Reading Time: 107 Minutes
Title: Change of Plans
Author: DarkJediQueen
Fandom: The Empyrean
Genre: Fantasy, First Time, Het, Hurt/Comfort
Relationship(s): Violet Sorrengail/Xaden Riorson
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Torture, Violence-Graphic, Abuse, Burning, Brutal Injuries, Death, Explicit Sex, Murder, Poisoning, War
Alpha: V.Mures
Word Count: 57,968
Summary: Xaden Riorson knew he probably wouldn’t be seen as the good guy at the end of this, but he was okay with that. He had plans for General Sorrengail’s daughter right up until he was asked to fill the favor he owed the General. Those plans changed from something fast to something slow and methodical. He just didn’t plan on having his heart in it.
Artist: penumbria
Chapter Seven
“Liam, you have spent more time with her than anyone else,” Xaden said.
“Is that a question? A what?” Liam looked behind to where Garrick and Bodhi were sparring. There were more than three of them together, but it wasn’t like anyone ever came up here unless they had to, now that Threshing was done. The meadow where Presentation took place was a good place to hide, especially with Sgaeyl standing guard outside. The other dragons were hiding elsewhere but close enough to come calling.
A rustle of underbrush had Xaden lifting a dagger from a sheath but stopped when he saw the flash of gold. He had no idea what Andarna knew about Xaden’s secrets and his entry into Violet’s life. The feathertail was an oddity that Xaden wasn’t sure was a good one. Bonding to Tairn was enough to draw too much attention to Violet. It was more than Xaden needed as well, but that wasn’t on him to say anything.
“She’s pretty,” Garrick said.
Andarna trotted out of the trees and went right for Xaden, sitting in front of him.
“Here to give me a telling-off for keeping secrets?”
Andarna head butted him, she wasn’t that big, honestly, but she had enough stretch that she could put him on his ass if she wanted to. She turned after a few seconds and went for the bit of sunlight in the clearing they were in and curled into it, her scales sparkling even more.
“Should we…” Bodhi waved his hand toward Andarna.
“No, it’s fine. I hope Sgaeyl can stop her from saying things she shouldn’t until I talk to Violet myself. As to what I said before. How would you do it, Liam?”
“Well, for one thing, you aren’t going to have just to tell Violet but Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer as well. There is a bond there that is no less than you three have. It will also allow her to talk to someone else about it. We have to teach them to shield. Violet has not yet manifested a signet, but the basics can be taught since she has a bond with the dragons. I can’t even think about having more than one voice in my head, but she’s got two.”
“Four,” Xaden said.
“Four?” Bodhi asked.
“Tairn, Andarna, me, and Sgaeyl when she deigns to speak with her. Sgaeyl’s kept quiet, and I try to keep her blocked out for privacy as much as possible.” Xaden could feel how all of them felt about that, but it was another secret that he wasn’t sure what to do with.
“Having a group of people who she can talk to is best, but are you sure that Ridoc and Sawyer need to be in that?” Garrick asked.
“Yes. They bring a balance. Those four could go very far if they were left like they are right now.”
Andarna stretched a little and then tucked her head under her wing. She was a distraction of the highest order at the moment.
“And what about the other secret?” Xaden asked.
“The one hiding in the place?” Bodhi asked.
“Yes.”
“I am not sure. That’s the biggest one that would impact her personally.”
Xaden scoffed internally at that because there were a lot of things about Xaden personally that Garrick and Bodhi didn’t know. He looked at Andrana one last time before turning to focus on the others. He needed to start this by being truthful with them.
“I did manifest a second signet,” Xaden said.
“We know,” Bodhi said.
“What?”
“I mean, Sgaeyl is powerful, so your first being super strong was understandable, but we’ve never brought up that you do know things you shouldn’t or you react to things before anyone else can, like when the first year last year was planning to kill the second year who refused her advances. She was going to kill him in the middle of the mess hall,” Garrick said.
Xaden relaxed back on the ground, and he wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Being that is no different than any other secret that we keep. Any of them would get us all killed,” Liam said.
“No one cares?”
“I mean, you have honor; you haven’t been stripped of all of it. You don’t do things to us that you would to enemies, and enemies don’t deserve any kind of consideration from us,” Bodhi said.
“I think the first secret needs to be the rebellion relics and the protection we get from them,” Liam said.
“They would kill all of us if they knew the real reason behind the relics we carry. And you know it. It’s a good branch of faith and trust for her. You wanted to use her for our own gain, and honestly, we don’t even have to do that. We know that her relationship with her mother is nothing like what most people think it is. Her mother put her into the worst quadrant to kill her.” Garrick stood up, walked over to where Xaden was sitting, and dropped beside him. “You cannot tell me it wasn’t a way to control you again. You would have failed if Violet was anything close to as weak as everyone else thinks she is.”
“The fact that Codagh has never said anything is telling,” Liam said.
“I think that dragons are finally doing something about the world at large, not knowing the truth of things when it comes to the venin and Navarre. How long can they hide the war with Poromiel with the history that we have.”
“I can’t wait to find the missive that made it law that all things of the dead have to be burned. It’s the only way they can keep things hidden. No one is allowed to have a journal that lasts that long. Well, it makes it easy.” Liam sighed, and he dropped to sit where he was. Andarana got up, walked over to where Xaden was, and dropped down to make a spot where Xaden could rest against her.
“She’s weird, even for a dragon,” Garrick said.
“No kidding. I can understand why we know little about them. Dragons don’t allow weakness, so there is something that these guys do that makes it worth keeping them around,” Bodhi said. He came over and sat down as well, looking at Liam for a few seconds before Liam got up and went to where they were.
“The relics and how they were made—that’s going to need you there, Liam.”
“Agreed. But I think that all of us need to be there. Imogen, too. Everyone who Violet has contact with. To show that we are a united front. Why not now?”
“Really?”
“Sgaeyl could call out to the others, and they could draw their riders here. We could have a nice talk while Sgaeyl keeps guard.”
“What do you think?” Xaden asked Sgaeyl.
“It would be best to get that part over with. Then she can learn about runes from you and maybe be able to do something else to protect herself when it comes to Aetos.”
Xaden hadn’t thought about that. It felt wrong to start giving up secrets, but he could see that he needed to tell her everything to keep Violet with him. They talked about the rebellion relics being the first thing, but there were a few other things that needed to be talked about. Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer would be the method by which he could keep her there long enough to listen to him. Then they would talk about the rebellion relics and how their parents had made sure that they could continue this, and then it was slowly teaching them all about the revolution that was going on.
“You’ll have to bring her to see Brennan before long. She’s not going to trust you much if you keep on telling her things if she doesn’t see him. She looks up to him in a way she doesn’t to Mira.”
“Because of his death. That would wipe a lot of it for her. She would not trust him at first without a basis for more. Yet she doesn’t talk about him much.”
“Tairn tells me that she has a journal from him. It was made for Mira, and Mira made other notes. Her grief for him is solitary. Her father was sick.”
“And her mother didn’t want to talk about him.”
“I need to talk to her and the others about why I’m so invested in her and why I was long before she bonded with Tairn. If we are going to lay it all out, we need to start from the start with her and me.”
—
The four of them came with looks on their face that said they weren’t sure of what was going on. They were all kitted out with all the weapons they were allowed to carry. Violet was in the front with a look of hardness on her face.
“Tairn says you wanted me?” Violet asked.
“We have a lot to talk about.”
“Should there be four of you together?” Rhiannon asked before Xaden could say something else.
“Are you going to report it?”
“It depends on what you tell us about. I was a little shocked to get an invite, as were Ridoc and Sawyer.”
“Well, it was pointed out to me that Violet having someone to talk to was paramount to making sure that she was doing what she wanted and not what she was being forced to do. Please have a seat.”
“What is Andarna doing here?”
“She showed up in the middle of the discussion we were having. I think that she wanted to be near Sgaeyl.”
“Yes, the sentry on the wall as she looked like. It made a few on the flight field look a little worried. How are you sure that there is no one around?” Violet asked.
“Because Sgaeyl’s been looking, the other dragons are making sure from other places. We are safe here as long as no one here goes running out screaming that we are breaking the law.”
“I never understood. Why three? I mean that it is a very interesting limit when it comes to a group.”
“Any group larger than three makes it impossible for Melgren to see what we are doing. Which is part of what we were to talk about.” Xaden looked at Violet, and he wanted to be in her head at that moment, but he kept the wall up to make sure that she wasn’t pressured into something else.”
“Is that what Codagh meant to do with them?” Violet asked.
“That’s something that we can talk about in a few minutes. First off, I’ve told you that your mother wanted me to protect you, but I kept part of my goal in that out, which is honestly going to piss you off.”
Xaden heard the flapping of wings and looked up like he could see through the trees.
“Tairn is here,” Violet said. She walked closer to Xaden and frowned at him. “He tells me that you had good enough intentions and that they changed from wanting to fuck over my mother to just protecting me before I bonded to him.”
“Something like that.” Xaden looked at Garrick, who nodded that he was going to keep an eye on the others to make sure that none of them attacked them. It wasn’t something they needed because that would get the dragons involved. Which would just bring in more people to see what the fuck they were doing. “I wanted to turn you to our side because I wanted to take you away from your mother. I didn’t realize that you were already pretty much not going along with your mother anyway. I kept telling myself this was something that I needed to do to fuck her over, but in the end, she was the author of you just not following her and what she wants.”
“I wouldn’t be here if she didn’t make it plain that I had no recourse. She rules here, and there is no one who is going to stop her from literally dragging me back by the hair on my head and tossing me onto the parapet. She threatened that on the first day.”
“I can’t understand her intentions, but I think she was trying to get you killed. Even with making the deal for me to protect you, she didn’t actually do much to make sure you were ready for here. Your training could have been changed in so many ways to make it more likely.”
Violet nodded, and she settled onto the grass in front of him. Rhiannon sat down beside her while Ridoc and Sawyer settled onto the grass behind them. The trust that they were showing him was something that Xaden wasn’t sure he deserved.
“So, you and your group like to train,” Violet said.
“It’s more than that. No one here is going to care if a Marked One lives or dies. They thought that this place was going to kill us all and wanted to show that we died, proving our loyalty to Navarre. We are loyal to its people, the innocents, in all of this. We cannot say that we are loyal to Melgren or the king. There are a lot of secrets that we hold about why my father started the apostasy, but most of those kinds of things will have to come later when we can prove it to you in a way that will make you trust that what you are hearing isn’t a lie. The first thing that we want to tell you is about our rebellion relics and how Codagh did not make them, not in the way that Melgren claims.”
“Why does Codagh let that go?” Rhiannon asked. She wasn’t holding onto the hilt of a dagger anymore, which was hopefully a good sign, but the sword on her back was something that still gave Xaden pause. He had seen her using it. She was good.
“Because the dragons know the truths of the world. They have their own way of doing things, and while Codagh might be one of the oldest dragons alive, they have a history of their own that they have kept about everything. They know the truth of what is going on.”
Violet’s head tilted to the side, and Xaden paused. He could tell she was talking to Tairn about all of this. The memories of a dragon were good to prove what they needed to know, but in the end, even then, it was best to have some things that were seen in person. It wasn’t like Tairn had been involved with the fights against venin; Sgaeyl was, but Xaden wasn’t going to ask that of her.
“Go on,” Violet said a few moments later.
“Despite hoping that the rebellion would actually do something, there was always the failsafe that it would fail. They knew that what they did was going to come back on us. Liam’s mother made sure that we all had something that would protect us. Allow us to keep their work going, making sure that the true reason behind the rebellion would keep on going. Tyrrendor was known for its runes; it was something that was pushed down when Unification happened. Which I’m sure that no one here is shocked about. A lot of history and culture was lost when people joined and started to do everything the Navarrian way. Those runes are still taught, just kept mostly hidden. It was the way that it’s done in Tyrrendor.”
“My mom was really good at them,” Liam said, taking over for Xaden. “She was damned good. She made all of us kids something that would help and protect us. It’s how the baby who wasn’t even born yet was born with one. The mother held a stone when her husband was killed. Just like we all held stones in our hands when we watched our parents dying, it was when the rebellion relics were borne out of a need to protect us from the biggest threat that Navarre has, Melgren.”
Violet nodded and looked at Liam for a few more seconds before looking at Xaden. “The rebellion relics stop Melgren from seeing anything that happens, be it a battle or anything else where there are more than three of you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. Since we arrived three years ago to join the Riders Quadrant, it was made well-known that we needed to keep things a secret. If it got out that there was a way to make sure that Melgren couldn’t see anything, there could be worse disasters. As much as we don’t like what King Tauri has done, we don’t need the king assassinated and put this whole place into disarray,” Bodhi said.
