Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Gateway to Relax
  • 6/14/2025
Transcript
00:00:00I will choose to invade enemy territory, which we don't, I will choose only as my first
00:00:03target.
00:00:04Take out Clifstein Academy and you take out ears of Griffin Rydens in one strike.
00:00:08Tactics, a personal member by Lieutenant L-Y-R-O-N-T-A-N-C-H-E-K.
00:00:13Chapter 25 W
00:00:16A race out of the cave and into the morning air, the rising sun hitting us in the face.
00:00:20Throwing up our hands to shield our eyes, we ran forward into the knee-high grass that
00:00:23spans the distance from the cliffs to the trees.
00:00:25Where did you get those knives?
00:00:27Rhiannon asks when we are halfway to the line of forks.
00:00:30Zayden, it doesn't even occur to me till I, he had them made for me.
00:00:33Well, this is an unexpected delight, Professor Grady says from behind.
00:00:37Us?
00:00:38We spin, and I draw two daggers.
00:00:40I'd rather visit Malik than go back into that chamber, but I will, for the final exam.
00:00:45Think about that later, ten for months.
00:00:47I'm fine, thanks for asking.
00:00:49Of course you are, I chose well.
00:00:52Professor Grady grins and sets down his mug as he rises from the chair that sits a few
00:00:55feet away from the door against the rocky cliff side.
00:00:58Rhiannon strides forward, lifting her sword in attack position with her right arm and extending
00:01:02her left hand.
00:01:03We'll take that patch now.
00:01:04Alexis?
00:01:05Dain doesn't look me in the eye at any point over the next few days, and I don't make effort
00:01:09to talk to him.
00:01:10What could I even say?
00:01:11Thank you for doing the only decent thing and not violating my privacy.
00:01:14I'm just saying that spending every weekend flying for Samara or hold up in your room
00:01:18with Rhiannon isn't good for you, the dog says as we climbed staircase of the academy
00:01:21wing with the crowd headed for battle grave.
00:01:23As of course too, I glance over to Minwins.
00:01:26His cheek is still black and blue.
00:01:28Thanks to Nolan, there's not a mark on me.
00:01:30It's anything but fair.
00:01:31We lost the first year, Tristan, to bond with practice while we were in interrogation
00:01:34and missed the formation where they called his name on the death row, too.
00:01:37That isn't fair, either.
00:01:39Being a normal second year and spending some time blowing off a little steam every now
00:01:43and then, saw answers for Redog from my other side.
00:01:45Ever since the interrogation, my squadmates have barely let me out of their side.
00:01:49I'm fine, I tell them both.
00:01:51This is just what happens when mated dragons bond to riders in different years.
00:01:5524 hours from now, I'll be in the saddle on my way to Zayden.
00:01:58It's why they usually don't do it, Redog matters.
00:02:01First squad lost someone, Rhiannon says, coming up behind us as we reach the second floor.
00:02:05They just came out of interrogation about an hour ago.
00:02:08Saurav's name will be on the death row tomorrow.
00:02:10My heart drops.
00:02:11The interrogation assessment has now taken two second years.
00:02:14The girl will dictate as four skills.
00:02:16Sawyer gapes at Rhiannon as she scoots between us.
00:02:18Yeah, she says quietly.
00:02:20A Scribecadet walks by, but I can't see who it is with the hood up.
00:02:23That's odd, usually they're only in the quadrant for death row or whenever Makum needs extra people.
00:02:28Did she break, Redog asks, or did they break her?
00:02:32I don't, Rhiannon's words stop shot, and so do we when two first swings forwards move off the wall and into our path.
00:02:37Can we help you?
00:02:38They're all sick in the years.
00:02:39I drop my hands to my sides, close to my daggers.
00:02:42You guys escaped, right?
00:02:44Caroline Ashton asks, lowering her voice.
00:02:46That's what people are saying about the new patch.
00:02:48She taps beside her own shoulder, where we now wear a circular, silver patch with a black key.
00:02:53It's a classified patch, Sawyer says.
00:02:55We just want to know how you did it, Caroline whispers as the crowd pushes by us on the side to get to the briefing room.
00:03:00Rumor is, it took them an entire day to reset the interrogation room after you guys.
00:03:04The fact that she calls it a room and not rooms lets me know no one is really talking.
00:03:08All we can tell you is the same advice you've already been given.
00:03:11Don't break, Rhiannon tells them.
00:03:13Stick together, I had, holding Caroline's gaze even when she narrows it on me.
00:03:17Shouldn't you all be in battle brief? Bodhi asks, his voice booming as he comes up behind us.
00:03:22One look sends the other squad scurrying for the door.
00:03:25Tan told me he felt STI why I get very angry last night.
00:03:28I say over my shoulder to Bodhi as we continue walking.
00:03:30Anything I should know about.
00:03:32Not that I'm aware of.
00:03:34We separate as we walk through the wide double doors into the briefing room.
00:03:37My squad mates and I start down the steps, but something is off.
00:03:40The usual hum of the briefing room is approaching a row of murmurs and outright exclamations as the death pick up or do to believe it's lying on every side.
00:03:46What's happening? Riddock asks.
00:03:49Not sure, I answer as we bypass the first deaths in a row and find our way to our seats.
00:03:54I pick up the half sheet of parchment on my chair and flip it over as my squad mates do the same.
00:03:59My knees weaken as I read the headline.
00:04:01Zolia falls to dragon fire.
00:04:03The third largest city in the Bravic province has fallen to the blue fire dragons and their riders.
00:04:08Though the city and its drifts fought valiantly, the two day battle ended in POROMIS itch to fade.
00:04:13All WHO did not evacuate have perished.
00:04:16An estimated 10,000 lives have been lost, including General Fenella, the commander of Bravic's GRYTHO and fled.
00:04:21All trade routes to the city have been barricaded to prevent further loss of life.
00:04:25Two days ago.
00:04:26My hand trembles and I twist around toward the back of the room, my gaze jumping from one third year to the next until I find Bodhi and Imogen.
00:04:32Oh gods, Rhiannon missteps beside me.
00:04:35Bodhi and Imogen exchange a panicked look, and then our gaze is collide.
00:04:38What the hell are we supposed to do?
00:04:40Bodhi's tense shake of his head tells me he doesn't know, either.
00:04:43Drawing the least amount of attention to myself seems prudent, so I turn back to face the map and slide into my seat.
00:04:49Is this real?
00:04:50Sawyer asks, turning over the parchment to examine it.
00:04:53Looks, real.
00:04:54Red Rock scratches the back of his neck as he sits.
00:04:56Is this some kind of test to see if he can discern official affirmation leaflets from propaganda?
00:05:00I don't think so, Rhiannon says slowly, staring at me.
00:05:04But my eyes are locked on the recessed floor in Professor De Vera, who has just been handed a leaflet.
00:05:09He is there who I think you are.
00:05:11Her eyes widen, but I only see them for a second before she turns to face the map, her head tilted back.
00:05:16I bet my life that she is staring right where I am now, at the little circle at the foot of the Yasmin Mountains along the stone-water river that marks where Zoya stands, stood.
00:05:23It's namely a fall flight from our border.
00:05:25Violet, Rhiannon's voice rises, like it's not the first time she's called my name.
00:05:30What is all the commotion this morning?
00:05:32Matam shouts over the briefing room as he descends the steps.
00:05:35Someone hands him a leaflet.
00:05:36What do you think?
00:05:37Rhiannon asks.
00:05:38I glance from my squadmates for roadbrows to leaflet in force throwing in my ears to quiet as I make a quick study of the parchment.
00:05:44Parchment looks like ours, but I've never personally seen any made outside the border.
00:05:48That's it is standard to every printing press I've ever seen.
00:05:51There's no seal, never in or poor roomish.
00:05:53I run my thumb over the larger, scrolling block letters of the headline, smudging the ink.
00:05:57It's less than 24 hours old.
00:05:59The ink hasn't cured.
00:06:00But is it real?
00:06:01Sawyer repeats his earlier question.
00:06:03The chances of someone hauling in all these leaflets from the border are next to nothing, I tell him.
00:06:08So if you are asking if it was printed in poor roomie.
00:06:10My head jerks up, and I see Matam's face blotched red as he says something to Caroline Ashton on the aisle.
00:06:15She jumps from her seat and runs up the stairs, disappearing through the door.
00:06:18It was printed here, I whisper, fear twisting my stomach into knots.
00:06:22Whoever did it is as good as dead if they left any trace.
00:06:25So it's not real, Sawyer lifts his eyebrows, the freckles on his forehead disappearing into the grooves of his skin.
00:06:31Just because it's printed here for public dissemination doesn't mean what's on it isn't real, I explain, but it also doesn't mean that it is.
00:06:38We wouldn't do this, Sawyer argues.
00:06:40There's no way we send a riot to annihilate a city of civilians.
00:06:43Attention, Matam shouts, his footstep cutting as he scribes down the steps.
00:06:48The noise doesn't dissipate.
00:06:49If someone was trying to get news out, they'd send one leaflet like this to the printing press to be approved by scribes.
00:06:54I tell my squad mates picky, knowing our time is short.
00:06:57Once approved, it would take hours to set the blocks to print unless multiple scribes work on it.
00:07:01But this isn't official, there's no seal, so either it's fake and printed for just this class, which is a lot of work, or it's real, and not approved.
00:07:08It's exactly what I would say if I didn't know the truth, and to be honest, I'm not certain this leaflet is the truth.
00:07:13Right is, Devira yells, turning to face us. Quiet! The room falls silent.
00:07:18Matam's at the front of the classroom now, his features cooled in a mask of serenity as he stands beside Professor Devira.
00:07:24If I didn't know him better, I'd say he was almost enjoying the chaos, but I do, and he's rubbing his forefinger against his thumb.
00:07:30No matter what he says next, this wasn't his plan.
00:07:33Apparently, he gestures to us, his palm facing upward, we are not ready for today's exercise.
00:07:38We were going to follow up on our discussion about propaganda, but I can see now that I overestimated your ability to judge a simple printing like this without hysteria.
00:07:45The insult is delivered in an emotional monotone.
00:07:48Suddenly, I feel fifteen again, myself word determined by this man's opinion of my intellect and control.
00:07:53Damn, Redox sags in his seat. That's, harsh. That's Markham, I say quietly, you think only writers can be vicious.
00:08:00Words are just as capable of eviscerating someone as a blade, and he's a master.
00:08:04On the off chance that we actually did this and someone leaked the information.
00:08:08Rhiannon asks, glancing my way, you know him better than...
00:08:11We do, what's his next move?
00:08:13First, I don't think we'd target civilians across the border.
00:08:16That's the truth, we just won't do anything to help them, either.
00:08:19But if he didn't print the leaflets, he'll discredit, deflect, then distract.
00:08:23As it is, we have two much more pressing matters to discuss, Mathun lectures, his tone's too cool.
00:08:28So, you will now pass all pieces of propaganda to the left, where they will be collected to discuss on a day when you're capable of being rational.
00:08:34A ripple passes over the room as everyone hurries to do as he asks.
00:08:38I'm reluctant to let mine go, but it's not worth drawing attention.
00:08:41Professor De Vera folds hers with quick, precise movements in pockets.
00:08:45It. Honestly, Mathun shakes his head, you should have been able to squat those leaflets' propaganda within seconds.
00:08:51This reddit, I have to admit, he's good. This pack frees the ends of the rows, and then the cadets hand them forward, the pile growing and growing as it descends toward the floor.
00:09:00When, in the history of Nava, have we ever flown a ride comprised only of blue dragons?
00:09:04He looks as over like we are children, like we've been found wanting.
00:09:08Clever, he's so fucking clever, with the leaflets collected, every cadet in the room will question the exact wording.
00:09:13Every cadet except the riders who know the meaning of that entire paragraph came down to the placement of the word fire.
00:09:18But as I said, Mathun claps his hands together and sighs.
00:09:21We'll return to this lesson when we're ready.
00:09:23Right now, our first order of business is here, and celebration is in order.
00:09:27Deflection complete, cue distraction.
00:09:30I wasn't sure this day would come, which is why I hope that you'll forgive us for keeping the months of Colonel Nolan's hard work a secret.
00:09:35We didn't want to disacquaint you if we could not pull off what will arguably be the greatest achievement of any men day in our history.
00:09:41Didn't want to disacquaint us, I barely managed to keep from rolling my eyes.
00:09:45Markham raises his hand toward the dog and smiles.
00:09:48He was crushed under the weight of a mountain a few months ago, but Nolan has mended bone after bone to returning to your quadrant.
00:09:53Crushed under the weight of a mountain?
00:09:55It can't be, my stomach hollows, and the noise of the room muffles under the sound of my own blood rushing through my ears to the cadence of the drum.
00:10:01No fucking way, Red Dog says, breaking through my panic.
00:10:0410, I can't bring myself to look.
00:10:06Checking now, the clip, 10 stone reminds me of Russell.
00:10:09Join me in welcoming back your fellow rider, Jack Barlow.
00:10:12Markham claps, the entire briefing room joins in, the loudest tears coming from first fingers two figures walk down the stairs.
00:10:17Breathe, in, out.
00:10:19I force air through my lungs as Rhiannon grasps my hand and holds tight.
00:10:22It's him, Rhiannon says.
00:10:24It's really him.
00:10:25You brought down an entire cliff on his and his ass.
00:10:28Sawyer clapped slowly, but it's only for sure.
00:10:30How the fuck was there anything left to men?
00:10:32Dragging my gaze left, I finally woke up the courage to look.
00:10:35Same bulky frame, same blonde hair, same profile, same hand that nearly killed me during the challenge last year, before I killed him during war games the first time my signal fled.
00:10:43He turns a few rows down, walking past her the second years as Caroline Ashton escorts him back to his squad.
00:10:48It all makes sense now.
00:10:50The secrecy, her visiting the infirmary, Nolan's exhaustion.
00:10:53Jack to its as he reaches an empty seat, turning slowly and nodding as the applause carries on.
