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Gateway to Relax
  • 6/14/2025
Transcript
00:00:00There are 107 of them, representative of the mark once he took responsibility for to give
00:00:05them a chance at life in the quadrant.
00:00:07For all that he says he isn't soft, isn't kind, he is also the only man I know whose
00:00:11back is covered in promises made for other people.
00:00:14Even if his reasoning was preparing for this war we are about to wage, he still risked
00:00:16his own life by watching for them.
00:00:19He risked his life to free me, Dane and I never would have made it out of their life
00:00:22without him.
00:00:23Alive, I'm alive.
00:00:25And that's exactly how I want to feel.
00:00:28I lean forward and press my lips to his warm skin, kissing this car closest to me, wishing
00:00:31I couldn't do the damage my mother did to him.
00:00:34MMM, Violet, his zebra voice makes my lips open my blood heat.
00:00:38His muscles ripple as he stirs away, and I take my time, kissing.
00:00:42A slow path up the expanse of his back.
00:00:45He inhales sharply, his arms sensing when I reach the place his neck meets his shoulder.
00:00:49Rolling, he flips to his back and pulls me astride in one smooth motion.
00:00:53Good morning, I smile, settling my hips over his.
00:00:55My breath catches at the field of him beneath me, hard and ready.
00:00:59I could get used to waking up like this.
00:01:01He looks at Mei with a hunger that mirrors my own, and his hand slides from my hip, over
00:01:04the curve of my waist, and up between the peaks of my breast cup, the side of my neck
00:01:08gently, carefully.
00:01:10Mei too, my purse quickens as I lean down and set my lips to his throat.
00:01:13But we shouldn't get used to it.
00:01:14I tell him between kisses, working my way to his chest.
00:01:17They'll probably put Mei with the other cadets tonight.
00:01:20It's like, this had been the most private place for Brennan to mend me, and I'd wanted
00:01:24to sleep next to Zarin too bad Rita Io against his suggestion of staying after I'd finally
00:01:27gotten the chance to pay.
00:01:29This is my house, he spares his fingers into my hair, his other hand flexing on my hip
00:01:33when I boast my lips over the three-inch curve of his heart.
00:01:36And I sleep where you sleep, which is preferably in this very large, very comfortable bed.
00:01:40You should still be sleeping.
00:01:41I slide down his body, my hands roaming and stroking as I kiss every ridge of the incredible
00:01:45abdominals that tighten beneath my mouth.
00:01:47His eyes are my favorite part of him, but damn if the chisel line above his hip that disappears
00:01:51into his waistband isn't a close second.
00:01:53I follow it with my tongue.
00:01:54Violet, Zarin's voice is low.
00:01:57I melt, instantly liquid when he says my name like that, and right now is no exception.
00:02:01Good plan, I slide my hand under his waistband and wrap my fingers around the thick length
00:02:05of him.
00:02:06How is every inch of this man perfect?
00:02:08There has to be a flower somewhere.
00:02:09You're not recovered enough for the things I want to do to you, he growls.
00:02:14My cock clenches at the warning, the promise, whatever it is, I want it.
00:02:17I want him.
00:02:18Yes, I am, all men did, remember, the craving for him overpowers any lingering exhaustion.
00:02:23A heady sense of power floods my system when I stroke my thumb over the head of his cock
00:02:26and his hips work in response.
00:02:28There's nothing sexier than watching his tint roll fray, nothing hotter than knowing
00:02:31I am the one who brings him to the breaking point.
00:02:34And I need him to do exactly that, break, to use the gentle kisses and cautious touches
00:02:37and take me with the full force of what he's capable of.
00:02:40No holding back, no soft and slow.
00:02:42I hear trying to kill me.
00:02:43His grip tightens in my hair, and I drag my gaze to his, finding dissatisfying, while
00:02:47blind in his eyes.
00:02:49Knead coils low in my stomach, my body remembering what follows that kind of look.
00:02:53He hasn't even touched me and I'm already aching.
00:02:55Yes, I answer honestly, then lower my head, keeping our eyes locked as I swirl my tongue
00:02:59around his toe.
00:03:00His guttural moon sets my blood on fire, and I wrap my hand around his base and take him
00:03:04deep.
00:03:05Violet, his eyes slam shut, and he throws his head back, his neck working as it arches,
00:03:09his body tensing like he's fighting the pressure of it even as his hips jerk for more.
00:03:13That feels so fucking good.
00:03:14I hum in approval and work him harder, flicking my tongue along the ridge where he's most sensitive
00:03:18with every bob of my head.
00:03:19Fuck, fuck, fuck.
00:03:21He tugs at my hair, his breath's coming faster and faster.
00:03:24You have to stop, or I am going to lose it on you.
00:03:27His stomach flexes as he lifts his head to watch me, and I am not sure I can be gentle.
00:03:31Lose it, sounds excellent to me, I don't want gentle.
00:03:34Bending bones isn't instant, you're still here.
00:03:37I suck him deeper.
00:03:38He growls, you really want this.
00:03:41I want your feral.
00:03:42The thought barely leaves my head before he pounces, lifting me off him and rolling me
00:03:45to my back.
00:03:46Then his mouth is on mine, kissing me hard and deep.
00:03:49It's all tangled tongues and nipping teeth, panel and fears is exactly what I need.
00:03:53He slides his hand up my inner thigh, and then his fingers are right there, pushing my underwear
00:03:57to the side to stroke and tease before dragging them down my legs.
00:04:00I hang my nightgown over my head as he strips his sleeping pants off.
00:04:03Yes, gods, yes, he's all I can see, all I feel as he settles back between my thighs,
00:04:08the head of his cock nudging my entrance.
00:04:10His hand strokes over my newly mended ribs and his eyes flare, his gaze jumping to mine.
00:04:14We should.
00:04:15Please, Zayden, I cup his tea, please.
00:04:18He lifts my hand and kisses the palm, then the place on my forearm that had been fractured.
00:04:22His brown lips for a heartbeat as he scans my body, like he's looking for the safest
00:04:25places to touch me, like he can still see every bruise, every break.
00:04:29My stomach nods to the thought that he might stop, feral, I remind him in a whisper.
00:04:34His gaze finds mine, and the way he smiles, raising the corner of his mouth into that
00:04:37arrogant smirk I love so much, makes my heart pound.
00:04:40Gripping my hips, he flips me over, then yanks my ass into the air, setting me on my knees.
00:04:45You will tell me if it's too much.
00:04:47It's not a request.
00:04:48I nod, my fingers tangling in the sheets.
00:04:51Then he lines us up and rolls his hips, pushing in and in and in, until he's so deep that
00:04:54I can feel him everywhere.
00:04:55I moan at the stretch, the fit, the utter perfection of him, muffling the sound in my
00:04:59pillow.
00:05:00He grabs the pillow and throws it to the floor.
00:05:02I want them to hear, he says, withdrawing slowly, stroking every inch of me, then slamming
00:05:06home again.
00:05:07Boards, you're fucking perfect.
00:05:08I cry out, he feels so damn good.
00:05:10There are hundreds of people in this palace of house.
00:05:13How I can string together more than two words is.
00:05:16Beyond me.
00:05:17He leans over my back, then drags his teeth across the shell of my ear.
00:05:21And I want them all to know you're mine.
00:05:23I don't argue with his logic.
00:05:25I can't, not when he slides almost all the way out of me, then snaps his hips, driving
00:05:29out every thought.
00:05:30He sets a hard, deep rhythm, turning me into pure, burning pleasure.
00:05:34This is exactly what I needed, for him to take me, consume me, to breathe life into me.
00:05:39His fingers stick into my hips, pulling me into every driving thrust, and there's no way
00:05:42to rock back, to gain leverage, to force him to quicken his pace.
00:05:46I can only accept what he gives, surrender completely, and simply feel.
00:05:50He minds me up, building the calling pressure within me tighter and tighter, my cries filling
00:05:53the room along with his brows and whispered words of praise.
00:05:56It just gets better, hotter, sweeter, until there's no world outside him, no existence
00:06:00beyond us.
00:06:01All that matters is the next thrust.
00:06:04His name on my lips is a fear as the tension spiral so tight it borders on pain, power rising
00:06:08within me, white hot and uncontrollable.
00:06:10His hand rises along my stomach to my sternum, then lifts me upright so my back meets his chest.
00:06:15I turn my head, tangling my fingers in his hair, and he fuses our mouths, kissing me breathless
00:06:19while he drives into me again and again and again, his movements growing less and less
00:06:22control.
00:06:23He's close.
00:06:24You are alive.
00:06:25His voice wraps around my mind as hissing as deep between my thighs and slide over my
00:06:28clit.
00:06:29Alive and strong in mind.
00:06:30Gods, he knew what I needed without me even telling him.
00:06:33My thighs lock, then tremble.
00:06:35It's too much and exactly enough.
00:06:37And you're mine.
00:06:38I gasp for breath, my purse racy as he strokes me right over the edge.
00:06:42And I fall.
00:06:43I absolutely shudder.
00:06:44Light flashes in a squeaky slurfed by cooling darknesses wave after wave of bliss rolls over
00:06:47me.
00:06:48He locks his arms around me, holding me close as he shudders, tumbling into his own release.
00:06:53We stay like that, wrapped around each other in every way possible, our breath rapid as
00:06:57we come back to reality.
00:06:58A reality in which I wasn't remotely quiet.
00:07:01My cheeks flush even hotter.
00:07:03You want me to sleep in here with you?
00:07:04I ask once I can form words.
00:07:06Every night, he kisses me softly.
00:07:08You might not be able to word it yet, but you'd better sound shield this room today.
00:07:12I lift my brow so he knows I mean it.
00:07:14His mouth curves into a heart-stopping smile.
00:07:16Already done, I roll my eyes, of course it is.
00:07:19B.
00:07:20While the time we emerge from Zeran's room an hour later, there are crates everywhere.
00:07:25This is, word fail as we descend the right side of the sweeping double staircase to the
00:07:28foyer.
00:07:29Noisier than the last time we were here, Zeran supplies, glancing over the crowd.
00:07:33Some riders stand in groups while others sit along the walls.
00:07:36Every single one of them wears an expression that's a variation of exactly how I'm feeling
00:07:39right now, what the hell did we do?
00:07:41Aritya wasn't ready for this, and yet I brought them anyway.
00:07:44Zeran may have risked the revolution by coming for me, but I snapped a giant target on it.
00:07:48Can we even fit all these riders here?
00:07:50I ask Zeran as we pick our way through the mayhem.
00:07:52There are a hundred barracks rooms between the top three floors, he tells me.
00:07:56And that doesn't account for the family quarters on the second.
00:07:59The question is if they're all serviceable.
00:08:01Not everything has been repaired and rebuilt.
00:08:03Violet, Rhiannon waves from where she stands with our squad, waiting in front of the archway
00:08:07that leads into the great hall.
00:08:09Her gaze sweeps over me.
00:08:10You look better.
00:08:11I feel better.
00:08:12I show her, noticing that Imogen isn't with them.
00:08:15What's going on?
00:08:16I was hoping you'd know.
00:08:18She glances over our squad, then leans in, lowering her voice.
00:08:21They took a quick roll last night, put us in our rooms, and fed us breakfast this morning,
00:08:25but that wasn't our elbow.
00:08:26Now we're just, she gestures to the foyer, waiting.
00:08:29I think we may have caught them off guard, I admit, guilt hollowing my stomach.
00:08:33Let's go find out exactly how off guard, Zeran says.
00:08:36We'll get some answers for you, Rhiannon.
00:08:38He gestures toward a hallway.
00:08:39We need to meet with the assembly.
00:08:41If you could just make that sound a little less foreboding.
00:08:43I pause when we pass around.
00:08:45He's standing off to the side of the squad, his arms folded over his chest,
00:08:49watching everything and everyone around him.
00:08:51What now, Soaring Gale, he asks, his mouth tightening.
00:08:54He isn't asking about the schedule, Zeran says.
00:08:57Picked up on that, I glance from Zeran to Arak.
00:08:59Your secret is safe with us.
00:09:01So, Chrism Lewis.
00:09:02I shoot Zeran a glare.
00:09:04It's up to you if you want to tell anyone about your family.
00:09:06Right, Rhiannon.
00:09:08A muscle in Zeran's jaw ticks, but he nods.
00:09:10You swear it, Arak bites out.
00:09:12I do, I promise.
00:09:14It's all I get to say before Zeran takes my hand and turns me down the wide hallway,
00:09:18where the crowd finally thins.
00:09:19I think I may have fucked up.
00:09:21I whisper, apprehension growing with each step we take.
