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“You are sad?” Andarna asks, her voice soft. “Just visiting the Archives. No need to worry,” I tell her. “It’s hard to love a second home as much as the first.” I swallow. “It’s easy when the second home is the right one.” And that is what the Riders Quadrant has become to me—the right home. The longing for the kind of peace and solitude I found only here can’t match the adrenaline rush of flight.
Ridoc grins, in all his glory telling the story. “And then the sword just twists in Sawyer’s hand, curving toward the third-year even though Sawyer was way off the mark.” He grimaces in Sawyer’s direction. “Sorry, man, but you were. If your sword hadn’t decided to warp and go straight for that guy’s arm—” “You’re a metallurgist?” Quinn’s eyebrows rise. “Really?” Holy crap, Sawyer can manipulate metals. I force down a little more turkey and openly stare at him. As far as I know, he’s the first of us to display any form of power, let alone a signet. Sawyer nods. “That’s what Carr says.
“You only fell about a dozen times that trip,” Tairn remarks as we land on the flight field. “I can’t tell if that’s a compliment or not.” I take deep breaths and try to calm my racing heart. “Take it as you wish.” I mentally roll my eyes and scoot out of the seat as he dips his shoulder so I can slide down his foreleg. The move has become so practiced that I barely even notice that other riders are capable of leaping to the ground or descending the proper way. “Besides, you could make it easier, you know.” “Oh, I know.” “I’m not the one putting us into spirals with steep banks while Kaori is
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“I’m not foolish enough to not know that I have something stuck in my flesh. And I wouldn’t ask Andarna to join us unless she requested it. She can’t keep up the speed, and it would only draw unwanted attention.” “I never get to see her,” I blatantly whine. “I’m always stuck with your grumpy ass.” “I’m always here,” Andarna answers, but there’s no flicker of gold. She’s most likely in the Vale as usual, but at least she’s protected there. “This grumpy ass just caught you a dozen times, Silver One.” “Eventually you could call me Violet, you know.”
“I know,” he repeats. “And I could call you Violence like the wingleader.” “You wouldn’t dare.” I narrow my eyes as I move forward, checking where his chest begins to rise. “And you know how much that ass annoys me.” “Annoys you?” Tairn chuckles above me, the sound like a chuffing cat. “Is that what you call it when your heart rate—” “Don’t even start with me.”
Even Tairn knows
“It’s just Dain.” I walk out from between Tairn’s forelegs when Dain pauses a dozen feet away. “Anger does not suit him.” He growls again, and a puff of steam hits the back of my neck.
“You’re a menace. Stop it,” I say. “Tell him if he harms you, I’ll scorch the ground where he stands.” “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Tairn.” I roll my eyes and walk to Dain, whose jaw is locked, but his eyes are wide with apprehension. “Tell him, or I’ll take it up with Cath.” “Tairn says if you harm me, he’ll burn you,” I say as dragons to the left and right launch skyward without their riders, headed back to the Vale. But not Tairn. Nope, he’s still standing behind me like an overprotective dad. “I’m not going to harm you!” Dain snaps. “Word for word, Silver One.” I blow a breath out slowly. “Sorry,
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Tairn is a whole mood
“Why didn’t you tell me you can’t keep your fucking seat?” he shouts at me, grabbing my elbow.
None of your business!
“Surely I would know if my best friend fell every fucking day that she flew!” “It’s not a secret!” Anger bubbles in my veins. “Everyone in our wing knows! I’m sorry if you haven’t been keeping tabs on your squad, but trust me, Dain. Everyone knows. And I’m not going to stand here while you lecture me like I’m a child.”
“It sounds worse than it is, Dain. I promise.” “Will you at least tell me what part of flight you have trouble with? At least let me help you.” “You want a list of my flaws?” I roll my eyes. “My thighs are too weak, but I’m building muscle. My hands can’t grip the pommel, but they’re getting stronger. It took weeks for my biceps to heal, so I’m training that one, too. But you don’t have to worry about me, Dain—Imogen is training me.”
“First, it was bending the rules to make it up the Gauntlet, and yes, Amber lit into me for an hour about how you acted dishonorably.” Dishonorably? Fuck this.
“This place cuts away the bullshit and the niceties, revealing whoever you are at your core.” I repeat his words from this summer. “Isn’t that what you said to me? Is this who you really are at your core? Someone so enamored with rules that he doesn’t know when to bend or break them for someone he cares about? Someone so focused on the least I’m capable of doing, he can’t believe I can do so much more?” The warmth drains from his brown eyes. “Let’s get one thing straight, Dain.” I take a step closer, but the distance between us only widens. “The reason we’ll never be anything more than friends
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That's right, you tell him!
“Start mentally reciting whatever bookish shit you’ve learned.” “I’m sorry?” I hiss up at him. “If you value your secrets, clear your thoughts. Now,” Xaden orders. Oh. Shit.
“WAKE.” A familiar, consuming voice rumbles through the Archives. A voice that doesn’t belong here.
“Wake before you die!” The bookshelves in the Archives tremble, and my heart jolts. “Now!” My eyes fly open, and I gasp as the dream disintegrates. I’m not in the Archives. I’m in my room in the Riders— “Move!” Tairn bellows.
“Get away from the wall! Don’t let them trap you!”
The window! “It’s too high. You’ll fall to the ravine, and I can’t get there fast enough!”
The rest of my weapons are stored near the door. Shit. Shit. Shit. “No more throwing things. Keep ahold of that weapon!”
“He’s almost there!” Tairn promises, panic lacing his tone. He who? I can’t breathe. Can’t think.
He who? Xaden?