00:10:57The look on his face is almost humble, like a man who's received a second chance he definitely doesn't deserve, and then he pivots, looking up the rows to find me.
00:11:05Glacier blue eyes need mine.
00:11:07Any doubt I had dies a swift death.
00:11:09It's him, my pounding heart jumps into my throat.
00:11:11Maybe he learned his lesson.
00:11:13Rhiannon's voice pitches high with empty hope.
00:11:15No.
00:11:16Redox gives hands forward to his lap.
00:11:18He's definitely going to try to kill you.
00:11:20Again.
00:11:21Oceanofpdf.com
00:11:22Mendels are not healers.
00:11:24Healers are bound to the code of Krypton, sworn to aid all in time of end right for healers.
00:11:29Chapter 26
00:11:30N
00:11:31Odd helping, Rhiannon hisses as we all stare at Jackfucking Barrow.
00:11:34A small, almost soft smile curves his mouth for an instant, and we fall silent as he nods at me and then looks away quickly before he takes his seat.
00:11:41What the fuck was that?
00:11:43Redox asks.
00:11:44I have no idea.
00:11:45It's the first time since parapet he's looked at me with anything but too malice.
00:11:48It's him.
00:11:49Ten growls.
00:11:50Bide has kept the truth hidden for these months.
00:11:52I can see him.
00:11:53I'd ask how the fuck the dragon hides something in the bear.
00:11:55Grandana isn't exactly common knowledge, either.
00:11:58Be aware of him at all times.
00:12:00Ten wands.
00:12:01Rhiannon squeezes my hand as she shifts in her seat.
00:12:04Maybe a few months of being dead has changed him.
00:12:06Maybe, saw his eyes narrow as he stares holes in the back of Jack's head.
00:12:09But I think we're better off killing him again.
00:12:12I'm down with that plan, Redox agrees.
00:12:14Let's focus on keeping an eye on him, I suggest, forcing my voice past a knot in my throat as the applause finally dies down, allowing me to put my thoughts in order.
00:12:22Jack is alive.
00:12:23Fine.
00:12:24He's hardly the worst thing I faced last year.
00:12:26I brought down not only one but two women.
00:12:28I destroyed an entire horde of Y1 with Zayden.
00:12:30Maybe Jack's changed.
00:12:31Maybe he hasn't.
00:12:32Either way, my significant hand-to-hand skills have only improved, and I doubt he's been sparring in the infirmary.
00:12:37Redox, Sawyer, and Rhiannon all stare at me like there's a chance I might grow a tail and start breathing fire at any second.
00:12:43I'm alright, I tell them.
00:12:45Seriously, stop staring.
00:12:46I don't have the option of not being alright.
00:12:49There should be skeptical looks of varying degrees, then face forward.
00:12:52Markham clears his throat.
00:12:53Now, to our second matter of business to the hour.
00:12:56He looks over at Professor Devira.
00:12:58Yesterday evening, there was an unprecedented attack on one of our largest outposts.
00:13:02She says, her shoulders straightening as she scans the room.
00:13:04Again, Rhiannon matters.
00:13:06What the hell is going on out there?
00:13:08She releases my hand and starts to take notes.
00:13:10A murmur rises among the cadets.
00:13:12Focus.
00:13:13I have to focus.
00:13:14And this, cadets, is no conjecture.
00:13:16No propaganda.
00:13:17No game.
00:13:18That last word is said with a sideways glance at Markham.
00:13:20It's unprecedented not only in its proximity, we've never had outposts attack this close together before, but also because it involved three drifts.
00:13:26She lifts her pointed chin.
00:13:28I glance up at the map, forcing my mind to work.
00:13:30Pelham near the Cygnair border is my first test, but Keldari, along the Pravid border, is a close second after it nearly fell last week.
00:13:36Maybe the flyers are recognizing our weaknesses.
00:13:39They attacked Samara a little after sundown, while most of the riot was wrapping up the day's control.
00:13:44The breath freezes in my lungs and my heart stutters.
00:13:46She has my full, undivided attention.
00:13:48Who cares if Jack Barlow is seated beneath me or if papers are flying around with Poromish news?
00:13:52None of that matters more than what our Professor Devira is about to say.
00:13:55They're alive, they have to be.
00:13:58I can't begin to fathom a world without Meera and Zayden.
00:14:01My heart can't comprehend the possibility.
00:14:03Oh gods, escapes anger.
00:14:05I drop my shields completely, searching for a bond I wouldn't be able to feel from this far anyway.
00:14:09Still, I search.
00:14:11Ten, I reach out, but anxiety fills my bloodstream, overpowering every logical thought.
00:14:15It's not mine, but it may as well be.
00:14:17My heart begins to pound, and my ribs close in on my lungs.
00:14:20The outpost was successfully defended by the three riders who were not on patrol.
00:14:24Their victory is nothing short of astonishing.
00:14:27While no riders were killed in the assault, her gaze snaps to mine, there was one rider severely wounded.
00:14:31No, the denial is sharp and fast.
00:14:34Rage and terror pump through my veins.
00:14:36Professor Devira lifts her hand and scratches the left side of her neck before looking away.
00:14:40What questions would you ask?
00:14:42The left side of her neck.
00:14:43Right where Zayden's relic is.
00:14:45Myra is alright, but Zayden, I can't be here.
00:14:48It's impossible to be here when I have to be there.
00:14:50There's no reality outside of me being there.
00:14:52Here doesn't mean anything, doesn't exist.
00:14:54I have to go, I grab my bag from the floor and shove the strap over my shoulder.
00:14:58Was the outpost reached?
00:15:00Someone in front of me asks.
00:15:02Wee, re-reaches for me, but I am already standing, moving down the road toward the staircase.
00:15:07Cadet Sorengale, Professor Markham calls out.
00:15:10There's no time to answer him as I climb the stairs.
00:15:12No world outside the impossible to ignore drive that propels me up.
00:15:15My body isn't even my own because I am not here.
00:15:18Cadet Sorengale, Markham yells as I leave the briefing room.
00:15:21You do not have leave.
00:15:22Get to the courtyard, Ten rumbles through my mind.
00:15:25We are on the same page, neither of us willing to wait for me to walk to the flight field.
00:15:29It doesn't matter if the uncontrollable urge is coming from me or Ten when we both need the same thing.
00:15:33Violet, someone shouts after me, bootstead face down the hall.
00:15:37Jack Barlow is alive, I whip a dagger from my thigh sheath and spin toward the threat.
00:15:41Whoa, Bodhi throws up one hand, the other clutching his rick sack.
00:15:44I don't want you to freeze to death on the flight there.
00:15:47He yanks his flight jacket out of his pack and hands it to me.
00:15:50Thank you, I take the jacket with motions that don't feel like my own.
00:15:54He's right, I would have climbed onto Ten without a jacket.
00:15:57At least I carry my flight goggles in my bag at all times.
00:16:00I can't stay, I can't ex-
00:16:01Penel Dory's field guide to DRAGO and KNB.
00:16:05Chapter 27
00:16:07B
00:16:08Why the time we land at Samara just before nightfall?
00:16:10I'm a jittery, frantic mess.
00:16:12I can't bring myself to care about whatever retribution waits for me at Biskai.
00:16:15I'll handle whatever punishment my response to the shout.
00:16:18I've spent every minute of the 8 hour flight trying to separate my feelings from Ten's, but I can't, and he's definitively in primal mode.
00:16:25He has to be the reason there's a hollow pit in my stomach threatening to devour all logical thought if I don't set eyes on Zayden in the next minute.
00:16:31It's dead desperation to see S-G-A-E-Y-L unharmed making my heart pound, not my own concern for Zayden.
00:16:36After all, if he was a death door, S-G-A-E-Y-L would have told us once we flew close enough for them to communicate.
00:16:41At least that's what the barely functioning logical part of my brain is telling me.
00:16:45This is all Ten, but what if it isn't? How seriously has Zayden been wounded?
00:16:49S-G-A-E-Y-L may have told Ten that Zayden lives and I could see how bad it was for myself, but I'm still counting every second it takes the guards to raise the portcullis.
00:16:56The increased security is protocol and completely reasonable given yesterday's attack, with every moment it takes by grades on my last floor.
00:17:03Just because I logically know Ten is still flooding my emotions doesn't mean I can control them.
00:17:08The second the portcullis is high enough for me to duck under, I do so.
00:17:11For once, my size works to my advantage. I'm inside the outpost before it's even if whatever the way open.
00:17:17Organized chaos reigns within, chunks of masonry ranging from half my size to double it lay scattered around the courtyard,
00:17:22and a quick glance up court is all it takes to see where they fell from.
00:17:25There are scorch marks on the northern wall, too. The fliers must have breached the perimeter.
00:17:29The healers work at Riyadh Station on the southern end of the fortress, the area around them thickly wounded infantry.
00:17:34But there are no black uniforms among the blue. No cream, either.
00:17:37Violet, Meera calls out, emerging from the northwestern staircase I know leads to their operations room.
00:17:42No limb, no slings, no blood that I can see. She's alright, just like Deborah said, only one has been wounded, and it's not Meera.
00:17:50Where is he? I hang my flag goggles from the top of my head and shove them into my bag without breaking my stride.
00:17:55What are you doing here? She grabs hold of my shoulders, looking me over with her customary inspection.
00:18:00You're not supposed to arrive until Saturday. Are you unharmed? Yes, she nods, I wasn't here, I was out on patrol.
00:18:07Good, then tell me where he is. My tone sharpens as my gaze swings wildly, looking for him. Fuck, I can't even sense him with 10 overriding everything.
00:18:16You don't have leave, do you? Boards, you are going to be so fucked when you get back.
00:18:20She sighs, have to give it to Meera, she doesn't fight battles she can't win. He's in the sparring gym.
00:18:25From what I hear, your man is the reason we still have an outpost. He's not mine, not really. Thank you, I turn away from her without another word in head for the sparring gym.
00:18:34I love her, I'm thankful she's alright, but all of that is buried underneath the desperation flowing with my soul to lay eyes on Zayden.
00:18:40The fortress is busy with recovery efforts, but the hall to the gym is deserted. Why would they have taken him to the gym for recovery?
00:18:46Is he unable to climb the steps to his room? That pit in my stomach deepens. How badly is he hurt?
00:18:51The mage lights more than make up for the dying evening light outside the three oversized windows when I enter the gym.
00:18:56But there's certainly no makeshift infirmary in here. Wait, what? I blinked.
00:19:01Zayden is on the mat in his short sleeve, muscle-hugging sparring uniform. He has both his heavy swords out, metal clanging against metal as he spars with Garrick.
00:19:10Your soul today, Zayden lectures, advancing mercilessly. He moves like he always does, with lethal expertise and complete concentration. There's zero chance he is even close to seriously wounded.
00:19:19The burst of relief lets me draw my first full breath since leaving this style, but it quickly fades.
00:19:24Hands on him, I need my hands on him. Not, much, I can do, about, that, Garrick argues, blocking Zayden's advances.
00:19:32Get faster, Zayden lands bro after deliberate bro, deftly avoiding taking any hints of. Each swing of those swords shifts the worry, the abject terror that he'd been hurt, into rage.
00:19:41He's an hound, and I'm a fucking fool for letting my emotions run amok, for letting my love for him overrule my common sense. That's on me, not ten.
00:19:48But the wildness I can't breathe through. That's a hundred percent black morning stutter, and I can't break free, can't raise my shields enough to own myself.
00:19:55I step into Zayden's line of sight, my toes hitting the edge of the mat. Zayden glances toward me, and his eyes widen for all of a heartbeat before he kneels Garrick in the face with his elbow, sending him tumbling to the ground.
00:20:05Ouch! Garrick sprawls across the mat, his sword slipping from his hands.
00:20:10Damn. We're done, Zayden says without even looking back, already headed toward me, eating up the half-dozen feet deceptive raiders with those long, crawling strides of his.
00:20:18I had my shields up. What are you doing here? His eyes widen, like he can feel the chaos within me. Violence, are you alright?
00:20:25What am I doing here? I bite out each word as my eyes rake over him, looking for the wounds Divera spoke of.
00:20:30Did I misinterpret her gesture? Did I really just fly here for nothing? My hands begin to shake. I have no fucking clue.
00:20:37This isn't you, his gaze sweeps over me. I know that, I shout, turn between weeping with gratitude that he is alive and seemingly unheard and destroying this entire gym, this entire fortress, because he was ever put in danger.
00:20:48I can't get him out. Hold on, he shoves my pack off my shoulders, and it falls to the gym floor before he sweeps me up against his chest.
00:20:55I wrap my arms around him and shove my face into his neck, breathing in deep. He swears like mint and leather in mine, for fuck's sake, am I sending him?
00:21:03Zayden walks us straight into the gym's bathing chamber, and I get a quick glimpse of polished stone walls, high, glazed windows partially cracked open, and a row of wide benches under the center of three lines of scouts, not dissimilar to the ones beside.
00:21:14With a flick of his fingers, the door slams shut, and then he works a lever on the wall. Water streams from the scout in the aqueduct overhead, soaking us both in what feels like ice.
00:21:22I gasp, my body tensing with the shock of the bitter cold, and for that heartbeat, it's all I'm capable of feeling.
00:21:28Put your shields up, Zayden orders. Now, Violet.
00:21:31I curl through the glacier of my mind and shove the bricks of my shields into place.
00:21:35Ten's emotions dull enough for me to claim some semblance of control.
00:21:38Fucking, cold, I say, my teeth chattering.
00:21:41There we go, Zayden flips another lever in the water worms.
00:21:44What the hell happened that they gave you leave to come early?
00:21:47Concern lines the area between his brows as he sets me on my feet, water spraying down on us.
00:21:52My mind is mine again, though I can feel the intensity of Ten's emotions beating at my shields.
00:21:57They didn't give me leave. You didn't get leave.
00:22:00His voice lowers to that dangerous tone that terrifies everyone in the world besides me.
00:22:03When you already know that Varish is going to, his words die abruptly as his focus drops to my shoulder.