00:09:24We may have fucked up, he says, squeezing my hand and stopping us in front of a tall wooden
00:09:28door with more than a few angry, raised voices behind it.
00:09:30Doesn't mean we weren't right.
00:09:32The last time we were here, the people in that room wanted to lock me up as a security threat.
00:09:36My chest tightens, I'm starting to think maybe leave a ride.
00:09:39Only four of them dead, he says, his fingers poised on the black metal door handle.
00:09:43And I guarantee they're more pissed at me than they are you.
00:09:46I didn't exactly answer their summons last night after Brennan mended you.
00:09:49He pulls open the door, and the raised voices become almost shrill as I follow him in.
00:09:53You've exposed everything we've worked for, a woman shouts, without so much as a vote from this council.
00:09:58A man agrees.
00:09:59I made the call, Zayden says once we are clear of the doorway.
00:10:03You want to yell, yell at me.
00:10:05Six members of the assembly look our way from their chairs at the long table, as Bodhi, Garak,
00:10:09and Imogen stand in front of them as if on trial.
00:10:12We are all that's left of the squad that fought in Dressen.
00:10:14We are happy to address your choices, Lefton and Reherson, Suri says.
00:10:18Though I'm not sure what the general's daughter is doing here.
00:10:21Well, the general's son is right here, Brennan counters from the other end of the table as
00:10:25Zayden and I walk forward, putting ourselves between Garak and Imogen.
00:10:28You know what I meant, the woman fires back, shooting Brennan a frustrated look.
00:10:33The massive, empty armchair Zayden had sprawled across at our last meeting has been moved near the others.
00:10:38Guess they're still waiting on someone.
00:10:39I glance at the high, intricately constructed back into figure of a sleeping dragon perched on its cointed tip, then do a double take.
00:10:45In this lighting, I realize that one half is a rich, polished walnut, and the other has a black chain to it,
00:10:50as if someone polished and sealed burnt firewood, as if the chair has been half burned.
00:10:53Because it probably was.
00:10:55And I think I know why she's here.
00:10:57Hawk nose glares with his one eye like I am something that needs to be scraped away from his boot,
00:11:01but at least he doesn't reach for the sword at his side when he looks pointedly at our joint hands.
00:11:05I pull mine from Zayden's grasp.
00:11:07He sighs like I am his biggest problem and snatches it back.
00:11:10What's done is done.
00:11:11You can stay in here and chastise us all day, or you can figure out what to do with the hundred riders we brought you.
00:11:16You didn't bring us riders, you brought us clets.
00:11:19Suri shouts, pounding her fist on the table.
00:11:21What the hell are we supposed to do with them?
00:11:23Since theatrics are above you, Suri.
00:11:25Felix scratches his beard and all but throws his eyes at her.
00:11:28Though the question is valid.
00:11:29I'd suggest you call a formation and divide them into equal wings.
00:11:32For starters, Zayden suggests, his tone ripping with boredom.
00:11:35Though they may prefer to stay intact.
00:11:37From what I've seen, fourth wing has the largest numbers.
00:11:39Because you were their wing leader, Brennan states.
00:11:42They were used to following you.
00:11:43And Atos, Zayden replies begrittingly.
00:11:45He's the one who called the formation after killing the Vistormundan.
00:11:49Atos is another matter.
00:11:51Battleax runs her finger over the flat side of a weapon like it's habit.
00:11:54He's confined to quarters until we can ascertain his royalty, as I described.
00:11:58Cat is enough to vouch for Dane's royalty.
00:12:00Are you?
00:12:01And Jason here is the only reason we have Warwick's journal.
00:12:03My hand tightens on Zayden's when all six of the riders startle with surprise.
00:12:06You do still have Warwick's journal, right?
00:12:09You have a journal from Warwick.
00:12:11Battleax leans forward.
00:12:12As in first six Warwick.
00:12:14I do.
00:12:15Jason here helped Violet and her squad steal the journal for instructions on how to use
00:12:18the word stone, Zayden says, turning his gaze on Brennan.
00:12:21And she was right.
00:12:22It contains cryptic instructions and roll.
00:12:24Lucerish did need detail, precise translation, but it's better than nothing.
00:12:28I was supposed to bring it to you but got sidetracked by her capture.
00:12:32Dad never taught me old Lucerish, only Terish, Brennan says to me, lines forming between
00:12:36his brows, and a quiet woman with shiny black hair and witty set eyes keeps her diamond sharp
00:12:40gaze on him.
00:12:41But if you can translate it, then there's a chance we can secure.
00:12:43Secure, Hawkmoor snaps.
00:12:44You bring a hundred riders and two hundred dragons here and have the nerve to say that
00:12:45word.
00:12:46His eye is narrow on me.
00:12:47You may as well have handed Milgrind a map of our location.
00:12:48Or was that what she was truly after?
00:12:49Here we fucking go, emergency is under her breath.
00:12:50Violet risked her life to help us, Zayden responds.
00:12:51And nearly lost it doing so.
00:12:52She should be confined and questioned, Hawkmoor suggests.
00:12:53Burn near my sister, and I'll cut out your other eye, Ulysses, Brennan warns, leaning forward
00:12:56and glaring down the table.
00:12:57She's been questioned enough for two lifetimes.
00:12:58That doesn't change the fact that she's ruined us.
00:12:59Battle acts declares, we've already double patrols to the border, which leaves no one here to
00:13:04fight should Milgrind launch an attack on us.
00:13:05Pearls.
00:13:06She swings her finger at Felix, and don't start with you Milgrind doesn't know we are here.
00:13:08All the rebellions in the continent can't hide and ride the size of stunt head.
00:13:11We have no wards, no Forge, and children running them against the hallways.
00:13:16Battle Axe declares, we've already double patrols to the border, which leaves no one here to fight should Melbrin launch an attack on us.
00:13:22She swings a finger at Felix.
00:13:24And don't start with you Melbrin doesn't know we're here.
00:13:26All the rebellion signets on the continent can't hide right the size of Stunthead.
00:13:30We have no wards, no forge, and children running among in the hallways.
00:13:34Couldettes who are acting with more composure than you are.
00:13:36Zayden tilts his head, get a grip.
00:13:38Melbrin isn't coming, even if he knew where we are, which he doesn't.
00:13:41He can't risk his forces coming after us when the kingdom is reeling from Yvonne carcasses we left up and down the border.
00:13:46Half the riders he plans on having in three years a year.
00:13:49He might want to kill us, but he can't afford to.
00:13:51And this for Violet, he lets go of my hand and rips at the buttons of his flight jacket, then tugs his neckline down, exposing the claw on his chest.
00:13:58If you want to confine her, question her, then it's me.
00:14:02You start with, I bear the responsibility for her in any decision she makes.
00:14:05Remember?
00:14:06Gravity shifts as I stare at that thin silver line in its precise edges.
00:14:09It's, boards, it's the same length as the ones on his back.
00:14:12Zayden isn't responsible for just two mark ones anymore, he's responsible for me.
00:14:17Responsible for my choices, my loyalties, not to Nava, like the mark ones, but to Aritya.
00:14:22Imogen tried to tell me that day on the fly field, but I didn't pick up on it.
00:14:26When did you do that?
00:14:27I asked.
00:14:28About two seconds after I put you in Brennan's arms after wrestling.
00:14:32My gaze forced her throw as they continued to shout into Rish.
00:14:35I brought the cadets here.
00:14:36I was the one who caught stealing Larry's journal.
00:14:38I am the one who forced Zayden's hand, forced them all into the situation.
00:14:42Then you will consider them my guests.
00:14:44Zayden's words dragged me out of my self-pity.
00:14:46Shadows fill the flow and curl around the days.
00:14:48I do not ask permission of you, of anyone, to bring guests into my own home.
00:14:52Zayden stone coos to Glace Hill.
00:14:54Garak swears under his breath and rests his hand on the hip of one of his swords.
00:14:58Zayden, Ulysses starts.
00:15:00Or did you forget that this is my house?
00:15:02Zayden takes his head to the side and stares at them in the same way as T-A-U-I-S to these pray.
00:15:06My life is devoted to Violet's, so if you want me in that fucking chair, you'll accept her.
00:15:10Ulysses is skin blotches while I feel the blood rush from mine.
00:15:13His chair, the empty one, he's the seventh.
00:15:16Holy shit, I knew this was his house, of course, but it never really registered.
00:15:20This is all Zayden's.
00:15:21No noble has claimed the Duchy of Aritya.
00:15:23They all think the land is ruined, or worse, cursed.
00:15:25It's all his.
00:15:27Fine, the quiet woman says, her voice often come.
00:15:30We will trust Violet's or Engale.
00:15:31But that doesn't help us arm the drifts without an operational forge.
00:15:35In winning this first battle with Navao by taking half the right is for win, you may have lost us this war.
00:15:39And what do we do with all these threats?
00:15:41Battle Axe asks clearly, rubbing the bridge of her nose.
00:15:44Gods, you brought us eight thousand scribes.
00:15:46It's not like we can send them out to battle by winning winning.
00:15:49I answers, and it's not like you're without your share of knowledge, Zayden replies.
00:15:53I've already questioned the scribes.
00:15:55They can be trusted, and cat vouches for Atolls.
00:15:57As to the other cadets, I suggest you get them back into class.
00:16:01Something, and or now.
00:16:03Oceano FPDF.com
00:16:04With all we've sacrificed to this kingdom, we'd better be able to defend it.
00:16:09The Journal of Warwick of Luceris, translated by cadet Violet S-O-R-R-E-N-G-I-L
00:16:13Chapter 38
00:16:15T
00:16:16He valuable Aritya looks eerily similar to the last time I was here,
00:16:20as though fall at this elevation is meaningless,
00:16:22when there are clear signs of winter approaching in the town beneath us.
00:16:25But unlike last time, there are dragons everywhere,
00:16:27the jagged out droppings of rock above us,
00:16:29the mouths of the caves to the west,
00:16:30the wide valley to the east, everywhere.
00:16:33And two of the biggest stand before me like bookends with Andrina between them.
00:16:37I thought he said she was awake.
00:16:38I whispered then as if my voice might wake her,
00:16:40like there isn't a giant brown stomping his way past the copse of trees where Andrina is napping,
00:16:44her body curved into an S-shape.
00:16:46Grass moves in front of her snout with every gust of her exhale,
00:16:48and she looks quite content with this coping tailored around her.
00:16:51And kind of green.
00:16:53No, her scales are still black.
00:16:55It must be an adolescent thing that they're so shiny she reflects some of the color around her.
00:16:59An hour ago,
00:17:0010 chops and I am pretty sure S-G-A-Y-L just rolled her eyes.
00:17:04It took me an hour to get out of that meeting,
00:17:06and then I had to hike the cliff of the trail.
00:17:07I shouldn't wake her,
00:17:08the responsible action would be none,
00:17:10to let her sleep off the remnants of her nearly 3 month long dragon coma.
00:17:13But I've missed her so damn.
00:17:15Bold eyes flash open.
00:17:17Relief nearly brings me to my knees.
00:17:19She is awake.
00:17:19I grin and feel my world right itself.
00:17:21Hi.
00:17:22Violet.
00:17:23Andrina lifts her head,
00:17:24and a puff of steam blows back the loosened strands of my long brain.
00:17:27I meant to stay awake.
00:17:28That's alright.
00:17:29Tens says you'll be nodding off for the next week or so.
00:17:32Stepping forward,
00:17:33I reach up to scratch her scaly jawline.
00:17:35You were out a long time.
00:17:36It felt like nothing.
00:17:37She arches her neck so I can get the area beneath her chin.
00:17:41Trust me,
00:17:41it wasn't.
00:17:42I step back and really look at her.
00:17:44If I had to guess,
00:17:44I'd say she's almost two-thirds size of SGA-Y-L.
00:17:47I think you're bigger.
00:17:49Naturally,
00:17:49she huffs,
00:17:50digging her claws into the ground as she stands upright.
00:17:53I retreat another couple of steps,
00:17:54looking higher and higher as she shakes off the sleeve,
00:17:57her wings wrestling as she swivels her head,
00:17:58taking in the valley.
00:17:59What do you want to do?
00:18:00Fly,
00:18:01take a walk,
00:18:02there's so much I need to tell her.
00:18:04Food,
00:18:04we should seek sheep.
00:18:05She flares her wings out and then stumbles forward just like she did in the height of summer.
00:18:09Shit.
00:18:10I scramble backward through the cumbersome grass,
00:18:12rushing to keep from being sliced by Andrina's claws as she finds her balance.
00:18:16Could you not pressure human?