“And you think this is something we need to know, why?” Sawyer asked.
“It’s just the first thing. Violet has already found out that we meet to make sure that those who are alive can still stay alive. These are my people, they are in this because of fighting for what’s right.”
“It’s why your father called everyone cowards, isn’t it?” Rhiannon asked.
“Yes. There is a massive truth that is being kept from everyone.”
“My father knew it, didn’t he?” Violet asked.
Xaden shrugged. He had no idea what Violet’s father knew and didn’t know. He knew things had been a little strained since the apparent death of Brennan, but in the end, it had been something that Xaden had never thought he would figure out. “I have never been able to figure that out. It’s not like your mother would ever tell anyone.”
“What do you mean?” Rhiannon asked.
“People who ask for forbidden texts or do things that are not allowed are killed. There is a reason why inntinnsics are killed; it’s not just because of revealing classified information, it’s knowing the truth of everything.”
“You expect us just to believe that you know this big secret and you aren’t going to share it?” Ridoc asked.
Before Xaden could answer, Ridoc stilled, Rhiannon and Sawyer did as well, and then they relaxed a little bit.
“We will tell you soon, I promise. We are just trying to work out how to have it happen. We need to deal with a few points that need to be covered, and the biggest thing is teaching you all to shield all the time.”
“Why?” Rhiannon asked.
“Dain Aetos’ classified signet is that he is a mind reader, but he has to touch a person’s head. We all can shield all the time. Violet’s already really good at it if she puts her mind to it, but she doesn’t always keep it up. Right now, you are a danger to us and yourselves. Knowing this isn’t going to do much. It’s just going to come back on us and kill us.”
“You are telling me that all of you can shield like that?”
“Yes. Most especially anyone in Fourth Wing with Aetos. We need to make sure that you can protect us and protect yourself. Then, once that part is done, we will keep on going with teaching you everything.”
“Sliseag tells me to trust you on this, and I am. I need to learn to shield no matter what, so I’m in,” Sawyer said.
“We would like you to pick one of us to learn to shield from, a one-on-one type thing, but in the end, you can pick who you want.”
Xaden looked at Violet to let her know that she had no choice in him.
“Are you going to tell her anything else?” Sgaeyl asked.
“Not at the moment. I need to think things through and figure out what I want to tell her.”
“I meant about your feelings. You cannot keep those from her. She’s already proven that she’s not going to let Aetos into her life in that way. She might have wanted it as a girl, but as a woman, she doesn’t want him. Take her.”
“You make it sound simple.”
“Humans put too much into it. I told Tairn I wanted him, he wanted me back, and that was it.”
Xaden laughed a little, and it made Violet look at him with questions on her face. “Sgaeyl said something to me.”
Andarna made her presence known again by getting up. She stretched and rubbed at Xaden a little before going to where Violet was. There were a lot of things going on at the moment that made this feel like it was more than it was, but a few moments of fun was needed to help them settle down again.
“Why?” Rhiannon asked.
“Because, like we said. Violet needs to know because of her being linked with me. She’s a weakness that could be used against me if she’s untrained. Then it was pushed upon me that she needed someone to talk to who wasn’t neck deep like we all are. So, that meant at least you, but Liam tells me that these two can be trusted as well, so it was easy just to pull you all in. You four and Liam will be able to hide what you are doing, and Liam knows what he’s allowed to talk about; please don’t push him for more.”
“Because of what he owes you,” Violet said.
“He owes me nothing, but they all think they do,” Xaden said.
The curious look on the other three faces made Xaden go into the whole deal with the scars on his back. He knew that they had seen them. He didn’t like to wear his shirt when he was sparring all that much. No one ever asked about them. Most he had learned assumed they had been put there by his father. It would be great when this was all said and done to tear down the wall that was everything the Kings of Navarre built up to keep their people ignorant of the world around them.
Xaden couldn’t blame most of the people. More and more, as he learned about everything, he agreed that the scribes really did have all of the power. It would be impossible to figure out the true history of anything, given everything that was being done to erase the past, if the scribes didn’t think it needed to be known.
“I’ve often wondered since learning the truth of the world if the whole burning things of the deceased had to do with what Malek actually wanted or if it was a way to make sure that nothing personal survived that could be used to spike off a look into the past that they want to be kept buried. Personal journals used to be big for some people. It would be hard to reconcile that with the new history that they created,” Garrick said.
The looks of shock on Violet and Rhiannon’s faces made Xaden figure that they were both going to be pushing a lot of shit.
“Are we really at war with Poromiel?” Violet asked.
“Yes, but not for anything close to why we are told.”
The look on Violet’s face told Xaden that she would be a bother about all of this, and that was okay. He would tell her what he could once she was shielded. It would be easier once she could channel fully, and she needed to get to where she was fully entrenched in Tairn and Andarna’s magic, but in the end, she could do it now.
—
Xaden watched Violet as she trained with Liam. Liam mostly watched her train now instead of helping unless Xaden was there. The shift in the way that they did things so far was huge, and it was still ripping to the rest of the Marked Ones. Rhiannon was more than willing to help one of them. Then there was Imogen, who helped anyone who needed it.
The Assembly and Brennan, most especially, weren’t going to like this, but in the end, it was best for the group to keep the ace in the hole. Violet and Xaden had talked about what his intentions were to death. Xaden knew that it was for the best. If something happened to Xaden or any of the others, more people would fight.
Garrick sat beside him and frowned as he looked at the people watching them. There were always the cadets who would hope that killing even an older rider would allow them to bond with the dragons. The thing was that most of them didn’t understand anything at all.
“This school really sucks. They literally take everything good out of the bond.”
“You and Sgaeyl’s bond is something to be rivaled, and many want it. Now that Tairn’s in play, there are a lot of people who want him. You got rid of the ones who would make the overt and stupid plays, but there are a lot of unbonded who will want him, thinking that they could just kill her because they haven’t been bonded long.”
“I mean, there were those who thought that killing a dragon was a good idea, no matter the type of dragon it was.”
Xaden thought about what allowed Andarna to bond. Why was a feathertail finally willing to bond with a rider?
“Her teeth are scary, but she doesn’t have anything else, does she?” Garrick asked.
“No. She doesn’t. She tolerates me, and I think her overt affection a week ago showed that she supported me by telling Violet everything. Well, everything that I told her.”
“I knew from the moment you saw her and how much she would fight for things that you would fall in love.”
“I’m not in love.”
Even Sgaeyl laughed at Xaden’s words.
“Quit being mean,” Xaden said to Sgaeyl.
“No,” Sgaeyl said back.
“Xaden, you were never like this with Cat. You were never like this with anyone. Don’t even tell me that you aren’t just watching her form right now to critique her. You worry about her. You might not want to admit that you are in love, but you are. It’s better to face it right now when you can adjust to it before something stupid happens, and you do something stupid.”
Xaden wanted to reply that he wouldn’t do anything stupid, but then he thought about what he was already risking by telling Violet anything. He would do many things to make her stay with him—a lot of things that he would give up.
He swallowed as he looked at Violet and realized that Garrick was correct.
It changed everything and nothing. He had already been planning on making sure that Violet lived no matter what because he didn’t want to die.
All Xaden had thought about for years was living and revenge. Wanting revenge for Navarre choosing to keep its head in the sand over what was happening in the world. Even when the wards started to falter more and more, they didn’t think it had something to do with the venin.
Navarre would get its people killed, going to get the dragons killed. That was the part that Xaden couldn’t stand. They needed to get more dragons to safety in the lands in Aretia. Just to be safe, dragon eggs were already there to be protected. The valley above Riorson House was one place where they were safe unless the wyvern came back. So far, Xaden had heard nothing of a dragon being anywhere.
“How goes shielding lessons?”
“Good enough. Yours?” Xaden asked. I’m glad for the reason to talk about something beyond his feelings for Violet. Sgaeyl and Tairn were both a distraction at the moment, and he needed to get his shields up a little more, but he kept them down to feel for threats. There were a lot of them, and there was no reason to risk it right now.
The revelation of what Xaden was would go to only Violet when the time was right. He trusted those he told already but didn’t want to think about what would happen if Rhiannon, Ridco, or Sawyer thought he needed to be reported for that.
Liam stepped off the mat. Violet dropped to sit on her ass, and she tried to breathe. She had been working harder than normal, and Xaden knew it. She was going to sleep well. He could relax and get a little time to himself without worrying about her.
“Have you told her about the runes on her door?”
“No, I’ll handle that when the time comes.”
“So in love,” Garrick said before he got up and walked over to join Liam as Liam was getting dressed again.
Xaden waited for Liam and Violet to leave the room before heading outside.
The night air was crisp and good. He cloaked himself in shadows to keep anyone from seeing him. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts about what he thought he was doing, falling in love with anyone.
That it was General Sorrenngail’s daughter didn’t matter in the long run. Brennan was loyal to everyone who wanted to make sure that the innocents were the ones who made it through this.
The revolution was going to bite them on the ass, and they all knew it.
There were times that Xaden hated how strong his bond with Sgaeyl was, and this was one of those times. He could feel the emotions that they were putting off as they mated. Violet was good at blocking, but there was no reason to think that she was even going to be able to do this if Xaden couldn’t. He pulled out the rolled-up churam that he used to make sure that he didn’t feel things that he would act on. Now that it was both Tairn and Sgaeyl in his head, it was almost too much.
He was nearly done with the churam when he felt her getting closer when he felt that she was affected. The emotions rolling off her were enough that Xaden knew that this was going to be heaven and hell.
Xaden turned to her as Violet stepped up with him.
“What is this?” Violet asked.
“Tairn and Sgaeyl are usually better at blocking their end when they are mating.”
“Fuck,” Violet said. She looked at Xaden like she wanted to climb him.
“You should get back to your room and do what you need to sate this alone. Unless you would like some churam.”
“I want…” Violet’s gaze lingered on Xaden’s lips as she spoke.
“You can’t consent to anything. The bond is too strong. You’ll learn better how to block him out. You are doing well at shielding the rest of the time.”
Xaden finished off the churam, and he moved to step around her, to pull her along with him to make sure that no one else came across her and lured her into something she might regret.
Violet was fast, and Xaden knew it, but before he could do a damned thing, she was touching him. Touching his face. He could feel her feelings all over her, and he knew that while she wanted him, he didn’t want to take advantage. This was nothing to trifle with.
He was only so much of a gentleman, though, and he dipped his head to kiss her, pressing her to the wall closest to make sure she didn’t escape from him. He put his shields up as hard and as fast as he could. It didn’t dull a single feeling that he had, but he was able to make sure that he didn’t go too far.
“Xaden,” Violet breathed when the kiss broke.
“I’m going to escort you to your room, and you will go in there and make sure that you lock the door. I’m going to go back to my room and jerk off thinking of you like this. Begging and needy, the taste of you will never leave my mouth.”
Violet pouted, but she didn’t fight him on the feelings.
“I’ll also think about you on your bed with the corset still on as you reach down and make yourself feel good.”
Violet groaned, and she tried to kiss him again, but Xaden stayed upright, not letting her pull him down.
“You’ll thank me in the morning, Violet. I’m not good for you, but I would never tell you no if you really want this when you are affected by Sgaeyl and Tairn. In the morning, we can talk about this.”
Xaden wasn’t strong enough to say no to her if it was something she really wanted. He had given a lot to all of this and would take what he could. No matter what.
At least with this, no one would consider even touching the whole idea of her sleeping her way to safety. Xaden already had to make sure that she lived if he wanted to lie, and many knew that. It wouldn’t be looked at well, but there was little to be done about it in the end. They couldn’t separate them.
No matter what, Violet was his.
Chapter Eight
Xaden walked down the hall toward Violet’s bedroom. He frowned when he saw Aetos standing outside of it, looking like he was trying to work up the nerve to knock. Xaden stayed where he was as Aetos finally knocked.
Violet opened the door, but Aetos didn’t even try to step inside; in fact, Violet stepped forward, and he could see a bit of her.
“What do you want, Dain?” Violet asked.
“Vi, you can’t be upset at me. I was trying to save you.”
“No, you weren’t. You were trying to make yourself feel like you saved me. My mother would never let me be anywhere but here, a live rider or a dead cadet. Those were the only two options.”
Xaden wanted to be there to help her, but he stayed where he was. Aetos getting any idea that they were more than people in the same wing at the moment would not be good unless Violet knew what it might bring to her. She had to consent to it and be fully aware, which was why he was at her door to talk to her. Aetos was the one who was there instead, digging the hole he was in a little more.
“Vi, it would kill me to see you die.”
“And there is no way to stop it. There was no way to save me.”
“They would have hidden you.”