00:22:08Who the fuck's light jacket are you wearing?
00:22:10Really, I throw my arms out, happily letting the warmth soak into me.
00:22:14It has third-year rank, fourth-wing insignia, and a section leader designation.
00:22:18Who the hell's jacket do you think I'm wearing?
00:22:20His jaw takes water streaming down his face.
00:22:22It's Bodhi's, you're territorial asshole.
00:22:25That answer doesn't seem to help.
00:22:27Are you serious right now?
00:22:28I unbutton the fucking jacket and tug at the sleeves, but leather is a bit when wet, and it takes a moment to yank it free.
00:22:33I ran out of battle brief the second day we recruit me in that you'd been wounded.
00:22:37Yes, I left without leave.
00:22:39Then I flew eight hours at breakneck speed with an absolutely irrational turn, who thought if you'd been hurt, then S-D-A-U-I-L could have been, too.
00:22:45And now you pull some possessive, jealous, whose jacket is that bullshit just because your cousin knew I was so panicked that I wouldn't stop for my own flight leaders.
00:22:51I flat-out blared his nonsensical ass and dropped the jacket to the floor.
00:22:54You can fuck right off.
00:22:56A corner of his mouth turns up.
00:22:58You were worried about me.
00:22:59Not anymore.
00:23:00I'm not.
00:23:01I see red.
00:23:02How can he find this amusing?
00:23:03But you were.
00:23:04A sore smile spreads across his face, and his eyes light up.
00:23:07You were worried about me.
00:23:08He reaches for me.
00:23:09Do you think this is funny?
00:23:11I step back out of his reach only to find the water-sick wall at my back.
00:23:14No, he cocks his head to the side, his smile sweeping.
00:23:17You seem a little angry that I'm not at Malik's first step.
00:23:20Would you rather I be bleeding to death in the infirmary?
00:23:22No, of course he doesn't get it.
00:23:24His life might depend on mine, but he doesn't feel the way I do about him.
00:23:27He wants me, even said he fell for me, but he's never said he loves me.
00:23:31I'm not mad at you for not being hurt.
00:23:33I would never want you hurt.
00:23:34I'm pissed at myself for being so reckless, so wrapped up in you, having such little control over my emotions that I just ran after you like, like, like a lovesick little fool.
00:23:42And you, you are always calm, collected, and in control.
00:23:45You would have waited for all the information, and your show as hell never, ever would have let Esteele's emotions take over.
00:23:51My words die as Zayden wrenches up the wet sleeve on his right arm, exposing a pocket, angry red line that stretches from the top of his shoulder to halfway down his biceps.
00:23:58It's an instinct at the top and triple that where it ends.
00:24:01He's obviously been mended, and if the sky is still the trace, he must have almost lost his arm.
00:24:05You really were wounded, I whisper, all the anger falling out of my body.
00:24:09My chest clenches, it must have hurt like hell, are you alright, the question tumbles out even though I've just seen him demolish an opponent.
00:24:16I'm fine, the scribe report must have gone out before the mender arrived from the eastern wing.
00:24:20The scar disappears as he took the sleeve back down.
00:24:22And you're wrong about me, I wouldn't have waited for all the information, or even proof, if I'd heard you'd been hurt.
00:24:28This time, I don't step away when he reaches for me.
00:24:31His arm mines around my waist, and his hands plays on the small of my back to guide us out of the water's direct spray.
00:24:36The inches between us are both a gift and a curse as he leans in.
00:24:39I'm not always farm or collected, and I'm never in control when it comes to you.
00:24:43My heart leaves at his words, at the ever-present tension that rises between us, at the awareness that spreads through me from that single touch.
00:24:49It's not just the water warming me.
00:24:51Even now, I'm not doing what I should.
00:24:53His words come out clip.
00:24:55Which is, hauling your ass to the mat until you are a hot, sweaty, eating mess from a dozen rounds of sparring.
00:25:00His due tics, because I want you never to put your life at risk over something as trivial as talking to me, and yet you did just that.
00:25:06Again.
00:25:07I'm down with everything but the sparring.
00:25:09Shit, that comes out breathless, and it's not up to you to punish me anymore.
00:25:12I'm no longer in your chain of command.
00:25:14Oh, I know, and somehow it was a hell of a lot easier on us both when you were.
00:25:18You want full disclosure when it comes to me, right?
00:25:21How is this for open?
00:25:22His gaze drops through my mouth.
00:25:23I would have done the same thing you did because I'm just as reckless for you as you are for me.
00:25:27A sharp, sweetie consumes my chest.
00:25:30Gods, I want to believe that.
00:25:31But I also want more.
00:25:33I want the same three words he demands from me.
00:25:35I run my tongue over my bottom lip, and his eyes flare as steam fills the room.
00:25:38You were worried for me.
00:25:40The first time he said it came out amused.
00:25:42The second sounded happy, but this time, his tone shifts as if it's a revelation.
00:25:46Of course I was worried for you.
00:25:48He draws me forward slowly, giving me every chance to object before bringing our bodies flush.
00:25:52The heat of him soaks into every chilled part of me, and all the burning worry I'd felt on the flight here in the searing anger that followed transforms into an entirely different, and far more dangerous, form of heat.
00:26:01Fuck, I want him.
00:26:03I want to touch every inch of his skin, feel his heartbeat against mine in assurance that he's really alright.
00:26:08I want his body over me, inside me, as close as humanly possible.
00:26:11I want him to make me forget there's anything beyond this room or the two of us.
00:26:15And you flew here without even stopping to get your letters.
00:26:18He lowers his head inch by touchlessly slow inch.
00:26:20I nod.
00:26:21Because you still love me, he whiskers against my lips a heartbeat before he kisses me.
00:26:25Thank gods he doesn't wait for my denial, because I am not sure I have it in me to give one, not with the way he toys with my bottom lip, looking it gently, then stroking his tongue over the curve.
00:26:33It feels too good, too right, too, everything.
00:26:36It's the first time since Zaratya that he hasn't waited for me to ask.
00:26:39The first time his infamous self control has slipped.
00:26:42The first time he's gambled with possible rejection, kissed me simply because he wanted to, and fuck, that's exactly what I need, for him to need me.
00:26:49I part my lips in imitation not just because I want him, but because he's acting on a confession I didn't have to cry out of him or even ask for.
00:26:55He groans, his arms surrounding me, and the kiss becomes exactly what he called himself, reckless.
00:27:00The feel of his tongue flicking against mine, then claiming, stroking, is a flame to a tinderbox, and I catch fire.
00:27:05Need, lust, desire, whatever it is, dances down my spine and gathers, becoming an insistent ache between my thighs.
00:27:12Rising on my toes to get closer, I loop my arms around his neck, but we're still not close enough.
00:27:17His hands work the buttons of my uniform, and I reluctantly relinquish my grip so he can slide it off.
00:27:22It smacks onto the floor somewhere to the left.
00:27:24I tug on his shirt, desperate for the feel of him, and he obliges, grabbing hold of it behind his neck and dragging it overhead, revealing miles and miles of form, with skin.
00:27:32I kiss the scar right above his heart and stroke my hands down his sides, my fingers tracing the hard depths and grooves along his stomach.
00:27:38There is nothing in this world that compares to him.
00:27:40He is complete, at the perfection, his body carved from years of scarring and flying.
00:27:44Violet, he tuts my head and kisses me hard and deep, then slow and soft, changing the pace, keeping me straining for more.
00:27:50My hands trace the lines of his back as he spears his fingers through the bed, loosened strands of my brain, then tuts, arching my neck before sitting his mouth dead.
00:27:58He knows exactly where I am sensitive and damn does he use every bit of that knowledge, sucking and loving the spotted side of my throat that
00:28:04melts my knees and makes my fingers curl against his skin.
00:28:08Zedan, I whimper, my hand sliding over the curve of his ass.
00:28:12Mine, this man is mine, at least for right now, even if it's just these next few minutes.
00:28:16He nips at the delicate skin of my hair, sending a shudder of sensation down my spine, and then his mouth is on mine again, stealing my sanity and replacing it with pure need.
00:28:24This kiss isn't his patient, as controlled as the others.
00:28:27There's a wild, final edge to it that makes my mouth curve against his, makes me bolder.
00:28:31I sweep my hand between us, then sigh.
00:28:33He's hard for me, the length of him straining against his waistband as I squeeze.
00:28:37Fuck, he growls, ripping his mouth from mine, his breath's as ragged as mine as I stroke him through the fabric.
00:28:43If you keep doing that, he slams his eyes shut and lets his head fall back.
00:28:46I'll actually get you, my cock clenches.
00:28:49His gaze slaps to mine, and the conflict I see in those dark depths makes me pause.
00:28:53Don't make me fight for this.
00:28:55Not again, I retreat from the warmth of his arms, and every nerve in my body screams in protest.
00:28:59I can't always be the one fighting for this while you invent new ways to hesitate or tell me no, Zedan.
00:29:04You either want me or you don't.
00:29:06You just had your hand wrapped around my cock, Violet.
00:29:09I'm pretty sure you felt how fucking badly I want you.
00:29:11He rips his hand through his bed here.
00:29:13Gods, I'm the one fighting for this.
00:29:15He argues, gesturing between us.
00:29:17I told you, I'm not using sex as a weapon to get you back.
00:29:20You'll just weaponize it with your little rule to make me say the three words I'm not ready to give you.
00:29:24And that edge of maddening need he has me riding is just sharp enough to tie my cave, I crave him that fucking mulch.
00:29:29Vipina is it against you, he shakes his head.
00:29:32You told me that you can't separate emotion from sex, remember?
00:29:35I open, then shut my mouth.
00:29:37He's right, I did say that.
00:29:39Shit, maybe I'm learning how.
00:29:41Maybe I don't want you to.
00:29:42He takes a step forward and cuts the back of my neck.
00:29:45I want you exactly how you are, emotions and all.
00:29:47I want the woman I fell for.
00:29:49It kills me every time I have to keep my hands off you.
00:29:51Every night I lie awake next to you, both blessed and damned with the memory of how hot, how wet, how fucking perfect you feel when I'm losing myself in you.
00:29:58My lips part and heat flushes my skin as if his words are an actual caress.
00:30:02When I do sleep, I dream of the sounds you make right before you come and away the blue in your eyes outshines the amber right after, all sated and hazy.
00:30:09I wake up starving for you, only you, even on the mornings you're halfway across the kingdom.
00:30:13This isn't me denying you or manipulating you, this is me fighting for you.
00:30:16He palms my hip, and his thumb strokes the bare strip of skin between my pants and my armor.
00:30:20You want to fight for me.
00:30:22I reach up into my hair and pull the pins loose one by one, letting them fall to the stone floor.
00:30:26Then take a chance without knowing how I feel.
00:30:28You want my heart back.
00:30:30Risk yours first this time.
00:30:31If I tell you how I feel right now, you'll never trust the time not just as straight for your body.
00:30:35His brow furrows.
00:30:37Exactly my point.
00:30:38The last pin falls from my hair.
00:30:40Choose, Zayden, you can let me walk out the door, or you can be the one who takes what I am willing to give this time.
00:30:44I shake my hair loose and run my fingers through the wet mask to unravel the braid.
00:30:48I are trying to bring me to my knees, or win the argument.
00:30:52His hand flexes at my hip as his heated gaze sleeps over me.
00:30:55Yes, I answer, reaching for the ties at the small of my bag that secure my armor.
00:30:59I just spent eight hours terrified of what condition I'd find you in, and I'm telling you that I don't just want you.
00:31:04I need you, there are your three words.
00:31:06I tug the wet string, and it gives.
00:31:08That's all you get, take me or leave me.
00:31:10The fight within him is palpable, the tension between us sharp enough to clear stride and scale.
00:31:14And for a second, I think he might just be stubborn.
00:31:17Enough to walk away and keep us at this impasse.
00:31:20But then, thank gods, he breaks, fusing his mouth to mine, and fire the third bank during our argument flares back to life even hotter than before.
00:31:27He teases me like I'm the answer to every question.
00:31:30Like everything we've been in maybe hinges on this moment.
00:31:32And maybe it does.
00:31:33His hands work the laces at my back while I undo the buttons of his pants.
00:31:37I win the race, sliding my hand beneath the fabric stroking from root to tip.
00:31:41The gutter of groaning gives me a feel like a reward and it's straight between my thighs, the ache intensifying to a throb.
00:31:47Let go so I can get you naked.
00:31:49He punctuates that last word with a nip of my lower lip.
00:31:52Yes, please, I free him, and he pulls my armor loose enough to turn it over my head.
00:31:56It smacks the ground, and a second later the sensitive ache of my breast is surrounded by his mouth, flicked by his tongue.
00:32:02I moan, my fingers turning through his hair to hold him right there.
00:32:05That feels so damn good.
00:32:07Wrapping an arm around my back and the other behind my knees, he lifts, then lays me onto a water-warm stone bench in one smooth motion.
00:32:13You sure you want this here, now?
00:32:15He asks, rising above me, blocking a spray of water from my breasts, his eyes hooded and his hair must from my hands.
00:32:20In five minutes, I can have a comfortable in my bed.
00:32:23He's so beautiful that my heart actually hurts from just looking at him.
00:32:26Now, my hands stroke his wide shoulders and down the relic that wins from his jaw to his forearm.
00:32:31Now, he agrees, there's nothing practiced or polished about the next kiss, it's all neat sweet and new desperation that matches my own, and well the hotter fit.
00:32:38This is exactly what I need, to be pressed between his hard body and stone, devoured with the same urgency I feel for him.
00:32:44His hands comes down my curves, following the deep of my waist before skimming my waistband and undoing the buttons of my pants one by one.
00:32:50There's no hesitation in his touch when his fingers delve and stroke from my entrance to my clip.
00:32:55My back arches and I gasp with white-hot pleasure.
00:32:58Even hotter than I remember.
00:33:00His mouth moves down my neck, overwhelming me with sensation as his fingers tees with fed-like touches.