00:18:18Ten bucks.
00:18:19I wasn't even close,
00:18:20Andrina snaps in return with a quick glare his direction as she flares her wings with the same result.
00:18:24I told you to be patient,
00:18:26ten chides.
00:18:27The look she levels on him makes SGA-Y-L huff in what I think is appreciation,
00:18:30and Andrina rolls her shoulders, digs her claws in, and tries again to raise her wings.
00:18:35My stomach drops,
00:18:36My mind spinning so quickly I can barely catch a worrying thought as my gaze flicks between the two wings.
00:18:40Her left one,
00:18:42Doesn't fully extend,
00:18:43It makes it halfway,
00:18:44But the remainder of the black webbing never pulls toward.
00:18:47She attempts once, twice,
00:18:48Then wears her sharp teeth in his esteem when it doesn't snap into place on the third attempt.
00:18:53Oh gods, something's wrong.
00:18:54I have no fucking clue what to say or do.
00:18:56I am speechless,
00:18:58Powerless to help,
00:18:58Fuck,
00:18:59Am I supposed to ask her if she's alright?
00:19:01Or do I ignore it as I would a battle wound on an adult?
00:19:04Is the wing broken,
00:19:05In need of mending,
00:19:06Or is it part of the growth process?
00:19:08Andrina's head whips back toward mine and her eyes narrow.
00:19:10I am not broken.
00:19:12My heart sinks.
00:19:13I never said you were,
00:19:14I whisper,
00:19:15Shit,
00:19:15Shit,
00:19:15Shit.
00:19:16I hurt her feelings.
00:19:18Speech isn't necessary when I can hear your thoughts.
00:19:20I am no more broken than you are.
00:19:21Her lip curls and her teeth flash.
00:19:23Ouch,
00:19:24I'm sorry,
00:19:24That wasn't what I meant to imply.
00:19:26The thought is barely a whisper.
00:19:28Enough,
00:19:28Ten lowers his head to her level.
00:19:30She is allowed to be concerned for you,
00:19:32As you are for her.
00:19:33Now go eat before hunger overpass common sense.
00:19:36S-T-A-E-Y-L stocks pass me on the right,
00:19:38The ground lightly shuddering beneath my feet as she heads the middle to the east.
00:19:41Fear gets out of her way.
00:19:43There is a herd that is far better hunted on foot,
00:19:45Ten says,
00:19:46A soft crawl vibrating in his throat.
00:19:48Follow S-T-A-E-Y-L.
00:19:50And when I touch her wings,
00:19:51Flexes her claws,
00:19:52Then walks around me wordlessly,
00:19:53Heading for S-T-A-E-Y-L.
00:19:55I turn to watch them walk away.
00:19:57Adolescence,
00:19:57Ten grumbles,
00:19:58They are insufferable when hungry.
00:20:00Having,
00:20:01I whisper,
00:20:01Wrapping my arms around my stomach.
00:20:04His sigh ripples the grass around me.
00:20:05The elder than I will work with her to strengthen the muscles,
00:20:07But there are complications.
00:20:09Like,
00:20:10My chest tightens,
00:20:11And I glance up at him.
00:20:12Put your shields up and block out as much as possible.
00:20:15I focus,
00:20:16Shielding out the police,
00:20:17Bond I now recognizes and run up.
00:20:20Done.
00:20:21There are many reasons young beings do not leave the veil.
00:20:23The mass expenditure of energy in Resson forced her into a rapid rate of growth.
00:20:27You know that,
00:20:27But if it had happened here,
00:20:29Or at best life where she could have been quickly,
00:20:30Safely sheltered for the dreamless sleep,
00:20:32Perhaps she would have grown as usual.
00:20:34His tone is enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck.
00:20:37He's never this careful with his words,
00:20:38Never this careful with my feelings.
00:20:39But we flew that critical day between Resson and Aritya,
00:20:42He continues.
00:20:44And then we waited again to fly to Biskile,
00:20:45And even then she woke several times.
00:20:47The elders have never seen a dragon remain dreamless that long,
00:20:50And now her growth is unpredictable.
00:20:52There is a second set of muscles along the fronts of our wings that forms during our growth.
00:20:56Hers did not,
00:20:57The elders believe she'll still fly,
00:20:58In time,
00:20:59Once she strengthened the existing muscle to compensate.
00:21:01Can Brennan mend her,
00:21:02It's my fault because I used her power in Resson,
00:21:05Because we'd flown that day,
00:21:06Because we'd had to return to Biskile,
00:21:08Because she bonded when she was a juvenile,
00:21:10And I interrupted her dreamless sleep.
00:21:12I could list reasons all day.
00:21:13You cannot mend what does not exist.
00:21:16I watch her quicken her paste catch up to S.G.A.Y.L.,
00:21:18Snapping her teeth to bird that immediately regrets flying too close to the squawk.
00:21:22But she'll fly,
00:21:23I've learned enough about dragons to know that a life without flight is more than a tragedy.
00:21:27We believe she can eventually train the existing muscle to bear the weight of her wing,
00:21:30He shows me,
00:21:31But there's a note of something else in his tone that has me bracing.
00:21:35You believe,
00:21:35I turn slowly to glare up at the second biggest dragon on the continent.
00:21:38Which means you've had time to discuss.
00:21:40How long have you known?
00:21:42Since she woke here in the high summer.
00:21:44My heart stopped sinking in flat out permits to the grass.
00:21:47She hadn't fully extended her wing then,
00:21:48Either,
00:21:49But I thought nothing of it,
00:21:50Since she
00:21:50Seemed generally,
00:21:52Clumsy.
00:21:53What else aren't you telling me?
00:21:55There's no way he'd have cut her out of the conversation unless he was worried about my reaction to the information,
00:21:59Or hers.
00:22:00What she herself has not recognized.
00:22:02He lowers his head,
00:22:03His great golden eye is walking with mine.
00:22:05She'll fly,
00:22:06But she'll never bear a rider.
00:22:08S.
00:22:09He'll never bear a rider.
00:22:10Tense words repeat through my head for the next three days while we are tossed back into classes,
00:22:14Headed by the professors who flew with us to Aritya,
00:22:16As well as a few members of the revolution and the assembly.
00:22:18Even translating Warwick's journal can't keep the thoughts out,
00:22:21And every time his prediction runs through my mind,
00:22:23I immediately think of something else just in case and an hour is listening in.
00:22:26Ayan,
00:22:27Rain,
00:22:28I say,
00:22:28Writing the words on parchment as I finish translating the passage for the third time.
00:22:32I've come up with the same process every time,
00:22:34No matter how,
00:22:34Or it is.
00:22:36Ayan,
00:22:36Rain mean anything to you?
00:22:37I ask down the bond,
00:22:38Closing the notebook on Zeran's test and reaching for my pack.
00:22:41I'm going to be late if I don't hurry.
00:22:43Should it?
00:22:44Ten replies.
00:22:45Clearly,
00:22:46Or she wouldn't be asking.
00:22:47I can practically feel and then as I roll.
00:22:49Or,
00:22:49Sheep.
00:22:50They will not stay down if you keep stuffing them in like,
00:22:53Tense eyes,
00:22:53That.
00:22:54I bite back a smile and race to meet my squad.
00:22:57Have to give it to Brennan and the assembly.
00:22:59We might be sharing books and cramming ourselves into every open room on the first floor for lectures,
00:23:03But every ticket is clean,
00:23:04Fed,
00:23:04House,
00:23:04And learning.
00:23:05History is held in what I think was Zeran's father's office,
00:23:09And we started a new unit on the Turkish rebellion yesterday so everyone can know.
00:23:13What really happened six years ago,
00:23:15But we've only gotten far enough to cover the political landscape of the years before the rebellion.
00:23:19Instead of challenges and hand-to-hand,
00:23:21A material has us running the steam,
00:23:23Rookie trail to the valley every day until our aching lungs adjust to the altitude,
00:23:26But he has warned us not to get too comfortable slacking off.
00:23:29Pretty sure the number of cadets vomiting beside the trail would indicate we are not,
00:23:32But the urgency in his tone pushes us to run harder.
00:23:34Hawk knows,
00:23:36Ulysses has taken over physics,
00:23:37Which only gives him another reason to spend an hour every other day glaring at me.
00:23:40And,
00:23:41Battleaxe,
00:23:41Kylian is set to take on flight maneuvers once the assembly agrees we are safe enough to let the ride rise from the hidden protection of the valley,
00:23:47Which means we have more than 200 restless dragons.
00:23:49Suri,
00:23:50The member of the assembly with the silver street here who blatantly hates me, threw off with Zayden and the other lieutenants two days ago.
00:23:55Not knowing where he is, wondering if he is in danger, worrying every single second that he might be in battle,
00:24:00Have me breathing through another wave of nausea as we file into the re-built theater in the north-west of Rieson House.
00:24:04The sight is more than impressive, not just that there is enough seating for every cadet,
00:24:09But that of all the things they could have re-built in the last six years, they chose the theater.
00:24:12Welcome to battle brief,
00:24:14Brianan says, leading us halfway down the steps on the right and into our seats.
00:24:18Good, maybe they'll tell us what's happening in Nima,
00:24:21Vizia says from the row ahead with us.
00:24:22Besides Zarat and Sloan, there are four other first-years, whose names I have yet to learn.
00:24:26Unlike our usual battle brief, we are seated as if in formation,
00:24:30by wing, section, and squad.
00:24:32And unlike the map at Bespal, this one is the height and width of the large stage where the curtain would hang,
00:24:36and it includes the isles, five large and thirteen smaller islands that surround the continent in every direction.
00:24:41Those red and orange flags, Redok notes from my left, pointing up at the map.
00:24:45Are those enemy territory, I'm guessing, Sawyer remarks, sitting next to Redok.
00:24:50Not like Koromish enemy, Redok takes his pen and parchment out of his pack,
00:24:54and I do the same, balancing the bound notebook on my lap.
00:24:56Like, Dark Vita enemy.
00:24:59Right, Drained Land, destroyed cities like Zolia, red is old movement and orange is new.
00:25:04Nearly all of the Crowland province remains untouched, but the enemy is just a day's flight from our border.
00:25:08The only movement I noticed since viewing this map in Midsommar is of the Stonewater River, Guernava.
00:25:12Did you guys get letters to your families?
00:25:14My friends wouldn't give out our location, but they could warn their loved ones to leave the border region, or just leave.
00:25:20I wouldn't put it past Melbourne to start executing the families to punish those who deserted.
00:25:24And it's all my fault.
00:25:25I'm responsible for Andrana's wing, for forcing the exposure of the truth before Aratya was ready to act,
00:25:30for bringing a hundred right this year without permission,
00:25:32for the very etched in Brennan's forehead about boosting the sheep population for all the dragons I led here,
00:25:36and for putting a target on my friend's family's backs.
00:25:38I grip my pen so tight it groans under the strain.
00:25:41How could I make every right decision last year and every Roam one this year?
00:25:45They all nod, with Rhiannon adding, I'm hoping it convinces them to move.
00:25:49Arat doesn't bother turning from his seed directly in front of me.
00:25:52I decline the offer to correspond, he says over his shoulder instead.
00:25:56I bet you did, I force a small smile, his father would shit himself if he knew Aratya had not only joined the quadrant but turned against Midsommar.
00:26:03Any luck on reward stone, Rhiannon asks, and every head turns, even Aratya and Sloan look over their shoulders.
00:26:08I've translated the section we need three times, and I think I'm close.
00:26:12My smile echoes theirs because I think I might actually have it.
00:26:15I know it's been three days, but I'm a little risky, and it's the oddest form of magic I've ever read about,
00:26:20which is probably why it's never been done twice.
00:26:22But you think it will work? Sloan asks with blatant hope in her eyes.
00:26:26I do, I nod, straightening my shoulders like the weight of their expectations is physical.
00:26:30I just need to be sure it's right, and I'd better be right.
00:26:33Those words are our best defense if I've impressed the Cliffs of Thriller.
00:26:36Let's get started, Professor Devira says from the stage, her voice carrying over the hundred of us easily,
00:26:41and everyone turns to face her.
00:26:43It's just like being at this path, Redox says with a smile.
00:26:46But you know, nod.
00:26:48Really insane and whispers, odd magic.
00:26:50Aye, my face crunches.
00:26:52I think the first six practiced some kind of blood magic, I whisper even quieter than she had.
00:26:56I've translated the passage three times and come up with the same words every time,
00:26:59but I've never heard of using blood in anything.
00:27:02Her eyebrows rise, yeah sure.
00:27:04As I can be, Jason here came up with the same translation for the passage, but I think I should probably go over it one more time.
