Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

“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. He looses a breath, his shoulders dipping. “It doesn’t matter to me as long as you’re both consenting, and trust me, you’re in no condition to consent.”

Yes jealousy

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 violet put him through = temptation. He fell first Ahhh he wants her right? Finally the romance part of the fantasy or maybe just lust

“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.”

Overcome with need to touch hah

“Damn it. Touching you was a bad idea.” “The worst,” I agree, but my tongue skims my lower lip. 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?

“Naturally,” I whisper. But knowing I’ll regret it doesn’t stop me from wanting it—wanting him. Regretting is a problem for future Violet. “Fuck it.”

Problems for future Michelle, I know how this feels

“This isn’t your want.” He tilts his head up at the sky. “That’s the fucking problem. And I can’t leave you out here on your own, so have just a little mercy on me and go.”

“You’d better get to class.” And then he squeezes my shoulder gently before walking away. I let out a shaky breath and turn back to the door for Carr’s class. The hallway is empty.

Can he get her memory through the layers of clothing/armor?

“Tell me I can break the promise,” Liam begs, and the pleading look in his eyes tells me exactly what a shitty position I’ve put him in. “The third-years are off doing third-year things,” I tell him as my toes touch the mat. “You can’t get him here in time, but I know what it means to you to keep your word. Especially with him. Go ahead.” He looks from me to Ridoc. “Guard her like you’re me.”

Ahhh Liam golden boy protector Liam

“Oranges,” I whisper to Ridoc as my body finally gives out. “He’s allergic to oranges.” I fall into nothingness.

Aha, citrus is vicious

It’s why you have to be sure that Violet enters the Scribe Quadrant. She’ll never be able to take a life.

Is it absolutely toxic that I’m attracted to this look on him? Probably. But one look, and my temperature rises.

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

I know exactly where his notes are—in the one location he spent the majority of his after-hours time. But there’s something about Tairn’s warning that makes me simply unable to tell them.

“You’re more than aware that Sgaeyl and Tairn are mated.” “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?”

What had Sgaeyl said about signets? It reflects who you are at the core of your being. It makes sense. Mira is protective. Dain has to know everything. And Xaden…has secrets.

But whatever is going on between the two of you”—that finger swings between Dain and me—“is fucking up your squad. If I can see it after four days with you, then they sure as hell can tell. And if I’d known that you were going to be such a hard-ass with zero flexibility for the things she can’t control, I never would have told her to find you after crossing the parapet.”

Tell it to him straight mira

The kiss is reckless and consuming, and I give it my all, knowing it might be the last one. His tongue licks into my mouth with an urgency I return, angling to take him deeper.

“Leave for me, Violet.”

“What changed?” Frustration tightens my grip on the mug. “When exactly did you decide not to ruin me?” “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?”

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.” I grin.

Tairn roars with the unmistakable sound of pride. “Lightning wielder.”

Does her mom command storms She is like Zeus. Idk why but I got goosebumps because Tairn is proud

“I’m proud you’re mine.” Andarna’s voice wavers, the blinks of her eyes becoming slower. “Even if I need a bath.”

Cute

“Because I can’t seem to stay away.”

“Because I only want you, Xaden.”

“I always fucking want you.”

“You walk into a room, and I can’t look away. I get anywhere near you, and this is what happens. Instantly hard. Fucking hell, I can barely think when you’re around.”

And it’s not taking advantage when I’m asking”—my teeth nip at his lips—“correction, begging you to make my day better.”

“And this mouth. All I ever want to do is kiss you, even when you piss me off.”

“Fuck, Violet,” he groans, slipping his hand between my thighs. Never mind. That is how I want him to say my name from now on. Just like that.

“Fuck, I’m never going to get enough of you, am I?”

“Don’t fall for me.”

Ha too late

“I thought you did it the first night Tairn channeled power to you, but I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t say anything.” “Really?” I blink, thinking back, but my brain is full of a pleasant, dull hum as sleep fights to pull me under. “When?” My eyes drift shut. His arms tighten around me as he tucks me closer, the backs of my thighs pressed tight against his pants as I start to drift off. “The first time you kissed me.”

I couldn’t figure out who said fuck it and who kissed who. But clearly violet kissed xaden first

“Get stronger in wielding, and you’ll be able to do it, too. There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, Violence.”

“Then I guess I’ll ignore the memory of how hot and slick you feel around my cock, and how you cry out for more until all I can think about is how to push every physical limit to be exactly what you need.”

You can only respect what I choose to do. So we’re not doing this again until I want to risk my heart. And if I fall, then that’s my problem, not yours. You’re not responsible for my choices.”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

remembering how his hips pinned mine to the mat after everyone had left for the night. How close we both came to giving in to the pulsing need between us. His jaw flexes, and his grip tightens on his fork. “Seriously. I can’t think when you look at me like that.”

“Told you to stop staring.” There’s laughter in his voice, but his face is as expressionless as ever. I tap my fork on my plate in pure frustration. You know what? Fuck this. Two can play at this game. “If you’d just man up and admit there’s something between us, I would strip down to my skin so you could see every single inch of me. And once I had you begging, I’d drop down to my knees, undo those flight leathers you’re wearing, and wrap my lips around—” Xaden chokes. Every head in the dining hall turns his way, and Garrick pounds on his back until Xaden waves him off, taking a drink of his water. I grin, which earns me about six looks of confusion from our table and one set of rolled eyes from Liam. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Only if you do. I want to be wherever you are.” And I mean it. Everyone else—everything else in the world can fall away and I won’t care as long as I’m with him.

His brow furrows, and he pulls me in closer against the warmth of his body. “Then what made you even think that? Have to admit, it pissed me off. I’ve given you exactly zero reasons to think I’m in anyone else’s bed.” Which means he’s only in mine.

“But on the sparring mat…” My eyes widen. “She has a thing for Garrick.”

No I have a thing for Garrick hah

He grumbles, dragging his gaze back to mine. “I saw Aetos kiss you after Threshing and nearly lost my shit.”

“I’ve wanted you from the first second I saw you, Violence,”

“One. Two.” I hold up my fingers. “Three.” He’s on his feet in a heartbeat, and then his mouth is on mine, and I stop counting. I’m too busy chasing the strokes of his tongue, feeling the ripple of his muscles beneath my fingertips, to give a shit where my clothes are going.

Yeah, that’s a plan I can get with. “You already have me.”

Dain looks horrified for a second but quickly masks it. “If he’s what you choose…” He sighs. “Then I guess that has to be enough for me, doesn’t it?” “Yes.” I nod. Thank gods all this nonsense is about to be past us. He swallows hard and leans in to whisper, “I’ll miss you, Violet.”

Masking it quickly, you are slightly sus

“We lost a village in the vicinity to a horde of venin two days ago. They decimated everything.” I startle, my eyes flying wide. She just said what? “Venin never come this far west,” Imogen says from my left. Venin. Yep, that’s what they both said. What the actual hell? I’d think someone was fucking with me if not for the two enormous gryphons looming behind the pair of riders. But no one is laughing.

“Venin are the stuff of fables. Like the book my father—” I blink. The letter. What had he written? Folklore is passed from one generation to the next to teach us about our past.

Not because I believe him, not yet, but because he’s not trying to convince me. The truth rarely needs effort,