Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)

by Rebecca Yarros

It takes all the willpower in my body not to reach for my chest and make sure he didn’t just rip my heart out from behind my ribs, which makes absolutely zero sense, since I feel the same way about him.

gripping my elbow and yanking me out of the path of another rider running from the other direction. Yesterday, he would have let me run headfirst into him.

“Tairn’s bonds are so powerful, both to mate and rider, because he’s so powerful. Losing his last rider nearly killed him, which, in turn, nearly killed Sgaeyl. Mated pairs’ lives are—”

“Each time a dragon chooses a rider, that bond is stronger than the last, which means that if you die, Violence, it sets off a chain of events that potentially ends with me dying, too.”

“So yeah, unfortunately for everyone involved, there’s now an us if the Empyrean lets Tairn’s choice stand.”

I’m tethered to Xaden Riorson.

“Tairn is one of the strongest dragons on the Continent, and the vast power he channels is about to be yours. The next few months, the unbonded will try to kill a newly paired rider while the bond is weak, while they still have a chance of that dragon changing its mind and picking them so they’re not set back a full year. And for Tairn? They’ll do just about anything.”

“There are forty-one unbonded riders for which you are now target number one.”

“And Tairn thinks you’ll play bodyguard.” I snort. “Little does he know just how much you dislike me.” “He knows exactly how much I value my own life,” Xaden retorts, glancing down my body. “You’re freakishly c...

“It’s a typical Wednesday for me.” I shrug, ignoring the way his...

“Codagh has relayed that the dragons have spoken regarding the Sorrengail girl.” Lesser magic allows his voice to magically amplify over the field for all to hear.

“While tradition has shown us that there is one rider for every dragon, there has never been a case of two dragons selecting the same rider, and therefore there is no dragon law against it,”

“As it should be,” Tairn grumbles. “Humans have no say in the laws of dragons.”

If they don’t manage to kill one of us while our bonds are weak in the next few months and try to bond our dragons themselves.

I belong to Tairn and Andarna…and, in some really fucked-up way…Xaden.

“It’s beautiful,” I whisper. I’m marked by their magic as a rider now, as their rider.

“You have to know that I would do anything to save you, Violet, to keep you safe,” he blurts, panic in his eyes.

“You have to know how I feel about you.” His thumb strokes over my cheek, his eyes searching for something, and then his mouth is on mine.

If I were anywhere else, I would call for crutches, but that would just put another target on my back, and according to Xaden, I already have a big enough one as it is.

“I was told last night that all the less desirable duties were being handed off to the unbonded so our energy can be redirected for flight lessons.”

I can’t always count on taking every enemy down with poison, but I’m not going to ignore the only advantage I have here, either.

Have to say, the first-year rooms aren’t as spacious as the second-years’, but at least we both got ones with windows.

“It’s not like that with us. I’d always hoped it would be, but when he kissed me—there was nothing there. Like. Nothing.” It’s impossible to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“I’m the weakest link, right? Unfortunately for me, that means people are bound to try and take me out for the good of the wing.”

but there’s no satisfaction in watching Jack struggle. Feral dogs bite harder when they’re cornered.

“Hi.” I wave awkwardly as she walks away, then turn to whisper to Ridoc and Rhiannon. “She hasn’t spoken to me since I took one of her daggers in that challenge.”

“The morning after Threshing is always a clusterfuck. Power balance shifts, and you, little Sorrengail, are now about to be the most powerful rider in the quadrant. Anyone with common sense is going to be scared of you.”

I’m personally a fan of the first ones we’ve been given. I had to sew the flame-shaped patch with the emblem for Fourth Wing and the centered, reddish number two with great care, being sure to only stitch the fabric of my corseted armor, since it’s not like any needle is going to penetrate the scales. My favorite patch, though, is the one beside the Flame Section one. We’re the squad to have the most surviving members since Parapet, this year’s Iron Squad.

“She’s right. You’re going to need all your strength to ride, especially with a dragon as big as Tairn.”

“You can trust her,” Tairn says, and I startle, dropping the orange. “She hates me.” “Stop arguing with me and eat something.”

“Good. We can’t afford her to lose any challenges,” Imogen retorts. “But I’m going to help you with weights. We need to strengthen the muscles around your joints before challenges resume. That’s the only way you’ll survive.”

“And since when do you care about my survival?” This isn’t a squad thing. It can’t be. Not when she didn’t give a shit before.

The only reason he’d be remotely worried—he knows. He knows my fate is tethered to Xaden’s.

My gaze snaps to Xaden, and my chest tightens. So. Freaking. Beautiful. Apparently my body doesn’t care that he’s as dangerous as they come in the quadrant, because heat rushes through my veins, flushing my skin.

Gods, is there any part of my body that doesn’t physically react to the sight of him?

He glances toward Imogen and back to me, and that’s all it takes for me to know for certain. He’s ordered her to help train me. Xaden Riorson is now in the business of keeping his mortal enemy alive.

No names. No patches. Nothing that could give us away if we’re separated from our dragons behind enemy lines. Just a lot of sheaths for weapons.

“No you wouldn’t, because you didn’t. You stayed and defended Andarna.”

She’s quieter in my head, too, not as meddlesome as Tairn. “I heard that. Now pay attention.”

I bite back a smile, knowing he’ll find some way to annoy the shit out of every rider in the quadrant, not just his squad.

“You’re worthy. At least I think you are, but you apparently don’t pay attention in class.” He chuffs and a warm puff of steam blasts the back of my neck.

“And your dragons know that your bond is at its weakest point right now, so if you fall, if you fail, there’s a good chance your dragon might let you if it thinks the unbonded will be a better choice.” “Comforting,” I mutter.

Defeat just about swallows me whole. I’ve bonded the biggest—and certainly grumpiest—dragon in the quadrant, and yet he has to make accommodations for me.

“They’re accommodations for me. I’ve seen your memories. I’m not about to have you sticking daggers into my leg to climb up. Now let’s go.”

“Dragons pay no heed to your puny gods.”

that he’s taking everything Kaori is doing and making it harder.

“Watch me. Unless you’d rather be scraped off the glacier below like Gleann’s rider back there?”

“Gleann chose poorly. He never bonds strongly anyway.”

“That’s two rules.” I’m starting to think my first guess about them is right. With that kind of fierce loyalty, they have to be lovers.

The Archives smell like parchment, book-binding glue, and ink. They smell like home.