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Tairn’s golden eyes are narrowed in a glare on Dain, and his teeth are bared, dripping saliva as another growl rumbles. “You’re a menace. Stop it,” I say. “Tell him if he harms you, I’ll scorch the ground where he stands.” “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tairn.” I roll my eyes and walk to Dain, whose jaw is locked, but his eyes are wide with apprehension.
lmao Tairn does NOT like Dain! I guess it makes sense since he said he can see Violets memories. probably sees what a Dainty Dick he is without all the emotions of childhood friendship loyalty clouding his judgment.
After all, if the rider of the strongest dragon in the quadrant couldn’t keep her seat, then surely we’d all know.” He rips his hand over his hair. “Surely I would know if my best friend fell every fucking day that she flew!” “It’s not a secret!” Anger bubbles in my veins. “Everyone in our wing knows! I’m sorry if you haven’t been keeping tabs on your squad, but trust me, Dain. Everyone knows. And I’m not going to stand here while you lecture me like I’m a child.”
what. a. prick. just blowing up at her over something she's having trouble with. 😂 like I don't come at you being like "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOUR PEEPEE DOESN'T WORK?" So back the fuck up Dainty Dick.
“You’ve been flying for a month, and you’re still falling.” His voice follows me down the staircase. “So is half the wing, Dain!” “Not a dozen times, they aren’t,” he shoots back.
yeah cause most of their dragons don't catch them 😂 THEY only get to fall once! 😂😂😂
“My thighs are too weak, but I’m building muscle. My hands can’t grip the pommel, but they’re getting stronger. It took weeks for my biceps to heal, so I’m training that one, too. But you don’t have to worry about me, Dain—Imogen is training me.” “Because Riorson asked her to,” he guesses, folding his arms across his chest. “Probably. Why does it matter?” “Because he doesn’t have your best interest at heart.” He shakes his head,
😒...."wow Violet, that's really great that you're putting in all that work. maybe I could help you train too! 🤗"......😒nope. let's just gripe about who's helping her to cover up the fact that you're not doing SHIT ALL to help. 😅
“She’s a wingleader, Vi. I’m not about to question her integrity!” “I proved myself with the Codex, and Riorson accepted it. He’s a wingleader, too.”
and that was BEFORE she bonded his dragons mate! he had no reason to go easy on her!! jeez Dainty Dick, figure out your shit with woman, do you like Violet or Amber? cause right now I'm leading to Amber. and frankly....you two deserve eachother.
“Fine. You made it up. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t stand myself if something happened to you, whether you were handling the trial the right or wrong way.
really? you're sure you couldn't handle it. because it damn well sounds like you WISH she'd died already so you could just move on with your life 🙄
“This place cuts away the bullshit and the niceties, revealing whoever you are at your core.” I repeat his words from this summer. “Isn’t that what you said to me? Is this who you really are at your core? Someone so enamored with rules that he doesn’t know when to bend or break them for someone he cares about? Someone so focused on the least I’m capable of doing, he can’t believe I can do so much more?” The warmth drains from his brown eyes. “Let’s get one thing straight, Dain.” I take a step closer, but the distance between us only widens. “The reason we’ll never be anything more than friends
...more
FUCKING YAAAAAAAAAAASSSS!!!! GO OFF!!!!! QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!!!! 🙌👏👏👏👏👏👏👏🫶
Xaden arches a dark eyebrow as I pass by. I flip him the middle finger. I’m not taking his shit today, either.
ha!
My hands hover over my blades. A shadow moves to my left, and a glance tells me Xaden has moved, casually putting himself just ahead of me.
the protective instict 🤌😚👌
How the hell did they get my door unlocked? Blowing my unbound hair out of my face, I meet the wide, shocked eyes of an unbonded first-year, and he’s not the only one. There are seven cadets in my room. Four are unbonded men. Three are unbonded women—I gasp with recognition—make that two as she runs for the door and slams it on the way out. She opened the door. There’s no other explanation.
"she" opened the door? the only she that I would think still has a bone to pick would be Amber. and she is a wingleader, so she'd probably have the means to open the door... but she's boned, unless that's what she meant by correcting to two, instead of the fact that she's running away?
“I should have killed you during Threshing,” I admit.
you didn't wanna kill and unconscious man, and Tairn told you that if given the same opportunity he would have killed you....and now he was literally trying to kill you while you were sleeping. This is what we call a "cruel irony".
“He’s almost there!” Tairn promises, panic lacing his tone. He who? I can’t breathe. Can’t think.
XADDY!!!! COME RAISE HELL!!!!
“He’ll only respect us if we finish her!” They’re after Tairn. Tairn’s roar of rage fills my head
yeah right! Tairn would kill you all on principle. This is if he doesn't die.
