Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

“Lead on!” Quinn orders, and we all jump about a foot in the air. “Shhh!” Imogen hisses. “Some of us can get caught, you know.” “Right. Sorry.” Quinn cringes.

“You’re doing great,” Andarna assures me in the happiest of tones. I swear, nothing bothers her. She’s the most fearless kid I’ve ever met, and I grew up with Mira.

“And how do we know this map is, in fact, current?” Kaori asks, holding his reclaimed journal under one arm. There’s no stopping the smile that spreads across my face. “Because we stole it from General Sorrengail’s office.”

Xaden tilts one corner of that beautiful mouth and tips an imaginary hat to me, bowing his head for a heartbeat before bringing his gaze back to hold mine. Satisfaction fills every ounce of my being as I smile up at him.

“I’m fine,” she promises, then grins. “And look at you! You didn’t die!” Irrational, giddy laughter bubbles up. “I didn’t die! You’re not an only child!” We both burst into laughter, and tears track down my cheeks. “Sorrengails are weird,” I hear Imogen state. “You have no idea,” Dain answers, but when I turn to look, his lips are curved into the first genuine smile I’ve seen from him in months. “Shut up, Aetos,” Mira barks,

I run into Mira so hard that I bounce backward.

“Don’t even start with that.” She looks at me, then Rhiannon, then back at me again before groaning. “Oh, fucking fine.” Her finger comes out swinging when we both grin. “But if you even think about telling anyone, I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your natural life.” “She means it,” I whisper. “I believe it,” Rhiannon answers.

“Only what we need. Like, I could have sworn I saw a riot of dragons across the border during this attack.”

a riot of dragons

“Have you been stationed with any riders of mated pairs?” I ask Mira as I close the door behind us. “One,” she answers, her eyes narrowing on the darkened path in front of the house. “Why?” “I’m just wondering how long they can be separated.” “Turns out, about three days is their max.” Xaden steps out of the shadows.

“Turns out, about three days is their max.” Xaden steps out of the shadows.

“We can pretend I’m not here, just for the sake of the exercise.” Xaden sets his dragon on the table and leans back in his chair, draping his arm across the back of mine, a move that makes Dain grit his teeth. “Give Aetos here the position we all know he craves.”

“Don’t be a dick,” I whisper. “You haven’t even seen me start to be a dick.”

He turns, the golden flecks in his eyes catching the light, and I swear I hear him laughing in my mind, though his lips are closed, tilted in that pulse-quickening smirk of his.

He winks and turns back to the table. He. Fucking. Winked.

“Three days?” Dain fires back, leaning in. “You couldn’t make it three days?” “It has nothing to do with him,” I interrupt, setting my dragon down with a little more force than necessary. “That’s up to Tairn and Sgaeyl.” “You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?” I crook my right arm and jab it into Xaden’s biceps. He doesn’t mean that. Not when he’s still adamant that kissing me was a mistake. And if he does… I’m not going there. “Now, now, you’ll give our little communication secret away if you can’t keep from being so…violent.” He barely restrains a smile, obviously loving that he gets the last word.

“You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?” I crook my right arm and jab it into Xaden’s biceps. He doesn’t mean that. Not when he’s still adamant that kissing me was a mistake. And if he does… I’m not going there. “Now, now, you’ll give our little communication secret away if you can’t keep from being so…violent.” He barely restrains a smile, obviously loving that he gets the last word.

“Do you boys just want to whip it out and measure? It would be faster.” Liam smothers a laugh, but his shoulders shake. “Enough!” Mira slams her hands on the table. “Oh, come on, Sorrengail,” the rider down the table whines with a wide smile. Both Mira and I look his way. “I mean…the older Sorrengail. This is the best entertainment we’ve had in ages.”

“You stop ignoring that you have an incredibly powerful shadow wielder at your disposal and ask him to black out the area so no one sees you land.” “She’s not wrong,” Mira agrees, but her words are clipped. “You can do that?” Dain begrudgingly looks at Xaden. “Are you seriously asking?” Xaden retorts.

“Relax. It’s just me.” A ghost of a touch skims my cheek. Just him is slightly…terrifying.

“I can surround this entire outpost, but I think that might freak some people out,” Xaden says, and the shadows disappear, racing back under the table.

