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Or it had to have been marked classified. I just missed it.
carving yet another dragon,
“I am annoyingly aware of everything you do.”
thundering desire remains.
rising tide of lust thundering through me.
“We’ll both regret it.” He shakes his head, but there’s more than hunger in his eyes as he stares at my lips.
I surrender completely, melting into him, my body going pliant against his and losing that mental foothold he calls grounding. A flash of light burns behind my closed eyes, followed by the boom of thunder. Thunder-snow isn’t uncommon around here, but damn does it summarize how this feels, wild and out of control.
“And I refuse to act on desire that isn’t yours. So you have to walk back up those steps. Now.”
“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.”
“Look, you don’t know everything there is to know about Xaden, Vi. I have a higher security clearance due to my signet, and you need to be careful. Xaden has secrets, reasons to never forgive your mother, and I don’t want him to use you to get his revenge.”
Professor Carr raises his bushy white brows at me when we approach where he’s positioned at the front of the room, dominating the space by doing nothing more than standing there. The man isn’t just imposing, he’s intimidating as fuck.
I study the blade in his hand. It’s beautiful, with a solid black hilt engraved with Tyrrish knots, old, mythical runes of intricate swirls and ties. The blade itself is clearly honed to lethal perfection. “It’s spectacular.” “It’s yours.”
“I know how to handle you on top of me,” I challenge quietly. He lowers his mouth to my ear. “You won’t like what happens if you push me.”
Xaden stiffens at my side as Mom steps out of the stairwell. Oh shit.
“No.” The single word from Tairn rumbles through my entire body. “Do not speak of it.”
Tairn knows mom isn’t to be trusted???
I remember your father doing a bit of research about the second Krovlan uprising, and he mentioned something about feathertails, but we can’t seem to find that tome.”
“She spent almost an entire year ignoring me when Dad died.”
For what? What happened?
These are the thoughts families keep behind their doors so they can wear their polished, perfect reputations like armor when in public.
“I have it at Montserrat. Figured you’d be pissed if you graduated and it was gone. I mean, whatever would you do if you forgot a minute detail of how the gallant riders took out the army of wyvern and the venin who sucked the land dry of magic?”
“Now you empathize with the villain?” I tease. “No.” She shakes her head. “But we have the kind of power people would kill for, Violet. Dragons and gryphons are the gatekeepers, and I’m sure that to someone jealous enough, ambitious enough, risking a soul would be a fair price for the ability to wield.” Her shoulders rise as she shrugs. “Just makes me glad our dragons are so discerning and our wards keep the gryphon riders at bay. Who the hell knows what kind of people those furry creatures choose?”
“You haven’t even seen me start to be a dick.” My head turns so fast that it swims, and my mouth drops open as I stare at the side of Xaden’s face. That was his voice…in my fucking head.
“You never considered that it was you I couldn’t stay away from?”
“You two have been best friends since you were five years old. Figure your shit out.”
“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.”
Xaden waits, his own pack slung over his shoulder. It looks considerably smaller than the one he arrived with, and I don’t want to even think about what he’s left behind in order to force me out faster.
Or was he giving something to someone…..
There’s so much compassion, so much understanding in his eyes, that when he lets go of my waist, I think he might just let me stay. Then his hands are on my cheeks, sliding back to cup the base of my neck as he brings his mouth to mine.
Winning the War Games isn’t about strength. It’s about cunning. To know how to strike, you have to understand where your enemies—your friends—are most vulnerable. No one stays friends forever, Mira. Eventually those closest to us become our enemies in some way, even if it’s through well-intentioned love or apathy, or if we live long enough to become their villains. —Page eighty, the Book of Brennan
“Can’t know how to ruin someone without understanding them first,” he says quietly.
“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.”
rider on this field, but I already am. “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.”
“The leather is a hazard on my chest if we take a fire attack, since your saddle would slide right off. But if you take a direct blast up there, sitting on a piece of metal isn’t going to save you.” I don’t bother pointing out that the only fire we’d be taking is from other dragons, which is a problem that doesn’t exist, since gryphons are all beak and claw. Instead, I find the straps for my thighs and buckle in.
Unless they know that WYVERNS are an issue too. Tairn. Xaden. I’m looking at you two.
my heart thunders
snatching Liam’s body from midair and taking out the rocks with the force of his tail as we barely escape death ourselves.
Foreshadowing?
A scream rips from my throat just as lightning splits the sky with a terrifying crack of thunder.