00:27:10Just in case.
00:27:11Yeah, just in case, she nods.
00:27:13Welcome to your first official battle brief as traitors, Devira announces.
00:27:17That gets everyone's attention, or it forms where my stomach used to be.
00:27:22Get used to the sound of the word, she says unapologetically, her gaze scanning over us.
00:27:26Because that's what Nirvana considers us.
00:27:28Whether or not that's how we feel about the choice we made to defend those who cannot defend themselves,
00:27:32that is how we will be seen by the friends and loved ones we left behind.
00:27:35But personally, I'm proud of every single one of you.
00:27:38Her eyes find mine.
00:27:39It's hard to leave behind everything you know, everything you love, because your honor demands it.
00:27:43With that said, please welcome Lieutenant Colonel Acery, who will take the place of the scribe quadrant curator, since we don't have them here.
00:27:49Markham's position.
00:27:50Will Jason here order two other cadets start their own quadrant here without anyone to teach them?
00:27:55The assembly finished debriefing in Peering Dane for attendance this morning, so he's sitting in.
00:28:00The front row with the section leaders.
00:28:02I'm glad he's out of isolation but we're also glad he's keeping his distance.
00:28:05We believe in sharing information here in Aratya, Brennan says as he takes the stage with Devera.
00:28:10Still can't believe you ditched your last name, so I'll say he's under his breath.
00:28:14My year mates are the only ones who know who Brennan is, and it seems Devera and Ematerio are going along with the name change as well.
00:28:20Maybe Kari would have, too, if he'd come with us, but he'd look at me, hear it on, and said this place was with the Empyrean.
00:28:26Everyone who stayed had their reasons.
00:28:28At least that's what I'm telling myself.
00:28:30He had to, besides, I like his name.
00:28:32It's too rich for resurrected, I reply.
00:28:34He's still just Brennan to me.
00:28:36First, Brennan begins, we've done as you've asked and kept you in your respective wings.
00:28:40Second wing and third wing, you know that Eleni Jirat and Tibet Vasant are now your respective wing leaders.
00:28:44We expect any missing section leaders or squad leaders to be replaced by tomorrow, and you'll notify Devera of your choices.
00:28:50My eyebrows shoot up.
00:28:52You won't choose for us?
00:28:54Someone from first wing asks.
00:28:56That's the protocol it besied.
00:28:58Are you saying you're not capable?
00:29:00Brennan challenges.
00:29:01No, sir.
00:29:02Excellent, moving on, he turns our direction.
00:29:04Double check the roles to be sure, but it appears that not only does fourth wing currently boast this year's iron squad.
00:29:08The first year is seated in front of us holler, since that one of boasting the largest number of surviving first years after thrashing his hours for the second year in a row.
00:29:16Bela, the stocky one with the skull trimmed black hair, shouts the loudest, and the corner of my mouth rises when he shoulder bums Zarek into joining in.
00:29:22But fame section has the unique honor of being completely intact.
00:29:26Brennan looks down at Bodhi.
00:29:28Darren, you brought every single cadet.
00:29:30I guess that would make you the iron section.
00:29:32Holy shit, I don't even bother trying to suppress my grin, now.
00:29:35I knew that fourth wing brought the most cadets, but we kept our entire section together.
00:29:39I'm assuming you'd like a patch.
00:29:41Brennan asks, a smile tilting his lips.
00:29:43Fuck yes, we do.
00:29:44Redock shouts, coming out of his seat, and our entire section cheers loudly, even me.
00:29:49Yes, sir, Bodhi sees once we come, glancing over his shoulder just like he can't take us anywhere nice.
00:29:54I see what we can do.
00:29:56Brennan glances up at me and grins.
00:29:58Now to real business, we'll start with your update from Nava.
00:30:01As far as we can tell from our sources, the public doesn't know.
00:30:04What, how, Rhi and I exchange a look of pure confusion as a ripple of hushed women's rolls through the theater.
00:30:09To our surprise, the outposts have successfully dispatched with the Y when left an entry is ungifted to them,
00:30:14and General Melvin has kept the news from reaching the general public, though obviously all present military now knows.
00:30:19And unfortunately, they are still turning away every Purimish citizen at the border.
00:30:23My heart permits, and the tiny part of me that had hoped our leaving would prompt action and reflection via his painful, disillusioning death.
00:30:29But once we have wards, we'll be a safe option for the Purimish citizens Nava still won't take.
00:30:33Our forces have doubled their patrols at the borders of Tyrande.
00:30:36He rubs his thumb along the bottom of his jaw, but we feel confident that our location is too secret.
00:30:40Even with flying the continent's largest ride across Nava, someone from first wing asks.
00:30:45T-Y-R's are loyal, Sloan says, her chin rising.
00:30:48We lived through the last rebellion.
00:30:50Whatever we see, we'll keep to ourselves.
00:30:52Brennan nods, the good news is, as far as our extensive sources can tell, your families have not been targeted,
00:30:57and we are reaching out with not only your letters but offers a sanctuary.
00:31:01If they're willing to risk stepping into the unknown, we'll work to get them here.
00:31:04The lamb in my throat makes it hard to breathe for a second.
00:31:07Dad would be proud of him.
00:31:09What does this lack of troop movement tell us? Devira asks, shooting Brennan a little side-eye.
00:31:14Or do you not remember how battle brief works?
00:31:16My apologies, Brennan puts his hands up and stands back.
00:31:19Been a few years.
00:31:20They've been too busy cleaning up the messies and dumped at the border to bother with us, Dane answers.
00:31:25For now, Brennan agrees with a nod.
00:31:27They might be in shock, but don't doubt that we'll be fighting a war on two fronts as soon as they can get their bearings and decide how much they can risk the public knowing.
00:31:34When do we get to fight them? A guy from third wing asks, pointing up at the map.
00:31:38The dark wielders.
00:31:40When you graduate, Brennan answers, lifting his brows in a non-incense expression that makes you look just like Dad.
00:31:45We don't send Tourettes to die, and that's exactly what will happen to you if you try to take on a dark wielder before you're ready.
00:31:50You will die, I are really so anxious to start a new death roll.
00:31:53Sorengale and the others didn't die, he responds.
00:31:56Two of us did die, Imogen snaps, and the rider slides down in his heel.
00:32:00When you wield lightning, come and talk to me, Deborah counters.
00:32:03Before you graduate, you are going to learn how to take on a dark wielder and survive, Brennan promises.
00:32:08It requires a different style of fighting, and honing your cygnets, which you may have noticed are a bit tasty up here.
00:32:13Remember, magic is a little wild out here beyond the wards, but we are currently deciphering Warwick's journal in order to get our wards operational as quickly as possible.
00:32:20We are also working on getting our forge.
00:32:23Up and running to supply both our forces and the griffon flyers with baptismy, which is part of our mission.
00:32:27A grumble of disapproval ripples through the auditorium.
00:32:30Knock it off, Brennan chastises.
00:32:32Flyers are dangerous, but they are not the enemy you've been raised to fear.
00:32:35Though some are still hostile toward us, as evidenced by the attack on Samara four days ago.
00:32:39Flyers attacked Samara, my purse to tears, Mira.
00:32:42Which brings us back to battle grief, Deborah continues.
00:32:45One dragon was injured, but no riders were lost in the attack.
00:32:48According to our sources, mostly because there was only one dragon present a day outpost during the attack, political turmoil, remember.
00:32:54The wards did not fail, but a drift of flyers infiltrated the post, killing a dozen infantry before two of them were killed in the lowest level of the fortress.
00:33:00No riders were lost, she is alright, once my heart falls out of my throat, I can think again.
00:33:06They were looking for weaponry, I whisper, that's where the armory is.
00:33:10Now our citizens might not know that we are gone, but the drifts do.
00:33:13Say it, Rhiannon urges quietly.
00:33:15I shake my head, unwilling to follow my thoughts to their logical conclusion.
00:33:20What questions would you ask about the attack?
00:33:22Deborah cuts in, this one's been briefing officers for too long and doesn't remember the art of teaching.
00:33:27She cuts another mean side eye at Brennan.
00:33:30Fuck it, I'll say it, Redock matters.
00:33:32Then asks at full volume, were they looking for weaponry?
00:33:34Absolutely, Brennan nods, that's the only reason for flyers to attack Neverean outpost directly.
00:33:39He glances at me like he knows the question was really mine, and then stares in that challenging look of disapproval he mastered before the age of fifteen, daring me to rise, to stop avoiding the consequences of my own actions.
00:33:48Fine, did the flyers attack Samara before or after the news of our, gods, what are the right words for what we did?
00:33:54Departure from was the athlete into Corumil.
00:33:57Brennan's tear softens in approval.
00:33:59After, Deborah answers.
00:34:00The lum in my throat swells painfully, threatening to rip apart what facade of calm I have left.
00:34:05They attack because they know we can't supply them.
00:34:07They are defenseless.
00:34:08It's not your fault, Rhiannon whispers.
00:34:10Yeah, it is, I focus on taking notes.
00:34:13Brennan turns to the map.
00:34:14On to enemy movements.
00:34:15In the last week, Vennan have taken the town of Anchor.
00:34:18Not surprising, given its proximity to the recently fallen Zolia.
00:34:21I don't bother looking at Anchor.
00:34:23My gaze is locked on Corden, where Vyka Antichrist has the only other known luminary.
00:34:27It's the next largest city between Zolia and Braithis, and still outside Vennan controlled territory.
00:34:31The seaside city was a two-day flight from Bistyle, but from here.
00:34:34I bet Ten could make it in twelve hours.
00:34:36Ten, he corrects me, but it's not entirely safe, he states, but it's not an argument.
00:34:41So Zeran says, but neither is being here beyond the wards without a force to harm anyone, including ourselves.
00:34:47Good thing we'll have the wards up soon.
00:34:49She makes a good point, and Renna agrees.
00:34:51Can you carry a luminary?
00:34:53That question insults me.
00:34:55Can you carry a luminary while insulted?
00:34:57She prods.
00:34:58Ten growls.
00:34:59What's concerning is that it appears the town was drained, and then the dark wheel is pulled back to reassemble in Zolia, Devira says.
00:35:04What does that tell us?
00:35:06They're organized and basing out of Zolia, Brienne announcers.
00:35:09It's like a supply trip for an on-wing campaign.
00:35:11Silver one, ten stone changes, a riot approaches.
00:35:15My breath seizes as my head swings toward the back of the theater, and at the small windows they will give me any crew of forthforming.
00:35:20Yes, they're not just consuming but occupying territory for the first time.
00:35:24Good, Brennan quiets, no doubt talking to Murb, then focuses as the entire theater falls silent.
00:35:29Everyone get to the great hall and wait there, he orders, turning to Devira as the auditorium descends into quiet chaos.
00:35:34How many?
00:35:36I force myself to breathe through the terror and shove everything into my pack and stand as everyone around me does the same in a hushed panic.
00:35:41Are they coming for us?
00:35:43Riddog asks quietly.
00:35:44Never.
00:35:45I thought we'd have more time.
00:35:46How can this already be happening?
00:35:48I don't know.
00:35:49Rhiannon answers.
00:35:50Can ten take Kodak?
00:35:51Riddog asks as I throw my pack onto my back.
00:35:53My mouth opens and shuts as I think of General Milgren's dragon.
00:35:56I don't even want the answer to that question.
00:35:59And ten is suspiciously quiet.
00:36:01Shortest revolution in history, Sawyer mutters a swear word and yanks the crow swings of his packed eye.
00:36:06Forty, S-G-A-E-Y-L is approaching as well, but she is too far out to obtain pauses.
00:36:10Wait, Tyne leaves the ride, Tyne.
00:36:12Mira, fear knots my stomach, fuck waiting.
00:36:15I push past Sawyer to the outer aisle of the theater and then run, ignoring every voice that calls after me, even Brennan's.
00:36:20Running every morning for the past three months has bolstered what advantage I already had on most of the riders in this room, speed.
00:36:26Ready the crossbowls, Brennan shouts above the fray.
00:36:29Mira will get herself killed.
00:36:31Or maybe she's from here to kill us.
00:36:33Either way, she'll have to look me in the eye before she does it.
00:36:35Legs thumping, I race across the back of the theater, cutting first swing off from the exit and sprinting through to the main hallway.
00:36:41Statues and tapestries blur as I run by, my lungs burning as I dart past the guards and riders flowing into the thoroughfare.
00:36:47Please, Gunni, do not let her incinerate this house before I get the chance to talk some sense into her.