00:33:04Fuck, you feel like silk.
00:33:06Hot, sick silk, his voice has that rough rasque to it that I've missed.
00:33:09He moves lower to worship my breasts with his mouth, his teeth shaking lightly over my nipple with the perfect amount of friction to build the pressure coiling tight within me.
00:33:16Of course he knows what I like.
00:33:18This isn't our first time.
00:33:19It's not going to be our last, either.
00:33:21Power swells under my skin and builds as he circles my swollen clit, denying me the pressure I need.
00:33:26Zayden, I beg, my knee is biting into the tops of his shoulders, but I'm careful not to brush his new scar.
00:33:31Every stroke of his fingers and flick of his tongue feels like a jolt of lightning through my system, electrifying every nerve until I'm a hypersensitive ghosting drawn too tight but not tight.
00:33:38I know exactly what you want, he skims my clit, and but you need.
00:33:43Two fingers slide inside me.
00:33:45Deeper, closer, more, that's what I need, then give it to me, I demand, my head's rolling.
00:33:50I've waited forever to touch you.
00:33:52My breath come in ragged pants and moans, and my skin flushes, heat prickling as he builds the egging pressure with tighter, faster strokes.
00:33:59Gods, look at you, you are all I'm ever going to want.
00:34:02Just you, just this, just us, his voice throws around my mind until he's all I see, all I hear, all I feel and think.
00:34:08He's everything, watching me like he thinks the same about me.
00:34:11I need you, maybe need isn't the right word, but there's no other term that captures how essential he is to my existence.
00:34:17I shove my thumbs into the waistband of my pants and push.
00:34:20I need them off, now.
00:34:22Same, we are a frenzy of questing hands and mouths as we struggle out of the rest of our wet clothes.
00:34:26I have a whole new reason to curse these boots, but Zayden makes quick work of them, stripping me bare.
00:34:31I burst my lips over the new scar on his arm, more than aware of how close I came to losing him, and then he is over me again, bracing his weight on his arms, his eyes turning mine with an intensity that makes me shiver with anticipation as he sitters between my thighs.
00:34:43Reaching between our bodies, I wrap my fingers around him, bringing the head of his cock to my entrance.
00:34:48I'll die if he makes me wait any longer.
00:34:50I won't survive another breath without him inside me.
00:34:52I need you more, Violet.
00:34:54He caters the side of my face and rolls his hips, pushing inside, stretching me as he consumes those first sensitive inches.
00:35:00However much you think you need this, need me, I need you more.
00:35:03He thrusts, filling me with one long drive, until he's so deep that my eyes fluttered close, and I'm moaned with a sublime pleasure.
00:35:09There's nothing like this in the world, I'm sure of it.
00:35:12So, fucking, good, he echoes my thoughts with a drone, and then he's moving, withdrawing only to slam home again and again, stealing my stuttered breaths with kiss after kiss.
00:35:20The stone at my back gives me the leverage to arch into his thrusts, taking him deeper.
00:35:24It's too much, too good, and not enough all at the same time.
00:35:27Each powerful stroke has me greedy for more.
00:35:29This is where I want to exist, with him above me, moving inside me, his focus totally, completely mine.
00:35:34Harder, deeper, I'm breathing too hard to speak. Don't eat me like I'm breakable.
00:35:38I know exactly how much you can take.
00:35:40He slides his hands under me, then holds me to his chest as he rises, pivoting to sit on the edge of the bench.
00:35:45My cry echoes in the chamber as I sink onto him, my knees anchoring on either side of his hips, and he hits that sweeter, deeper angle that steals my breath.
00:35:53Yes, there, gods, I feel you everywhere.
00:35:56Right where we left off, his hands shift to my ass, with you riding me.
00:36:00I wind my arms around his neck and smile against his mouth.
00:36:03No one is coming through those doors to interrupt us this time.
00:36:06There's only the sound of water hitting the bench beside us and our bodies coming together again.
00:36:11And again, a heart's pounding, breath strain between long, drugging kisses.
00:36:15Reality narrows the sensation, the exquisite feel of his chest against my breasts, his mouth worshiping mine, his cock filling every inch I have, stretching me for more.
00:36:23The pressure coiling in my core is so tight, but pleasure so sweet I can taste it.
00:36:26It vibrates through me as my power rises, transforming me into pure, rapturous energy, until I am the very lightning I wield, cracking in anticipation of the strike.
00:36:34More, he growls, I want everything, Violet.
00:36:37You have it, his stubble scrapes my palms as I cup his face and kiss him.
00:36:41Lightning goes through me, building to a dangerous peak, and I don't need to ask.
00:36:44I know he has me.
00:36:46It releases with a snap, flaring bright outside the windows for a heartbeat before it's swallowed by shadows that stream out to smother it.
00:36:52Nothing shatters, nothing catches fire, he knows how my body reacts, knows exactly how to push me to the breaking point, and he has me covered when I explode.
00:36:59I love him, I love him, I love him, I am not ready to give him the words, the power that comes with them, but I can keep them for myself, turn them like my own personal codex, the only truth I am certain of.
00:37:09His body tightens beneath mine, his thrusts coming harder as he curls an arm around me, cooking my shoulder and pulling me into every thrust.
00:37:15That spiraling pressure arcs to a breaking point, and I fight, holding it at bay. Not yet, I want more, fuck, I won't feel like this every minute of every day for the rest of my life.
00:37:25Let go, he shifts his angle, rubbing against my clit with the next thrust.
00:37:29I don't want it to end, I can hear the note of panic in my voice, the sharp note of fear that this will be the only time I feel like this, the only time he's mine.
00:37:36But the waves are coming closer with every roll of our hips, and my muscles tighten to the point of locking.
00:37:41Violet, his hand slides from my shoulder to the back of my neck, fisting in the long strands of my hair as he looks into my eyes like he can.
00:37:48See straight to my soul, I can't give this up, I won't give you up, now let go.
00:37:53My thighs tremble, and at the next thrust, I fracture with a cry.
00:37:56Lightning flashes, power tearing through me with instant thunder as the waves crest over me again and again.
00:38:01All I can do is hold on to Zaylen and ride them out, dislodding my body until I am too limp to rock back against him.
00:38:06Perfect, his restraint vanishes in an instant.
00:38:09Gone are the measured, precise thrusts.
00:38:11He growls into my neck and drives wildly with his hips, assuming me with abandon, and I realized that this is what I craved beyond anything else, even beyond his secrets, his loss of control.
00:38:19I want to be the only person he unravels for.
00:38:22Holding on to his shoulders, I push back into every thrust, swilling my hips and savoring the shout he lets loose when he finally shittles beneath me, his shadows blasting through the room.
00:38:30Rock cracks and water bursts from the aqueducts.
00:38:32My heart races as I grin.
00:38:34Fuck, his forehead rests against mine, a chest heaving as we fight to catch our breath.
00:38:38Just when I think I can handle you, I completely fucking lose it.
00:38:41That's my favorite part.
00:38:43Why does it not surprise me?
00:38:45He brushes his lips over mine, and he locks his arms around me, keeping me from melting off his lap.
00:38:49Death of me, I swear.
00:38:51What do we do now?
00:38:53The question slips out before I can stop it.
00:38:55After all, I'm the one who's been fighting this, whatever this is.
00:38:58We have options.
00:38:59Facing studies my eyes.
00:39:01First, we can stay right here and go again.
00:39:03Second, we can clean up, get dressed, and sneak up to my room, where we can go again.
00:39:07Or third, he pauses.
00:39:09We can clean up, find the water wheeler to dry our clothes, get you into one of my flight jackets, and fly to the rendezvous to drop the daggers.
00:39:15I'm up and running, grabbing for my clothes before he can even finish.
00:39:18Of course I'm going with him.
00:39:20I'm guessing that's a no two options one and two, he says with a disappointed sigh.
00:39:24Oceanoftdf.com
00:39:26Though Griffin riders are not capable of producing cigarettes, they are not powerless.
00:39:30In fact, some would argue that they hold lesser magic, especially Minberg, into the deadliest weapon of all.
00:39:35Underestimating them is an error.
00:39:37Griffins of Koromil, a study in combat by Major G. R. I. O. and Savoy.
00:39:42Chapter 28. T.
00:39:45Heating about being two riders in an assumed relationship who happen to be bonded to a mated pair of dragons is that no one thinks twice about a midnight flight to get away, and there's no better view of the stars on the continent than from 10 back.
00:39:55I still do not approve, 10 lectures as we cross the barrier of the wards a little after midnight.
00:40:00And yet, we're still flying, I counter, shaking off the feeling of wrongness that sinks further into my bones with every wingbeat.
00:40:06From experience, I know it'll pass once we've been out beyond the wards long enough for my senses to adjust.
00:40:11Only because I want to let you make your own choices after Essen, not because I agree with you.
00:40:16He follows the slope of the peak, banking left to skim the landscape.
00:40:19Tonight's full moon means keeping a low profile.
00:40:21This isn't a necessary risk.
00:40:23One Zayden and S.G.A.E.Y.L take all the time.
00:40:26I stop fighting the wind and lean forward as he dives, grinning into the wind.
00:40:29The shadow wielder is not my concern.
00:40:32S.G.A.E.Y.L is.
00:40:33The saddle straps dig into my thighs, a constant reminder that I can't keep my seat without it.
00:40:38S.G.A.E.Y.L would never be taken down by something as puny as a griffin.
00:40:42He scoffs, and if we're losing the shadow wielder, she would be emotionally inconvenienced, that is true.
00:40:47I scoff at his bluster, and emotional inconvenience.
00:40:50Is that what I am to you?
00:40:51If so, then we don't need to worry that my death would cause trans, or escapes and saddens.
00:40:56You're currently a prize annoyance.
00:40:58The wind stays my laughter, and I brace as the approach which looks to be a forested valley.
00:41:02The edge of the nearest pitch line glows with the light from a poromish village, but I am not sure which one.
00:41:07Ten flares his wings, and gravity catches up with us, forcing me deeper into the saddle in the instant before he lands at the edge of a dark lake, jostling every bone in my body.
00:41:15Before I can get my bearings, he swings, leaving me grasping for the pommel as he puts his back to the water, facing the open meadow.
00:41:21That was abrupt, good thing I am still strapped in.
00:41:24Next time, your final ride.
00:41:26His head sweep from left to right as S.G.A.E.Y.L lands next to us, Zayden on her back.
00:41:30He still pissed that I came along, I tell Zayden, reaching for the buckle.
00:41:34You've gotten strong enough to handle Atos, Zayden says, already moving for Eskay's shoulder.
00:41:39Moonlight catches on his swords as he dismounts.
00:41:42I'm more worried about the company the left and then teabed the NATO's ten growls.
00:41:46And don't even think of dismounting, Silver One.
00:41:48I'm sorry, I pulled the leather through the first loop.
00:41:51Undo that strap and I'll launch.
00:41:53His head swivels, eerily steak-like, to glare at me over his shoulder.
00:41:56My jaw drops, you can't be serious, I whisper in a hiss.
00:42:00Try me, his golden eyes narrow into slits.
00:42:02I agreed to come to the drop-off.
00:42:04I did not agree to endanger your life when we are easily within a wyvern's flight from Zolia.
00:42:08I, too, remember what happens to dismounted riders.
00:42:11You are being an overprotective ass.
00:42:13Not that he doesn't have a point.
00:42:15Maybe I am not the only one with bad dreams.
00:42:17I am a credit to my lion.
00:42:19He swings his head forward, completely dismissing me.
00:42:21Don't worry, you'll be able to hear everything from up there.
00:42:24Zayden's voice carries from where he stands just ahead of ten and S.G.A.E.Y.L.
00:42:28Says the guy whose dragon isn't putting him in the corner.
00:42:31I grumble.
00:42:32I could have refused the rendezvous.
00:42:33This is a compromise.
00:42:34Ten chucks, they're approaching.
00:42:36It's on my tongue to fire back, but I close my mouth when I hear the wing beats of griffins.
00:42:40The sound is softer than those of dragons, Lessen and Zayden.
00:42:43Like a gale wind instead of the drumbeat.
00:42:45Seven griffins, of full drift, land in the clearing ahead and walk forward,
00:42:49their formidable head starting left and right as they glance between ten and S.G.A.E.Y.L.
00:42:52The griffins are about a foot taller than Zayden, and though I can't make out colors well in the moonlight,
00:42:57I can see there is a sharp beak just fine from here.
00:42:59Please tell me you recognize them, I say to Zayden, my heart pounding.
00:43:03Power rises under my skin and charges the air around me.
00:43:06I do, you will in a minute, too, he replies as if we are meeting friends at the local tavern.
00:43:10Ten lowers his head in a gesture I recognize as both threat to them in favor to me,
00:43:14allowing me to see the rest of the approach.
00:43:16The griffins, half eagle and half lion, hold about twenty feet away,
00:43:20and three of their flyers dismount, leaving the pairs at the edges ready to fly at the moment's notice.
00:43:24Our trust is as thin as December ice, one misstep and the fracture will have deadly consequences.
00:43:29The trio walks towards Zayden through the knee-high mountain grass,
00:43:32and I recognize the one in the center almost immediately as the veteran that came upon Nance at the lake,
00:43:36then fought with us in Reson.
00:43:37Her face is a little more drawn, and she has a new spar down the side of her neck that disappears into her uniform,
00:43:42but that's definitely her.
00:43:44But the man on her left isn't the same, he's a little shorter, a little more wiry than her stalky companion had been,
00:43:49and there's no malice under those slashing eyebrows when he glances past Zayden and up to me before quickly looking away.
00:43:54I can't help but wonder if the man she'd been with at the lake was killed in the attack.
00:43:58The woman calls out, closing about ten feet from Zayden.
00:44:01Zayden says, lifting two bags and then setting them on the ground before him.
00:44:05The message is clear, if they want them, they'll be coming closer to ten in S.G.I.L.
00:44:10Zayden sighs and then motions the others forward.
00:44:13The younger woman walking on Zayden's right is dressed in a paler shade of brown than the others.
