Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

Garrick laughs, and Liam muscles Jack off the mat when he leaps at me. Jack’s boots squeak against the hardwood floor as he unsuccessfully fights to hold his ground, and Liam forces him from the gym.

“What the hell were you thinking, egging him on like that?” Dain marches toward me, disbelief raising his brows. “Oh, now you feel like talking to me?” I lift my chin, but it’s Xaden who fills my vision as he steps between us.

“You want to tell me why the fuck you’re not wearing that?” His tone is soft but deadly as he points toward the bench where my armor lies. “I have to wash it at some point.” “And you thought that would be a good idea during sparring?” His chest heaves, like he’s battling to keep control of himself. I’m just trying not to notice his chest or the heat he’s throwing off like a damned furnace. “I washed it before sparring, knowing it could dry while your guard dog keeps watch, as opposed to sleeping without it because we both know what happens behind locked doors around here.” “Not behind yours anymore.” His jaw ticks. “I made sure of it.” “Because I’m supposed to trust you?” “Yes.” A vein in his neck bulges. “And you make it so easy.” Sarcasm drips from my voice. “You know I can’t kill you. Fuck, Sorrengail, the entire quadrant knows I can’t kill you.” He leans into my space, eclipsing the rest of the room.

I want to throttle him, to shake some ever-loving sense into that beautiful head of his. He leans in so we’re almost nose to nose. “I am annoyingly aware of everything you do.”

What is it about Xaden that makes me tune out the rest of the world?

“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.”

His back.

“You held your own and controlled your temper,” Tairn says, an immense swell of pride flooding my chest. “She’s ready,” Andarna adds with a giddy jolt of joy that makes me instantly light-headed. “She’s ready,” he agrees.

I still can’t believe I made an ass of myself in front of my entire squad simply because Xaden decided to train shirtless.

Oh shit. This is…lust.

I look at him then. Really, honestly look at him. He’s more than handsome, with strong features and sky-blue eyes that are startlingly beautiful.

I have to get out of here before I make an epic mistake and take Tairn’s feelings out on Liam.

I fucking flee.

I have to get away from everyone until Tairn finishes…whatever he and Sgaeyl are doing.

“Yeah, well, the people who made that rule obviously weren’t bonded to Sgaeyl and Tairn, now were they?” A smirk lifts a corner of his mouth. Gods, I could stare at his lips forever. They are perfectly shaped and yet entirely too decadent for the slashing line of his jaw.

“Yeah. That happens.” His laugh holds a wicked edge, and I make the utterly unforgivable mistake of turning to see his smile. Xaden, while brooding and bossy, dangerous and lethal, is a toe-curling sight that makes my pulse quicken. But Xaden laughing, his head thrown back with a smile curving his mouth, is drop-dead beautiful.

“Liam? Why?” He pivots to face me, leaning against his shoulder. “Where the hell is your bodyguard?” “I’m my own bodyguard,” I counter, resting my cheek on the icy stone. “And he’s in bed.” “Your bed?” His voice is like a crack of lightning.

Is he jealous? That’s…oddly comforting.

“Ask me nicely.” He leans closer. “Have you always been this tall?” I blurt the first thing that comes to mind. “No. I was a child at some point.” I roll my eyes. “Ask me nicely, Violence,” he whispers.

Well…shit. “Right then. All right. Will you teach me to shield?” A smile curves his mouth, and my gaze drops to his lips. “Say please.” “Are you always this difficult?” “Only when I know I have something you need. What can I say, I like making you squirm. It’s like a sweet little slice of payback for what you’ve put me through these last couple of months.” He brushes the snow off my hair. “What I’ve put you through?” Unbelievable.

“As you prefer. Xaden?” I smile sweetly up at him and inch a little closer. “Would you pretty, pretty please teach me how to shield before I accidentally climb you like a tree and we both wake up with regrets?”

“And since you asked so nicely.” He adjusts his stance and brings both his hands up to my cheeks, cradling my face before sliding them back to hold my head. “Close your eyes.” “It requires touching me?” My eyes flutter shut at the sensation of his skin against mine. “Not at all. Just one of the perks of not thinking too clearly. You have incredibly touchable skin.”

Desire makes my heart pound, and I grab on to Xaden’s arms, anchoring myself in reality. “You’ve got this.” His voice sounds strained.

“You’ve got this.” His voice sounds strained.

Xaden studies me with an intensity that makes me sway toward him. “You are astonishing.” He shakes his head. “I couldn’t do that for weeks.”