00:36:52I sprint past the material as he shouts for me to get into the great hall, then nearly slip turning into the foyer, not daring to break my strike even when my heart pounds hard, protesting the altitude.
00:37:01The guards hold the doors open, no doubt so riders can mount, and I fly straight through, my feet barely skimming the marble steps into the courtyard just in time to see Tyne's wings flare directly in front of me to halter up and descend.
00:37:11That knot of fear lurches into my throat, and I stick to a stalk about thirty feet outside the front door, my feet making furrows in the gravel.
00:37:18Rock flies in a dusty barrage from the impact of the green cub deer's claws, and I throw up my arms to cover my face as Tyne lands directly in front of the courtyard doors, docking the exit into the town, and two others flank him, their landings just as abrupt.
00:37:30I cough as the dusk clears and immediately scot and angry-looking orange and glaring red facing me, their teeth bared.
00:37:36Fuck me, four more land on the outer walls, shaking the masonry. They're everywhere.
00:37:40My stomach sinks, we've been betrayed, someone's told in our location.
00:37:44Ten.
00:37:45Here, he answers a moment before dropping out of the sky like a damned meteor.
00:37:49The ground shivers with the force of his landing to my left, and the shade of his wing blocks out the sun overhead.
00:37:53He rolls so loudly my teeth rattled, then lowers his head, his neck only inches from my shoulder, and streams a river of fire in a clear warning shot across the legs of the dragons.
00:38:01He blasts my face with the length of the heartbeat before he draws back, his head darting in a circletine motion.
00:38:07Tyne steps forward, and Tyne feels like it slows two milliseconds as Tyne lunges, opening his massive jaw and latching onto Tyne's throat just like he had soul as his.
00:38:15Ten.
00:38:16I scream in raw fear.
00:38:17If Tyne dies, so does Mira.
00:38:19For fuck's sake, Violet, Mira shouts.
00:38:22I have his throat, but I have not broken his scales, he assures me like I am the dramatic one here.
00:38:27Well, as long as it's just a threat, I reply sarcastically.
00:38:30Dismount peacefully and Tyne lives.
00:38:32Others rush into the courtyard behind me, they fade louder on the gravel, but I keep my eyes locked on Tyne and Mira.
00:38:37She dismounts with amiable ease and strikes toward me.
00:38:39Her cheeks are red with windburn, and her eyes are wild as she lifts her flight bubbles to the top of her head.
00:38:44We all come peacefully, it was Ryerson who came for us.
00:38:46How else would we have found you?
00:38:48She glances up to the house without breaking pace.
00:38:50Gods, I thought this place was ash.
00:38:52Zayden.
00:38:53It's not.
00:38:54My fingertips brush the hints of my daggers.
00:38:56I'm not sure I can lift them to kill my sister, but I show as hell won't be killed by her.
00:39:00S-G-A-E-Y-L confirms, Ten says, releasing Tyne's throat and drawing back to my side.
00:39:04They're in range.
00:39:06Oh, thank the gods.
00:39:07My breath rushes out in a sigh of relief a second before Mira wraps her arms around me.
00:39:11I'm sorry, she says into my hair, squeezing me tight.
00:39:14I'm so sorry I didn't listen to what you were trying to tell me it's Amara.
00:39:17My shoulders deep, and I relax into her, slowly returning the hug.
00:39:21I needed you, I whisper, unable to keep the hurt from leaching into my voice.
00:39:25There are so many other things that need to be said, and yet that's what comes out.
00:39:28I needed you, Mira.
00:39:30I know, her chin burns the top of my head before she pulls back, blasting my shoulders.
00:39:34For the first time since I started at Biskaya, she doesn't stare in my frame to see if I'm injured.
00:39:38She looks way straight in my eyes.
00:39:40I'm so sorry, I let you down, and I promise it won't happen again.
00:39:43A burst of a smile pulls at her lips.
00:39:45You really stole half of Biskaya's deads, and killed the vice commandant.
00:39:49Dane killed the vice commandant.
00:39:51I just finished him off.
00:39:52Well, Zayden helped.
00:39:53It was more of a team effort, I admit, shaking my head to clear it.
00:39:56Did you know, when I tried to tell you and you said I needed more sleep?
00:40:00Did you know, the thought of her trying to convince me it was all in my head if she knew better is unbearable.
00:40:05I didn't know, I swear, I didn't know.
00:40:08Her wide, brown eyes searched mine.
00:40:10Not until the wyvern was dropped at the front gates of Samara.
00:40:12Mom arrived about ten hours later and told me the truth, told all of the writers the truth.
00:40:16I blinked through the shock.
00:40:18You sure?
00:40:19She just, told you?
00:40:20Yes, her chin dips as she nods.
00:40:22She probably figured out there was no lying her way around a giant dead wyvern.
00:40:25And we'd already been on our way here.
00:40:27Zayden, I reach out, not because I don't trust my sister, but because I trust him more.
00:40:32If she said your mother confessed, then she's telling the truth.
00:40:35We're at the edge of the city now, just flying with the stragglers.
00:40:38And what?
00:40:39She just let all forty of you leave.
00:40:41I step out of her hug and gesture at the dragons perched from the walls around us.
00:40:44There's no way they'd let dozens of riders, does it?
00:40:47She gave us an hour to decide, and half of us chose to leave.
00:40:50We flew into other riders on the way who'd been given the same ultimatum.
00:40:53Leadership decided letting us go was a safer choice than letting us stay and talk the others
00:40:57into leaving, or worse, leaking information, and besides, it wasn't really our choice, was it?
00:41:02She glances back at Tyne.
00:41:03That's, not right.
00:41:05Why would Mom and Melvin let them just go?
00:41:07I think she knew I'd find.
00:41:08She looks over my shoulder and freezes, then starts to tremble as her pupils glow wide.
00:41:12Mira, I glance back to the house and see exactly what's shaken her.
00:41:15Brennan hurries down the steps, his mouth curving into a smile I can't help but Mira.
00:41:19All three of us are here, and there are no words for how complete it feels.
00:41:22My eyes burn, blinking back the bitter sweet yet holy joyous emotion that threatens to overwhelm me.
00:41:27We're finally together again.
00:41:29Brennan, Mira croaks, and I move back a couple of steps to give them room.
00:41:33How?
00:41:34Hey, Mira, he's less than a dozen-
00:41:36You are alive.
00:41:37She stumbles forward, shaking her head.
00:41:39After, I mean, it's been six years, and you're alive.
00:41:42Translated by Cadet Violet S-O-R-R-E-N-G-I-L.
00:41:45Chapter 39
00:41:47S.
00:41:48Oh, much, blood, get to the Great Hall and tell Red Rock Gumblin that I need ice now.
00:41:52I shout at her guard as we pass through the foy.
00:41:54I'm fine, Brennan manages to say around the handkerchief stanching the river of blood trying to pour down his face.
00:41:59He tests the cartilage and cringes.
00:42:01Damn it, Mira, I think you broke it.
00:42:03I heard a distinct crunch.
00:42:05I glared my sister over my shoulder as we walk into the office where we have history class.
00:42:09It's set up for cadets, with a dozen chairs surrounding a hastily constructed table.
00:42:13You deserve it, Mira calls out, shaking off the guard who reaches for her.
00:42:17Don't fucking touch me.
00:42:18Leave my sister alone, Brennan orders, sitting back against the edge of the table.
00:42:22It's a family matter.
00:42:23Family, family doesn't let each other think they're dead for six years.
00:42:27Mira leans against the wall to my right, putting me square between them.
00:42:31The only family in this room is Violet and me.
00:42:33Mira, I start.
00:42:35Lieutenant Colonel, Ulysses interrupts, pushing through the guards, and this time his eye isn't narrowed on me.
00:42:40Lieutenant Colonel, Mira's gaze swings from Ulysses to Brennan, and she folds her arms across her chest.
00:42:45At least playing dead for six years earns a ring.
00:42:48Brennan shoots her look before turning toward Ulysses.
00:42:50I'm fine, everyone can relax.
00:42:52I've had worse injury sparring.
00:42:54Wouldn't be the first time I broke his nose.
00:42:56Mira offers us a charian sweet smile to Ulysses, whose eye narrows on my sister.
00:43:00A guard squeezes past Ulysses, handing me a piece of cloth wrapped around a thick ice kill, and I've never loved Redok's a bit more.
00:43:06Thank you, I tell him, and tell the same to Redok, please.
00:43:09Deploy every rider currently not scheduled to scout the Turkish outpost as quietly as possible, Brennan orders Ulysses.
00:43:15We need to know if other riders are deserting, or if they're surging here in preparation to strike.
00:43:19With all the extra riders we have, Ulysses matters.
00:43:22Switch, I issue an order of my own to Brennan, holding out the ice.
00:43:26What about the new ride?
00:43:28Ulysses asks, same procedure as the cadet's arrival.
00:43:31Rear sin watches for them, according to Murb, but make sure the dragons do as well.
00:43:35Get them up to the valley.
00:43:36Brennan nods, and blood prickles off his chin.
00:43:38Gross.
00:43:39Switch, I say again, waving the eye so he sees it.
00:43:42Ulysses glances at Mira, you are sure, I can handle my own sister, Brennan issues him.
00:43:47Don't be so sure about that, Mira counters, arching an eyebrow as Ulysses departs, leaving the doorway empty but guarded outside.
00:43:53I can't believe you hit me, Brennan matters.
00:43:56Do you know how hard it is to mend myself?
00:43:58You, no problem, doing it for myself, a giant pain in the ass.
00:44:02Oh, do cry for me, big brother.
00:44:04Mira scrunches her face as she mocks him.
00:44:06You know, the way we cried for you.
00:44:08And suddenly, I feel ten again, the smallest personality in a room of giants.
00:44:12I knew you wouldn't understand.
00:44:14Brennan jabs his finger in Mira's direction and flinches.
00:44:16Shit, I'm going to have to set the cartilage.
00:44:19Understand, understand that you'll let us burn your things.
00:44:22I've already had this fight with him, I assure her.
00:44:25Let us watch our mother become a shadow of herself.
00:44:27She continues over me, let us watch our father's heart give out because your death broke him.
00:44:31Mira pushes her off the wall, and I hold up my hand, palm out with, like I have even a prayer of stopping her if she decides to hit him again.
00:44:37Maybe I didn't go quite that far, not that she isn't speaking the truth, but damn, that's harsh.
00:44:42Our father would understand what I've been doing.
00:44:45Brennan's voice turns nasal as he moves the blood, damn.
00:44:47Would you please switch clothes?
00:44:49I ask, water dripping from my fist to the stone floor.
00:44:52And as our mother, Brennan stands, I hope my death haunts her every damn day.
00:44:56She was so willing to sacrifice my life for a lie.
00:44:58That's not fair, Mira snaps.
00:45:00I may not agree with what she did, but I understand how she thought it was best to keep her safe.
00:45:04As if, Brennan's eye is narrow, you won't tilt.
00:45:08They're screaming at each other like I am not even here.
00:45:11Yep, definitely morph back into the little silent sister.
00:45:14Neither were you, she yells, you hid up here like a card instead of coming home when we needed you.
00:45:18She gestures at me, you chose thumpete strangers over your sisters.
00:45:22I chose the good of the continent.
00:45:24Oh for fuck's sake, stop it, I shout, silencing them both.
00:45:27Mira, he was a brand new lieutenant, and Watson has done.
00:45:30Pivoting toward Brennan, I shove the ice into his hand.
00:45:33Brennan, put the fucking ass on your face before you stain the first, gestable ass.
00:45:37Brennan slowly lifts the ice to his nose, looking at me like he's never seen me before.
00:45:42And to think, I used to wish I had siblings, Zayden says from the doorway, leaned against the doorframe casually, like he's been watching us for a hot minute.
00:45:49All the fight within me transforms to pure relief, and I walk straight to him, careful not to slip on the blood Brennan has left splattered all over there.
00:45:56Pace, hi.
00:45:58Hi, Zayden replies, wrapping his arm around my waist and pecking me against him.
00:46:02My purse skips like a rock thrown across a glassy pond as I soak in every detail of him.
00:46:06No new cuts or bruises on his face, but who knows what's under his writing letters.
00:46:10You are all right.
00:46:11I am now, his voice offers to that tone he only ever uses with me, weakening my knees as he lowers his mouth to mine, giving me all the time in the world to protest.
00:46:19I don't.
00:46:20He kisses me slowly, gently, and I lean upon my toes to get closer, popping his stubble cheeks between my palms.
00:46:26This right here makes everything worth it.
00:46:28The world could disintegrate around us and I am not sure I'd notice, or care, as long as I have him in my arms.