00:44:17She looks to be my age and shares enough of Zayden's features that they could be related, cousins, maybe, or even sisters.
00:44:22They have the same straight noses, full mouths, light bills, and glossy black hair that contrasts their fair skin,
00:44:27though the younger ones is plaited in a simple braid over her shoulder.
00:44:30Her eyes are slightly larger, and her cheekbones are a little higher than Zayden's.
00:44:33She's the kind of beautiful that would normally lead to positions in a king's court or on stage in the theaters of Caldria.
00:44:39My chest tightens.
00:44:40The way she looks at Zayden isn't just too wide.
00:44:42There's an unmistakable longing there, harmed with it as nibbling ting.
00:44:45It's like she's been trudging through a desert and he's the oasis.
00:44:48She looks, like how I feel.
00:44:50Good to see you made it through the unfortunate assault on Samara, Selina says as they reach Zayden.
00:44:55You want to explain what the fuck that was about?
00:44:57Zayden's tone ventures into less than friendly territory.
00:45:00Because one of your griffins nearly took me out.
00:45:02If we didn't have a mentor nearby in the eastern wing, I'd be down an arm because I hesitated, thinking it might be one of you.
00:45:07He glances at the other woman.
00:45:09I thought we were on the same side, but I won't hesitate if it happens again.
00:45:12I lean forward in saddle, but there's not much give.
00:45:15Being up here, where I can only guess at what his expression might be, is tortuous.
00:45:19Enity crackles in my fingertips, but I hold steady, keeping ready in case this drop doesn't go according to plan.
00:45:24I can't control every drift, Ria Sin, Selina responds.
00:45:28And I am not going to blame other drifts in other chains of command who have to follow orders.
00:45:32We need more weapons than magic in supply.
00:45:34There are enough daggers in that outpost to arm a hundred flyers.
00:45:37Those are powering our wads.
00:45:39His hands fell into fists at his sides.
00:45:41Our wads, since when do you sympathize is never in.
00:45:43And at least you have wads, Zayden, the girl on the right argues.
00:45:46For now, Zayden looks in her direction for a split second before returning to face Serena.
00:45:51That tone, the way she used his name, they definitely know each other.
00:45:55The attacks have to stop, Serena, Zayden continues.
00:45:58In your chain of command or nod, the second I hear of flyers actually stealing daggers from outposts or any noreen wads being weakened by flyer theory, I'll cut off what shipments we do have coming your way.
00:46:07Isaac in a deep breathed his thread.
00:46:09You'll condemn us to death.
00:46:10Her shoulder is straightened.
00:46:12You'll condemn us all to death if you take down the only wads standing between the venen and the hatching grounds of this guy, I say.
00:46:17It's our only fight for weaponry, and there's enough raw magic in that range to feed them for a century.
00:46:22They'd be unstoppable.
00:46:23Every head lifts my direction.
00:46:25You are drawing attention, Tan browsed at the flyers, and they immediately look away.
00:46:29I never said I'd sit here silently.
00:46:31Needs to meet you without Ria since face attached to yours, Zayden Gale, Serena says, her gaze diverted from Tan.
00:46:37Smart woman, though I'm guessing he still doesn't trust us completely if he's got you on the back of that enormous dragon of yours.
00:46:42Zayden remains quiet.
00:46:44I'm glad you made it through, Resson, I respond with a smile.
00:46:47Not that she can see it.
00:46:49But the angle flyer does.
00:46:50She stares up at me in an unsettling mix of shock and, shit, I think that smell is narrowing her eyes.
00:46:55My last name isn't pulling any friends to your left, I say to Zayden.
00:46:59Ignore her.
00:47:00We made it through thanks to you and that incredible lightning uveel, Serena says.
00:47:04Another rumbling growl works up Tan's throat as his head pivots right and he bares his teeth.
00:47:09Serena glances at the younger flyer and then blanches.
00:47:12You know better than to stare at a dragon, Cat.
00:47:14Cat, it's a fitting name for the way she's sizing me up.
00:47:17Wasn't staring at the dragon, the woman replies just loud enough that I barely make out the words.
00:47:21But she shoots her glare, aiming it at Zayden.
00:47:24She's striking, I'll give you that.
00:47:26What the fuck?
00:47:27Dude, Zayden replies, his tone dipping to that icy calm before addressing Serena.
00:47:31Sorengale is right, you take down our wards, and there's nothing stopping them from draining the hatching grounds.
00:47:36They'd be impossible to engage, let alone defeat.
00:47:39So you'd rather we die while you sit protected behind the very weapon that could save our civilians?
00:47:43The man asks like he's requesting the weather report.
00:47:46Yes, Zayden shrugs.
00:47:47My eyebrows hit my hairline.
00:47:49This is a war.
00:47:51Zayden continues.
00:47:52People die in walls.
00:47:53So, if you're asking if I'd rather your people die than mine, then obviously my answer is yes.
00:47:57It's foolish to think we can save everyone.
00:47:59We can't.
00:48:00I and A sharp yet the reminder that the man I get behind closed doors isn't the one the rest of the world knows.
00:48:04It's not the first time I've heard.
00:48:06M express the sentiment.
00:48:08He feels the same way about the marked ones who won't work to save themselves at this time.
00:48:12Still an asshole, I see.
00:48:14Cat falls her arms.
00:48:15We've lost Riders to the Venin, 2, he counters.
00:48:18We're fighting with you, but I'm not sacrificing the safety of our movement or our civilians for yours.
00:48:22If that makes me an asshole, then so be it.
00:48:24We're not just sitting behind our wards.
00:48:26Either, I'm risking my life, risking the lives of the people I care about, to get you weaponry from this patch and to complete our own forge to keep providing that weaponry so we're ready when both Dark Wielders and Nabal inevitably come for us.
00:48:36Which they will.
00:48:37Completing your forge, Cat chances another glare in my direction.
00:48:41Why can't Ikaris would strongly eye you with that statement?
00:48:43You've had not one but two chances to acquire the luminary, and it's not like you haven't heard what he's asked for both times.
00:48:49Out of the question, Zayden bites out.
00:48:51You're willing to let our entire kingdom fall created these monsters because you're what?
00:48:55Cat asks, Corkingville headed Zayden.
00:48:57Smitten, please, I know you better than that.
00:49:00Cat, Serena snaps.
00:49:01My stomach lurches, what the hell is she talking about?
00:49:04Ludicrous as it might be, I think, it's me.
00:49:06What the hell would I have to do with the Purimish Vykonk?
00:49:09Nothing of any consequence, Zayden's tone is anything but comforting.
00:49:1310 Chuffs.
00:49:14We'll be discussing this later, I warn Zayden, adding it to an eventing list.
00:49:18You know nothing where she's concerned.
00:49:20Zayden shakes his head once at Cat before turning back to Serena.
00:49:23The forge is our highest priority.
00:49:25As soon as we secure a luminary, we'll be operational and able to supply you in full.
00:49:29We have the rest of the material we need to begin, and that's all you get to know, because
00:49:33you're right, Serena.
00:49:34I don't trust you.
00:49:35Until then, there are 23 daggers in these bags.
00:49:38He points to the bags at his feet.
00:49:4023, Serena asks, lifting a brow.
00:49:42I need one of them.
00:49:44There's no apology in his words or tone.
00:49:46Take them and leave them.
00:49:47Either way, Garak will see your next shipment is delivered at the appointed location.
00:49:50He backs away, keeping his face toward them.
00:49:53It's near at your vine.
00:49:54I'm not hiding it from you, just thought repeating it in front of the rest of her drift.
00:49:57I appreciate the honesty.
00:49:59It's surprising and refreshing.
00:50:00You'll have maybe a year until they're on your border, Serena says.
00:50:03My stomach's ours as I remember that Brennan thinks we have way less than that.
00:50:06I need to delve deeper into researching rewards as soon as I'm back beside.
00:50:10We're all that stands between them and you.
00:50:13You know that, right?
00:50:14Or are you still hiding your heads and don't tell us too much in case your interrogated sound
00:50:17like you were last year?
00:50:19We know.
00:50:20Zayden responds.
00:50:21We'll be ready.
00:50:22Serena nods.
00:50:23I'll do what I can to lessen the attacks on the outposts, but until you can openly say
00:50:26you are supplying us, it's like asking our forces to believe inspectors.
00:50:29They don't trust you like I do.
00:50:31How you stop them is your business.
00:50:33I meant what I said.
00:50:34He tears his head.
00:50:35Come for our wards, and I'll watch you die.
00:50:37We need to get them under wards of their own.
00:50:39It's the most logical path.
00:50:40S-G-A-E-Y-L halves a blast of steam, and the male flyer stutters, then comes with the
00:50:44two bags and pivots, handing one to Serena on his way back to the remainder of the drift.
00:50:48Thank you, Serena says to Zayden before glancing up at me.
00:50:51Tell your dragon he is too the scariest fucking thing I've ever seen, Soren Gale.
00:50:55I would, but it would just inflate his ego, I reply, settling back in the saddle as Zayden
00:51:00runs up his Gale's wallet to mount.
00:51:01Alive, Serena, I'm starting to like you.
00:51:03She flashes me a smirk of a smile, then turns toward the other flyer.
00:51:07Let's go, Katrina.
00:51:09Katrina, can.
00:51:10The way my stomach hollows has nothing to do with cancer and launch into the night sky and
00:51:14everything to do with remembering what Bodhi said weeks ago.
00:51:17I've never seen him care like this, and that include his code of conduct.
00:51:21Chapter 29
00:51:23A.
00:51:24I ask to use the heat from my cheeks, and apple my goggles into place as 10 flyers to the
00:51:28border with fossil ring beads.
00:51:29To avoid jumping to conclusions like last year, she's your ex, isn't she?
00:51:33I ask Zayden, hoping my mental voice sounds a hell of a lot stannier than I feel.
00:51:37How do you, never mind, that's not important.
00:51:40Yes, he speaks slowly, like he's choosing his words with the utmost care.
00:51:43We were over before I met you.
00:51:45It shouldn't matter, I have exes, too.
00:51:47It's not like we've really discussed our sexual or romantic history, right?
00:51:51Of course, neither of them is a Griffin flyer who looks like that, but still.
00:51:55There's no logical reason for me to feel this ugly twist of irrational.
00:51:58Shit, what is this?
00:52:00Jealousy, anxiety, insecurity.
00:52:02All three, 10 responds in utter annoyance, to which I will remind you that not a single
00:52:06dragon chose her.
00:52:07You were selected by two.
00:52:08Pull yourself together.
00:52:09His metrical sound but has little to do with what I am feeling.
00:52:13But at one point Zayden chose her.
00:52:15I lean into the right bank as ten heads at the face of the mountain, continuing to climb.
00:52:19And at one point, you thought brutal was a satisfactory meal, until you grew some teeth
00:52:23and found the rest of the world's food waiting.
00:52:25Now cease this line of thinking.
00:52:26It does not serve to make you stronger.
00:52:28Easy for him to say.
00:52:30Silence envelops me for the rest of the flight, and I breathe a little easier once we cross
00:52:33the walls' boards.
00:52:34Then guilt settles like a stone in my gut.
00:52:36We are safe behind our shields, but the drift we just armed won't seep with the same certainty.
00:52:41We land in the field, and I dismount after unbuckling, sliding down tails falling.
00:52:45Be ready to go in the morning, ten orders.
00:52:48Perhaps returning quickly will soften your inevitable punishment for leaving abruptly,
00:52:51because no one punishes dragons.
00:52:53I doubt it, but we can try.
00:52:55I lift my flight boggles as ten walks off with the S-T-A-U-I-L, the tail switching in rhythm.
00:52:59It's a little thing, but it makes me smile.
00:53:02Zayden approaches, then winds his arm around my waist and tugs me to his firm chest before
00:53:06tipping my chin up with his thumb and forefinger so I gazes me.
00:53:09Where he lines the space between his brows.
00:53:11Are we going to have to spend our last few hours together talking about that?
00:53:14No, I wind my arms around his neck.
00:53:17Not unless you'd like to spend them talking about my previous servers.
00:53:20His focus drops to my mouth.
00:53:22I would much rather choose our previous option number two, where we head up to my bedchamber
00:53:25and use our time judiciously.
00:53:27Solid plan, I agree, my body heeding a dumier suggestion.
00:53:30But we're going to have to talk about why can't I quiz.
00:53:33Fuck, he looks away, I'd almost rather talk about our exes.
00:53:36His focus shifts back to mine.
00:53:38Who are your exes?
00:53:39Do I know them?
00:53:40Ticherus, I arch an eyebrow.
00:53:42Now, I know you want to keep your secrets, but you told me you'd give me information if
00:53:45it could affect my decisions, and I have a nagging suspicion what's going on has to do with me.
00:53:49I trail my fingers down the side of his neck with his relic, simply because I can't help but touch him.
00:53:54So I'm asking you, what does Ticherus want for the luminary, the one device that could complete your forge, that you're unwilling to give?
00:54:00His grip tightens around my waist, pulling me even closer.
00:54:03Besides weaponry and a private army, he pauses, war waiting in his eyes before he sighs.
00:54:07You're the first lightning wielder in over a century.
00:54:09He swears he'll let us take it to Aratia if he can see you wield.
00:54:12I blinked, that part seems easy enough.
00:54:15It's not, our first deal fell apart when I discovered he was only willing to let us use the luminary, not take it, which would have men stationing ribbons and cordon.
00:54:22And secondly, I don't trust him to stop at seeing you.
00:54:25He's known for collecting precious things and keeping them against evil.
00:54:28His thumb raises my lower lip, sending a sugar of awareness through me.
00:54:31I won't risk it, won't risk you.
00:54:33Doesn't seem like it's your risk to take, I say softly.
00:54:36He needs that luminary, but maybe if I can get the words up, that will buy us some time.
00:54:40I told you in Aratia, I would rather lose this entire war than live without you.
00:54:44He skims my jawline with his fingers before dropping his hand.