The emotion swelling through me is more than joy. It’s euphoria that has me grinning like a fool. I’m finally not only good at something, but astonishing. His thumbs stroke over the soft skin under my ears, and his gaze drops to my mouth and heats.

He groans and my core melts at the sound. “Kissing you would be a cataclysmic mistake.” “Calamitous.” What would it take to hear that groan again?

“We’ll both regret it.” He shakes his head, but there’s more than hunger in his eyes as he stares at my lips.

He shakes his head, but there’s more than hunger in his eyes as he stares at my lips.

Regretting is a problem for future Violet. “Fuck it.” One second he’s out of reach and the next his mouth is on mine, hot and insistent. Gods, yes. This is exactly what I need. I’m trapped between the immovable stone of the wall and the hard lines of Xaden’s body, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. The thought should sober me, but all I do is lean in for more. He tunnels a hand through my hair, cradling the back of my head, angling me for a deeper kiss, and my lips part eagerly. He takes the invitation, sliding his tongue along mine with expert, teasing strokes that have me clutching at his chest, fisting the material of his shirt to pull him closer as desire dances up and down my spine. He tastes like churam and mint, like everything I’m not supposed to want and yet can’t help needing, and I kiss him back with everything I have, sucking on his lower lip and scraping my teeth over him. “Violence,” he moans, and the sound of the nickname on his lips makes me ravenous. Closer. I need him closer. As though he can hear my thoughts, he kisses me harder, claiming every line and curve of my mouth with a reckless edge that makes my body sing. He’s just as needy as I am, and when he shifts his grip to my ass and picks me up, I wrap my legs around his waist and hold on like my life depends on this kiss never ending. The wall digs into my back, but I don’t care. My hands are finally in his hair and it’s just as soft as I imagined. He kisses me until I feel thoroughly devoured an...

“I finished this for you,” Liam says, handing me a figurine as we climb the wide spiral staircase to the third floor. It’s Tairn. He’s even mastered his snarl. “This is…incredible. Thank you.”

Gods, Xaden looks good today,

Xaden’s first smile to the last brush of his lips, and I shove them away.

He looks from me to Ridoc. “Guard her like you’re me.” “You mean like I’m six inches taller and built like a bull?” Ridoc gives him a thumbs-up. “Sure.

a red rim around his eyes

It’s Xaden. His hair is tousled, like he’s been tugging at it, and he’s flipping a dagger end over end, catching it by the tip without so much as looking at it before sheathing it at his side. “Oranges?”

“Eleven on one side and nineteen on the other.” He arches a dark brow and leans forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “You turned oranges into a weapon, Violence?”

“I had it made for you.” His lips curve slightly.

The ease with which he has me on my back is simultaneously appalling and…ridiculously hot, especially with the weight of his hips settled between my thighs. It takes all my willpower not to reach up and brush the stray lock of hair from his forehead. It was a mistake. Well, if that memory doesn’t cool me right off.

“You won’t like what happens if you push me.” “Or maybe I will.” I turn just enough that my lips brush the shell of his ear.

He jerks up, and the heat in his gaze makes me all too aware of everywhere our bodies connect. “Disarm me before I test that theory in front of everyone in this gym.”

I suck in a breath, the move shocking me to my toes and lodging him firmly between my thighs. It takes everything I have not to arch up against him and see if he really thinks that kiss was a mistake. “Not fair to use your powers on the mat.” Magical. Sexual. Whatever. It’s all unfair.

February flies by in a blur of exhaustion. Xaden takes every unscheduled moment of my day, and Dain’s gritted his teeth more than once when the wingleader has pulled me out of squad training because he has something infinitely more important for me to do. Which usually ends with me getting my ass handed to me repeatedly on the mat.

Which usually ends with me getting my ass handed to me repeatedly on the mat.

You need to learn how to stay on, and I need to learn why the hell it’s so hard for you,”

BAHHAH

“Dragon relationships are absolutely incomprehensible,” I murmur. “Yeah? You should try a human one sometime. Just as vicious, but less fire.” He mounts with an ease I envy. “Now let’s go.”

I swear, the bruises on my ass from landing in the hard divot hurt less than Tairn’s scoff that I’d humiliated his entire family line as we crossed the finish line last.

Fourth Wing!”

“And don’t you dare let me see you trying to haul a dragon back here. They’ll incinerate you out of sheer annoyance.”

“We could steal Panchek’s underw—” Ridoc starts before Rhiannon slams her hand over his mouth. “And that’s why we don’t let you lead.” She arches a brow at him.