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I’ll never get over how quickly people move on around here, how callously death is swept under a rug and trampled on minutes later.
The worst part is that I knew you wouldn’t believe me. It’s why I almost didn’t tell Xaden who it was, because I was sure he wouldn’t believe me, either.”
“I know you just want to keep me safe, Dain,” I whisper. “But keeping me safe is keeping me from growing, too.”
Mic drop. Fuck you, Dain.
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.”
Xaden presses his lips in a tight line and nods, giving him a sarcastic thumbs-up.
Love him
“You haven’t even seen me start to be a dick.” My head turns so fast that it swims, and my mouth drops open as I stare at the side of Xaden’s face. That was his voice…in my fucking head.
Let's gooooooo
“You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?”
What changed, Xaden? Why is he showing interest in Violet now?
“Maybe it was when I saw Oren holding a knife to your throat,” he says. “Or maybe it was when I realized the bruises on your neck were fingerprints and wanted to kill them all over again just so I could do it slowly. Maybe it was the first time I recklessly kissed you or when I realized I’m fucked because I can’t stop thinking about doing more than just kissing you.” My breath catches at his admission, but he just sighs, lets his head fall back against the wall. “Does it even matter when, as long as it changed between us?”
But what made him change his mind? What exact thing?
“He cares for you. That’s already hard enough for him.” I scoff. “He cares about keeping me alive. There’s a difference.” “Not for him there isn’t.”
“If you don’t use it, I’ll take personal offense.” He folds his arms across his chest and studies the rigging. “Considering I had it made for you and just about got myself burned alive in the process of trying to get it on him.” He lifts a brow at Tairn. “Even though he helped design it, I might add.”
My heart! Xaden's in love!
“Look, there’s no rule against it. I checked. And if anything, you’ll be doing Tairn a favor by freeing all his power and taking the weight of worry off his mind. Mine too, if that helps matters.”
“The next time we kiss had better not be just to piss off Dain.” The next time had better only be because we want it. “Next time, huh?” His gaze lowers to my mouth again.
I’ve lived twenty years and never felt as alive as I do in this moment. Without even grounding in my Archives, power surges in my veins, crackling with a life all its own, jolting every single one of my senses to a degree that nears pain.
“She is not a child. She’s a full-grown woman. A rider. Start treating her like one and at least have the decency to give her the truth.
I’m mad that him dying changes me.”
There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, Violence.”
we expect each and every one of you in the courtyard in front of Basgiath tonight at nine for fireworks to celebrate Reunification Day.
Shit is going to hit the fan at the celebration.
And when others are quick to stand in front of me, Xaden always stands at my side, trusting me to hold my own.
“You want me,” I say, looking him in the eyes. “And no, I’m not just talking about in bed. You. Want. Me, Xaden Riorson. You might not say it, but you do one better and show it. You show it every time you choose to trust me, every time your eyes linger on mine. You show it with every sparring lesson you don’t have time for and every flight lesson that pulls you away from your own studies. You show it when you refuse to touch me because you’re worried I don’t really want you, then show it again when you take the time to hunt down violets before a leadership meeting so I don’t wake up feeling
...more
Hope is a stronger buzz than anything they were serving at the party.
“I’ve wanted you from the first second I saw you, Violence,” he admits.
I’ve never gotten dressed so fast in my entire life, and I’m not even bothering with the thigh sheaths.
I just KNOW Dain is going to need to access Violet's memories and he's going to see her and Xaden doing it.
I can’t help but note both of the important men are walking away from me right now, in opposite directions, and given the one I’ve chosen to follow, my life is about to change forever.
“You’re fucking early,” he says. And my heart stops.
YO WHAT THE FUCK I AM BETRAYED
Fen Riorson lost touch with reality, railing against the kingdom of Navarre. He accused King Tauri, and all who came before him, of a conspiracy so vast, so unspeakable, that it does not bear repeating by this historian.
Something tells me Fen was right and the dragons have their own politics with it
“The guy with the staff just—” Liam starts.
Is Violet's dad a vinen now?
“Wyvern. Fables say venin created them to compete with dragons and, instead of channeling from them, channel power into them.”
Liam is gone.
I am not okay.
He yanks me close and kisses my forehead. “There is no me without you,” he says against my skin.
She has a teacher?
I'm 99% sure it's Violet's dad...
“You have to fight, Vi,” Xaden whispers against my forehead as we move. “You can hate me all you want when you wake up. You can scream, hit, throw your fucking daggers at me for all I care, but you have to live. You can’t make me fall for you and then die. None of this is worth it without you.” He sounds so sincere that I almost believe him.
“Xaden?” a familiar voice calls out, but I can’t place it.
HER DAD I BET
“You have to save her.”
Wait Brennan is a healer.... Is it him?
What I shouldn’t have done was fought my feelings for her. I should have grabbed on to her after that first kiss the way I wanted and kept her at my side, should have let her all the way in.
And when she smiled at me after mastering her shield in mere minutes, her face lighting up as the snow fell around us, I fucking fell. We hadn’t even kissed, and I fell.
“Brennan?” She stares at her brother in open-mouthed shock.
I FUCKING KNEW IT