00:54:47I didn't really think you meant it when you said that.
00:54:49The ache in my chest damn near explodes.
00:54:51I love this man with every beat of my reckless heart, which would be his if he'd simply stop keeping all his secrets and let me know him.
00:54:57You have to trust me again at some point.
00:54:59His mouth tightens, going to cordon isn't up for discussion.
00:55:02Brennan is already negotiating for different terms.
00:55:04But I'm right here, you cannot protect me from every.
00:55:07I glance over the weight he slides into the deep sheath at my shoulder, the sheath that's only there because I'm wearing his slight jacket.
00:55:13Which is that, but I already know, the alloy in the hill flashes in the moonlight before it disappears, tucked against my arm.
00:55:19I need you to be able to defend yourself no matter what happens.
00:55:22You're not the only one with bad dreams, you know.
00:55:25My lips part, Zayden, a whisper, sliding my hands to his face and scratching my palms on the stubble of his cheeks.
00:55:31I'm a lightning wielder, I'm never defenseless against Brennan.
00:55:34You'll have to keep it hidden, of course.
00:55:36His voice turns rough, so a deep sheath into wherever you're most comfortable.
00:55:40I nod, right now, there's almost no chance anyone could spot it unless it was facing outward or a new way to look, anyway.
00:55:46Anything else we need to discuss, he asks, a grimace wrinkles my nose.
00:55:50Other than the battle of Zolia getting leaked in battle brief and Malcolm playing it off's propaganda.
00:55:55My mouth twists.
00:55:56He simply stares at me this time.
00:55:58Or the fact that Nolan spent months saving Jack Barlow's life.
00:56:01I turn out of his arms, and we start walking toward the outpost with its burning torches along the outer battlements.
00:56:06Oh, and Barish punched my shoulder out of socket during interrogation after Dane refused to use his signet on me.
00:56:11Zaden stops.
00:56:12Don't worry, I say over my shoulder, taking him along.
00:56:15We escape, they tried using this new elixir on us that dulls our connections to our dragons and our signets,
00:56:20but I remembered how it smelled from land now, so we avoided that one.
00:56:23Signet blocking elixir, his voice rises.
00:56:26It's fine, if I can get my hands on the solution, I can probably figure out an antidote.
00:56:30I glance at him, or Brennan can.
00:56:32His gaze goes into mine.
00:56:34What happened to us working on that whole communication thing?
00:56:37I could make you ask questions for the information.
00:56:39I flash a sarcastic smile.
00:56:41Did I mention that Dane challenged me?
00:56:43I'm definitely not asking about the ridiculous statement he dropped on me about my mother.
00:56:47Dane doesn't deserve my headspace.
00:56:49Shit, I should probably tell you about our act too.
00:56:51Zaden sighs, so much for option number 2.
00:56:54There's an odd hope that fills me as 10 and I land on the flight field at Biscayat the next afternoon.
00:56:59Maybe it's that I finally feel like Zaden and I are really, honestly trusting each other with more than just our bodies,
00:57:04even if he's not giving me full access.
00:57:06And his body is most definitely a perk.
00:57:08I'm deliciously so from more than just the flight as I dismounted at the edge of the field to avoid the incoming landings as first swing goes through third-year maneuvers.
00:57:14Shit, I should have slipped the dagger into my pack before landing.
00:57:18Dragons and bear riders are everywhere.
00:57:20With all these dragons present, I have no doubt that Varish and Atos have been alerted to your return, Tane warns me.
00:57:25I'll face my punishment.
00:57:27I respond, scratching with the scales of his chin.
00:57:29You need to hydrate.
00:57:30You are all dried up from the flight.
00:57:32Our departure was more my fault than yours.
00:57:34I will not stand for you to bear my punishment.
00:57:36Stop being sweet.
00:57:37It's disturbing.
00:57:38I pat his scales one more time and heft my back higher on my shoulder.
00:57:42It's been a couple of weeks.
00:57:43Do you think Andrina will wake anytime soon?
00:57:45I miss her.
00:57:46There's no way to tell, he says quickly.
00:57:49Too quickly.
00:57:50Suspicion finds home between my brows.
00:57:52Is there something you aren't telling me?
00:57:54Every adolescent enters the sleep for whatever amount of time their body needs.
00:57:57Hers apparently requires more than most.
00:58:00And until the last couple of weeks, she's been waking up every time I am distraught.
00:58:04Fuck, should I worry?
00:58:05Worrying changes nothing.
00:58:06She is guarded by the elders and is sleeping safely.
00:58:09Hum, I'll tell you if my punishment includes death or inconvenience.
00:58:12I will already know, as I am continuously with you, he grumbles.
00:58:15Forced to bear witness to the awkwardness that is 21-year-old humans.
00:58:19I'll strive to make it less awkward.
00:58:21Could you do so?
00:58:22I would think you would have done it already.
00:58:24He waits until I walk in front of him, heading through the stairs by the bonnet, and then
00:58:28he launches, his legs bursting wind and we're back.
00:58:30I can't help but look to the left as I descend the steps.
00:58:33Our squad is practicing the deadly obstacle course that cost Prishten his life while we
00:58:37went in derogation practice.
00:58:38Arat and Mazir have already made it to the talk, no surprise there, but the others are struggling.
00:58:43I have yet to learn any more of their names, but so far, we've only lost two.
00:58:47Sloane bites her lower lip as she watches a girl with blue-black hair fumble along the
00:58:51spinning log on the fourth ascent, and fall.
00:58:53My heart clutches into my throat, but she grasps one of the vertical ropes along the course.
00:58:57Take that one at a run, I tell Sloane as I walk by.
00:59:00Hesitate and you'll fall.
00:59:01I didn't say I need your help, she mutters back.
00:59:04Your brother won the bonnet patch last year.
00:59:06No one expects you to fill those shoes, but try not to die, will you?
00:59:09I say over my shoulder, not bothering to stop.
00:59:12It's not like she's going to let me help, and I can't save her from this.
00:59:15She'll make it as she won't.
00:59:17Fuck!
00:59:18I feel like Zarin of all people.
00:59:20You've angered the leadership, Soren Gale, Amitavyo says as I approach,
00:59:23the sun reflecting off his freshly shaved and oiled head.
00:59:26It couldn't be helped, I say quietly, posing at his side.
00:59:29He glances sideways at me.
00:59:31I do not have favorites.
00:59:32That would be foolish in this place.
00:59:34Noted.
00:59:35But if I did, he lifts his forefinger at me.
00:59:37And I am not saying I do.
00:59:39But if I did, I would suggest to that favored student that she stresses the inimitable bond
00:59:42of her legendary battle dragon and forgets any mention that perhaps strengthening her
00:59:45mental shields could have saved her from such a rash decision when it came to departing
00:59:48without leave.
00:59:49He lifts both of his dark brows at me.
00:59:51But, I would also hope that another favored student,
00:59:54student, what I do have such a thing, would be teaching you stronger shield techniques
00:59:57so it doesn't happen again.
00:59:59His gaze drops to my collar, where there's a single silver line of leftenance rank.
01:00:02I get the point.
01:00:03A smile curves my mouth.
01:00:05Thank you for caring, Professor Amitavyo.
01:00:07I never said I did.
01:00:08He turns his attention to the gauntlet, where Soren has just crossed the fourth ascent.
01:00:12Right, of course not.
01:00:14I grin as I walk away, taking the rocky path to the quadrant, then fight the fear of my
01:00:17upcoming punishment.
01:00:18If Varish tries to kill me, I'll fight.
01:00:20If he wants to torture me, I'll deal with it.
01:00:22Or maybe I should boost three to pincheck.
01:00:25The path is crowded as another squad passes by for their turn at banquet practice, and
01:00:28I stop stressing about stashing the dagger in my bag.
01:00:31At this rate, I'll make it to my room without even seeing the alloy-hilted dagger.
01:00:34By the time I reach the second-year floor, I've gone through about a dozen different scenarios
01:00:38of how to turn myself in.
01:00:40Professor Kauri looks up from his book as he walks toward me in the main corridor, his
01:00:43brows furrowed in concentration, and I wave before turning into the little hallway that
01:00:47houses my squad chambers.
01:00:49I stop short, my heart seizing for the length of what should be two beats when I see them.
01:00:53There she is, Varish's greasy voice lifts the hairs on the back of my neck as he and
01:00:57his two henchmen push off the wall and head my way.
01:00:59We've been waiting for you, Sorengeal.
01:01:02I was going to wash the flight off and then present myself for judgment.
01:01:05Close, I am so fucking close to the safety behind my door.
01:01:08Oh, so you do realize you were absent without leave, Varish says, his smile anything but
01:01:12reassuring.
01:01:13The trio passes by my door and Rhiannon's across the hall, then approaches Sorenge to my
01:01:16left and redrocks to my right.
01:01:18Of course, I nod.
01:01:20Rhiannon's door opens silently, and she peeks her head out, her eyes flying wide.
01:01:24I suddenly shake my head in warning, and she nods, ducking back inside and closing her
01:01:29door almost all the way.
01:01:30Good, I don't want them looping her in on my punishment as soon as she inevitably tries
01:01:33to defend me as my squad leader.
01:01:35Back, Varish orders.
01:01:37Oh, fuck, at least I didn't stash the dagger in there.
01:01:40My mistake might just save my life.
01:01:42Nora holds out her hand, and I slip my back from my shoulder and hand it over.
01:01:46You couldn't be bothered to wear your own uniform.
01:01:49Varish eyes didn't shrank on my collar.
01:01:51Do you know that impersonating a commissioned officer is against the codex, do you not?
01:01:54Nora dumps my bag onto the stone floor, breaking the binding on my history book.
01:01:58Arch, look, she has another one here.
01:02:01She hands both these jackets to Varish.
01:02:03Collecting them, are we?
01:02:04Varish takes the jacket without looking my direction.
01:02:06His focus is on the bag with the other two riders.
01:02:09He's going to take Zayden's jacket.
01:02:11I fucking know it.
01:02:12Panic wells in my throat, pretending to cut off my oxygen.
01:02:15I glance up the tree, locking eyes with her through the switch she's left in her door.
01:02:19She talks her head to the side silently, and I look pointedly to the dagger she did my shoulder
01:02:22before lifting my bras at her.
01:02:24It's just books, some flight baubles, and the jacket, Nora says.
01:02:27A jacket that isn't hers, Varish directs her.
01:02:30Just like the one she's wearing.
01:02:32Rhiannon's door squeaks, but she manages to close it before they swing their gazes away.
01:02:36Fuck, fuck, fuck, I'm on my own.
01:02:38The dagger is more than enough to implicate me if he knows what it is, and if he doesn't,
01:02:42Markham will.
01:02:43But worse, it will implicate Zayden.
01:02:45They'll kill all the marked ones for what they'll perceive as his betrayal.
01:02:48Check the one she's wearing, Varish orders, since it's clearly not regulation.
01:02:52I'm sorry, Professor Kauri says as he comes up behind me.
01:02:55Did I just hear you order your, aids, or whatever it is you're calling them, is typical dead.
01:03:00It's her jacket.
01:03:01She's in violation of Article 7, Section 3, which states that impersonating a commissioned officer, Varish starts.
01:03:06It's Article 2, actually, I interrupt, folding my arms across my chest.
01:03:11The shoulder has way more view to it than what I'd expect, but I'm not foolish enough to draw attention to it by glancing down again.
01:03:16And Etsy is impersonating a commissioned officer is a punishable offense, not wearing someone's slide jacket.
01:03:21As you can see, I'm not wearing anyone's name tag, nor am I claiming to be someone I'm not.
01:03:25She has a death, Vice Commandant.
01:03:27Kauri tucks his book under his arm.
01:03:29And since when do we search cadets' bags?
01:03:31Since I took over as Vice Commandant.
01:03:33Varish lifts his head, standing to his full height.
01:03:36This doesn't involve you, Kauri.
01:03:38Nevertheless, I'll be staying, Kauri retorts.
01:03:40Power must always be kept in check, don't you think, Major Varish?
01:03:44Are you accusing me of abusing my power where this cadet is concerned, Colonel Kauri?
01:03:48Varish moves to step toward us, but my back is in the way.
01:03:51Oh, no, Kauri shakes his head.
01:03:53I think you abuse your power in general.
01:03:55It takes every muscle in my body to keep my features cool.
01:03:58Varish's eyes narrow on Kauri before turning to me.
01:04:01I will have that light jacket.
01:04:03He holds out his hand.
01:04:04I undo the buttons, begging my fingers not to tremble, and hand it over.
01:04:08Varish goes through every, single, pocket.
01:04:10I don't need to want to end, I can already feel his quiet presence in the back of my mind.
01:04:15Hum, Kauri leans my direction and cocks his head, sweeping his gaze over my uniform.
01:04:19Her name tag here clearly says Sorengale, and I know two of her scored patches.
01:04:23Doesn't seem to be impersonating anyone to me.
01:04:25She is, Varish's face blotches as he comes up empty on the jacket.
01:04:29She is still due to face God Marshall for departing campus without leave.
01:04:32Oh, Kauri nods, that explains it, you haven't talked to Pinchek this afternoon.
01:04:36I turned in my expert opinion but Sorengale not be punished for what was clearly the choice of her dragon.
01:04:41Her very powerful, very worried, very mated dragon.
01:04:44Pinchek agrees, she is clear of all charges.
01:04:46I'm sorry, Varish drops Zaden's jacket on the floor on top of Bodhi's, and his henchmen stand.
01:04:51Come now, Kauri sees as if he's talking to a child.
01:04:54We can hardly expect second year to shield out the overpowering emotions of her dragon when even we struggle as officers, let alone when her stronger stand.
01:05:01Maybe you struggle, Varish snips, losing his customary sweet indifference.
01:05:05Some of us do not bow to the whims of our dragons.
01:05:08In fact, we influence them.
01:05:10Well, that's certainly a theory worth contemplating.
01:05:12Kauri pauses, waiting for a reply that doesn't come.