My bedroom door flies open, the wood splintering as it slams against the stone wall, but I don’t have a chance to turn to see who is standing there before a shriek pierces my vision. “Mine!” Andarna screams. Skin-prickling energy zings down my spine, then rushes to my fingertips and toes, and the next breath I take is in total, complete silence. “Go!” Andarna demands. I blink and realize the first-year in front of me doesn’t. She isn’t breathing. Isn’t moving. No one is. Everyone in this room is frozen in place…except me.
Wait. What just happened??
In response to the Great War, dragons claimed the western lands and gryphons the central ones, abandoning the Barrens and the memory of General Daramor, who nearly destroyed the Continent with his army. Our allies sailed home and we began a period of peace and prosperity as the provinces of Navarre united for the first time behind the safety of our wards, under the protection of the first bonded riders. —Navarre, an Unedited History by Colonel Lewis Markham
Not that I wouldn’t climb the man like a tree if presented with the right set of circumstances.
“That’s why I chose you.” Andarna’s head flops against Tairn’s leg. How could I not see it before now? Her rounded eyes, her paws…
Her's just a baby
Accusing a wingleader of wrongdoing is the most dangerous of all accusations. If you’re right, then we’ve failed as a quadrant to select the best wingleaders. If you’re wrong, you’re dead. —My Time as a Cadet: A Memoir by General Augustine Melgren
Commandant Panchek’s Green Clubtail and Amber’s Orange Daggertail.
Don’t freak out if you can’t immediately channel your dragon’s powers, Mira. Yeah, I know you have to be the best at everything, but this isn’t something you can control. They’ll channel when they feel you’re ready. And once they do, you’d better be ready to manifest a signet. Until then, you’re not ready. Don’t push it. —Page sixty-one, the Book of Brennan
The first rush of power is unmistakable. The first time it forms to you, surrounds you with a seemingly endless supply of energy, you’ll be addicted to the high, to the possibilities of all you can do with it, to the control you hold in the palm of your hand.But here’s the thing, that power can quickly turn and control you. —Page sixty-four, the Book of Brennan
“Have you always been this tall?” I blurt the first thing that comes to mind. “No. I was a child at some point.”
“Violence,” he moans, and the sound of the nickname on his lips makes me ravenous.
The most worrisome sight for any instructor is most definitely when powers backfire. We lost nine cadets my first year to signets that could not be controlled from their first manifestation. Pity. —Major Afendra’s Guide to the Riders Quadrant (Unauthorized Edition)
His sadistic grin and a red rim around his eyes are all I can see as he forces more and more power into my body, but his hands are occupied and he’s too obsessed with his victory to hear that I’ve stopped screaming, to see that I’m moving.
What the fuck does this mean?
I know you don’t want to hear this, but sometimes you have to know when to take the death blow, Mira. It’s why you have to be sure that Violet enters the Scribe Quadrant. She’ll never be able to take a life. —Page seventy, the Book of Brennan
I shouldn’t be saying these things. These are the thoughts families keep behind their doors so they can wear their polished, perfect reputations like armor when in public.
Hit like a ton of bricks
The Squad Battle is more important than the wingleaders will let on. They like to joke that it’s a game, that it’s just bragging rights for the squad leaders and the winning squad, but it’s not. They’re all watching. The commandant, the professors, the commanding officers—they’re watching to see who will rise to the top. They’re salivating to see who will fall. —Page seventy-seven, the Book of Brennan
There is no stronger bond than that between two mated dragons. It goes beyond the depth of human love or adoration to a primal, undeniable requirement for proximity. One cannot survive without the other. —Colonel Kaori’s Field Guide to Dragonkind
For valor above and beyond the call of duty in the battle of Strythmore, where her bravery resulted not only in the destruction of a battery behind enemy lines but also saved the lives of an entire company of infantry, I recommend Mira Sorrengail receive the Star of Navarre. But if the criterion is not met, which I assure you it has been, downgrading to the Order of the Talon would be a shame, but sufficient. —Recommendation for Award from Major Potsdam to General Sorrengail
“Because there’s nothing you can do about it.” I force a wry smile. “There’s nothing anyone can do about the way I’m made.”
Accepting who you are
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.
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
It’s the saddle strapped across his back that has me gawking. “I hear it’s all the fashion,” Tairn brags.
“I can’t use that.” I shake my head. “It’s not allowed.” “I decide what’s allowed and what’s not,” Tairn growls, lowering his head to my level and blasting me with a chuff of steam. “There is no rule that says a dragon cannot modify their seat to serve their rider. You have worked just as hard—if not harder—than every rider in this quadrant. Just because your body is built differently than the others doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to keep your seat. It takes more than a few strips of leather and a pommel to define a rider.”
Crying
“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.”
Orange Scorpiontail—Baide. Jack.
I am the sky and the power of every storm that has ever been. I am infinite.
“Lightning wielder.”
The death of a cadet is an inevitable yet acceptable tragedy. This process thins the herd, leaving only the strongest riders, and as long as the cause of death does not break the Codex, any rider involved in extinguishing another’s life shall not be punished. —Major Afendra’s Guide to the Riders Quadrant
“You need to get some rest, don’t you?” “I’m proud you’re mine.” Andarna’s voice wavers,
“We’re riders,” he says, as if that’s explanation enough. He takes hold of my hands and brings them to his chest. “So do whatever you need to get it out. You want to yell? Yell at me. You want to hit something? Hit me. I can take it.” Hitting him is the last thing I want to do, and suddenly, I’m done fighting it. “Come on,” he whispers. “Show me what you’ve got.” I surge up on my toes and kiss him.
Though not forbidden, cadets are strongly encouraged not to develop strong romantic attachments while studying in the quadrant for the efficiency of the unit. —Article Five, Section Seven The Dragon Rider’s Codex
He nips at my skin. “I’m not sweet. 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.”