“That wouldn’t stop the people here from talking to her about it. It’s not like they could just show up with someone else to replace me. My mother would know within an hour of me missing my first class. Some would love to tattle on me and get me in trouble long before I bonded with a dragon they wanted. There is no saving me from this.”
Xaden wondered again why she would push Violet into the quadrant. There was more than pride going there, which brought him back to thinking that Violet’s father had known. That he was killed because he knew, and Lilith Sorrengail knew that her daughter would be killed as well if she went there. Violet wasn’t one to let things go. He felt his stomach turn at the thought. He would have to talk to Violet about that at some point soon when he had his thoughts collected.
“Vi, you have to know what you mean to me.”
“I know exactly what you allow yourself to feel. You don’t believe me about Amber. You demanded that I tell a lie to save her.”
“She is just…was just like me and always wanted to follow the Codex. She was just misguided on what she thought she was doing.”
“She was going to see me killed. To get to Tiarn for an unbonded without thinking out what it would do to Tairn. What is the biggest and baddest dragon in our year if they are dead? He bonds too deeply, and even I knew that from the moment I bonded with him. Those idiots were idiots and are too stupid to really understand why they are stupid. Dragons don’t make mistakes in their bonding. He chose me, and she couldn’t believe that due to her own failings.”
“Vi, she was just misguided. She didn’t need to die.”
“She broke one of the biggest rules that we have. She made her choice, but she was so idiotic that she thought that no one would care about how they got into the room. No one would care how unbonded got in there. They thought that Tairn wouldn’t know who killed his rider in the one time we were supposed to be safe.
“She’s got a point. He would have told me in the moments he had left, and I would have made sure to kill them all worse than I did that idiotic boy.”
Sgaeyl’s words were not a comfort, but it was at least something that Sgaeyl would do what she could to make sure that Violet was avenged. He would have easily gone about helping as well.
“No one knows you as I do.”
“I am not sure that it’s a good thing, Dain. You look at me as weak and can’t do anything but worry. Instead of helping me try and survive, you’ve spent months telling me to hide. Xaden’s been the one to help me. He’s been the one to make sure that I can live through this. He understood there was no saving me, not like you want. There is only living through to graduation and surviving my years on the front lines. It’s over now that I have two dragons, but before that, I let your words sway me some. That I could go through this without changing, but it’s not going to happen.”
“What are you saying?” Aetos asked.
Xaden grinned as he leaned against the wall and waited for the words he wanted out of her mouth.
“You told me the kiss was a mistake because you are superior to me here, and the rules matter more than anything else. The kiss was a mistake for me because it was something I had wanted for a long time before this. I wanted a life with you where we were like Mom and Dad. You were the rider, and I was the scribe. I would follow you around to your posts and do my job there after you were allowed to marry, and Mom let it happen since you were a rider. Yet, when you kissed me, I felt nothing. I don’t know if it was never meant to be or your way of treating me after I came here because of the point where I fell out of love with you.”
“You don’t mean that, Vi. It’s just Riorson. He’s the one who has been twisting you.” Aetos reached up for her face, but she stepped back as she shoved him back.
“Touch me like that again, and I’ll make sure you know that you are never going to touch me again. I’m not the best at projecting things into you with your signet, but I am sure I could find a good image to throw in there that would make you sick.”
“I was afraid that you would be changed too much here. You aren’t the Vi I grew up with.”
“No, she died on the parapet and in the moments after when you decided that you would rather have me dead at my mother’s hands than help me here.” Violet stepped back again to where Xaden couldn’t see any of her, and she slammed the door shut in Aetos’ face.
Xaden dropped his shadows and stepped forward to where Aetos could see him. He made it look like he just arrived.
“You won,” Aetos said.
“I won? What did I win? Do I get a weekend trip to a dream location?”
“Quit being an asshole, Riorson. She’s yours. She’s fully entrenched in your web of shit. When it finally breaks, and you lose interest in her, and whatever scheme you have to get back at her mother, I’ll be here to make sure you pay for it. When you break her heart, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Ah, see, there is the issue, Aetos. You see what you want to see about things, just like you see what you want to see about her. There is no winning her. I did the bare minimum to make sure that she lived, then I started to do more because I realized that we need someone like her in the years to come.”
“Her mother never would have killed her.”
“Her mother sent her across the parapet without the proper training needed. It’s not even the whole scribe training she got. She was never actually prepared for a single moment of this. It was all about getting her body half-assed. Where Lilith Sorrengail could say that she tried to make sure her daughter could live through it before washing her hands of another dead kid whom she never cared about. Her son’s death might have broken her, but Violet’s death was going to be a day of mourning and then moving on to the next thing on her agenda.”
Aetos looked like he wanted to do something about what Xaden said, but he hesitated. Then it dawned across his face. Xaden could see the moment that Aetos realized what Xaden had mostly figured out pretty early on. This place was meant to be the death of Violet in one way or another. If it had been just about making sure that Violet didn’t get deep into the scribes and be killed like Xaden thought her father was, there were the healers. Hell, even infantry. The fact that she made her daughter into the riders meant that her pride had tried to get her daughter killed.
After a few more seconds of silence, Aetos turned on his heel and left. Xaden waited until he felt that Aetos was long gone before he turned to the door to knock. Violet opened it before he could.
“How long were you there?” Violet asked.
“I came around the corner right when he was knocking on your door. I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t harass you, but I knew you could handle yourself mostly. You wouldn’t expect any violence from him.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Are you here to talk about last night?”
Xaden nodded, and he waited for Violet to step back. He looked at the door of her room, and he could see the runes in the work, hidden well. He needed to tell her about that as soon as possible, maybe even now. She was pissed off, and he could take her anger for his highhanded maneuverings.
“If anyone ever gets you trapped here, just retreat to your room.”
“That didn’t work out well last time.”
“Well, that was before I made sure that no one else could enter your room without permission besides me.”
“What?”
“Runes on your door. You can pull someone across, but they have to be touching you to enter the room.”
Violet looked at him like she was trying to read him. She crossed her arms and looked at him. “You can get in at any point?”
“Just in case. I would never enter without permission unless you were injured in some fashion. I’m not that kind of person.”
“Not even Rhi can get in?”
“Not alone, no. I trust her and know that you do, but you never know what kind of person someone else is. Anyone who has access can pull someone across the threshold, Violet, so Rhiannon could be used to get someone else inside if it’s figured out.” Xaden walked over to sit on the edge of the desk and look around the room. He hadn’t been in there long enough the night she was attacked to take in much, but the construct that had knife marks all over it told him that she used it for training her deadly aim when it came to her daggers.
“You kissed me,” Violet said.
“I did. I would do it again as well. Given what was going on last night, I tried to resist it, but I couldn’t help just a taste of you.” Xaden looked down her body, and he smiled as he took in the way she was starting to blush as he did. “Have you had lovers?”
“Just like I told Dain once, it’s none of your business who I have taken to my bed before.”
“Oh, I don’t care who it is, but I wanted to make sure you have taken a lover before. Otherwise,-”
“You wouldn’t want me?” Violet cut in.
“No, I would still want you. If we ever got there, you would just be treated a little more gently on our first coupling. I wouldn’t want your first time ever to be something you regret in any way, shape, or form.”
“Oh.” Violet was blushing even harder.
“My first time with someone wasn’t the best, and I regret that a little bit, so I would never want that. I’ve got better memories that block that one out, but I hate to think you would have something like that.”
“You told me that you didn’t fuck first years, even when you were a first year.”
“That might have been a little bit of an understatement. I mean, I wasn’t doing anything like that, but I didn’t find lovers in the same quadrant I was. I went for those from other quadrants who didn’t care about my relic. There are a lot of people who would never trust someone like me. My relationships were all from before. I’ve had a few dalliances here and there.”
Xaden thought about Cat. As much as he hated her and what she wanted when it came to him, he also knew that the type of person that Violet was would never do well with being surprised by it.
“I’m going to sit in the chair unless you would sit better on it, and I will take the bed.”
“No, the bed is fine for me. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong.” Xaden slipped off the desk and walked over to sit in the chair that was near the bed; he turned it to face the bed more and waited for Violet to sit down before he got comfortable. “Years ago, my father signed a contract that promised me to a girl from Poromiel in exchange for help during the apostasy. It went into effect when she turned twenty, but I could never see myself in a relationship like that. She only wanted the title that she thought she was going to get. She didn’t care about me or the person I was. I broke things off, no matter the end result, over the summer before. She’s not going to be kind to anyone who I choose to be with because she wants the power she thinks she would get with being my wife.”
“Power?”
Xaden nodded and sighed. “My family, the Riorson line, was the ones who were in charge of Tyrrendor before all of this. If this goes the way that I think it would, I would be Duke of Aretia. I would be the kind of person who had a lot of power.”
“I see. And she wants that, not you.”
“Yes, and you, for all I can tell, just want me.”
“I don’t know what I want or feel. I’ve never felt like this before with anyone. It’s not like it’s easy to date when you are General Sorrengail’s daughter, the one that most people don’t even know about. I’m not like Mira, who can snap her fingers and get a line of men.”
“I don’t care about anything other than who you are. I call you Violence because of how you reacted the first time I called you that.”
“My name is still Violet,” Violet said. She was pouting a little, but she seemed to be thinking as well. “What’s her name?”
“Catriona Cordella. She’s the niece of Viscount Tecarus. We were together for nine months. Tecarus is the viscount of the province of Krovla in Poromiel. Sloane, Liam’s little sister, calls our relationship toxic from the letter I got from Liam when I finally could get them. She was happy to be rid of her.”
“Toxic, how?”
“She was…not good for me at all. She wanted my crown as she saw it and cared about nothing else. The sex was the only good point, which was enough to make me not want her. Nine months was all I needed to know that.”
Xaden inhaled and exhaled, holding out his hand and letting his shadows play around his fingers. He looked at Violet to see her watching it. It was something he did to calm himself down sometimes when he could; breathing and thinking of just his shadows was easy.
“My mother and father were an arranged marriage, and I never wanted to marry unless there was love because of it. The contract only stated my mother had to stay around until an heir lived to age ten. When I turned ten, she left. I’ve not seen her since. I don’t want that for my children or me. To know that a parent doesn’t love them and they were an obligation. I felt that as well. I love my mother, but I can’t think about her as anything other than a person in my life.”
“I can’t imagine that. I mean…” Violet huffed and flopped back onto her bed.
Xaden looked at her and smiled as he saw the way she stretched a few seconds later. He could see the flexibility he had heard about and how her joints moved in weird ways.
“My mother’s love was all more apparent with my siblings. They were the ones who weren’t reminders of when she nearly died while pregnant with me and what the sickness ended up doing to me. I wasn’t able to be what she wanted me to be. I was like my father, and there are times that I think she really resented that. It feels like she only cares about us as extensions of what it provides for her. All Sorrengails are riders, is what she said to me, like my father’s legacy doesn’t matter.”
“I can’t imagine that. My father loved my mother in his own way, and he mourned her leaving, but there was an air of him knowing it was coming. I can’t even imagine what it was like to know that your spouse is leaving.”
Violet sat up, and her hair was a little mussed. She hadn’t got it into a braid yet. It wasn’t time for them to get headed out for classes, but it would be happening soon.
“You are still sleeping in your armor, right?”
“Yes. I need to clean it again soon, though, and that means letting it dry. Maybe I’ll pull Liam into the room after I do so that he can keep watch from there. Do you hear me? You are to order him to never sleep at my door.”
“I’ll have him do what I need to keep myself alive, thank you, but yes, I will make sure he doesn’t do that. Him being tired from sleeping on the floor wouldn’t be good for protecting you the rest of the time.”
Violet just glared at him, so Xaden sat up a little more. They needed to talk about the actual relationship.
“No one is going to like you and me together. Especially Aetos’ father and most especially General Melgren when he finds out, and I know he will.”
“This place is full of spies who will do anything to get an advancement after they graduate by telling shit to people. I know. I heard all kinds of things that my mother found out from those who wanted to get ahead by doing the least amount possible. They never got what they thought they were getting as there are some lines that can’t be crossed because, really, loyalty is a big need in this kind of thing.”
Xaden knew that Violet was smart, but she was one of the smartest people he had ever met. He wondered what it would have been like if she had been there as an adult to help his father win the apostasy. The tides could have turned in a different direction because of it.
“You need to be ready to face anything and everything, including someone telling you you cannot date me.”
“There is not much more that can be done to me. No one is going to kill me over it because that would be the loss of Tairn, and that would not be good from what I’ve heard. My mother never talked of Naolin and Tairn before. I only found out who Tairn was because of Kaori. There is nothing that they can do.”
“They can kill me, but Sgaeyl wouldn’t take kindly to that, and I’m not sure she wouldn’t go out and kill a lot of people for it. I don’t even think the dragons would try to stop her in the end. Tairn would defend, and then the dens would be divided.”