01:05:15Odd, would that mean you influenced Solas when he set fire to that squad of bonded riders after Parapid.
01:05:20Varish glances between us, we are done here.
01:05:23The trio side fits the mess they made of my things and pushes by Professor Kauri.
01:05:27You are making enemies, Sorengale, Kauri sees softly after waiting until they've left.
01:05:32Not sure I made that one, Professor, I tell him honestly, dropping to the ground and shoving my things back in the bag.
01:05:37Pretty sure he came that way.
01:05:39Hum, he watches me as I stand.
01:05:41Either way, be careful there.
01:05:42He gives me a cautious look and then disappears down the hallway.
01:05:46I squeeze the jacket between my hands, finding a very empty sheet.
01:05:49Oh gods!
01:05:50Get in here!
01:05:51Rhiannon hisses, all but yanking me into her room and slamming the door shut behind me.
01:05:55Redok and Sawyer arrives from where they seated at the window and close their physics books, exchanging a look before coming towards.
01:06:00I didn't want to caught up in, my word die when she holds the dagger up, grasping the tip.
01:06:05Holy shit, my jaw drops, then rises in an awestruck smile.
01:06:09You just pulled it through the wall.
01:06:10I thought you couldn't do that yet.
01:06:12I can't, she rebuts.
01:06:13Well, couldn't, I guess.
01:06:15Not until right now, not until I thought whatever this is had a chance of getting you killed from the look you gave me.
01:06:20You are incredible, I glance at the guys.
01:06:23She is, right?
01:06:24Enough about the symbol, her voice rises with tension.
01:06:27What is this, and why did you need them not to find it?
01:06:29Oh, right, I take a single step forward, and she hands me the dagger.
01:06:33A thousand possibilities, all varying degrees of the truth, run through my mind.
01:06:37But I am so sick of lying to her, to them, especially when attacks are increasing and keeping them in the dark will only hurt them.
01:06:43The dagger, gods, I hope Zayden forgives me for this.
01:06:46She is my closest friend and she just saved not only my ass but the lives of every Mk1 in this college.
01:06:51She deserves better from me.
01:06:52She deserves the truth, they all do.
01:06:54Violet.
01:06:55I swallow the lum in my throat and meet her gaze.
01:06:57It's for killing women.
01:06:58Oceano FP
01:07:00Chapter 30
01:07:01I
01:07:02Tell them everything, every moment that transpired from the minute I made the decision to leave our squad with Zayden.
01:07:06For war games to the second I fell from 10s back after being stabbed.
01:07:10But when it comes to revealing how and where I woke up, my tongue dies.
01:07:13I just can't do it.
01:07:15It's not because I don't trust them, but because it isn't my secret to tell, and to do so betray Zayden, and Brennan.
01:07:20It risks every life in Aritya.
01:07:22So, I tell them almost everything that happened after Resen.
01:07:25And Arna, the assassination attempts, the daggers, supplying friendly drifts, Jasonia sneaking me classified books about the wards,
01:07:31even the theory that never knows how to lure the vinen.
01:07:33The rest spills out of my mouth in a deluge of words as they stare at me, the expressions varying from chop to disbelief.
01:07:38I was right.
01:07:39Dave wasn't killed by Griffins.
01:07:41Rhi sits on her bed, staring at the wall, her eyes unfocused as she processes.
01:07:44Dave wasn't killed by Griffins.
01:07:46I shake my head slowly, sitting beside her.
01:07:49And you let him, let Resen, lie for you.
01:07:52Sawyer folds his arms across his chest.
01:07:54I nod, up to it opening in my stomach as I wait for them to condemn me, to shout, to kick me out of the room, to end our friendship.
01:08:00And you're sure the dragons know.
01:08:02Redog puts his head to the side, and his eyes slowly widen as if he's talking to Aertrom.
01:08:06The dragons know.
01:08:07Fiyaj does, too, re-gibs the edge of her bed.
01:08:10She's stunned that I do, that you do.
01:08:12Tan says the Empyrean is split.
01:08:14Some of the dragons want to act, and others don't.
01:08:16Without the Empyrean taking an official stance, none of the dragons are willing to put their riders in danger by telling them if they don't already know.
01:08:22And people are dying beyond the words.
01:08:24All that propaganda is real.
01:08:26Redog paces between the window and door.
01:08:28Yes, I nod.
01:08:30They can't people lie this big, Redog argues, rubbing his hand over his recently burst hair.
01:08:34It's impossible.
01:08:36It's not, so I leans against Rhiannon's death.
01:08:38Living in Lucerys, I promise you the only news we got along the coast came from what the scribes put out as official announcements.
01:08:44It's as easy as Markung choosing which news gets published and which doesn't.
01:08:47We aren't even open to trading vessels from the Isle Kingdoms.
01:08:50Redog shakes his head.
01:08:51Fine, then what about the Waban, or whatever you call them?
01:08:54Why when, Rhiannon offers?
01:08:56Right, if you killed all those dragon-sized monsters, then where are the bodies?
01:09:00They can't hide an entire killing field, and Reson is close enough to a turbine that someone would see.
01:09:04Liam wasn't the only rider with farsight.
01:09:08They burned them, Rhiannon says quietly, looking away in thought.
01:09:10The patrol report from Battle Brief said the trading post would start for miles and we'd have to find a new location for the quarterly trades.
01:09:16How long do we have?
01:09:18Redog stops pacing, until those things are at the border.
01:09:20Some say a year, some say less.
01:09:22A lot less.
01:09:23I tend to re, you need to get your family to leave.
01:09:25The farther from the border, the better.
01:09:27She lifts her brows.
01:09:28You want me to tell my parents to leave the business they worked their entire lives for and approved my sister and her family without telling them why.
01:09:34You have to try, I whisper.
01:09:36I'm so sorry I couldn't tell you.
01:09:38Guilt threatens to swallow me whole.
01:09:40And the truth of it is that you still don't know everything.
01:09:42There are things I can't tell you, at least not until you are all capable of shielding their nerve.
01:09:46And I know that sounds like a bunch of bullshit because I've basically been lying to you for the last few months.
01:09:50And you have every single right to be angry at me, or to hate me, or to feel however you want to feel, of course.
01:09:56A self-deprecating laugh slips free.
01:09:58Because it's exactly why I've been so pissed at Zayden.
01:10:00I end on a whisker.
01:10:01Stop.
01:10:02She takes a deep, shuddering breath and drags her gaze to meet mine.
01:10:05I'm not pissed at you.
01:10:07I draw back, speechless.
01:10:09I'm a little pissed, Redog matters.
01:10:11I'm stunned but not angry, so I adds, shooting Redog a look.
01:10:15I'm not pissed at you.
01:10:16V, Rhiannon repeats, her gaze off on mine.
01:10:19I'm just really sorry you didn't feel like you could tell me.
01:10:21Am I disappointed and more than a little frustrated that you didn't trust me earlier?
01:10:25Absolutely, but I can't imagine how heavy this has been for you to carry.
01:10:28But you should be pissed.
01:10:30My eyes burn in a boulder forms in my throat as I look at them all in turn.
01:10:33You should all be pissed.
01:10:34Rhiannon lifts her brows at me.
01:10:36So, I only get to feel however I want as long as I rip you apart from not telling me.
01:10:40Not sure that's fair, breathe, I have to breathe, but the boulder feels like a mountain, now.
01:10:44I do not deserve you.
01:10:46Her reaction to my outright deception couldn't be more different from how I turns it into
01:10:49shreds.
01:10:50Any of you, she yanks me into a hug, setting Hilton on my shoulder.
01:10:53Even if it makes me a target to know all of this, you put your own life's risk and shared
01:10:57your boot with me at parapet when we were complete strangers.
01:10:59How can you think I wouldn't want to share this risk with you now that you're my best friend?
01:11:03I hold her tight, turn between the absolute relief of her knowing, them all knowing, and I
01:11:08scold fear that all I did was expose them.
01:11:10We don't run, Sawyer moves toward us, then clasps my shoulder, squeezing lightly.
01:11:15Redog walks over slowly and rests his hand on my upper back.
01:11:18The four of us stick together.
01:11:20That's the deal, we make it to graduation, no matter what.
01:11:23If there's a bus guide to graduate from, Sawyer remarks.
01:11:26I do have one question.
01:11:27Rhiannon pulls back, and the others drop their hands.
01:11:30If we only have months, then what are we doing about it?
01:11:32There's no fear in her eyes, just a steely determination.
01:11:35We have to tell everyone, right?
01:11:37We can't just let them show up at the border and start sucking the life out of people.
01:11:40Leave it to Rhiannon to jump into problem-solving mode.
01:11:43For the first time since returning to Busbyath after Rhiannon, I don't feel so alone.
01:11:47Maybe keeping his distance works for Zaiden, but I need my friends.
01:11:50We can't, not until we have everything in place to fight.
01:11:53They'll kill us all before we even get the chance to spread the truth, just like they did during the Tirish rebellion.
01:11:58You can't expect us to twiddle our thumbs while Rhiannon and his Mark 1s run around with fate of the continent in their hands.
01:12:04Sawyer rubbed the bridge off his nose.
01:12:06He's right, Rhiannon nods, and if you think that establishing a second set of wards is the way to save people, then let's do that.
01:12:12We'll leave the Mark 1s to their weapons smuggling and focus on helping you research.
01:12:16Solid plan, Redock agrees, picking up the alloy hilted dagger and stealing it.
01:12:20Are you guys really volunteering to spend your time reading dozens of classified books on wards?
01:12:25I look between them with raised brows.
01:12:27If it means we get to spend time in the archives, I'm in.
01:12:30Sawyer nods enthusiastically.
01:12:32And we all know why, my friend.
01:12:34Redock grins and claps him on the back.
01:12:36A spark of hope ignites in my chest.
01:12:38We'll be able to read four times as fast, cover four times as many books.
01:12:41There has to be a record somewhere about how the first six created the first words.
01:12:45Jay Senior has been looking, but she doesn't have access to every classified tome, and everything ever read has been edited or redacted during translation, including an account from the first of the scribes.
01:12:53It's like they had the knowledge when they changed our history, which I think happened about 400 years ago.
01:12:58So we're looking for a book older than 400 years.
01:13:01Rhiannon drums her fingers on her ears she thinks.
01:13:03One that hasn't been through a set of hands to translate or change.
01:13:06Exactly, and Jay Senior has already given me the oldest book she has access to on-word viewing curricula, and it only covers expansion, not creation.
01:13:13My shoulders fall as I sigh, what we really need is the primary source, and I doubt the first six sat around writing books after they founded Busguide.
01:13:20They were a little busy.
01:13:22Not too busy to keep personal journals.
01:13:24Redock sets the dagger's hilt in the center of his palm and prize to balance it.
01:13:28I head turned in his direction, and my heart pretends to stop.
01:13:31What? Rhiannon asks.
01:13:33They kept journals, he sees with a shrug, moving as he tries to keep the blader pride.
01:13:37At least two of them, more, he catches us staring and quickly grabs the dagger by the handle.
01:13:41Wait, do I actually know something about the archives that you don't?
01:13:44A grin flashes across his face.
01:13:46I do, don't I?
01:13:48Redock, Rhiannon warns, leveling a look on him I want nothing to do with.
01:13:51Right, sorry, he sets the dagger on the desk and then sits beside it.
01:13:55Lighters and Warwick's journals are here.
01:13:57At least according to a classified ledger in your mom's office, they are.
01:14:00My mom's office, my Joe Hines.
01:14:03The ledger, not the journals.
01:14:05He shrugs, I thumbed through it when we were looking for something to steal during the squad battle, but it listed them in a sublevel vault, and you'd already said the archives are closed, and then you suggested the map.
01:14:14There aren't any sublevel vaults.
01:14:16I shake my head, that you know of, key counters.
01:14:18I blink, Jay Senior would know if he had those books, let alone a sublevel vault.
01:14:22My father would have told me, wouldn't he?
01:14:25Redock scoffs, right, because the scribes have kept the biggest secret in Nevaar's history safe all these years by granting access to second years.
01:14:32He makes a good point, Sawyer notes.
01:14:34He does, I'll ask her to look.
01:14:36And it hits me that I would have known this ages ago if I'd just trusted my friends.
01:14:39But if I don't even know about the vault, then they're beyond classified.
01:14:43Retrieving them could definitely get a skill.
01:14:45Redock rolls his eyes.
01:14:46Oh, good, I was wondering when it was going to start getting dangerous around here again.
01:14:51Jay!
01:14:52Asinia knows nothing about a sublevel vault, so while she hunts, the rest of us go over every book about board viewing and the first six she can give us.
01:14:59Research goes a lot faster when four people are doing it.
01:15:02And I have to admit, it's nice to look across my room during the hours we study and see my friends again.
01:15:07But we don't find answers.
01:15:08And Anduna remains suspiciously asleep.
01:15:10And ten tiny telling me not to worry feels like a giant trigger to do exactly it, so I do.
01:15:15I never get a chance to tell Zarin about our discovery, or lack thereof.
01:15:18That next Saturday, our squad is cooled into another session offline in love with the infantry, this time with first thing, and I spent two days wandering.
01:15:25The steep terrain of the mountains near Biscayle, avoiding Jack Barlow, who is weirdly nice to everyone, at all costs.
01:15:32It's like he met Malik and decided to come back a decent guy, Liannon observes when we catch him tutoring first years on the man.
01:15:38But I still don't trust him.
01:15:40Me, either, the professors all seem to love him now, too.
01:15:43The next week, Anduna is still sleeping, and Sawyer stumbles onto a 300-year-old passage that confirms more than one word stone was created.
01:15:50On Saturday, not only is Zarin on duty in the Orcs room, but Meera is on patrol for the majority of my visit, and the weekend after, our squad has dropped into the parcher forest amid the changing leaves without supplies and told to walk our way out.
01:16:01Message received, Ten and SGA YL won't be denied, but Zarin and I only get to see each other when we play by the rules, Varush has determined that we've broken too many.