“Deigh says that he lives. The sword went through his side,” Tairn says.
Unless she’s lying and they have powers they are hiding too.
“Lightning. Your signet is lightning, isn’t it?” He looks at me with such intensity, as though my answer is the key to whatever he needs. “Yes.” His jaw flexes and his head bobs once. “I thought so, but I wasn’t sure until I saw you take that tower down.” He thought so? What the hell does that even mean?
Yeah, what does that mean? She’s violence! 😂 I do find it interesting that he still doesn’t really see her as destructive.
He leans down, his mouth only inches from mine. “And I’m telling you that I’m the last thing you need.”
Heat flares above me as thunder cracks immediately.
“I know.” He claims my mouth again and reaches between us, using those talented fingers to stroke me into another orgasm, and light flashes again, followed by thunder and darkness as I come apart under him.
Please don’t mistake any part of me for soft or kind. That will only get you hurt, and whatever you do…” He buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply. “Don’t fall for me.”
“Why did you guess I could wield lightning?” He stretches just enough to tuck my head under his chin. “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.”
Professor Carr stands in my hallway, his hair standing on end as he looks at me with scientific appraisal, then lifts his eyebrows as he stares past me into the wreckage of my room. “We have work to do.” “I have Archives duty,” I argue. He snorts. “You’re off Archives duty until we can be sure you’re not going to burn the place down. Lightning and paper don’t mix well. Trust me, Sorrengail, the scribes aren’t going to want you anywhere near their precious books, and from the looks of it, you can’t even control your powers in your sleep.”
“Exactly.” He studies me carefully, and I avoid meeting his eyes as I check the wrap on my knee to make sure it hasn’t slipped under my leathers. “It’s always intriguing to me how nature finds the balance.” “I’m not sure I know what you mean, Professor.”
“I’ll never understand why mind-reading is a death sentence.” I place my hand on Tairn’s leg like I can absorb his strength, even though I already feel it flowing through me. “Because knowledge is power. As a general’s daughter, you should know that. We can’t have someone walking around with unfettered access to classified material. They’re a security risk to the entire kingdom.” And yet Dain is living. “Because Aetos will be useful to them as long as they can keep him under their control.” Tairn blasts a puff of steam over my head, and the Orange Daggertail backs up even more. “His power is
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Yeah, but is it, or does he just say it is?
“And both times were the result of emotional reactions?” Tairn snorts, and I smack his foreleg with the back of my hand. “Yes.” “Well, then start there. Ground in your power and try to feel whatever it was you were feeling.” He goes back to his notebook. “Should I get the wingleader?” Tairn flat-out laughs in my head. “Shut up.”
😂😂😂
My Violet, By the time you find this, you’ll most likely be in the Scribe Quadrant. Remember that folklore is passed from one generation to the next to teach us about our past. If we lose it, we lose the links to our past. It only takes one desperate generation to change history—even erase it. I know you’ll make the right choice when the time comes. You have always been the best of both your mother and me. Love, Dad
The pages flutter as I flip through stories of an ancient kingdom that spanned from ocean to ocean and a Great War among three brothers who fought to control the magic in this mystical land. Some of the fables tell stories of the first riders who learned to bond with dragons and how those bonds could turn on the rider if they tried to consume too much power. Others talk of a great evil that spread across the land as man became corrupted by dark magic and turned into creatures known as venin who created flocks of winged creatures called wyvern and scourged the land of all magic in the thirst
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“We’re already too close for that, and if we hook up again, I’m going to eventually fall for you.” My heart pounds at the rushed confession, waiting for his response. “You won’t.” Something akin to panic flares in his eyes, and he crosses his arms. I swear I can actually see the man building his defenses against his own feelings. “You don’t really know me. Not at my core.” And whose fault is that? “I know enough,”
“I highly doubt you enjoy celebrating the anniversary of your brother’s death, either.” Liam holds himself with a dignity I could never imagine. “Brennan would hate all of this.” I gesture to the crowd. “He was more about getting the work done than celebrating its completion.” “Yeah, sounds like—” His words die, and I squeeze his arm tighter as I note the separating crowd before us.
Sounds like what, Liam? Like maybe you also know her brother????
“And your gift?” King Tauri asks Liam. “Farsight, Your Majesty,” Liam responds.
Do we think that Liam’s farsight might be him being a seer? Because I really don’t want things to be the end with him…. 🙃 also, I’m still sure ice is involved with him.