Violet nodded, and she looked out the window. “I should get ready. I need to do my hair.”
“Could I…” Xaden stopped and shut his mouth. It wasn’t something to ask for now. He had seen Liam’s parents doing intimate things like it when he was younger. That relationship was the one that he tried to model himself after, that and Garrick’s parents. Not his own.
“What?”
“I was going to ask if I could brush your hair, but that is a lot more intimate than we are, and I think it’s a boundary that we need to keep right now.”
“You can watch me. I should probably teach you how to braid as well. Breakfast starts soon.”
“It does. Ready to go beyond getting your hair done?”
Violet nodded.
—
The best way to make sure that nothing happened with Aetos and Violet was to make sure that Aetos knew where he stood. It took a few days, but Xaden could slip himself close to Violet during a time when Aetos was around. Xaden laid his hand on Violet’s lower back, making her dart a look at him before she went back to talking to Imogen about a training move that Violet had seen her make on the mat just hours before.
The anger and feeling of hopelessness told Xaden that Aetos had seen him, and Xaden reveled in it. He was ruthless, and it was time for Aetos to remember that. While it frowned upon to kill a squad leader, Xaden could maneuver it into a way where Aetos was the attacker, and Xaden was just defending himself. All four wings knew how close Aetos and Mavis had been. It would be easy to make everyone think it was why Aetos attacked him.
Aetos hadn’t realized how ruthless Xaden could be yet. Violet had seen it when he had killed those who tried to kill her. When he called out Mavis in the most open way possible, Aetos just hadn’t realized what that actually meant.
There was nothing that Xaden wouldn’t do to stop Navarre and its stupid games, and there was nothing that Xaden wouldn’t do to defend Violet. It was just like with Sgaeyl, only he had not acquired two more dragons and a woman.
The world hadn’t seen what Xaden would be like if someone threatened to harm Violet. If anything were left after Tairn ripped them apart, Xaden would make sure no one else would ever think of it again.
If there were enemies for them out there, he would face them with Violet at his side. She didn’t need protection beyond making sure that she could handle what was coming at her.
She was violence incarnate when she wanted to be, and he was pretty much going to enjoy watching her rip her enemies to pieces, but first, she needed to have the training for that. Her mother hadn’t equipped her to do anything close to fighting. If she had always meant to have Violet go into the riders, then there was nothing that would have stopped her from training her that way.
“You look pensive,” Garrick said as he dropped down beside him. They had just gotten done with their flying training for the day, and Sgaeyl was in a mood.
“Just trying to figure out if Lilith was trying to kill Violet or not.”
“Why do you think she was?”
“Well, I am on the fence at the moment. If she had always planned to send Violet here, why not make sure that Violet could actually fight? Then that means that she didn’t always plan to do it, and it was only in the wake of her husband’s death. The heart issues he had were well known, but what if the first time was a failed assassination attempt and it was covered by a heart issue? Then there was another one or two before the final one where they finally killed him.”
“For what?”
“We know the scribes are in on it. Maybe he was digging into things that they didn’t want him to, but because it was Sorrengail’s husband, there was no outright death. That would look bad, but a heart issue so close to Brennan’s death?”
“I never even thought anything close to that until you brought it up. So, General Sorrengail’s shoving her daughter into the riders to make sure that she doesn’t do something stupid like her husband and thinks it’s saving her? Why not the healers?”
“I have no clue. It’s where I would stick her unless there’s something there as well that makes it hard to want to stick her daughter there.”
“You think it’s that deeply true? Not just the scribes, some higher-up riders, and the King?”
“I think it’s everyone above a certain rank. Otherwise, why worry about all inntinnsics? Aetos can keep his because it was something they could use, and they would know if he’s using it.”
Violet strode across the field with a smile on her face as she saw Xaden sitting with Garrick. He had no idea what she was doing there, but glancing at Aetos had Xaden smiling. Seeing how he looked excited, thinking she was going for him, she turned and headed for Xaden. There was a wicked look on her face, and for once, Xaden really wanted to know what she was like in bed. What kind of lover would she be? He figured he could get her to do some very fun things if he wanted, experiments and all kinds of things.
“I’m glad that I’m not one of those ones who can smell everything. I’m sure that you are very aroused at the moment.” Garrick didn’t move away as Violet stopped in front of Xaden until he lowered his legs to the ground, where he had his knees to his chest prior.
Violet sat down in his lap without so much as a by your leave. He grinned as she scooted as close as she could to where their chests were touching. The bodice of the corset really did a lot for her breasts and everything really. Xaden couldn’t wait until he got her naked.”
“Have a good flight?” Violet asked.
“I did. Did you have a good time on the mats?”
“I’m sore in places I never knew I could be after trying some of the moves like you want me to learn to be able to fight people bigger than me.” Violet waited for him to nod before she cupped his face and drew him into a kiss.
There was no going back now.
None at all, and Xaden is way more than okay with that.
“Ew, do that somewhere else,” Bodhi said as he came up behind them.
“We could go to your room,” Xaden said.
“Hmm, but Dain’s not there.”
“Using me to make him jealous?”
“No, proving the point that I don’t want him.”
“You used to, didn’t you?”
“I did. I wanted him, and then when he kissed me after I bonded with Tairn and Andarna, I felt nothing. I had wanted it for so long, and then it was nothing I wanted. I am not even sure if it was you or just being here that changed me.”
“It was the way he didn’t support you. You couldn’t be with him anymore since he didn’t support your desires. You might not have wanted to be here at the start of it, but by then, you wanted to be here. You had wanted that for a while.” Xaden looked around at Violet to look at Aetos.
“That could be it. I guess I did change. I guess I didn’t expect that change to come with falling out of love with Dain.”
“Let’s not talk about him while you are sitting on my lap. Classes might be over for the day, but I still have a few things I need to do. You can stay here with Garrick if you want while I take care of that. Or you can head to eat.”
“I’ll wait and eat with you. What’s Garrick going to be doing up here?”
“Watching idiots.”
Violet laughed, and she leaned in for another kiss. Xaden indulged her a little bit, but he didn’t let things get too involved because they were still in the middle of public. After a few seconds, she moved, rolling off his lap, and looked at Garrick with a grin on her face. It seemed she had changed a little bit over the day. She was more happy in her skin. Xaden wondered if that was just from being with Xaden or if it was mostly about accepting the truth about Aetos and how he was treating her.
“He’s still upset about Amber, a lot upset from what Sawyer heard earlier today, and despite seeing what happened, he feels like Xaden pushed her into it,” Violet said to Garrick.
“I’m right here,” Xaden said.
Violet looked at him. “But you are supposed to be leaving, so I thought I would tell him the gossip I heard. Shoo,” Violet said.
Xaden got up and headed away, looking back at them before focusing on where he was going. He had heard a lot about Aetos’ hissy fit he had thrown that day when he had been at lunch. Hell, a lot of Fourth Wing was talking about it, and it wasn’t looking good for Aetos. A lot was going on, and while Aetos had looked at things like he would be a wingleader, Xaden hoped he wasn’t. There was a lot of politics in the position, and while Xaden had felt like he was never going to get it due to the relic on him, it had happened because he was the strongest, and there was the chance that the wings would all have a fit if someone else who wasn’t worthy was put in there.
The biggest issue with Aetos was his overt affection for Violet long before there had been anything. The rumor that Aetos had broken up with Mavis spread long before the year ended. Aetos had been with her when he was able to be with her, and then when things had changed to where Aetos could contact people again, he was single; only the object of his affection was there in his face, where he hadn’t left her. It was the biggest blow to his ego. That the woman he loved wasn’t doing what he thought she should be doing. There was a lot to really unpack about things, and Xaden would do it one day. He would make sure that Aetos had no moves against him and his people, even Violet, Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer, who were connected with his group in a way he had never thought possible.
The future was looking up more and more.
Chapter Nine
Xaden knew the day was coming when one of the more brutish people tried to challenge Violet and had the idea that they were going to kill her. Xaden wished he could take the challenge for her, but that was impossible. It wasn’t going to look good for her or him. No matter what kind of place this was, it was still a brutal hellhole that weeded out a weakness with a bomb instead of a scalpel.
Over the nearly three years that he had been there, he knew that this place wasn’t going to let all of the Marked Ones out of its halls, but he hoped that one day, the rebellion would be able to do what it needed to do, and he would be able to change this place. There were a lot of things that needed to change, and part of them was where the strong mind and strong body could make it through without worry of being killed.
The entire culture around students killing each other for a strong wing was part of the control that Navarre had to keep its people down, and they were not able to figure out the changes the scribes had made over the years. It was something that Xaden had thought long and hard about.
Garrick poked Xaden in the side as the Third Wing boy stepped onto the mat. He had been one that Xaden hadn’t paid much attention to as he hadn’t made himself a threat to anyone, at least not until after Threshing. The guy had bonded an orange, the name of which Xaden didn’t know. He had killed four people on the challenge mat since Threshing, and it was something that Xaden didn’t like. Violet hadn’t yet started to wield her signet, even if she finally had magic flowing through her. Xaden wasn’t sure what was happening with all that, but he knew he needed to push Sgaeyl to talk to Tairn about that. It wasn’t doing her any favors, and if Tairn could help Violet get to that point, it would be better.
“He’s not going to yield. The professor will either have to make him yield, or she will have to kill him,” Bodhi said.
“I know. It’s what I’m worried about. She’s not made for that part. Or at least she’s not ready for that part. She’s gotten a lot better at challenges and fighting with all of us, making sure that she can defend herself. It’s going to help with RSC when it comes. Should we…” Xaden couldn’t believe he was thinking of breaking that one rule.
“Let’s see how the rest of the year goes on that front.”
Xaden nodded, and he agreed with Garrick on that. RSC and its secret were something that was pushed into all of them, but then again, Xaden was already breaking a lot of rules. There was nothing that he wouldn’t do to protect her, but he wasn’t sure what would protect her and what would make her freak out and be more upset to know what was coming.
There were a lot of things in the school that just seemed to be made to torture the students and make them into killing machines with little else on their minds.
Violet stepped onto the mat at the same time as the brute. Xaden had heard his name but hadn’t filed it away anywhere that he would remember it long-term. He just wanted to make sure that Violet lived. She had stopped poisoning her opponents, but he knew that she carried things onto the mat to make sure that she could disable them if need be. There were some that were fast-acting.
The allergies of the kids they were there with were easy to find, but the ones who had allergic reactions to things weren’t the ones that were threats. Guys like this were threats. He was going to want to kill her, and Xaden knew it. He needed to keep himself in check.
Despite everything going on, Aetos was down there near the mat and seemed to be worried about Violet. Violet hadn’t even glanced at him, and it had made Xaden happy to see that look of disgust on his face when she did that. Violet really knew the kind of acts that would piss Aetos off even more, and she was pissed at him still for wanting to make decisions for her and trying to tell her what to do. It was always going to be the difference between the two of them. Xaden supported her, and outside of a few instances, he didn’t tell her what to do. Aetos would forever see the weak girl he met when he was six. It was something that would play out in time, and there was no reason to borrow trouble if there was no reason for it. Things would happen as they did.
Violet wasn’t the first to move. She never was. She used others and their impatience to make them make the first move or just tire themselves out. It was the kind of move that Xaden would do. Violet had learned patience training to be a scribe, which mostly worked in her favor. There were still times she waited too long.
Teaching Violet about the venin would have to wait until someone else could back them up.
The brute made the first big mistake, allowing Violet to use her dagger against him to nearly fully disable his right leg. The blood was going everywhere as he tried to stand on it and then went down. Violet didn’t give him quarter, going for the shoulder he left unprotected. She jabbed in hard and jerked the dagger free again.
Violet really was a violent little thing. Xaden was worried she would hesitate to make the killing blow. The challenges were part of the whole thing, helping them learn to make the killing blow if needed. Xaden understood it all. There was no way to train someone to make that kill shot on a living and breathing person if there were no battles to be had before graduation. There was always a massive difference in that, and Xaden knew it. His father had taught him about it a long time before he died.
Xaden had killed. He had done it because he needed to, but the first time, no matter how much he thought he was ready for it, he hadn’t been able to keep himself together. He had lost it in private with no one to help him.
“She’s not going to do it,” Garrick said.
“No, she’s not.” Xaden waited for the professor to make the call that he yielded, but it wasn’t there. The man was looking but not that closely. The brute pulled a dagger and tried to stab Violet, but it glanced off her armor. Xaden was thankful for the armor more than once.
“What is that armor?” Garrick asked.
“Dragon scale, her sister’s dragon’s scales. Shrunk down and fit in there. Mira knew long before her that she was going to the Riders Quadrant and seemed to make sure she could keep her as safe as possible.”