01:16:09The next weekend, I have to choose between my squad receiving a 0 if I don't participate in a cat-and-mouse evasion operation against third wing in the shade reports and flying to Samara for Zarin.
01:16:18It's the very scenario Meera predicted last year when she learned I bonded Ten, being forced to choose between my education, my squad, and Zarin and SGA YL.
01:16:26Ten makes the choice before I can bludgeon myself about it.
01:16:29We stay, but he's fucking miserable the next day when Threshing comes, and I can't blame him.
01:16:33I might not have a mating bond, but I chew my own arm off if it meant I had five minutes to talk to Zarin.
01:16:37Nothing I need to tell him can be written in a letter.
01:16:40You look more nervous than you did when it was outfreshing, Rhiannon says, coming to stand next to where my squad mates have claimed a squad on the hillside across from where the fourth wing first years wait with their newly bonded dragons.
01:16:50I haven't seen Son yet, and I need to leave to take over the boat soon. I swear back and forth nervously, like a mother with a colicky.
01:16:57Newborn, I'll find time to get to temple if you could just be with her, I promise to Ne, the goddess of war.
01:17:03She'll make it, the tension in Imogen's folded arms tells me she's not feeling quite as certain as she proclaims.
01:17:08In addition to the extra wraps during our nightly workouts, she's been more than a little short with me since I had to tell her that I spilled our secret, which then pressured her to tell Quinn too.
01:17:16Quinn took it a lot like Rhiannon, with grace and a sense of resolve.
01:17:19Xerian's going to lose his shit when I tell him, but I'll deal with that when he gets here on Saturday. If they actually let us see each other.
01:17:26All of Flame's section is looking strong. Both you should be proud, Quinn says with a hopeful smile.
01:17:30Vizier bonded a brown dagger tail, Ri says, nodding across the field to where the first year stands in front of her dragon.
01:17:36Avalyn, Lynx, and Belay all made it, too, but I don't see Arak or Misha. She glances at me.
01:17:41She's the one who's always biting her nails.
01:17:44Oh, right, guilt blocks my throat, and I swallow, but there's no carrying it. While I've avoided getting to know anything about the first years, Ri hasn't had the luxury.
01:17:53Wingy's still there again, and we all look to the right as a blue pip tail approaches with sapphire-huge scales to contrast the changing colors of the sunset sky, and he is beautiful.
01:18:01We've always been the better-looking species, Tan chimes in. And then now, I ask him every single day, and today, twice.
01:18:07She still sleeps. That can't be natural, I shift my weight onto his side. It's longer than expected.
01:18:13So you keep saying, you have the Empyrean gathered.
01:18:16I change the subject and glance back over my shoulder at the dragon-toward mountain, squirting Tan high on the ridge line above, just a little lower than the dragons I assume are the elders.
01:18:23Plan on discussing anything tonight? Without the cooperation of the Empyrean, we're stuck.
01:18:28If we were, I couldn't tell you. Figured, I say with a sigh, watching the blue land in the field directly in front of the dazeway leadership, including my mother, watch.
01:18:36I'll be damned, Rhiannon mutters as our red dismounts from the blue pip tail like he's been doing it for years, with an ease that reminds me of Satan and Liam.
01:18:43I smile as he keeps his head down while recording his dragon's name and makes it back without my mother recognizing him.
01:18:48There, Rhiannon points toward the end of the field.
01:18:51Amid the eyes let the shade of strawberry flies in, looking her dagger tail behind her when she lands in the middle of the field.
01:18:57A red dagger tail, I whisper, relief flooding my veins as Sloane clumsily dismounts, touching her shoulder.
01:19:03Just like her brother, Sloane hugs Vizier Tyke, and I smile.
01:19:06I'm glad she has friends, that their ear has the chance to become just as tight as ours.
01:19:10It's hard not to loathe her for hating you, Rhiannon sighs, but I'm glad she survived.
01:19:15I don't need her to like me, I shrug, I just need her to live.
01:19:18Squad leader Matthias, a rider from third wing wearing a black sash with a gray messenger and signature approaches.
01:19:23Here, Rhi beckons him forward, then takes the folded parchment from his hand.
01:19:27Thank you, he leaves, and she breaks the wax seal to open the missive.
01:19:31Her gaze adds to mine, and she lowers her voices with her queens in.
01:19:34Jay Sr. requests we meet her by the archive store in fifteen minutes.
01:19:37She has a tome we've requested.
01:19:39She reads our code phrase slowly, excitement growing in her eyes.
01:19:42I inhale sharply, and my heart jumps as I grin.
01:19:45She's found the vault, I whisper, but I have the next watch, and fleshing is almost over.
01:19:49You have squad leader duties.
01:19:51I'll take your watch, Riddock offers quietly.
01:19:54And give Varish a reason for me not to see Zayden this weekend.
01:19:57No way.
01:19:58I shake my head.
01:19:59Then I'll meet Jay Sr.
01:20:01He reaches for the missive, and re-hands it over, so I can't over us here.
01:20:04We all agree, and Riddock and I head toward the quadrant, keeping care of the newly bonded dragon slide path.
01:20:10Which tower are we keeping watch on?
01:20:12He asks as we enter the courtyard.
01:20:14Dormitory.
01:20:15Academic.
01:20:16I point up to the turret where the never-ending fire blazes.
01:20:18Ah, the burn pit.
01:20:19It's going to be a busy night up there once the ceremony ends.
01:20:22He nudges my shoulder.
01:20:23I'll come up right after I meet with her.
01:20:25And then I would rejoin the threshing celebration after your watch.
01:20:28His head tells, or at least I'll be celebrating.
01:20:30Unfortunately, I think you limit yourself to celebrating with Jason, now.
01:20:34Go find out if all our problems are answered.
01:20:37I laugh, and we part ways when I push open the doors to the academic wing.
01:20:40It's really quiet in the building as I climb the wide spiral stairs up to the top floor.
01:20:44Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever been alone in the academic building in all my years here.
01:20:48Someone is always around.
01:20:50My heart rate increases with every flight of stairs, but I am nowhere near as blinded as I was when I made this journey for early last year.
01:20:56I.
01:20:57Open the door onto the flat-top turret and am immediately enveloped in heat from the flames rising from the iron barrel in the center.
01:21:03Violet, Aya smiles and hops off the edge of the thick stone wall on the other side of the barrel.
01:21:07I didn't realize you were leaving me.
01:21:09I didn't realize you had watched before me.
01:21:11How have you been?
01:21:12I make my way around the barrel and try not to think of how many of the cadets will have their things offered to Malik in the next day.
01:21:18Good, her eyes blow wide as she glances past me, and I turn, immediately drawing a dagger from my thigh and moving to her side.
01:21:24Four grown soldiers and infantry blue rush out of the doorway, each brandishing a short sword as they face us.
01:21:29My stomach drops to the bottom floor and crashes.
01:21:31They definitely don't look lost.
01:21:33Infantry is not allowed in the rider's quadrant.
01:21:35Aya snaps, flipping her hatchet over her wrist and gripping the handle.
01:21:39We are here with express permission, the one on the right smiles.
01:21:42And paid well for the specific message we are to deliver.
01:21:45That ominous line comes from the tallest one on the left as they spread out on the far side of the barrel, splitting in the center to come at us from both sides.
01:21:51Four assassins and two of us.
01:21:53They have the exit, and we are pinned between the fire, the wall, and four stories of nothing.
01:21:57Not good, and they know it, especially by the slow smile the one closer to the center gives, the firelight reflecting off his dead as he raises it.
01:22:03Fuck them, I did not survive the entirety of last year, or these last few months, to die on top of the academy wing.
01:22:09Kill them all, ten orders, go left, aya maters.
01:22:13I nod and unsheath another dagger, let me guess, they take slow, coordinated steps toward us, and aya and a pirate so we stand back to back.
01:22:21Secrets there with the people who keep them.
01:22:23The one on the left blinks in surprise.
01:22:25It's not as original as you'd think.
01:22:27In rapid fire, I flick two daggers at him, catching him in the throat and hard.
01:22:31Aya shouts behind me, charging at the two on her side as my first attacker falls like a damn tree, crashing into stone and driving my daggers deeper.
01:22:37Blades clash behind me, and I lose sight of my remaining attacker in the high flames as I grab two more daggers.
01:22:42Shit, shit, shit, where is?
01:22:45Fire blasts toward my face and I dive to the left, narrowly missing the barrel that skids across the cobblestone floor and slams into the wall with a thud loud enough to wake the dead.
01:22:52My shoulder takes the print of the impact when I fall, and I grimace as I force myself onto my knees, ignoring the bite, and seeing eyes of the soldier I've already killed.
01:23:00I'm coming, ten shouts.
01:23:02Aya screams, and I make the mistake of looking back over my shoulder as one of the soldier's wrenches his sword from the middle of her chest.
01:23:08Blood, there's so much blood, it slides over her lids as she twitches her ribs, and I watch in horror as she falls to her knees.
01:23:14Aya, I shout, stumbling to my feet, but I can't get to her with the barrel blazing between us.
01:23:19Pinching the edges of my daggers, I lunge.
01:23:21Forward, then her boat with this ass and she has insane, catching him in the chest.
01:23:26I have two more out when I spin to face the only one left, but there's no time to throw them.
01:23:30He's used Aya's death to close the distance.
01:23:32I gasp as he grabs a hold of my waist, locking down with a grip I can't research as he marches three quick steps to the edge of the tower.
01:23:38No, I slice at his arms, but he holds fast despite the wounds.
01:23:42I kick hard in his stomach, and he spitters, and with the next kick, he releases me.
01:23:46My momentum sends me flying backward, and my daggers scrape both sides of the turret's crenellations as I skate toward the edge, my feet kicking under me and finding nothing but air.
01:23:53Fast, it's happening too fast to do anything but react.
01:23:56Instinct takes over and my hands play wide against the sides of the crenellations, releasing the daggers.
01:24:01Clawing for purchase, I sail backward, my skin grating against the rock to slow me down as I do, and the tips of my boots hit the edge of the turret, then slip right off.
01:24:09But the impact is enough to change the angle of my fall, and stone rushes up at my face for no longer than a heartbeat before my stomach glides with the edge of the turret, stealing what breath I have on impact.
01:24:18My way drags me the rest of the way backward, and I dig in with my fingernails and hold as my lower half kicks against the crevice in the stonework beneath me, looking for a foothold.
01:24:26This can't be happening, but it is.
01:24:28It's nothing personal, the soldier says, rolling forward onto the three-foot deep wall.
01:24:32I gasp for breath and cough to the first full inhale.
01:24:35There has to be a foothold below.
01:24:37There just does, this isn't how I die.
01:24:39My feet search and I can feel the ridges, but there's nothing substantial enough to support my weight.
01:24:43It's just money, he whispers from his knees and reaches for my hands.
01:24:47Oh gods, he's going to.
01:24:49No, power floods my veins, but there's nothing to do with the strike this close.
01:24:53Just money, he repeats, lifting my hands from the stone.
01:24:56Zayden, S-G-A-E-Y-L.
01:24:5810, this will kill us all.
01:25:00The soldier lets go.
01:25:02I scream, the sounds of shield tears my throat, and I sigh, scraping my forms raw as gravity drags me down,
01:25:07the top of the turret fading from view of the tiny lip at the edge, and playing.
01:25:11My heart lurches into my throat as my feet scramble.
01:25:14No foothold.
01:25:15Barely any handhold, and my shoulders start to wheel as I dangle.
01:25:18Just let go, the soldier rudges, crawling forward again.
01:25:21End.
01:25:22End.
01:25:23End.
01:25:24End.
01:25:25End.

Recommended

1:35:30
Up next
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 7
Gateway to Relax
6/14/2025
1:17:05
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 8
Gateway to Relax
6/14/2025
1:15:22
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 2
Gateway to Relax
6/12/2025
1:20:04
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 5
Gateway to Relax
6/14/2025
1:16:12
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 3
Gateway to Relax
6/12/2025
1:14:31
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 1
Gateway to Relax
6/12/2025
1:50:41
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 4
Gateway to Relax
6/12/2025
1:04:26
Iron Flame (The Empyrean, #2) BOOK 2 PART 9
Gateway to Relax
6/14/2025
31:30
Iron Man Armored Adventures S 2 E 7
Herkex Terfed
9/9/2017
1:20:33
Onyx Storm (The Empyrean, #3) BOOK 3 PART 2
Gateway to Relax
6/12/2025
45:26
Huerfanas Capitulo 6 Parte 2
Vlog de Novelas
10/3/2017
31:59
Iron Man Armored Adventures S 2 E 8
Herkex Terfed
9/9/2017
32:57
Iron Man Armored Adventures S 2 E 5
Herkex Terfed
9/9/2017
35:31
Huerfanas Capitulo 7 Parte 2
Huerfanas
12/17/2017
31:57
Iron Man Armored Adventures S 2 E 4
Herkex Terfed
9/9/2017
29:50
Iron Man Armored Adventures S 2 E 9
Herkex Terfed
9/9/2017
43:32
Iron Resurrection Season 7 Episode 5 Step Van to Showstopper Part 2
US TV Shows
4/17/2025
1:36:59
Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) book 1 part 8
Gateway to Relax
6/6/2025
23:10
Pee-Wee Vol 2 Disc 6 E27 Fire in the Playhouse
Series
8/26/2017
23:37
Ironside S04e11 Backfire [Part 2]
Ironside
5/16/2017
24:24
A Love So Beautiful Ep 08
Infinite Inspire Channel
2/24/2025
21:31
A Love So Beautiful Ep 10
Infinite Inspire Channel
2/24/2025
22:32
A Love So Beautiful Ep 09
Infinite Inspire Channel
2/24/2025
2:04
Dream_(2023)_드림_Korean_Movie_|_EONTALK(360p)
JENNIE KIM
4/24/2023
1:11
Horimiya_-Piece-_(Season_2)_|_Official_Teaser_Trailer_|_English_Sub(360p)
JENNIE KIM
4/4/2023