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Violets are such delicate…fragile things, you know.” Delicate, my ass.
—Violet Sorrengail’s personal addendum to the Book of Brennan
The look Xaden gives him makes me realize he’s been taking it easy on me in the glaring department.
You are not attracted to toxic men, I remind myself, and yet, here I am, getting all attracted.
Toxic. Dangerous. Wants to kill you. Nope, doesn’t matter. My pulse still skitters like a teenager.
“Oh, Violence, you’re good, but I’ve known better poison masters. The trick is to not make it quite so obvious.”
“He’s holding you back. Don’t worry. Your little poisoning secret is safe with me.”
It’s leaving you alive that seems to cause the majority of my trouble.”
What makes you a rider is what you do after people die.
Because you’re the scale I currently judge myself against every night. Every day I let you live, I get to convince myself that there’s still a part of me that’s a decent person. So if you want to quit, then please, spare me the temptation and fucking quit. But if you want to do something, then do it.”
“Dain lost his vote when he tried talking you into leaving,” she counters.
“I’m used to functioning in pain, asshole. Are you?”
“My name is Tairneanach, son of Murtcuideam and Fiaclanfuil, descended from the cunning Dubhmadinn line.”
Tairn will do until I inevitably have to remind you.”
Just because you survive Threshing doesn’t mean you’ll survive the ride to the flight field. Being chosen isn’t the only test, and if you can’t hold your seat, then you’ll fly straight into the ground.
“Why did you choose me?” I have to know, because as soon as we land, there are going to be questions. “Because you saved her.” Tairn’s head inclines toward the golden as we approach, and she follows after us.
“You are the smartest of your year. The most cunning.”
I gulp at the compliment, brushing it off. I was trained as a scribe, not a rider. “You defended the smallest with ferocity. And strength of courage is more important than physical strength. Since you apparently need to know before we land.”
She blinks. “Maybe I was saving you.” Her voice is higher, sweeter in my mind.
“They’re a mated pair, Tairn and Sgaeyl. The strongest bonded pair in centuries.”
“Would you really level that accusation knowing it would have been what saved the woman you call your best friend?”
“And knowing who to trust is the only thing that will keep you alive—keep us alive—not only in the quadrant but after graduation.”
Xaden Riorson is now in the business of keeping his mortal enemy alive.
But it definitely makes me lose a little respect for him, which is something I never expected. “And maybe next year, if you’re in a different wing, or even after graduation,” he starts, hope lighting up his eyes.
become to me—the right home. The longing for the kind of peace and solitude I found only here can’t match the adrenaline rush of flight.
It’s because you have no faith in me. Even now, when I’ve survived against all odds and bonded not just one dragon but two, you still think I won’t make it. So forgive me, but you’re about to be some of the bullshit that this place cuts away from me
He believes me, and he’s ready to execute a wingleader on nothing more than my word.
Wanting and admiring? I’m so screwed.
“You’re supposed to be my oldest friend, Dain. My best friend. There’s a reason I didn’t tell you.”
He might not show it, but he takes care of his own.”
He leans in so we’re almost nose to nose. “I am annoyingly aware of everything you do.”
“You choose the oddest times to defend her, Aetos.” Xaden all but rolls his eyes as he looks at Dain. “And the most convenient times not to.”
“You’re actually going to help me?” “I’ve been helping you for months
“Ask me nicely, Violence,” he whispers. “Or I’m gone.”
“For now.” Rhiannon stares at me with intention, lifting her brows. “He’s the most powerful rider in our generation for now
“But keeping me safe is keeping me from growing, too.”
what’s underneath, I was afraid. What if underneath the brittle bones and frail ligaments, there was just more weakness? Only this time, I wouldn’t be able to blame my body.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think—it only matters what I think.
it revealed who I really am. At my core, Dain, I’m a rider. Tairn knew it. Andarna knew it. It’s why they chose me. And until you can stop looking for ways to keep me in a glass cage, we aren’t going to get past this, no matter how many years of friendship we have between us.”
“You only want to keep me safe. I appreciate that. But it stops now, Dain.
do not need protection, and if I do—I’ve got two badass dragons who have my back. Can you respect that?”
Violet, he’s not the most powerful rider of our generation. You are.”
It’s why you have to be sure that Violet enters the Scribe Quadrant. She’ll never be able to take a life.
Little does he know, I’m almost always in pain. It’s pretty much my comfort zone. “That’s actually a good point, so I’ll let you have it.”
At least he didn’t say weaknesses.
“It’s yours.” My head snaps up, but there’s no lie in his onyx eyes. “I had it made for you.” His lips curve slightly.
absolutely incomprehensible,” I murmur. “Yeah? You should try a human one sometime. Just as vicious, but less fire.”
Mira is protective. Dain has to know everything. And Xaden…has secrets.
No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains.
“Chocolate cake. Stop being weird.”