00:46:33Seriously, Brennan remarks, right in front of me.
00:46:36Oh, this is time for them, Mira replies.
00:46:39Wait until they decide to basically climb each other in a public place.
00:46:42You can't burn that shit out of your head, trust me.
00:46:45I smile into Zayden's kiss, and he deepens the pressure but keeps his tongue firmly behind his teeth, much to my chagrin.
00:46:50He pulls back reluctantly, but there's more than enough promise in his eyes to make my blood heal.
00:46:55So what are the soaring ill siblings going to do now that you are all reunited?
00:46:59Zayden asks, lifting his head to look at my family.
00:47:02We are going to beat the shit out of our brother, Mira answers with a smile.
00:47:06Survive, Brennan chimes in.
00:47:08I let my hand fall from Zayden's face, then glance at my brother and sister.
00:47:12Everything I really, truly love, everyone I can't live without, is here, and for the first time in my life, I can protect them.
00:47:18I need the blood of the six most powerful riders.
00:47:21Brennan's brows fly upward, and Mira's nose wrinkles like she's just swallowed sour milk.
00:47:25Ever, or living now, Zayden asks without batting an eye.
00:47:28Why, Brennan asks, water dripping from his fist.
00:47:31In residence, I think, I reply to Zayden, then turn to face my siblings and take a steadying breath.
00:47:36I know how to raise the words.
00:47:38N.
00:47:39In office, the assembly, Bodhi, and myself, walk out the back door of Harrison House five hours later and start up a carpet into the ridge line above, climbing the trail in pairs.
00:47:48You're certain about this, Ulises asks my brother as they walk in front of Zayden and me.
00:47:52My sister's certain, and that's good enough for me, Brennan replies.
00:47:56Yes, by all means, let's waste our time catering to the whims of a cadet, Suri calls up from where she walks with Pylan.
00:48:02A cadet who can raise the words, Zayden counters. No pressure.
00:48:05Shivering, I shove my hands into the pockets of my fly jacket to water off the chill as the sun sets behind the mountain.
00:48:11Finally, the trail levels out and we approach a set of soma guards who step aside so we can pass, following the gravel path that leads into the mountainside, becoming a man-made canyon open to the sky above.
00:48:20Mage lights flicker on as we pass through the chasm, and my stomach flutters with nervous energy.
00:48:25No, that's apprehension, no, nervous energy, whatever it is, I'm glad I skipped dinner.
00:48:30We should be using this time to discuss the negotiations with Tigris, since we are all here.
00:48:34Ulises looks pointedly at my brother.
00:48:36Miser have arrived today, he wants us to come to his aid when called, Brennan says.
00:48:40The seaside grifts are to be armed first, and he says he'll let us bring the luminary back to Aritya.
00:48:45He won't, Zayden interrupts.
00:48:47If he can see we will, Brennan finishes.
00:48:50Looks like we need to seek another luminary, because he'll meet Malik before Violet, Zayden says in that calm, icy tone he uses when his mind's nader.
00:48:57Unless you are eager to never see your sister again, he'll keep her as a weapon, you and I both know it.
00:49:02I can talk him out of any thoughts that direction.
00:49:04Brennan's due ticks, if there was another luminary, don't you think we'd be negotiating for that one?
00:49:09Kylan retorts.
00:49:10Then offer him a full armory, because Violet isn't up for negotiation.
00:49:14Zayden looks back and levels a glare at her.
00:49:16I don't mind going, our shoulders brush as the path narrows and the balls of the canyon rise even higher around us.
00:49:21You need it?
00:49:22I mind it, the answer is no.
00:49:24There is always another way.
00:49:26It's a good thing we are about to have wards, then.
00:49:28It doesn't solve our issue with protecting Peromiel, not until we can build extensions like Neva, but at least everyone here will be safe.
00:49:35About 20 feet in, the canyon opens into a circular chamber that could easily fit all 10 of our dragons, and my eyes are immediately drawn upward, to a series of runes led to the sky.
00:49:43How have I never seen this while flying overhead?
00:49:46Very old, very complicated masking runes.
00:49:49The ride is in front of us part, and the war stone comes into view.
00:49:52My lips part, because, wow.
00:49:54The shimmering black pillar rises to over twice the height of Zayden and would take all nine of us holding our arms out stretched surrounded.
00:50:00Etched in the very center, at least six feet across, is a series of circles, each fitting within the next and boasting a rune carved in along its path.
00:50:06It's almost the same pattern as on the pages of Warwick's journal.
00:50:09I move toward it, soaking in every detail.
00:50:12Is it onyx?
00:50:13I asked Zayden.
00:50:14It's massive, too heavy for even a dragon to carry.
00:50:16They had to have carved it in this hairy chamber.
00:50:18We can't say for certain, but my father thought it was polished iron, he answers.
00:50:22Iron brain, my heart jolts.
00:50:24This is really it, we are about to have wards.
00:50:27Let's get this done.
00:50:28Ulysseth's voice booms through the chamber, echoing off the high stone walls.
00:50:31And what are we doing, exactly, to raise the wards?
00:50:35Bodhi asks, taking my other side as everyone forms a half circle around the stone.
00:50:39One second, I pull Warwick's journal from the protective leather pouch inside my flight jacket and flipped the translated parchment I left at the passage before glancing up at the stone to compare the drawings.
00:50:47The symbol Warwick grew isn't identical, but it has the runes in the same positions, so that's a good sign.
00:50:52Here we go, and we gathered the six most powerful writers in residence, I read from the parchment, and the blood of the six in the one combined and set the stone ablaze in an iron vein.
00:51:00I glance around the line.
00:51:01Six, I point to the stone, and the one.
00:51:03You want us to bleed on the word stone?
00:51:05Felix asks, his silver brows rising.
00:51:07I'm just telling you how Warwick in the first six did it.
00:51:10I hold the journal up, unless there's someone here more capable of translating old lucerish.
00:51:15No one speaks.
00:51:16Right, I deep my chin and study the rest of the translation.
00:51:19By our best calculations, Brennan says, rubbing his hands together to keep warm, the six most powerful writers currently in Aritya Azaden, Felix, Suri, Bodhi, Violet, and me.
00:51:29Looks like there's something to be said for family lines, Suri notes.
00:51:33According to Warwick, the first six bled their life, I start.
00:51:36Every head swivels my direction.
00:51:38I don't think it means to death, I quickly clarify.
00:51:40Clearly the six lived on after they constructed bizarre swords.
00:51:43There's a definite sigh of relief around me.
00:51:45With any luck, it'll be a quick cut across the palm, place our hands on the word stone, and we should have wards.
00:51:50In an iron rain, Bodhi says slowly, Suri draws a knife from her side.
00:51:55Let's get this done.
00:51:56The six of us move to the word stone, and I take the journal into my fight jacket.
00:52:00Anywhere, Bodhi asks, lowering his own knife to just above his palm.
00:52:04The journal didn't specify.
00:52:05Brennan draws his dagger over his palm, then presses his hand to the word stone, and we will follow.
00:52:10Hope swells in my chest, rising with my pulse, and I hiss through my teeth the bite of pain as I sighs.
00:52:15Blood wells, and I push my cut palm against the stone in line with the others.
00:52:19It's colder than I expect, warmth could be reaching from my hand as blood drips down the shimmering black surface.
00:52:24The stone fee is frozen, lifeless, but not for long.
00:52:27I glance down the line to be sure everyone has their palms flat against the stone and see six narrow streams of blood snaking their way down the iron.
00:52:33Is it working? Bodhi asks, bleeding a couple of feet away.
00:52:37My mouth opens, but I quickly shut it. No one answers.
00:52:41Come on, I beg the stone, like I can build a damn thing to life.
00:52:44There's no hum, no sense of power, nothing but cold, black stone.
00:52:48It's nothing like the awareness that comes from being close to the walls of the outposts or even holding the alloy-hilted dagger in my hand.
00:52:54There's nothing.
00:52:56My stomach falls first, then my heart, and finally my shoulders as my head droops.
00:53:00I'm done, Suri pulls her hand off the stone.
00:53:03The rest of you can sit here and bleed all night, but this clearly isn't working.
00:53:06No, no, no.
00:53:08Felix, Brennan, and Bodhi drop their hands.
00:53:11Failure clogs my throat, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
00:53:14I did everything right.
00:53:15I researched, and read, and stole a crime resource.
00:53:18I translated and double-checked.
00:53:19This is supposed to be the solution.
00:53:21It's...
00:53:22Everything I've been working on for months, but it is keeping everyone safe.
00:53:26Did we bleed the wrong six riders?
00:53:28Is there an element of magic I missed?
00:53:30Something more to the blood?
00:53:31What did I miss?
00:53:32Violence, Zayton sees quietly.
00:53:34Slowly, I turn my head to look up at him, expecting disappointment or sensual but finding none in his eyes.
00:53:39But there's no pity, either.
00:53:41I failed, I whisper, my hand falling away.
00:53:44He watches Nefer heartbeat, then do before dropping his own.
00:53:47You'll cry again.
00:53:49It isn't an order, though, just a fact.
00:53:51Violet, I can, Brennan starts, reaching for my hand.
00:53:55I shake my head, then stare down at the blood-billing in the top of my palm.
00:53:59If he means a cut this fresh, I doubt it will use car.
00:54:02I won't even have the tissue for the last three months.
00:54:05The sound of tearing fills the space, and Zayton tightly wraps a cut piece of his uniform around my palm to stanch the bleeding.
00:54:11You'll try again, he repeats, wrapping another strip of fabric around his own hand.
00:54:16I nod, and he turns to talk to Pailin, keeping his voice low.
00:54:19Now can we please discuss how we plan to actually acquire that luminary?
00:54:23Suri's tone rises with annoyance.
00:54:25I stare up at the blood-marked stone, searching for answers it won't give me.
00:54:29It's a lost magic, Bodhi sees a soft key, appearing at my side.
00:54:32He rubs his thumb over his newly mended, stylus palm.
00:54:35Maybe there's a reason this stone never worked.
00:54:37It might be broken, I nod again, incapable of speech.
00:54:40Bodhi, Zayton, Meera, Rhi, Brennan, Redog, Sawyer, Imogen,
00:54:44the list of people I've failed goes on and on.
00:54:46We're only here because I made my friend steal the journal in the first place, and then nothing.
00:54:51Anger sparks in my chest, and power rushes in, heating my skin.
00:54:54I don't fail, I've never failed anything in my life.
00:54:57Well, that first RFC land navigation, but that doesn't count.
00:55:01That was everyone, this is me.
00:55:03Offer the vicar on twice the number of weapons he asked for, Ulysses says, his voice fading with his footsteps.
00:55:08I'll send a missive tomorrow, Brennan promises as the others walk out of the chamber.
00:55:12We have no words, no weapons, almost no experienced riders, all because I acted recklessly.
00:55:18Power builds, vibrating my fingertips.
00:55:20Felix moves to my side, his arm against hitting me before he holds out his hand.
00:55:24I blink, glancing with his palm, then up to his face.
00:55:28Your hand, he lifts his brow.
00:55:30I hold my engine one out, and instead of touching me, he tilts his head and watches the slight trembling of my fingers.
00:55:35I suppose we'd better start tomorrow.
00:55:37He sighs.
00:55:38Skip the run, we'll be draining your sign with.
00:55:40His boots tubs echo in the chamber, and I turn, watching him walk out.
00:55:43My gaze catching on the tight lines of Zaylin's mouth as Kylian lectures him with quiet words, the mage lights reflecting on the steel of her battle axe strapped to her back.
00:55:50Zaylin was right, war requires weapons, take me to Ticris, I demand.
00:55:55His gaze flies to mine and his jaw flexes.
00:55:57I would rather die.
00:55:58We all will if you don't.
00:56:00Not going to happen, subject close.
00:56:02He folds his arms across his chest and goes back to his discussion with Kylian.
00:56:06Fuck this.
00:56:07I walk straight past him, taking the path out of the chamber.
00:56:10There's no way I am going to leave my friends defenseless when I am the reason they got grabbed into this.
00:56:14Violet, Brennan shouts, running to catch up with me, go away, I snap at my brother.
00:56:20With that look on your face, I don't think so.
00:56:22What look, I shoot a glare in his direction, even though I know this isn't his fault.
00:56:27The same when you had it eight years old, when you stared mom down over a plate of squash for twelve straight hours.
00:56:32I'm sorry, rocks crunch on the foot as we make our way down the path to recent house.
00:56:36Twelve hours, he nods, dad said to let you go to bed, that you weren't going to eat them, and mom said you weren't going to sleep until you did.
00:56:43What's your point?