“I hope you didn’t get any ideas while we were in the dark there,” Xaden teases, and just like that, my sympathy for the ass evaporates. I don’t bother to face him, just raise one finger. He chuckles, and I grit my teeth.

“Well, it’s a pain in my ass right now.” I miss Andarna.

“Sound shield,” Dain says with a smile. “Nice.” “Shut up.”

don’t know what bug has crawled up your ass, Dain Aetos,

“And as for you.” She walks down two steps and pins Xaden with a glare. “Is this what she can expect next year?” “Aetos being an asshole?” Xaden asks, leaving his hands loose at his sides. “Probably.”

“I’m right here,” Xaden interrupts, rising to the same step to stand at my side. “In case you didn’t notice.” “You’re kind of hard to miss,” she retorts. “You’re not listening.” His voice lowers. “I. Am. Here. Tairn didn’t drag her back to Basgiath. He didn’t break through her shields and pour his emotions into her. He didn’t demand she fly across the fucking kingdom. Your sister is still right here. I’m the one who left my post, my position, and my executive officer in charge of my wing. She’s not missing out on shit.”

“She’s getting better,” Xaden offers, his voice calm and even. “The first few weeks were…disastrous.”

“You have to get to safety, Violet. I love you. Don’t die. I’d hate to be an only child.”

“You want me to trust you, Riorson? Get her the fuck out of here and find a way for her to keep her seat. We both know she’s dead if she doesn’t.”

I don’t want to even think about what he’s left behind in order to force me out faster.

“Almost there,” Tairn says. Xaden’s been stalling to give Tairn and Sgaeyl time to arrive. My heart sinks like a rock, pinning my feet in place. “I will hate you for this.” “Yeah.” He nods, a flash of pure regret crossing his face as he draws away. “I can live with that.” His hands fall away from my face and reach for my arms, lifting them so I’m shaped like a T. “Arms up. Hold tight.” “Fuck. You.”

Instead, Xaden walks into the hallway, holding two steaming pewter mugs as he heads straight for me. “Still hate me?” “Absolutely.”

“It’s coffee. Sgaeyl says you haven’t slept.” “It’s none of Sgaeyl’s business if I’m sleeping,”

“It’s none of Sgaeyl’s business if I’m sleeping,”

“Quit telling Sgaeyl about my sleep habits,” I grumble at Tairn. “I’m not dignifying that demand with a response.” “Andarna is my favorite.” Tairn snorts.

“Can’t know how to ruin someone without understanding them first,” he says quietly. I lift my gaze to find that his is already on me. “And is that still your plan?” Mira’s words have haunted me for two days. He flinches. “No.”

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.”

The next day, I ask him what his favorite food is in the middle of Battle Brief, using our mental connection. Pretty sure I hear him drop something at the back of the room before he answers. “Chocolate cake. Stop being weird.”

“Are you pushing for a reason?” Tairn asks. “Can you give me one not to?” “He cares for you. That’s already hard enough for him.”

“You are certainly—” My words die as Tairn comes into full view. He stands tall and proud at the front of our section, not bothering to give deference to Cath as Dain’s dragon, but it’s not his position that steals my breath. It’s the saddle strapped across his back that has me gawking. “I hear it’s all the fashion,” Tairn brags.

“I hear it’s all the fashion,” Tairn brags.

“He’s right, you know,” Xaden agrees as he approaches, and I briefly wonder where he’d gone that he’s back so quickly. “No one asked you.”

“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.

“The first models were unacceptable, and you had the gall to pinch my chest scales when clumsily assembling it this morning.”

“How was I to know the leather from the prototype wou...

“Theoretically?” “He wasn’t amenable to me giving it a test flight.” “You can ride me when the flesh rots off my bones, wingleader.”

“You can ride me when the flesh rots off my bones, wingleader.”

“Fuck, that stubborn, feisty look always makes me want to kiss you.” Xaden’s expression remains bland, bored even, but his eyes heat as his gaze drops to my mouth. “And you say this now, where people will see if you actually do.” My breath catches. “When did I ever give you the impression that I give a fuck what people think about me?” A corner of his mouth rises, and now it’s all I can concentrate on, damn him. “I only care what they think about you.”

“Consider my favor fulfilled.” “Is that a saddle?” I jump back from Xaden, but he doesn’t budge an inch as Dain interrupts, holding a giant yellow flag on a four-foot pole, his eyes wide as he stares at Tairn. “No, it’s a collar,”