“General Sorrengail will make all her children hate her for her pride.”
“Agreed.”
Then it happened. It was a simple accident, which wouldn’t make it any easier. Violet went for the brute’s other shoulder, but the guy’s power to keep her back failed, and she missed, the blade going right into his heart.
Xaden started to move, but he stopped when Bodhi laid his hand on his shoulder. Weakness wasn’t needed right now. Violet let go of the dagger, and she looked at the dying man below her.
Xaden let go of his shields a little, feeling the emotions off her as she took in what she had done. Rhi was the first one to move to her, and she helped Violet up off the body and then pulled her away. The professor grabbed the blades Violet had been using and then the one the brute had left and handed them to Ridoc when he stopped. There was nothing to do right now as the mat was cleaned off to get ready for the next challenge.
Rhi took Violet to a side area and talked to her.
“It might have been better if she had killed during the Threshing in the protection of Andarna.”
Sgaeyl’s voice wasn’t comforting because he thought the same thing. It might have been better to do it in the protection of another than this. This would make her less hesitant to do what was needed if it came to her own life, but he wasn’t sure how to make her feel better. There was no one way to react to something like this.
Rhiannon looked at Xaden, and there was a look of asking for help in her eyes. Xaden was the leader, and it was just the first years around Violet and Rhi right now. It was his job to help with this if a cadet needed it. He walked over and waited for Rhiannon to tell him what to do.
When Xaden stepped up to her, he smelled it. The almost pungent smell of lightning. He could see that the hairs on his arm were standing up, and there was a little bit of static in the air around them.
“Shit,” Xaden said. He looked back, and that single move had Garrick and Bodhi moving.
“Riorson, where are you going?”
“I think she’s manifesting her signet in response to killing for the first time, Sir. I need to get her out of the building.”
Rhi, Ridoc, and Sawyer followed Xaden out of the challenge room, and they weaved out of the place with Garrick and Bodhi following after having grabbed all of their things.
There wasn’t a single bit of a storm in the sky, but the smell of lightning was there. It was even stronger. He had wondered how she had been when Tairn and Sgaeyl hadn’t muted their bond enough, and Xaden had kissed her. Once in the open, Xaden realized that Aetos had followed as well. Garrick was keeping him back with a look that promised death.
The first strike was off the top of a spike of stone.
“Lightning?” Rhi called out.
Xaden turned Violet to face him, and he forced her eyes on him. “You need to focus on me. Let Tairn and Andarna in, Violet. Let them in.”
“She’s blocking them.”
“Of course she is.” Xaden waited for her to start to see him finally. “He would have killed you. He was aiming for it. You might not have meant to kill him, but it happened, and it can’t be changed.”
“It was him or me.”
“Yes. He wasn’t going to let you live. I think he would have killed you even if you had won. No matter what that would have done to him.” Xaden tried to read her, but her emotions were moving fast. This would always be the hardest part of this quadrant for Violet. It was going to be hell, no matter who she killed first. This was the moment where Xaden hated Lilith Sorrengail for what she was doing to her youngest child. She should be safe in the scribes and not have to worry about killing to save her own life. To accidentally kill someone because of a simple failure of brawn.
“What’s happening?” Violet asked. She looked around, finally figuring out that this wasn’t normal. Where is the storm?”
“We are in the eye of it, Violet, and this is your signet. Bank it.”
Violet shuddered, and her eyes went wide as Tairn landed on the wall beside them, his body settled in and looking at her.
“There you go,” Xaden said when the lighting started to calm down, and there were no more strikes. The smell was still there, enough that Xaden knew that she would lose control at some point and set some fires.
The rush of people had Xaden putting her behind him. Everyone but Aetos moved to protect them. As the first person crossed the doorway to where they were, Tairn roared, stopping every single one of them in their tracks so much that the first one was nearly knocked over. There was so much on their faces that showed what they feared. There was going to come a point where someone was going to hope that killing her wouldn’t kill Tairn, and they were going to try it. Or that killing Xaden would be the best thing they could do and killing Tairn and Sgaeyl would be collateral damage. There was no one but the inner circle to trust, and Xaden knew it. He needed to figure out if there was anything else that needed to be protected.
“You were going to attack them?”
“If they pose a threat to us, yes.”
“That’s who you want, Vi? Someone who would kill to protect you?”
“Better than letting me die for your own fucking honor,” Violet said.
Aetos reacted as if he had been slapped, and it was a moment that Xaden loved a great deal. He was happy that someone was willing to protect him, even if it was Violet. It was why he loved Bodhi, Garrick, and Liam. They protected each other. They were the reasons they had made it so far, and Violet was starting to build that with her group.
There was a lot of information that they were feeding each other. It was easy to make sure that Violet had that going for her forever. He didn’t regret telling Ridoc, Sawyer, and Rhiannon so far. He hoped that no day came when he did. He wanted to make sure that he had enough protection to protect them, and all of them were doing good at shielding, even from their dragons, which was a feat.
“Wingleader Riorson is right to protect his wingmate from an attack,” Carr said as he stepped up from the back of the group. He looked like he was quite content just to stand there until they relaxed. “This is a time where it’s hard to control her, and any threat to her could make her lash out. No one wants to be fried by a lightning bolt. Is this the first time she’s channeled like that?”
“I don’t think so, but it’s extreme emotions that seem to unlock it. It happened once before, but it was just a rumble of lightning and thunder more than a true pull like this.” Xaden stepped to the side even though he knew that Carr would snap her neck if he could get his hands on it, and she showed nothing but what she had going on.
“Nothing else?”
“No.”
“Second signets, when they do manifest, do seem to come months after the first, as you remember when we checked you, Riorson.”
Xaden nodded, and he slipped his hand to rest on a dagger. He wasn’t going to trust the man at all when it came to Violet, not now or ever. The idea that she was going to be here without him, Garrick, and Bodhi was the biggest threat that loomed on his mind. He would make sure that Liam really understood what was going to happen when he left and that there were others. Imogen was slowly coming around to the idea that she needed to protect Violet out of more than just Xaden’s word.
There were a lot of things that needed to be done to prepare for when Xaden left. There was the looming threat of the distance between them as well as how it was going to be managed by the higher-ups. It would be hard for them to be apart for a long time. They really hadn’t pushed it outside when Tairn had been bonded to Naolin. It would be easy to have them have weekends. Violet would get weekends now, so flying to him wouldn’t be too bad.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Cadet Sorrengail.”
Violet nodded, but she didn’t fully come out from behind Xaden, using him as a shield, which Xaden was happy with. He would protect her with his life if he had to. He would make sure that she was safe, not just because of wanting to live but because he loved her.
“Shit, he’s scary, even if I hadn’t seen him kill a student.”
Xaden huffed but knew Carr was mostly ineffective at teaching signets like Violet. He would have to work on something else. There were too many students who needed him and with the ones that no one wanted developed well, Carr just didn’t try. Garrick stepped closer as the others left, and Bodhi stayed where he was, keeping an eye on Aetos.
“I’m happy you are channeling your signet finally, Vi. You’ll see the world differently.”
“It’s not going to make me be friends with you again. You still want to control me.”
“He’s controlling you too.”
“No, he’s helping me. He’s being honest about everything that he can be. You would never be honest about anything if you were told to lie for the rest of your life by a professor. I don’t want to even think about what lies you have already told me that don’t matter in the scheme of things. You take care of you; I’ll take care of me.”
“Brennan would be ashamed of you,” Aetos said.
“Walk along, Aetos,” Violet said.
Xaden grinned, and he flashed that grin at Aetos. “You have no idea what her brother would or wouldn’t be feeling in regards to her right now. You never really knew him after he came here, did you?”
“Well, it’s not like Violet did either. Your father is the one who killed him.”
Violet didn’t even flinch at that. She just crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Aetos. “Leave, Aetos.”
Xaden reveled in the flinch that happened. Aetos looked even more shocked at Violet calling him Aetos than anything else. It seemed that the way that they talked about him seemed to be rubbing off on her. He wasn’t going to feel bad for it. Aetos was very much a man stuck in the way he was and refused to backtrack. He would see one day.
They would all see one day.
—
There were always whispers of things that others heard as they moved around and kept them all updated about things. Xaden was seated with Garrick, and Aetos was across the room. All of the leadership was stuck in rooms where they could be watched just in case when Squad Battle went on. Yet there was the rumor that Violet’s squad had yet to be seen doing anything. It wasn’t that they weren’t doing something; it was that no one knew where they were.
Tairn wasn’t giving a damned thing away, and Sgaeyl was smug satisfaction. Having Sgaeyl feel proud about what was going on was a good feeling. Xaden wasn’t sure it was a feeling that she felt often. He was glad that there was something good about it from her.
“You,” Aetos said as he stood up to walk over. Others stopped him before he could get too close to Xaden.
He just looked up at the man with a lazy smile on his face. “Me what?”
“I’m going to report you for influencing a first year.”
“And…you think I did something horrible? That she looks at you for how you treat her because of me? Not because of you?” Xaden saw the door open, and Panchek came inside. He didn’t care what the guy heard. “You think that training her where she will live is a reason why she should hate you? You wanted to get the hell out of here and possibly get her mother to kill her for disobeying her. General Sorrengail is not one to be disobeyed. She told her daughter where she expected her to be, and there was no one who was going to change her mind if Mira wasn’t able to.”
“You don’t understand anything. She would have been safe.”
“As soon as she didn’t show up for class or show up for something one day, I bet there would be a few spies who would run off and tell someone else who would report it to the General. There was no hope of hiding her. There was no chance. I made sure that she could survive with what she had.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“You wanted to kill her before this.”
“Did I? Did I want to kill her, or was that the rumors that you heard? I mean, it was a shock to everyone but the Sorrengails that she even showed up here. Why would I have even thought I could get near enough to kill her when she was going to be in the scribes? Everyone who even knew about her knew she was going to follow her father’s steps. If she had a choice, it was going to be that. You just didn’t like that she wasn’t where you wanted her. Because saving her is all about you, you knew that being here would change her in a way that would pull her away from you. You even dumped your girlfriend so that you could make sure that if you saw Violet at some point during her scribe duty, you could tell her you had no one in your life. You’ve wanted her but made yourself wait until after you were through Basgiath to do something about it. Don’t be shocked that someone else moved first.”
“You are going to get her killed.”
Xaden scoffed. “If it were up to you, she would already be dead.”
“It’s time,” Panchek said.
Aetos whirled around and looked at Panchek in shock before he moved to follow the others out of there. Xaden hung back and smiled as it looked like the stick shoved up Aetos’ ass got even bigger. He wasn’t sure how he walked with it so far up his ass.
“You like egging him on,” Garrick said.
“It’s entertainment, and the more pissed off he is, the less rational he is. He would have gotten her killed. Do you know what would have happened if the others here thought after she got thrown back here by her mother? After she tried to run away? She would have been open sport. I am not sure that even I could have saved her over that.” Xaden hated that thought because he loved her and because he thought that the rebellion needed her.
It needed Brennan and anyone else it could get, but there was something about Violet that made Xaden think she was needed to get them through some hurdles. He knew that feeling well and had followed it all his life. That started to build when he was with Cat, and it was part of why he had ended that.
“What do you think they did?” Garrick asked.
“Something that no one expects. They just had to follow the Codex for this and a few other rules, like no killing of people. Something that would have a lasting impact if the enemies got it. Even the fliers could do a lot of damage with a lot of things in this place. I have no idea what Violet’s brain came up with that was something worth taking that would allow the enemy to have an advantage over us.”
It was silence after that as the squads all lined up to get their show and tell over with. Xaden tried to figure out what it was that his second squad from the Flame Section had decided to steal. A few of them looked a little worse for wear, but it didn’t seem like any of them had been injured, unlike a few other squads. He saw one guy with a brace on his arm. It looked like he had broken it. There were always dumbass injuries at this kind of thing, and it meant that the menders were all backed up dealing with stupid stuff and infantry.
The pure gravitas that Violet displayed as she gave the reason why the map should even be counted made him wonder what she would do with a full riot at her disposal when it came to a fight.
“Did she really just tell all of us that she broke into her own fucking mother’s office and stole something?” Garrick asked.
“Yes.”
“No wonder you two are a fit for each other. That took a lot of bravery to do. It’s got everyone else in a huge ass tizzy.”
“It does.” Xaden waited for Violet to look at him, and he nodded at her, his affection plain on his face for a few seconds before he shut it off. She smiled at him, the love and affection showing her in the eyes as well. They were headed down a path that would get them both killed or be what was needed to survive this whole thing. He had no idea which it was.