00:56:44When I got up the next morning, mom and dad were both asleep at the table, and you were snacking on bread and cheese.
00:56:49I know that face, Violet.
00:56:51When you're digging about something, you're more tenacious than all of us put together, so no, I won't be going away.
00:56:56Fine, I shrug, you can be the take-along sibling for once.
00:57:00Within minutes, we are in through the guarded back door of recent house, walking through the network of hallways to the main corridor.
00:57:05Ted.
00:57:06Oh, this should be fun, and Brennan answers.
00:57:08I feel Ted sighed long before I hear it.
00:57:10You know it's the only way.
00:57:12Another turn later, we walk into the overwhelming noise of the Great Hall.
00:57:15Long pretzel tables lie in the space, and my gaze skips over each one, bypassing the one where
00:57:19my squad sits and locking onto the table of new riders who arrived today.
00:57:22I will consider it, Ted but rudgingly agrees.
00:57:25I move through the sea of black with Brennan on my heels, locking eyes with Mira as I approach
00:57:29where she lies, the first of which was Vyka on the terrace of the Poromish province of Krowla.
00:57:33The T-Y-R-R-I-S-H Rebellion of Forbidden History by Colonel Felix G-R-A-U-L-T.
00:57:38Chapter 40.
00:57:40X.
00:57:41Aiden vetoed my second pitch to head to Corden like an overprotective asshole, and then I happily took him to bed, untend with my own plans.
00:57:47He was gone again to look for more Novarian deserters before I woke up this morning.
00:57:50If I didn't feel him in my swollen lips and every sore muscle in my body, I'd almost think I dreamed him coming back yesterday.
00:57:56Guess this is our new normal.
00:57:58Well, Felix folds his arms over his barrel chest and lifts a silver crowd at me.
00:58:02Chris, slow-scented wind blips at my cheeks as we stand between our dragons, a thousand feet over the tree line on a bowl-shaped mountainside about a ten-minute flight from the valley above Aritya.
00:58:11Those boulders, I point across the ridge to a stack of three boulders to stay and shift his weight, the snow crunching under his claws.
00:58:17Would it help if I fainted them?
00:58:19I refrain from rolling my eyes.
00:58:21No, it's just that Carl never cared where I struck, as long as I increase the number of strikes in an hour.
00:58:26I roll my shoulders and open the gates on Ten's power, feeling it rush through my veins and heat my skin.
00:58:31Felix looks at me like I've grown another head.
00:58:33Well, I guess you'll see what the technique has gotten us.
00:58:36I can wield 26 an hour on a good day, and I've been pushed over 40, but that last strike broke that mountain and, the memories to use my words.
00:58:43And you were nearly burned alive.
00:58:45He asks, why in Malik's name would you ever push yourself to that limit?
00:58:49It was a punishment.
00:58:50I lift my arms as power rises towards his ingham.
00:58:52Forward, he watches me with an expression I am too jaded to call compassion.
00:58:56I ignored a direct order so I could protect my dragon.
00:58:59The sizzle hits to a burn, and I flex my hands, letting the strike rip free.
00:59:03The cloudy sky cracks open and lightning strikes on the opposite side of the bowl, hitting far above the tree line, easily a quarter mile from the boulders.
00:59:10Felix links, try again.
00:59:12Reaching for Ten's power, I repeat the process, letting it fill me, then overflow and erupt, wielding another strike that lands halfway between the first and the stack of boulders.
00:59:20Pride makes my lips curve, not bad timing, that was a pretty quick strike after the first.
00:59:25But when I look at Felix, he isn't smiling, he slowly brings his stern gaze to mine.
00:59:29What was that shit?
00:59:30I did that in less than a minute after the first strike.
00:59:33I counter, and if those boulders were dark wielders, you and I would be dead by now.
00:59:37Two lines knit between his eyebrows.
00:59:39Try again, and this time, let's try the revolutionary tactic of aiming, shall we?
00:59:43His sarcasm fuse my frustration, and another strike trips free, hitting between us and the boulders.
00:59:48It's a wonder you haven't hit yourself, he mutters, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
00:59:52I can't aim, alright.
00:59:54I snap at him, re-evaluating my previous thoughts that he interests are, the petite, wild one, with the nice members of the assembly.
01:00:00According to the reports file about Resen, you can, he retorts, his deep voice rising with that last word.
01:00:05You can aim well enough to hit her.
01:00:07Dark wielder atop a flying wyvern.
01:00:10That's because I'm in a stock time, but she can't do that anymore, so I am left with what brought us through the other portion of the battle, the good old strike and pray met in.
01:00:17And I have no doubt that in a field of that mini wyvern, you did some damage with sheer luck.
01:00:22He sighs, explain how you hit that last strike in Resen.
01:00:25Aye, it's hard to explain.
01:00:27Try.
01:00:28I pulled it, I guess, I wrapped my arms around my waist to ward off the burst of the chill.
01:00:32Usually, I'd be warming up right about now, not feeling my toes start to lose feeling.
01:00:36I release the strike, but I rested it into place while I'm in a health time.
01:00:40What about smaller strikes?
01:00:41He turns fully to face me, his boots crunching the rock beneath us.
01:00:44Like those that flow from your hands.
01:00:46What the fuck?
01:00:47My face must read the same because his eyes flare.
01:00:49Aye are telling me that you've only wielded full strikes.
01:00:51He points upward, from the sky.
01:00:53That you just started throwing around balls and never refined the skill.
01:00:56I brought down a cliffhanger classmate, that didn't kill him, and from then cars concern was how big and how often.
01:01:01I lift my hands between us, and lightning comes from the sky, not my hands.
01:01:05Wonderful, he laughs, the sound deepened, infuriating.
01:01:09You just might wield the most devastating signet on the continent, but you know nothing about it.
01:01:13Nothing about the energy fields that draw it.
01:01:15Instead of shooting your paw like an arrow, precise and measured, you are just heaving it around like boiling oil, hoping you hit something.
01:01:21And lightning comes from the sky or the ground depending on the storm, so why not your hands?
01:01:25Anger retains my skin, raises my temperature, pittles my fingers, and pushes the paw within me to a row.
01:01:31You are suited to be the most powerful rider of your year, perhaps your entire generation, and yet you are just a glorified light show.
01:01:37Power erupts, and lightning flashes close enough that I feel the heat.
01:01:41Felix glances to the right, where Scorchmaster smokes about 20 feet away.
01:01:45Fuck, shame races into overpower the last vestiges of anger.
01:01:49And not only can you not tame, but you have no control, he says without skipping a beat, like I didn't almost touch this bowl.
01:01:55I can tend. No, he drops down to the pack at his feet and begins sorting through.
01:01:59It.
01:02:01That wasn't the question, Sorengale. That was a fact. How often does that happen?
01:02:05Whenever I am angry, or in Zaden's arms, too often.
01:02:09At least we found something to agree on. He stands and holds something out to me. Take it.
01:02:13What is it? I glanced at the offering, then plucked it gingerly from his outstretched hand.
01:02:17The glass outfits comfortably in my palm, and the decoratively carved silvery metal strips that what I had needed would appear to be the top and the bottom,
01:02:23where silver medallion of alloy the size of my thumb rests upright inside the glass.
01:02:27It's a conduit, Felix explains. Lightning may appear from various sources, but 10 channels his power through you.
01:02:33You are the vessel, you are the pathway, you are the cloud, for lack of a better term.
01:02:37How else do you think you can wield from a blue sky?
01:02:39Did you never realize it's easier for you to wield during a storm, but you're capable of both?
01:02:43I never thought about it. My fingers tingle where they meet the metal striping.
01:02:47No, you were never taught it. He gestures around the mountainside.
01:02:51Your lack of aim, of control, is not your fault. It scars.
01:02:55Zayden only moves shadows that are already there, aye you, fighting down the rising emotions I am worried will lead to another embarrassing strike.
01:03:01Zayden can control and increase what already exists. It's why he's more powerful tonight.
01:03:06No two segments are alike, and you create something that was not there before.
01:03:10You wield to a power that takes the form of lightning because that's what you're most comfortable shaping it as.
01:03:15Apparently Ka never taught you that, either. Why wouldn't he?
01:03:18I look from the orb up to Felix is the first flakes of snowfletter down. If I was the best weapon.
01:03:23A corner of his mouth lifts into a rye smile. Noinka, I'd say he's scared shitless of you. After all, you just took half of the cadets without even a plan.
01:03:31You brought down this guy on a fucking whim, no less. His laugh is more incredulous than mocking this time, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.
01:03:37I didn't do that, my fingers fell around the orb. Zayden did.
01:03:41He hunted ripeless raven, deposited them on Milgram's front door, and exposed Nawaz's greatest secret to the border outposts before noon, Felix agrees.
01:03:48But you were the one who demanded he give the cadets a choice. In that moment, you wielded him, are unyielding, uncompromising, headstrongly apparent.
01:03:55I did no such thing. Energy buzzes, and I roll my shoulders as it vibrates through my limbs, building to a breaking point.
01:04:01I presented the human option, and he took it. He did it for the sake of the other cadets.
01:04:05He did it for you, Felix is a soft kick. The wyvern, the exposure, breaching this guy, stealing half its riders.
01:04:11All for you, why do you think the assembly wanted to lock you away in July? They served you were.
01:04:16They served you were. In that way, I suppose you're just as much a danger to Aritya as you were to the sky, aren't you?
01:04:21Power isn't only found in our cygnets.
01:04:23I am not powerful just because he loves me. The bitter taste of fear fills my mouth a heartbeat before power breaks free, cracking through me like a whip, but lightning doesn't flash.
01:04:31At least not in the sky.
01:04:33I blink at the glowing orb, then marvel at the spring of lightning that runs from where my four figure rests against the metal strip to the alloy pendant inside.
01:04:39The bolt vanishes a breath later. No, you're powerful when he loves you, which is even worse.
01:04:44Your power is too closely tied to your emotions, Felix notes.
01:04:47This will help, it's not a permanent solution, but it will keep everyone in Aritya safe from your temper for now.
01:04:53I don't understand, and I can't stop staring at the orb, like the tiny lightning bolt will reappear at any second.
01:04:59The runes etched into the conduit I woven to draw specific power.
01:05:02I woven these specifically for the last time you were here, but you were forced to leave before I could teach you how to use it.
01:05:07I'd hoped you wouldn't need it, honestly, but it seems there hasn't changed much in the six years I've been born.
01:05:12Runes, I repeat like a bird, staring at the etched shapes.
01:05:16Yes, runes, wielded power woven for set purposes.
01:05:19He exhales slowly, which I know nothing about because this bat doesn't teach to rich runes, even if the college was fucking built on them.
01:05:25Guess the last research to teach the class.
01:05:27She has the most patience out of the assembly.
01:05:29I yank my gaze from the orb to Felix.
01:05:31This, siphons my power.
01:05:33Somewhat, I made it as a simple way to imbue power into alloy.
01:05:36It will draw it from you when it threatens to overpower you or when you choose to direct it.
01:05:40Hopefully, he lifts his brows, in small, controlled amounts.
01:05:43Practice this way, you have to learn to control, soaring it, or you'll continue to be a threat to everyone around you.
01:05:48Bird forbid you are flying in the clouds with your squad the next time you lose your temper.
01:05:52I am not a threat.
01:05:54What you want to be doesn't change what you are without work.
01:05:56He picks up his pack and slings it over his shoulders.
01:05:59You never learned how to start small, like the rest of your squad, and then move to the bigger, harder strikes.
01:06:04You have to master the basics you were never taught.
01:06:06Small, precise strikes.
01:06:07Small strands of your power instead of, he gestures to the sky, whatever indones named it was.
01:06:12I don't have time to master small, precise strikes.
01:06:15I need help today, IRU.
01:06:17We need tickets to give us a luminary ore, I cut myself off.
01:06:20Or even Zayden fucked the entire movement on that whim I mentioned earlier.
01:06:24He lifts both brows at me.
01:06:26Something like that.
01:06:27It was a lot easier last year when all I had to worry about was keeping myself alive, and not the entire continent.
01:06:32And I failed.
01:06:33Well, they do say second year makes or breaks you.
01:06:36He delivers the joke with a straight face, but there's a definite light in his eyes.
01:06:39As the feckeress, he wants to see you wield, not necessarily see you wield well.
01:06:43Your biggest obstacle there is convincing Zayden to fly with you, since I hazard to guess he's not budging on the topic of your going.
01:06:48He already shed down the possibility in July.
01:06:50He sheds, but we are done for today.
01:06:52We'll meet again in a week, and I'll be able to tell by the amount of cars stored in that alloy whether or not you've been practicing.