“Mine!” Andarna screams. Skin-prickling energy zings down my spine, then rushes to my fingertips and toes, and the next breath I take is in total, complete silence. “Go!” Andarna demands.
WHAT?!!!! ANDARNA?!!! are....are you a secret bad ass???!!!
I blink and realize the first-year in front of me doesn’t. She isn’t breathing. Isn’t moving. No one is. Everyone in this room is frozen in place…except me.
Did Violets signet just manifest?! Can she cause paralysis? can she pause time? or is it super speed?
“Quick! I can’t hold it!” Andarna urges, her voice thready. She’s doing this?
oh so I guess no signet. but Andarna IS a secret badass!!!!
I mark time in thunderous heartbeats as I stumble into the only open space in my room, but my path to the now-open door isn’t clear.
second read: this is why I wonder if her second signet is still time manipulation. she continues to mark time in heartbeats, and a lot happens in those heart beats later...
Xaden fills the doorway like some kind of dark, avenging angel, the messenger of the queen of the gods. He’s fully dressed, his face a mask of veritable rage as shadows curl from the walls on either side of him, hanging in midair. For the first time since crossing the parapet, I’m so fucking relieved to see him that I could cry.
XADDY!!!!! Rage, is a hot look for him.
He snaps his fingers and the room illuminates, mage lights hovering above us. “You’re all fucking dead.” His voice is eerily calm and all the scarier for it.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! YES!!!!!! KILL EM ALLLL!!!!!
“Riorson!” Oren’s dagger clatters to the floor. “You think surrendering will save you?” Xaden’s lethally soft tone sends goose bumps up my arms. “It is against our code to attack another rider in their sleep.”
yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!
“She should have killed you in the field, but she’s merciful. That’s not a flaw I possess.” He slashes forward so quickly that I barely catch the move, and Oren’s throat opens in a horizontal line, blood streaming down his neck and chest in a torrent.
YEEEEEEEES!!!!! "that's not a flaw I possess" 😍 are you in love? Cause I am in love!
Bodhi enters, doing the same quick assessment Garrick had. The similarity between the cousins still gives me pause. Bodhi has the same bronzed skin and strong brow line, but his features aren’t as angular as Xaden’s, and his eyes are a lighter shade of brown. He looks like a softer, more approachable version of his older cousin, but my body doesn’t heat at the sight of him the way it does around Xaden.
second read: OK so, she mentions alot that they look SO similar...I feel like Bohdi is not just his cousin, but his brother. I'm not sure WHY, but I feel like that's the case. similarly to how Sgaeyls last rider wasn't Xadens uncle but his grandfather. there's something up with his family tree...
I’m alive. I’m alive. I’m alive. I repeat the mantra in my head as Xaden wipes the blood from my dagger on the back of Oren’s tunic. “Yes. You’re alive.” Xaden steps over Oren’s body and two others, retrieving my dagger from the fallen woman’s shoulder before reaching my armoire. I don’t even recognize her, and yet she tried to kill me. Garrick and Bodhi haul out the first bodies.
WOAH WOAH WOAH!!! Are we just skipping over the fact that Xaden just read her mind?!!! she didn't say that outloud!!!!🤨
“I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud.” The trembling starts in my knees, and then nausea overpowers me.
oh...OK....😐...😑 I'm still suspicious...
Fuck, I thought I’d worked past this kind of reaction to adrenaline, but here I am, shaking like a leaf as Xaden sorts through my armoire like he hasn’t just taken out half a dozen people. As if this kind of slaughter is commonplace. “It’s the shock,” he says,
again...he's answering her thoughts...🤨
I can barely breathe, but can I risk admitting my current weakness to him?
girl, the man just killed 5 people to protect you. you can tell him your damn injuries.
His fingers are warm under my chin as he tilts my head up so our gazes collide. Wait…is that a hint of panic swirling in his? “You’re breathing like crap, so I’m guessing it has to do with—”
*swoon*😍
“It’s dragon-scale.” I lift my right arm and pivot slightly so he can see the gaping hole in my nightdress. “Mira made it for me. It’s why I’ve lived this long.” He glances between our bodies, his mouth tensing before he nods once. “Ingenious, though I’d say there are multiple reasons for why you’ve made it this far.”
flatterer 😊
Before I can argue that point, his gaze shifts to my throat and narrows at what I imagine has to be the purple imprint of a hand. “I should have killed him slower.”
EEEEEEEEEE!!!!! YES!!!!! *does a little wiggle dance*
“I’m fine.” I’m not. His focus snaps back to my eyes. “Never lie to me.” He says it with such ferocity, bit out through gritted teeth, that I can’t help but nod in promise.
OK, does he just know from body language or...again...is he in her mind?!