The prize for winning was something that Xaden knew, but he hadn’t been sure that anyone from his wing would win it, but also another was the fact that he would have to follow her. He knew it, and Sgaeyl and Tairn knew it, but Violet hadn’t figured it out yet.
“Sir,” Xaden said as he stepped up when things were mostly over, and the squads who lost were all leaving in defeat. “How do you want to handle our dragons?”
“Ah, yes. I hadn’t thought about that. Neither of you deserve to be punished for it. This is rare and something we’ve never had to deal with. I’ll think about it, and then before they leave, I will make a decision.”
Xaden nodded, and Violet looked a little excited about things for a few seconds. It would be good to get the hell away for a little while. It would be nice, but Xaden also knew where they were going was where Mira Sorrengail was, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be introduced as Violet’s boyfriend at that. It would not be the best thing, but also it might be best to let her do that alone. Mira would be able to handle Aetos if he started to bring up shit. There was no reason to borrow trouble when it wasn’t needed. He had enough shit on his plate.
There were a few other things he had to do throughout the day, but Xaden went back to his room after things were over, and he couldn’t get the image of Violet out of his head when she had been up there excited about winning. The pandemonium of everything hadn’t dampened the look on her face. She had been flushed with excitement.
Xaden wrapped himself in shadows while the room was mostly protected. He didn’t like thinking that anyone could even remotely hear him when he was getting ready to jerk off. He made sure that everyone was shielded in his head. He didn’t need to set off Sgaeyl and Tairn and create a massive feedback loop that got them all horny at the same time. Xaden didn’t want their first time to be under any kind of influence at all. He wanted to take her to bed, and it would be the best time of their lives. Xaden regretted a lot of the hookups he had, not just because it wasn’t something he would have picked normally but because he had done all of them for the wrong reasons.
The slick he used to get off was easy to grab from the drawer at his bedside, even in the darkness. He hadn’t turned on any of the mage lights around the room to give it a little more darkness to make sure that even if someone were outside of his window, they wouldn’t see him. He stripped naked after setting the slick out, and he debated for a few seconds where he wanted to do this and decided on his bed. He grabbed a towel as well and settled in how he wanted.
He was already half hard just from the few images in his head. He imagined Violet coming into the room, just opening the door and shoving it shut behind her, wrapped in a cloak. He knew what she wore to bed; he had seen it when he had grabbed her clothes to get her dressed. He had been pissed off at some of the things in there as they didn’t go well with corsets, but if there were nights where he knew they would be safe, he wanted to see her in them. The sheer things left nothing to his imagination. Of course, her in the corset was something to behold as well. He knew she wore comfortable things under it; she had to make sure she didn’t get sores. Mira had done well in making it. She had no issues fighting in it.
The idea of Violet crossing the room as she took off the cloak and tossed it at the end of the bed before climbing up on Xaden had him groaning as he fisted his cock, his hand slick. Violet would tease him, be willing to do things to try them out, and then hold them out until Xaden begged. He imagined it was her who was stroking him. He thought about what it would feel like if she went down on him. She would be a tease with that, it seemed like, most especially with it. Licking and never doing much more until he begged.
“Please,” Xaden would beg.
It was only once he had begged enough that she would take him into her mouth. The wicked mouth that never knew when to shut up, the way she quoted facts when she needed to focus. It was one of the most adorable things he had ever seen someone do. It was the way she talked that made Xaden want to see her lips wrapped around his cock. He would thrust up into her mouth, never pushing too much but enough to make it feel good. It was the best thing, watching his cock slip and slide in and out of her mouth. He wanted that as soon as he could get it, shutting her up just to make her fall apart later with his finger buried inside of her with his mouth pressed to a breast.
Xaden came with her name on his lips. He wanted to keep on going, get himself hard again, and imagine sliding inside the heat of her for the first time, but he was too tired and needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day. He grabbed the towel and cleaned himself up, getting up to get the rag. He went to the water basin in the room, and he cleaned up even more with it. There was no reason to keep himself dirty after that. He would clean up better in the morning when he got ready to face the day without Violet there.
For a few seconds, Xaden wondered if they should feel like this already, most especially him. He wasn’t sure what this kind of love was supposed to feel like. He had seen what it looked like but never asked what it felt like. Now, everyone was dead that he wanted to ask. He hoped that things were not going to be tested too much.
“She’s asking questions of Tairn again that he is unsure of what he wants to tell her. I think maybe the distance will be good.”
Xaden hadn’t realized he had dropped his shields to Sgaeyl in the wake of his orgasm. It was good he did, but it was strange he hadn’t been conscious of the act.
“She’s always going to push. She needs to know it all. Her comfort is knowledge, and things haven’t been the easiest for her when I tell her that I want to tell her things, but it’s not safe.”
There was nowhere safe.
Chapter Ten
“We have to go,” Sgaeyl’s voice was stern as it roused Xaden from sleep.
He threw the covers off his body and started to get ready. He needed to get a hold of Panchek to talk to him about this. No one wanted Sgaeyl to be sick because there was every chance that it could kill her, and Tairn would follow, and that was just not something they wanted. The bond of their dragons would get them a lot of leeway on things. Xaden knew how he could work that to what he wanted. The saddle would be a good way to make sure that their weapons were smuggled out when it was done.
It was the kind of thing that would have been well in his favor if he had talked Tairn into bonding with her. There was a lot that he would get. There was also that most of the higher-ups thought that Violet would tell them everything when she would probably actually just tell them to fuck off.
“I’m getting ready as quickly as I can. See if Panchek is awake.”
Xaden woke up his mage lights all the way to make sure that there was enough light to where he didn’t trip. It was dark as fuck outside, and he was going to be in the saddle for a while. He needed to make sure he was what he needed. He was going alone, and maybe he could slip away to do something stupid if he got a moment. He grabbed his slick because being away from the school and around Violet in a place where it was a little more free wasn’t going to mean he thought of her less.
Getting ready quickly wasn’t an issue as Xaden had been prepared for that since before his father had left Aretia to declare the apostasy. He had been willing to run at the moment’s notice to save his life.
The only part that made him pause was the thought of leaving without Garrick or Bodhi. He jotted down a quick note to Garrick, hoping nothing would happen when he was gone.
The flight was going to be long but worth it in the end. Xaden was worried about her being under the influence of Mira and Dain because he could very well see Aetos going to Mira.
“You have to trust her.”
“I do, but I also know how it goes with family. I want to make sure that she can ask me anything if there is something she wants to ask but is too afraid to ask it. I would rather that than anything else. She deserves that.”
Xaden knew that he had changed from being around her. He wanted to have a happy life, but they had to get through the shit that would be brought onto them for knowing.
Sgaeyl said nothing else as Xaden headed toward where he knew Pnachek’s office was. He knocked and waited to hear to be told to enter.
“Riorson, it’s early,” Panchek said.
“Yes, Sir. I’m afraid that it’s Sgaeyl. Her distance from Tairn.”
“Ah, yes. I wondered. I’ll make sure that you are not missed. Make sure that your XO can take over.” Panchek picked up a pen and started to write out what was ordered for Xaden. It was needed to ensure that if he encountered anyone, he wouldn’t have issues. He would have to declare when he got to Montserrat so that he wasn’t court-martialed for not being where he was supposed to be.
“Garrick will be ready to take over. Sgaeyl is making sure his dragon is aware of what is happening, and I have also left a letter for him.”
“Go. Come back with her.” The orders were handed over, and there were two different sets; one had to be for someone else. Xaden looked at it.
“That’s for Aetos. We know that he’s going to be an asshole about this. I don’t see all but I’ve seen that. He made his choices on that front.”
Xaden nodded, and he slipped both into his leathers.
“I’m getting you from the turret.”
Xaden wasn’t going to fight her on that. He sighed and tried to figure out what he wanted to do. Standing up there were Bodhi and Garrick. Garrick had the letter that Xaden had slipped under his door.
“We hoped you could make a small detour. I’m sure you can leave them someplace where they can be found and get word.”
“Yes. I can.” Xaden took the second backpack and shoved it safely inside of his own. He looked at where he was going to be heading. The sky was dark, and there was nothing. “I don’t think she slept well at all.”
Garrick nodded. “I’ll watch our wing, don’t worry. The troublemakers are gone anyway. You’ll have to watch them and make sure that nothing happens.”
Xaden got up on Sgaeyl as soon as she landed, with Garrick and Bodhi stepping back.
The two-stretch flight was easy to settle into and get a little more sleep on. Sgaeyl had more than enough magic to make sure that Xaden wasn’t going to fall with the bands like Tairn used on Violet, but hopefully, he wouldn’t have to once the saddle was done. It was something that Xaden had never thought of, but for a flight like this, and when they were doing missions to get weapons to the fliers, it was easy to have her do it so he could sleep. He needed it more than her, even if she hadn’t gotten a lot the night before.
“They are going to use this in some fashion to hurt you two when you are apart next year,” Sgaeyl said when Xaden woke up hours later.
“I know, but in the end, they can’t do anything to hurt us. To reveal what we are doing if they find out will just make it worse. We have plans in place to make sure that they will regret it. Then it becomes a big thing that they don’t like that she and I are together or even close when it’s our dragons who bonded. There is no way to get us apart without hurting you two, and anything that would harm Tairn is not something they would do. I am not sure Codagh would do if they ended up killing Tairn.”
“Tairn and I have thought much the same. It was easy to know that they would try it if it came down to it, but Tairn would just leave; the valley above Riorson House is someplace where we can be safe. Don’t worry about that. We have our plans, and King Tauri and others will hate it.”
Xaden nodded, but he said nothing. He thought about what the plans were that they had. There were ways of making the people see what was going on, but without proof, it would be hard to do anything about it. Xaden’s knowledge of the venin was kept low on purpose to make sure that he wasn’t able to tell much. He knew a little of the folktales about them and wanted to know more than history had about them, but that was gone. It was easy to think about the scribes and the damage they had done in an effort to do what they did, erase the knowledge of venin, and turn them into folktales. There was something horrible about it, given what the scribes were supposed to do, but then history was always written by the victor. The rebellion had been named so by the people who had the most to lose.
Xaden had been the oldest, and he had wondered if the point in time that the apostasy had happened had been on purpose and if he had done it to where Xaden wasn’t going to be considered an adult and wasn’t killed for it. The people might look at what King Tauri and those under him did as benevolence in letting the kids live and then throwing them into the Riders Quadrant, but they were just as much conscripted as others who had been punished for crimes they committed. There was no good in forcing people to die to prove their loyalty for things they didn’t do. It had just made all of the kids look at Navarre as worse than even their parents had. Xaden was glad those parents had been dead before finding out what their apostasy had done to them. The sins of the parents were being visited on the children, and there were no good people who thought that it was a good thing.
“Nearly there.”
Xaden knew that because he felt the link he had with Tairn getting stronger. He was okay with figuring out what they would do before wandering off and finding where Violet was. The daggers had been handed off to someone Xaden knew would get them where they needed to be. There was a war being fought, and it was one that was for life as they knew it, and Navarre was sticking its head in the sand.
“She’s not here,” Sgaeyl said.
“I’m well aware; get me closer to where she is, and I’ll deal with her being where she’s not supposed to be.” Xaden could see people looking up at him. Sgaeyl’s coloring meant that it was easy for her to be noticed. Anyone who kept an eye on the rare colors would know who was sitting on her back.
The village was just like Xaden thought it would be when he walked into it. He followed the pull toward her and found Violet sitting with Mira, talking. They were talking about a book that Violet loved that Mira had saved for her and had with her—the Fable of the Barrens. The name suggested a lot about what it was about. He has never heard of the book.
“What’s got you quiet?”
“I just realized that Tairn’s been quiet the last few hours. Usually, he’s a little more talkative about things. Correcting me on things or just being a crabby ass. I wonder if the distance between him and Sgaeyl is making him quiet.”
It was the perfect time to step in and let her know that he was there.
“Dain wrote to me. He’s afraid for you.”
“Mira.”
“He thinks that Riorson has brainwashed you and is going to kill you while you are in your sleep if you let him sleep in your rooms. He thinks a lot of things that I didn’t believe at first, but then he wrote about a few other things. Like you getting another person killed because Xaden had beef with her about challenging you when you came up the Gauntlet.”
“Amber Mavis let six unbonded into my bedroom while I was sleeping, Mira. The only thing that kept me alive was the armor you gave me. Without it, I would be dead. She broke the Codex, and there was only a single way to respond to it because if they allowed that to pass, there would be anarchy. If breaking one of the biggest rules in the Codex was met with punishment that wasn’t equal, there would be even worse.”
“That’s not how he put it, and I wondered what he was telling. If he was being jaded, he sounded like a jealous man. You used to want him.”