01:06:57Slow enough, and I'll continue to teach you.
01:07:00And if I don't, my fingers curl around the orb.
01:07:03I won't, he answers simply over his shoulder as he walks toward his red sawtail.
01:07:07I'm not interested in wasting my time on cadets who don't want to be taught when there are over hundred who do.
01:07:12The scorch mark behind him, the untouched boulders, the blast sights across the ridge, they all capture my attention.
01:07:17He's right, I'm a light show with deadly consequences, and the amount of times I've unleashed while close to my friends, close to Zayden, my pro titans.
01:07:24I'm the menace everyone thinks Zayden is.
01:07:26He might be a weapon, but I'm a natural disaster.
01:07:29And I'm done letting everyone around me suffer because I can't get my shit together.
01:07:33I want to learn, I call after him, as soon as I get back.
01:07:37Good, show me.
01:07:38Eh?
01:07:39Are you sure about this?
01:07:40Mira asks as we enter the valley under the brightest moon this month.
01:07:43Every blade of brass is coated with redone frost, reflecting back at us like bittering gems.
01:07:48Show, is a relative term.
01:07:50Our relative, she lifts her brows at me, because what we're about to do could have some pretty major consequences.
01:07:56I'm sure this is the only way we'll be able to make the weapons we need.
01:07:59I fasten the top button of my flight jacket to ward off the late October chill.
01:08:03I'm sure that if we stay on task, we can be back in two day's nights.
01:08:06I'm definitely sure that this will stop the Griffin attacks on the marine outposts.
01:08:09But am I sure that we won't fail or end up permanent guests of Fiker Antikyries?
01:08:13No.
01:08:14Well, I'm sure Zayden is going to lose his shit when he finds out you went behind his back, Mira lectures as we make our way to our dragons.
01:08:20Yeah, well, Zayden will forgive me as soon as he realizes we're back in the villain slaying business.
01:08:25I'm only doing it this way because he refuses to do what needs to be done in the name of protecting me.
01:08:30Just so you know, I'm only doing this because doing everything you ever asked for the rest of our lives still wouldn't make up for me not believing you.
01:08:36I happen to like protective Zayden.
01:08:38Makes me worry about you less.
01:08:40I kind of miss when he wanted to kill me.
01:08:42At least then he didn't insist on hovering.
01:08:44And I'm only doing this to make sure neither of you die, Brennan chimes in from the right.
01:08:48Please, Mira scoffs, you are only here because of the rank on your uniform.
01:08:53Neither of you can negotiate an arms deal on behalf of the assembly.
01:08:56You both know this could go very badly, right?
01:08:58He shoves his hands in the pockets of his flight leathers.
01:09:01Is there a risk?
01:09:02I nod and ignore the jump in my heart trade.
01:09:04Yes, but he wants to see me wheel for a luminary.
01:09:06Even Zayden said the biggest threat is him keeping me, not killing me.
01:09:09And if I have to stay in Perumia so my friends and family can be safe, then fine.
01:09:13As long as Brennan and Mira get to leave with the luminary, it's a fair trade.
01:09:17Feel free to stay in the place you've called home for six years, Mira challenges Brennan, then shrugs his shoulder.
01:09:22I've always been better than you with a sword, anyway.
01:09:24I'll bring Violet home without a scratch.
01:09:26No, I glance between them.
01:09:28Have they always bitter like this?
01:09:30We're not fighting the entire way there, and we show us help and fight once we get there.
01:09:34This is dangerous enough as it is.
01:09:35Pull yourselves together in quotes for bullying.
01:09:37Yes, Mom, Mira mocks.
01:09:40Mom, what would she think of the three of us working together?
01:09:43We all fall silent, the quiet only broken by the frost cracking beneath our woods.
01:09:47Too soon, Mira asks.
01:09:49I'd say so, I answer, tightening the straps on my pack.
01:09:52Definitely, Brennan adds.
01:09:54All three of us are faintly smiling when we reach the dragons.
01:09:57You sure you can find the way?
01:09:59I ask then after I secure my pack behind my saddle.
01:10:02I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that.
01:10:04And S-G-A-E-Y-L.
01:10:05I shift forward and buckle into the saddle, flinching as the coal seats through my leathers.
01:10:09She's out of range, but her emotions are calm.
01:10:12And you promise not to tell her until we're back.
01:10:14I catch the Kormelang glance around the valley, looking for any sign of Andrna, but she's nowhere to be seen.
01:10:19She's already gone, and the Hungry One has been seething since this afternoon when she found out she wasn't coming.
01:10:24Ten crutches low, then springs into the sky.
01:10:26The ground falls away with every powerful beat of his wings, and I foolishly hood my breath as we pass over, saving Aritya, as if the sound of my inhale might wake my friends.
01:10:34Rihanna is the only one who knows we are going, and she'll cover for us as much as possible.
01:10:38But even though I might be dispensable for a day, I have no doubt someone will notice Brennan is missing.
01:10:43My cheeks are numb before we make it past Aritya, and my legs lose feeling by the time we reach the cliffs of Brilla a couple of hours later.
01:10:49Flying for any amount of time this late in fall isn't for the faint of heart.
01:10:53Ten flies through the morning, coding back his speed for time and murbles the glimps grow the second most popular city, greatest, to the south and continue into the darkness ahead.
01:11:01The feeling seeps back into my limbs the lower in elevation that we fly and the higher the sun climbs.
01:11:05See, silver one, it's not me tickerous wants to see perform like some kind of pet.
01:11:10I take his advice and get as much rest as possible, but my trainers have me shifting in my seat as we fly over land I've only seen in paintings.
01:11:17Amber feels ready for harvest give way to pale beaches and blue-green sea as the day passes into afternoon.
01:11:22The closer we fly, with eye to the anxiety in my chest coils. This is either the best idea I've ever had, or the worst.
01:11:28By the time a drift of three griffins appears, flying directly toward us in a standard V attack formation,
01:11:33I decide that we are definitely leaning into worst idea territory.
01:11:36Just because they're smaller doesn't mean they can't deal 10 some real damage with those talents.
01:11:40It's alright, they're escorting us into Corden, Ten tells me, but there's a shift in his tone that tells me he's not happy about the underage or the speed he has to slow to in order to accommodate them.
01:11:49They spread out, flying in a formation that surrounds six of us.
01:11:52See that sorry excuse for a fortress on the eastern side of the father's peak.
01:11:55He asks as we follow the line of the beach. I've never seen water the pillar, like it can't quite decide if it's turquoise or aqua.
01:12:02You mean the palace that looks like it's glowing. The structure is a sprawling, glistening combination of white pillars and blue pools that cascade in five distinct terraces down the gentle slope of the hills above the beach.
01:12:11It's just a sun reflecting off the white marble, he grumbles. The entire thing is ridiculous and indefensible. How, beautiful, what a luxury to build a place like this, designed totally for aesthetics.
01:12:21No high walls or portcullises. Ten's right, it's utterly indefensible, and it will fall should win and choose to take it, but my heart clenches at the thought that I'll never experience this long enough to live.
01:12:30Somewhere like it, I can even make out a vast, colorful garden as we approach over the riverside city beneath.
01:12:36The griffin ahead of her steps into a sharp descent and ten follows Sue, picking his wings and getting just close enough to the griffin to let him know he's no match.
01:12:43Stop intimidating them, the last thing we need is an incident before we can even ask a grist for the luminary.
01:12:48I can't help their inferiority. There's a definite smile in his tone, but his mood shifts as we level out near a manicured lawn in front of the third terrace of the palace.
01:12:56You will not be happy with the welcome we are about to receive. He lands behind the griffin in his flyer, who hops round to face us.
01:13:02I'm sure we'll be fine. You worry too much. We'll see about that.
01:13:06I make quick work of removing my pack, but damn do my stiff joints ache as I slide down ten follicle land in soft, green grass.
01:13:13Are you alright? Mira asks, already waiting for me because she's that much quicker.
01:13:17Just so from sitting in one position for so long. Gods, it's hot down here. Maybe we should have sent word ahead.
01:13:23They look like they'd rather fight than negotiate.
01:13:26She turns her attention forward, to the line of three griffins and their flyers, who all face down our dragons despite being rastity overpawd, forming a wall of feather and talents that blocks us from proceeding to the palace.
01:13:35They're certainly brave, I'll give them that. I matter as Brennan reaches our sides, putting me between him and Mira.
01:13:40Some things never change. They're also expecting us, Brennan note quietly as we start forward.
01:13:45You think? Mira asks, her gaze telling our surroundings. I keep my focus on the flyers in their hands.
01:13:51There are at least three dozen people watching from the balconies above, and there's another group behind the griffins, Brennan states.
01:13:57They were waiting. To us, no one screaming at the sight of our dragons, I act quietly.
01:14:02Mira grins, true. Be careful what you say in here.
01:14:05Tecaress will hold us to whatever deal we make. He doesn't take kindly to broken words.
01:14:09And keep your shields up, though I'm not sure they'll do much good, Brennan orders when we're less than a dozen feet from the flyers.
01:14:14Flyers might not be usy bits, but most of their lesser magic gifts involve Minburk, and it's the one area where they have the upper hand on us.
01:14:20Noted, I don't even need to check my shields. They've been locked into place since we left Aritya.
01:14:26The griffins stare down at us with dark, beady eyes as they approach and click their ears as a sharp beats in a rhythm that reminds me of speech.
01:14:32The aggressive snaps of the one on the right make me glad I can't understand what they're saying.
01:14:36Two of the flyers wear the same brown letters I've seen before on Serena, but the guy on the left with the patchy beard has a lighter colored one and different symbols embroidered on his collar.
01:14:44Cadet, I ask 10.
01:14:46Yes, he pauses, according to the fitted ones, a third of their ranks took shelter here.
01:14:50To explain flight academy was in Zolia. Brennan says something in crowlish, his tone changing into the third one he uses when his rank is more important in his name.
01:14:58We know who you are, the tall flyer in the center interrupts in the common tank, studying the three of us as if assessing which is the biggest threat.
01:15:04His attention lands on my wind ravished coronet braid and his posture changes slightly, taking on the most casual of battle stances.
01:15:10Guess I win.
01:15:12Mira moves closer to my side and stares him down, her hand resting just above the hit of her sword.
01:15:17And you speak the Marian, Brennan notes.
01:15:19Of course, not every kingdom thinks theirs is the only language that should be spoken, the flyer on the left says, her fingers drumming along her.
01:15:26Sword. Solid point.
01:15:28Give us one truth, and we'll allow you to meet with the Viscount, the central flyer says, his reddish cross knitting.
01:15:34You are a truth-sayer, like Nora, it's a guess, but I know I am right when his pale eyes flare.
01:15:39So, some of our powers are the same. Interesting.
01:15:42Unlike riders, we do not label ourselves by our abilities, but yes, I have the gift of telling when someone is lying, he corrects me.
01:15:48Noted, I say for the second time in the last five minutes.
01:15:51I fucking hate being disadvantaged by ignorance, but it's not like the archives were stacked with tomes on flyers or what they've gone through for the last 600 years.
01:15:58Seeing as you've arrived without invitation, we require you have honest intentions before traveling farther.
01:16:03His hand flex near his daggers, and Mira palms the hit of her sword.
01:16:07We are one mistake away from drawing weapons, and we all know it.
01:16:10I am here to wield lightning in return for asking your Viscount for help.
01:16:14May as well start us out.
01:16:16He cocks his head to the side, then nods, glancing toward Brennan.
01:16:19I am here to broker a deal for your luminary in return for weaponry, Brennan declares.
01:16:23The flyer nods and looks at Mira.
01:16:25Fine, she sighs, make one wrong move toward my sister, and I'll get you like a fish.
01:16:30That goes for everyone in the city.
01:16:32How is that for honest?
01:16:33My mouth opens slightly as I glance sideways at my sister.
01:16:36Damn it, Mira, Brennan growls.
01:16:38The flyer's mouth curls into a toothy smile.
01:16:41I can respect that.
01:16:42He glances up at the griffin above him, and the trio parts, revealing the figure waiting
01:16:45directly behind them.
01:16:47Our figure dressed entirely in black.
01:16:49His jaw flexes, his hands curl at his sides, and his beautiful face.
01:16:53Well, he hasn't looked at me with that much angle since discovering my last name and parapet,
01:16:57back when he wanted to kill me.
01:16:58Guess I should be careful what I asked for, because I'm so fucked.
01:17:01You aren't where I left you, violence.
01:17:03You aren't where I left you, violence.
01:17:04You aren't where I left you, violence.

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