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Though not forbidden, cadets are strongly encouraged not to develop strong romantic attachments while studying in the quadrant for the efficiency of the unit. —Article Five, Section Seven The Dragon Rider’s Codex
This kind of desperation isn’t natural; it’s a wildfire that’s likely to burn us both to the ground if we let it.
know it in my soul. That’s why I trust him with my body. My heart? It isn’t playing into this decision.
Lightning strikes outside my window, flashing light through the room again and again as he strokes me with an expertise that kicks the first climax into a second.
How did she wield without throwing up her arms ?
“You’re going to be the death of me, Violet.”
God I hope not
“That was…”
“Frighteningly perfect.”
I reach out and trace the dragon relic on his back, my fingers lingering on the raised silver scars, and he stiffens. They’re all short, thin lines, too precise to be a whip, no rhyme or reason to their pattern but never intersecting. “What happened?”
“You really don’t want to know.” He’s tense but doesn’t move away from my touch. “I do.” They don’t look accidental. Someone hurt him deliberately, maliciously, and it makes me want to hunt the person down and do the same to them. His jaw flexes as he looks over his shoulder, and his eyes meet mine. I bite my lip, knowing this moment can go either way. He can shut me out like always or he can actually let me in. “There’s a lot of them,” I murmur, dragging my fingers down his spine. “A hundred and seven.” He looks away. That number makes my stomach lurch, and then my hand pauses. A hundred and
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“I saw the opportunity to make a deal,” he says softly. “And I took it.”
“What kind of deal leaves you with scars like that?” Conflict rages in his eyes, but then he sighs. “The kind where I take personal responsibility for the loyalty of the hundred and seven kids the rebellion’s leaders left behind, and in return, we’re allowed to fight for our lives in the Riders Quadrant instead of being put to death like our parents.” He averts his gaze. “I chose the chance of death over the certainty.”
“So if any of them betray Navarre…” I lift my brows. “Then my life is forfeit. The scars are a reminder.”
“Only within these walls,” he says quietly, and I understand what he means. “Only within these walls,” I agree. It’s not like we’re in a relationship or anything. That would be…disastrous given the chain of command. “We’re riders, after all.” “I just don’t trust my temper if anyone says—” I brush a kiss over his mouth, silencing him. “I know what you’re saying. It’s…sweet.”
“I’m not sweet. Please don’t mistake any part of me for soft or kind.
That will only get you hurt, and whatever you do…” He buries his face in my neck, inhaling d...
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“Why did you guess I could wield lightning?”
“I thought you did it the first night Tairn channeled power to you, but I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t say anything.”
“Rea...
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“When?”
“The first time you kissed me.”
Professor Carr stands in my hallway, his hair standing on end as he looks at me with scientific appraisal, then lifts his eyebrows as he stares past me into the wreckage of my room. “We have work to do.”
Is this bc the lighting show last nite
“According to what I read last night, this particular ability has the power to overheat your system, hence—” He gestures around us. “Plus, there’s not much to burn up here, is there?” And no witnesses if he decides to break my neck, either. I glance at him quickly before looking away, undoing the buckles of my saddle, then sliding down Tairn’s foreleg. “Don’t leave me.” “Never. I’ll burn him alive before he takes a single step toward you.”
“It’s always intriguing to me how nature finds the balance.”
Very imp words
“I’m not sure I know what you mean, Professor.” “This kind of power found in one so…” He sighs. “Would you not call yourself fragile?” “I am who I am.” I bristle. I’ve never given this particular professor any reason to think of me as different.
“And considering he’s the most powerful of them in the quadrant at the moment—” “But not the Continent,” Tairn admits.
Codagh is stronger does that mean he'll have to fight him at some point?
“Because knowledge is power. As a general’s daughter, you should know that. We can’t have someone walking around with unfettered access to classified material. They’re a security risk to the entire kingdom.” And yet Dain is living. “Because Aetos will be useful to them as long as they can keep him under their control.”
“His power is also limited to touch, so more controllable.”