“I…crossing that parapet, and the months after, it changed me, and I found that I needed someone who was going to support me. He thought he could get me into the scribes, and Mother would just leave me there. She would do what she said she would and drag me back. Markham might have been willing to hide me, but someone was going to tell her, and she might have actually killed Dain for that.”
“He thought that he could hide you somewhere? From our mother? That boy wasn’t thinking with his head.”
“He was trying to save me instead of helping me to make sure I could survive the quadrant like you did. Xaden helped me a lot.”
“Why?”
Xaden wondered if Violet was going to tell Mira.
“He found out that I wasn’t there of my own choice, just like he wasn’t there of his own choice. I don’t care about what their parents did, but seeing how many of them reacted to it all. There are Marked Ones that don’t belong there at all, and they were basically sent to their death.”
“You can’t take on their future in your head. They were given a shitty hand, and I’ve been thinking more about that with Dain sending me letters. I can’t believe he’s trying to make me do something about it. You are your own person, as stubborn as all of us Sorrengails could be. So this relationship.”
“It started out from the word one. I didn’t realize that I could fall into lust like that. He’s…different than everyone else. He treats me like I can do anything and helps me get there. The connection between Tairn and Sgaeyl had little to do with it. It’s kind of strange to be this bonded to someone.”
“And the sex?”
“Not got that far yet. I wanted to once, but the next day, I agreed that it wasn’t a good time. When our dragons…mate, they don’t always do the best at blocking us out, and my shields weren’t strong enough. It even affected Xaden, and he told me that before this, he had made a lot of bad decisions when it came to the two of them mating and what he did in reaction.”
“I never thought about that. It’s strange to think about that kind of thing. I don’t feel that kind of thing from Teine, but then I don’t know if sex had come up at all. I don’t know what he feels when I have sex, but I hope he blocks me out. I try to block him out, but the shields aren’t the best.”
Xaden got close enough to see them instead of just hearing them. Mira looked like she was going to ask something that would piss off Violet. There were a lot of interesting things that were moving over Mira’s face. He could see the parts that were ones that they shared, even with Brennan. The well of guilt came up again, and Xaden wondered if there was going to be a reason to tell her soon about that. Then he thought that it was going to have to be when he told Violet about the venin. That was going to be the thing that made her trust it if it came from Brennan.
“How are you sure you can trust him? That he’s doing what we think and will kill you to get back at our mother?”
“Because he can’t. He made a vow to Mother. She made him vow to protect me. He told me that a long time ago, but I don’t think that Dain needs to know that. He needs to trust me when it comes to what I want out of my life.”
“She what?”
“She put him up to it before Parapet. I wasn’t aware then but I knew that he was helping me before that. I think…I’ve gone over a few memories of that night, and I think that he killed someone to protect me on the parapet. I never thought about it until I saw him reacting to a few things. There was a guy who had it out for me from the moment he saw me, and he said he was going to come for me, then he just tripped.”
“You think he broke the rules to protect you.”
“Yes.”
“And Dain would never do that. I can see why Dain might be a little bit upset about that. Are you sure about the whole thing with our Mother asking Xaden to protect you?”
“Yes. I am. Tairn backed it up as he found out from Sgaeyl. Tairn made the decision to bond me for how I protected Andarna, not because of that. We are going to have issues over the next while with getting a grip on things. I’m not sure how long they can really be apart.”
“About three days,” Xaden said as he stepped up to where both Sorrengails could see him.
Mira’s first reaction was to go for the knife at her side, but she stopped when she saw him. She took him in, looking up and down his body before she nodded and looked at Violet.
“That’s why he’s been quiet?”
“He was in range enough. Sgaeyl didn’t sleep well, and we made a few stops to let her get drinks from lakes on the way here. I stopped and gave my instruction to the person in charge and then I went looking for you and found you not where you are supposed to be.”
“Rhi’s family is here, and she wanted to see her nephew.”
“Ah, lucky you guys won then. Xaden Riorson,” Xaden said as he stuck his hand out for Mira to shake.
“Mira Sorrengail. Has Dain seen you yet?”
“I’m pretty sure he saw Sgaeyl when she flew off to be with Tairn. I didn’t look for him but I do have a letter for him from Panchek though. I’m sure that it’s going to go over well. How are you two doing?”
Violet launched into what they had done since getting there, and Mira added her own thoughts on it all. It was easy to see how the two of them were—the only two girls but also the youngest. Xaden hadn’t ever been jealous of a sibling because he had no. At least none that were whole-blooded. For all he knew, his mother had a few kids since she left. They would be barely teenagers if that were the case. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know about it.
“And we should get back, let’s get Rhi,” Mira said.
Xaden said nothing as Violet headed to where Rhiannon was.
“You plan on hurting her?”
“No,” Xaden said.
“You planning to get her killed?”
“No more than this career might do it, but I hope that I can help her learn enough to make it through. She’ll have my foster brother Liam to help her once I leave. Imogen for at least the next year. She’s going to have to make it on her own.”
“I never wanted this for her.”
“No, I never would either, but it was the cards that were dealt when your mother decided to have her join the riders despite it probably killing her. We can’t change that, so we had better just make the best of it. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure she lives.”
“I don’t want to be an only child. Just like I don’t want him to be an only child. I have to wonder if Brennan’s death is the reason for this. That she feels like I’m not enough for the Sorrengail legacy.”
“Your mother’s pride is going to be her downfall. She’s going to have to live with the possibility that Violet might tell her to fuck off when she’s out of here and out of the active duty part of her career.”
“You think she’ll make it all the way through?”
“I do. I think that with her mind, she can get through the things that most think she never could.”
“Have you told her about RSC?”
“No. I haven’t decided if I want to or not.”
“You would break that rule?”
“I would. It’s not in the Codex to not tell anyone, and I’ve promised to be as honest as I can with her. RSC is something that I think shouldn’t be a shock, not if they actually want to help us fully prepare for it. It’s barbaric, honestly. If we are captured, we know the torture is coming. We know what will happen. There is nothing to the secret.”
“I never thought about it like that.” Mira looked thoughtful, and then her face hardened again. “Fewer dragons are bonding, even though the war is getting worse. Something is going on with them.”
“I’ve thought the same or that it’s the way things are going.”
“I’ve heard rumblings that they think the Riders Quadrant is getting soft. Which, if this is soft…how many do they want dead if this is soft?”
“So, I will have to worry about her if this person gets his hands on Basgiath. I love my people, and I want to protect them. I would have gone to the riders no matter what, but not having a choice colors how I feel about the people who made that decision, not the people who have no part in it.”
“Hmm, that was a little tricky with the words there. I’ll figure it out one day, Xaden Riorson, as you are not who I thought you were. Don’t hurt her. I love my sister; she isn’t nearly as sheltered as most would think. She’s still never found someone beyond Dain she wants to be with. There was always a pause there when I thought about Dain and her together. I wonder if I saw what they would be like and just…never connected.”
Violet and Rhi arrived and cut off the talk.
Heading back to where the rest of the squad was made Xaden smile. Rhi talked about her family, and he questioned a lot of things. The whole cutting off riders from their family and everyone who loved them. He understood the stuff with bonds, but it wasn’t like they had a lot of time to do anything but bond with their squad, especially in the first year. It was just being the kind of isolationist that turned them a little weird, he thought.
Still, there was no reason to borrow trouble on that front. He knew how the fliers did it, Xaen knew a lot of their ways, and he wasn’t sure that the dragons would ever go for something like that, but he wondered if maybe the death of a lot of people was also weighing on some of the dragons.
“What is Andarna like?” Mira asked.
“Quiet. I miss her right now, but she’s too small to go here in the time we had, and it was just…not something that Tairn wanted for her.”
“Why would he get a say?” Mira asked.
“Andarna’s parents died before she hatched. So she was kind of adopted by Tairn and Sgaeyl, which is why Tairn came to protect her when she was an idiot who came to see what a Threshing was like.”
“I knew she was young, but she was that young? Just of the age that most dragons bond?”
Xaden said nothing, and Violet was saved by someone coming up to her as they made it to where the rest of the squad was. The look on Aetos’ face was worth it when he saw Xaden.
“Can’t stay away this long? Pitiful.”
“You are the pitiful one, Dain. Sgaeyl was the one who told Xaden they were coming here. Or did you forget about the bonds?”
“You trust his word on that?”
“I trust Tairn’s word.”
That shut Aetos up, and he looked at Mira like he was trying to find a backup. Mira said nothing, barely looking at Aetos. Xaden wondered if this was going to work out well for any of them. This would go well for him if Mira hated Aetos as well. He just had to sit back while Aetos blew his own life up.
—
“What are we doing?” Violet asked when they landed inside the clearing, which no one should be anywhere close to. It was three hours outside of Basgiath by dragon flight but in a place where no one lived, and there was nothing there but trees.
“I asked for some leeway to help you with staying in your seat,” Xaden said. He inhaled and exhaled. He looked back.
Their dragons had written off that they could block even Aetos from getting into their head. It was the only threat they had at the moment.
“And they just let you?”
“Panchek wants Tairn out there, and despite how they act, they all know what is coming out there.”
“And what is it that’s coming?” Rhiannon asked as she slipped off Feirge.
Xaden knew what was coming, but he wanted to make sure that Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer wouldn’t freak out before being shown who was hiding in Aretia. Not the venin that was coming but the person who would be showing up in a few minutes.
Marbh was the first to be seen. Keeping Brennan back from the rest of them.
“Whose dragon is that?” Violet asked.
“An ally and someone who had been hidden for a while. We needed to make sure that nothing would get out of this or where he’s been staying. If there is a time when I can take you to Aretia, I will.”
“It was destroyed,” Violet said.
“It’s stone. They burned it and forgot about it, and the dragons that know about it aren’t telling anyone who matters.”
“Like him,” Sawyer said as he pointed at the dragon.
“That’s Marbh,” Bodhi said.
Violet nodded, and then her head stopped, and she whipped her head to look at Xaden. She marched forward toward the dragon. Marbh lowered his head and kept it level with Violet as she got closer. Tairn growled, and Sgaeyl copied him. But around Marbh’s leg came Brennan. There was a stuttering in Violet’s steps, and then she launched herself at him. Rhiannon, Ridoc, and Sawyer looked confused.
“Who is that?”
“Brennan Sorrengail,” Xaden said.
“He and his dragon died,” Rhiannon said.
“It was believed that, and it was what Marbh wanted people to know. He got his human to safety, and there was more going on than you know.”
“You bastard,” Violet said when she let go of Brennan before she shoved him.
Brennan caught her face and pulled her into another hug. “I was so happy when you survived Parapet and then Threshing. Xaden kept me aware of what was going on with you. Even as far as writing me a letter that let me know he was dating you. It’s not what I would want for you, but welcome to the revolution, dearest sister.”
“Does mom know you are alive?”
“No, she doesn’t. No one outside of Aretia and a few of the Marked Ones know. Most do not know my identity. Xaden wanted me here because he thought this was the only way you could believe what was out there, Violet. The threat we face.”
“What threat?” Ridoc edged closer to where Violet and Brennan were.
Xaden was sure that things were about to get interesting; thankfully, the dragons, even Marbh, stepped back away from the group of humans.
“Venin,” Brennan said.
“I thought I was the one that liked to play jokes.” Ridoc laughed a little but stopped when no one else started to laugh. He looked around and then at Brennan again. “For real?”
“Yes. It’s what the whole rebellion was about. Everyone of a high enough level, even our mother, knows, and they keep it hidden from the country.”
“That’s impossible.”
“You know it’s not, Violet.” Brennan looked from Ridoc to Violet. “Dad said it all the time. It takes a generation. The venin aren’t some folktale to get kids to do what they don’t want to do. They are a real threat that has been getting stronger and stronger.”
“No, then that would mean…” Violet trailed off and looked at Xaden. Her brain was still a little slow from the shock of Brennan’s being alive.
“That would mean that the people from Poromiel have been left to deal with them all on their own. It’s the thrust of why things have been getting worse.”
It was like watching the light go out of Violet’s eyes, and this was the part he was the most worried about. This was the turning point. Xaden’s plans would either die with him when he is found out, or he will gain four of the best cadets to his side.
The questions that came after were good, with Violet asking most of them; Garrick and Bodhi chimed in where they could, but mostly Xaden and Brennan answered them. They stepped around a few things and outside said that they couldn’t say anything. It wasn’t good to give it all.
“Have you forgiven me yet?” Xaden asked as he stepped up to her.
“I don’t know. I hate…I know Mira’s alive. I know that she’s fine, and on a logical level, I know that I would have died out there, and that would have killed you. I just…I thought I was going to find out my last living sibling was dead, and I hated you for it. I hated you making me leave her when there was an attack coming on where Mira was but you were right that all of us would have been dead, my friends. Mira would have killed herself to try and protect me. You would have done the same.”
