing to gamble your life on it?” If I’m wrong, we’re both dead, and so are Xaden and Sgaeyl. “I will bet my life on you as I have from the first day,” he says,

“Now!” I push my arms toward the venin and command lightning to split the sky, and it does, branching out in every direction, but I only need to control one of its silver-blue veins. I focus on the one closest to the venin, bringing it down in slow bursts that defy time. My arms vibrate, and I feel Tairn’s power push the boundaries of my body as I yank the branch sideways in its descent, inch by inch with the last of my strength, positioning it over the venin. “More, Tairn!” He roars and lightning itself rips through me, sizzling my lungs and charring my very breath as Andarna’s gift ebbs. I don’t have to be near her to feel her fatigue, her strength ebbing. But I only take what I need. Andarna will live today, even if she is the only one. I have only a few heartbeats or this much power will burn through me and take me under. Xaden screams through the barrier in my mind, and the sounds of his anguish and fear are nearly more than I can bear. But there’s no time to focus on him, to wonder what will happen if I don’t succeed. Because right now, I am focused on vengeance with a coldness that would make even my mother proud. Finally dragging the lightning down into place as my skin sizzles and burns, I release time and hold myself upright long enough to see it strike true, killing the venin at the first touch of its energy. As if time were still frozen, his body slowly topples from the top of his wyvern.

“On the left!” Tairn roars, swinging toward the wyvern and its rider as they barrel toward us with murder in their eyes. A rope of shadow flies up, wrapping around the venin’s neck as Tairn banks left to avoid the hit, and I barely manage to keep my seat. Xaden pulls the venin from the wyvern’s back and yanks him downward, right into the dagger he holds in his outstretched hand. Damn, sometimes I forget just how beautifully lethal he is.

“There’s somewhere closer,” Xaden says quietly, and I feel his fingers skim over my cheek. The motion is unnervingly tender. Another wave of fire consumes me, singeing every nerve, but all I can do is lie there and take it. Make it stop. Gods, make it stop. “You can’t be serious.” Someone’s voice lowers to a hiss. “You’ll put everything at risk,” Garrick warns as sleep tugs at me, the only escape from the searing pain. Tairn bellows so loudly, my rib cage vibrates. At least he’s close. “I wouldn’t say that again,” Imogen mutters, “or he’ll probably eat you. And don’t forget, if she dies, there’s a damn good chance Xaden does, too.”

“You’re sure about this?” Imogen asks. Each step Xaden takes brings a new wave of agony that starts in my side and ripples through my whole body. “Stop fucking asking him that,” Garrick snaps. “He made his decision. Support him or get the fuck out, Imogen.” “And it’s a bad one,” another man retorts. “When you have a hundred and seven scars on your back, then you get to make the fucking decisions, Ciaran,” Bodhi snarls. Tairn’s roar startles me, and I twitch, which only intensifies the already indescribable torture racking my body now. “What was that?” Garrick asks from somewhere to the left. “He basically said that he’ll cook me alive if I fail,” Xaden replies, holding me closer.