“Is that a request or a demand?” “Your pick as long as I get to see if that fucker broke your ribs.” His hands curl into fists.
*more wiggle dances*
“I know how to handle a corset.”
I BET YOU DO!!!! 😂
“How the hell do you get yourself into this thing every morning?” he asks, clearing his throat as inch after inch of my back is exposed. “I’m freakishly flexible. It’s part of the whole bones-snapping, joints-tearing thing,” I answer over my shoulder.
😏 freakishly felixble you say?...do tell...
He grabs a boot, then taps my foot. “Can you lift it up?” I nod, lifting my foot. Then he robs me of every logical thought by putting on my boots and lacing them one at a time.
omg...why is that so hot? that shouldn't be hot right?...
“Can’t you just hide us in shadows or something?” “Sure, because a giant black cloud moving down the hallway isn’t going to look more suspicious than a couple sneaking around.” He shoots me a look that keeps me from countering.
hahahaha. I was just saying this the other day reading another book where the shadow daddy is constantly putting shadows on them to walk around open fields and shit and I'm like... 🤔 cause that's not sus...
Not that I wouldn’t climb the man like a tree if presented with the right set of circumstances.
yeah girl 😏
“And if you even think about suggesting that you sleep with me for safety from now on—” He scoffs. “Hardly. I don’t fuck first-years—even when I was one—let alone…you.” “Who said anything about fucking?” I fire back, cursing myself as the ache in my ribs only intensifies. “I’d have to be a masochist to sleep with you, and I can assure you, I’m not.” Fantasizing about it doesn’t count.
*snort* fantasizing doesn't count 😂
“I have zero concern about that. As violent as you are, and skilled with those daggers, I’m not even sure you could kill a fly. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you managed to wound three of them and never went for a kill shot.” He shoots a disapproving look my way. “I’ve never killed anyone,” I whisper like it’s a secret. “You’re going to have to get over that. All we are after graduation are weapons, and it’s best if we’re honed before leaving the gates.”
he's got a point...You're literally training to go to war...
Now, can you push through it, or do you need me to carry you?” “That sounds like an insult, not an offer.” “You’re catching on.” But his pace slows to match mine.
hahahahahaha
And I’m not even going to touch why he needed to haul us all the way to Tairn when I can chat with him anytime I want. Unless he wants to talk to Tairn, which is…ballsy.
lol isn't it though?!
“Yes, I want a word. What the hell kind of powers are you channeling to her?” Xaden demands, staring up at Tairn like he isn’t…Tairn. Yep. Ballsy.
wait...Violet didn't relay that question?...
“None of your business what I choose or do not choose to channel toward my rider,” Tairn answers with a growl. This is going well. “He says—” I start. “I heard him,” Xaden counters, not sparing me a glance. “You what?” My eyebrows hit my hairline, and Andarna retreats to stand with the others. Dragons only talk to their riders. That’s what I’ve always been taught.
ooooooo interesting....
“Do not dare to try and read me, human, or you’ll regret it.” Tairn’s mouth opens, his tongue curling in a motion I know all too well.
second read: Tairn knows?! I thought he didn't know?!!!
“She talked to me.” “I know. I heard.” He folds his arms across his chest. “It’s because they’re mates. It’s the same reason I’m chained to you.”
YES!!!! that's awesome! they can all talk to eachother!!!
“Nature likes all things in balance,” Andarna says like she’s reciting facts, just like I do when I’m nervous. “That’s the first thing we’re taught.” I pivot to face the golden dragon, repeating what she said to Xaden.
I guess Andarna is not included in the group chat 😅 she's not Sgaeyls mate so makes sense.
“But I gave my gift directly to you. Because I’m still a feathertail.”
wait...are feathertails babies/children?
“I am not!” Andarna puffs steam into the air. “I’m two! The hatchlings can’t even fly!”
she's only TWO?!!!
It’s odd to imagine Xaden ever not being in control. Hell, I’d pay good money to see him lose it. To be the one he lost it with. Nope. I shut that thought down immediately.
😏 no no...please... continue that thought...
“I made time stop.” Her mouth drops open into another jaw-cracking yawn. “But only for a little bit.” Wait. What? My stomach hits the ground as I stare into Andarna’s golden eyes and forget the pain, the solid earth beneath my feet, even the need to breathe as shock rolls through me, robbing me of logic. No one can stop time. Nothing can stop it. It’s…unheard of.
badass.
“You can stop time?” “And now we can stop it.” She blinks slowly, and I can feel exhaustion wafting off her. Channeling that gift to me tonight cost her. She can barely keep her eyes open. “In small increments,” I whisper. “In small increments,” Xaden echoes slowly, like he’s absorbing the information.
so you both can access that power. so Andarna didn't just give it to Violet, they both have it.