“And the fact that you bonded Tairn makes you and Riorson the most coveted pair of riders this kingdom has seen in far too long. If I could offer a piece of advice?” His eyes narrow. “Please do.” At least he’s brutally honest, so I know where I stand with him. “Keep your loyalties clear. You and Riorson both have exceptional, lethal power that any rider would be envious of. But together?” His bushy brows furrow. “You would be a formidable enemy who command could simply not afford to let exist. Do you understand what I’m saying?” His voice softens. “Navarre is my home, Professor. I will give my
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Foreshadowing
There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, Violence.”
“The last lightning wielder said it made them overheat. Now do it again.”
July first, the anniversary of the Battle of Aretia, is hereby proclaimed Reunification Day and will be celebrated throughout Navarre on this date every year to honor the lives lost during the war to save our kingdom from separatists and those saved by the Treaty of Aretia. —Royal Proclamation of King Tauri the Wise
His arm brushes against mine as he leans down and picks up my favorite book of fables, the one Mira slipped
into my rucksack once we’d gotten back to Montserrat that night.
Wonder what he's thinking about the book
“I know. You never told a soul about what you saw under the tree last fall.”
Did Dain see any of that?
“Athebyne. You can’t know why or ask anything else, but that’s where we were.”
move to put the book back and see that the binding is definitely worse for wear after we knocked the antique tome off the desk last night. “Damn.” I open the back cover and see that it’s split at the binding. Something is peeking out. “What is that?” Xaden asks, looking over my shoulder. “Not sure.” Balancing the heavy book with one hand, I tug what looks to be a stiff piece of parchment free from where it’s been tucked behind the binding. Gravity shifts as I recognize my father’s handwriting, and it’s dated just a few months before his death. My Violet, By the time you find this, you’ll most
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about our past. If we lose it, we lose the links to our past. It only takes one desperate generation to change history—even erase it. I know you’ll make the right choice when the time comes. You have always been the best of both your mother and me. Love, Dad
What does he mean the right choice
“That’s cryptic,” Xaden remarks. “He got a little…cryptic in the years after Brennan died,” I admit softly. “Losing my brother made my father even more reclusive. I only really got to spend time with him because I was always in the Archives, studying to be a scribe.”
The pages flutter as I flip through stories of an ancient kingdom that spanned from ocean to ocean and a Great War among three
brothers who fought to control the magic in this mystical land. Some of the fables tell stories of the first riders who learned to bond with dragons and how those bonds could turn on the rider if they tried to consume too much power. Others talk of a great evil that spread across the land as man became corrupted by dark magic and turned into creatures known as venin who created flocks of winged creatures called wyvern and scourged the land of all magic in the thirst for more power. Another talks about the dangers of wielding power from the ground instead of the skies, as one could easily start
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French for venom.
brothers who fought to control the magic in this mystical land. Some of the fables tell stories of the first riders who learned to bond with dragons and how those bonds could turn on the rider if they tried to consume too much power. Others talk of a great evil that spread across the land as man became corrupted by dark magic and turned into creatures known as venin who created flocks of winged creatures called wyvern and scourged the land of all magic in the thirst for more power. Another talks about the dangers of wielding power from the ground instead of the skies, as one could easily start
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A viper type of dragon with 2 legs instead of four
how too much power corrupts,
Is scribe quad corrupt? Bisgaith? Navarre?
General Melgren ripped a mask off one day and revealed he was a terrifying venin. That man has always given me the creeps.”
I don't think Melgren is venin but someone higher ups are
“You don’t really know me. Not at my core.”
“You’re going to be the death of me.”
Second time he says it
familiar prickle along my scalp,
Today marks six years since Brennan was killed.
Number 6
our father’s heart
that final time that spring two years ago.
“You have noticed that the graduating classes from the Riders Quadrant are diminishing every year, while the uptick in attacks has cost us another seven riders and their dragons this year, haven’t you? It takes at least a full company of infantry to make up for the loss of one rider.”