“I have another gift for you. It’s been in the works for a while.” Xaden nodded toward where Tairn was.
Tairn had wandered off to find the gift that was as much for him as it was for Violet. Violet turned to look at where Tairn was. The addition for Andarna was on there already as well, looking weird without her in it.
“Is that a saddle?”
“Yes. Tairn can take it on and off himself. Believe me, getting the dimensions was something that made me hate him a little,” Xaden said.
“It’s…” Violet trailed off, and Xaden knew she was talking to Tairn. He could feel the buzz in his mind from it.
“I want to make sure that you both can fight to the best of what you can be. There is no reason to make it harder. There is nothing in the Codex or dragon laws about it. No one will be able to take it from the two of you.”
Violet walked over to look at it and touched what she could reach. It was a simple design, but it would allow her to stay in the seat.
“Mira was aghast to find that she couldn’t stay in her seat, but I had already been working on this,” Xaden said when Brennan got closer.
“It’s something that most wouldn’t think of. I’m shocked that Tairn allowed it.”
“He’s not going to lose another rider. That was why he agreed to this, Brennan. There is no reason not to make things work for them if he can. There was a lot of talking with him and making sure that it wasn’t going to hurt him before we took it back for the final touches to be added. It won’t last if we get in a dragon fight, but hopefully, that won’t come for a while.”
“The venin are attacking more and more. I am not sure that I can even figure out what is going to happen with that. I need more minds. I’m shocked you told all of them.”
“I have those I can talk to about it, and with the addition of more, it’s easier to hide and not be in groups of more than three. We have been able to easily talk with each other with the bond between Violet and me. There is a good connection there, and I have taught her how to block even me. She’s picked it up with ease, almost too easy, but then I’ve learned that outside of the physical stuff, she picks up a lot of things.”
“Thank you for protecting her when I can’t. Marbh and I should be leaving soon. I want to have some time with her.” Brennan looked over to where Violet was coming back toward them.
“That sounds good. I’ll get the others and make sure that none of them come over and bother you. I’ll keep an eye on the time.” Xaden looked up at the sky to keep track of the sun. They did need to head back, and thankfully, with the saddle, Violet would be able to relax, and Tairn would be able to fight with everything he had if it came down to it.
“War Games are soon, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are. I’ll make sure that she’s ready for it. Don’t worry.”
“I will always worry about her.” Brennan headed over to where Violet was and pulled her along with him.
Garrick came over to where Xaden was, and he stood there.
“They all took it better than I thought they would.”
“Oh, I’m sure there will be a few talks in a few places when it comes time for them to really catch up to what they have discovered.”
“Are you sure about this? We could make sure that they don’t remember.”
“We have to show them that we are doing this for the good of all. It’s the best way to make sure that Violet sticks to this course, even more than just following her brother into this. There is a point where they will have to make the final choice of staying with us or going along with what King Tauri and the rest of them push on the people. If we are open and honest, things will go better for us.” Xaden looked where Violet punched Brennan on the shoulder.
He wasn’t sure what their relationship was like most of the time. He knew little from Brennan and even less from Violet.
The world was changed, and there would also have to be change for him.
Chapter Eleven
Arriving back in Basgiath was like coming home almost to Xaden. He had pulled Violet into his bedroom, hoping no one noticed. She was still a little shocked but had asked many questions in private between them as they flew back. They had arrived when it was time for bed, so there was no reason to do anything but that, but he hoped that no one cared enough to see them going into his room.
“You knew the whole time.”
“I tried not to lie about it, but I cannot let them know that he’s alive. He’s not the biggest ace in our hole, but he’s a big one. Your mother would stop at nothing to get him back, and you know it.”
“She’s…I saw the dagger on Brennan’s side, and I have seen that before.”
“Where?”
“On my mother’s desk. She knows and needs that to make sure if she leaves for anything, she always has what she needs to make sure that if she flies out, she can kill one. Everything I have known in my life is a lie. You know, but Tairn and I talked on the way here, and he knew as well, and he hates that he kept it.”
“You never would have believed me if I had told you about it when we first met or even before this. You are a student of your father, and despite what they told you and Brennan about the scribes having power, that doesn’t mean that you know what he meant by that.”
“Do you think…my father was looking into feathertails, but he was also someone who focused on venin as well. Was…do you really think that my father was killed to make sure that he didn’t blow up their whole thing?”
“I am not sure, Violet. I think so, but I have no proof. There was every chance that the death of Brennan caused the heart stuff. That was long before I was able to have the control that I did. Brennan feels guilty for it, but it would have…Brannen would have been killed as well back then. Once he was in Aretia, he knew it all. He was shown all of it. They don’t suffer for people like him to live.”
“Because he would never just sit down and let them keep the story up.”
Violet walked over to the bed and sat down like her strings had been cut. She looked at Xaden with such a look of hopelessness that Xaden’s heart ached. This wasn’t even close to how she had been when she was killed for the first time. This wasn’t anything close to what it was like when she had lost her friends. This was something else, and Xaden had no idea what to do about it. He walked over to stand in front of her and pulled her head on his belly. She leaned into him and cried.
She was so strong, and Xaden thought he might have broken her with this. Or this was her purging all the emotions she had been holding onto for so long.
Xaden held her like that as she cried. He had done things a few times, but he was always alone. He had never felt like he could do it in front of someone else. Maybe, for once, he had found someone that he could do it in front of.
“What do you need?” Xaden asked when the tear started to slow down.
“Sleep, good sleep. I’ll get out of your hair.”
“No, you can stay. Let’s just both sleep with someone beside us.”
Xaden knew his bed was a little bigger than hers, but it wasn’t enough that they wouldn’t be touching each other when they slept. He wasn’t sure her being alone was a good idea; she felt like she would break apart, even after crying.
“You don’t think I’m weak for crying?”
“Your entire life just got upended, Violence. You need time for yourself, and you don’t break apart in public with other people around. You did it here with me. I love that you trust me that much. I love that you feel like you can do it at all. I want to know what you are feeling when you are reading. Tell me.”
You can’t feel it?”
“I’m trying not to read you like that. I try not to unless things are going on.”
“Like today?”
“I was reading everyone to make sure that no one freaked out and would do something stupid. We need to keep a united front.”
“No wonder you were pushing that we needed to be able to shield. How were you sure that you could trust them?”
“You trusted them. You made them all better, and they know it. They were good, but you all made each other better. Garrick, Bodhi, and I also had that; Liam added to make it a little better on that front. We are going to have some very big trying times over the next while, but we can all get through it; I know it, Violet. We can come out on the other side of this better than my father’s attempt at getting the people of Navarre to see what’s going on. What kind of sheep they have allowed themselves to be.”
Violet nodded, and she stood up. She started to take off the clothing overtop of her corset, and for a few seconds, she seemed to hesitate before turning her back to Xaden and beginning to take that off, leaving just the shirt she had had on under the corset. She took off her pants and stayed just in her underwear there. She was beautiful like that. in a way that he knew that no one saw her anymore. There Were times in the barracks where she had to go without the corset, but the idea of that now just pissed him off. There were a lot of reasons why he did what he did.
There were not a lot of people he cared about, but most of them were not here. He wanted to protect the other Marked ones that were there with him, but he also knew that he wasn’t going to be able to save them all. There Were a lot of things that could kill them that he couldn’t do anything about.
Xaden walked into his wardrobe and started to change himself, keeping his back to Violet as she had done to him. He thought about her watching him, and he was half hard by the time he pulled on the shorts he liked to sleep in when he was relatively certain that there would be no reason to have to get up quickly. He knew the eddy of how things were there, so there were early shocks about things. Surprises always made this place one of the more deadly, though.
“Ready to sleep?”
“I don’t know, but I need it.”
Xaden laid down first, and he waited for Violet to get into the bed to figure out how they would attempt to sleep. It wasn’t how they would end up when the night was done, but it was at least something he could give her.
—
Xaden knew something had changed, and it pulled him out of his sleep. He found Violet above him, her eyes on him in the dark, the light from the single mage light he had left burning on low in the corner, giving her shadows where there were he could only see half of her face.
“Can I help you?” Xaden asked.
“I’ve never…my disability has always left me different than anyone else. I was never able to do what others could. I had to take my time on things, and I had to learn how to move about my world in a very different way than anyone else.”
“And?” Xaden asked, not sure where she was going to go with that.
“You made me a saddle. This was in the works for a while, and you had Brennan bring it with him to where we were meeting. You had someone working on it and made sure that I could stay in my seat when no one else even offered anything about it. For all my mother wanted me in the riders quadrant, for some reason, she never once gave me a single tool that would allow me actually to do well there.”
“I am not sure if she was trying to save you or kill you.”
“I don’t want to talk about her.”
Xaden quirked an eyebrow at her and tried to figure out why she was brought up.
“You have challenged me to make each thing here my own. If I couldn’t get up the Gauntlet, figure out a way because the normal way is not the only way. You made a saddle for me. You made sure I made it before I even bonded Tairn, and while you did it on my mother’s orders, you didn’t actually need to do as much as you have. Not Even before we got together.” Violet moved, and Xaden realized precisely where she was sitting and what she no longer had on. Her shirt covered up the fact she was fully naked other than it.
Xadeen licked his lips, and he looked at her with wide eyes.
“And what do you want?”
“This.” She moved, and it rocked all along his hard cock. The idea she had gotten him hard without him really noticing it made him move. He caught her waist and put her under him. He looked down at her as she processed the way that she was now, how he trapped her, her legs keeping her right where he wanted her.
“You must keep control of yourself, or everyone will know exactly what you have been doing with me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jerking off, my shadows were their own thing. My room because it was pitch black. Everyone has issues controlling the singer, but it’s sometimes a lot harder with signets like ours when we are intimate.”
Violet inhaled and exhaled as she thought about that. Her eyes showed how she was trying to understand what he really meant.
“Or we can wreck my room. Just don’t catch anything on fire,” Xaden said before he dipped down to kiss her. He didn’t let her escape him because despite wanting to have something he didn’t feel, his own signet was out of control already, and he could feel everything she felt.
Violet rocked up into him when he got his cock close to her, and he wanted to just bury himself inside of her and make it where she never remembered a single person who had ever been inside of her but him.
Violet was warm when he got his hand under her shirt; she was already so wet.
“Were you dreaming of me?”
“Yes,” Violet gasped before she pulled him back into a kiss. He wanted to do so much, but this time, there was just them, just this.
Violet gasped as he rubbed the head of his cock between her folds. He let the head catch on her hole before he pushed in just a little. Then he pulled out again, teasing her.
“I will roll us over,” Violet said.
“No, you won’t. You are not going to be able to get me to do a thing I don’t want.” Xaden teased her a few more times before he pushed fully inside of her. She was so wet and ready for him that there wasn’t a bit of resistance as she filled her up. It felt so damn good to be inside of her. He wanted to feel this for the rest of his life.
“I love you,” Xaden said. He laughed when Violet snorted at him.
“I can’t believe you just said that to me,” Violet said, but she groaned when Xaden rocked into her again, drawing out the feeling of filling her up only to pull out again and make her ache to be filled again.
“Are you going to tell me as well?” Xaden asked.
Violet shuddered as she grabbed at Xaden’s arms and then used that to get him to where they were kissing again. Xaden let it go for now. He had no idea what time it was, but since it was still dark, it wasn’t close to dawn. He wanted to stay in this bed forever, but they had things to do and not a lot of time to do it as his graduation was getting ever closer, and he needed to make sure she was ready for it.
“How do you feel? Xaden asked as he filled her up but didn’t pull out. He just stayed pressed inside of her, rocking just a little to make her think he was getting her as deep as he could. He was from this angle.
“Full,” Violet said. She started to tremble, and the sound of thunder outside made Xaden think that the room was going to be a mess if he wrecked her more than this, so that was what he did. He wanted to get her on her knees at some point and make her watch him as he fucked her like that. He had so many fantasies in his head that he wanted to do.
There was so much for them to do; he wanted to have that future with her, and he would make it happen.
—
The punch came out of nowhere, and Xaden only realized that it was coming at him because of the sharpness of the anger. He didn’t get it dodged in time, but he turned his head so that it hit him on the cheek and not on the nose where it had been aimed. He would have thought that Aetos would have cracked long before this. He hadn’t been as much of an asshole as he thought he was, it seemed.
“You ruined everything,” Aetos said.
“I think you will find that you ruined everything. I’m sorry that your love for Violet didn’t survive her seeing you for who you really were.”
“I was going to save her! You are going to get her killed.”
“Her mother is going to get her killed. There was no saving her from this. That’s what you cannot get through your thick skull. Her mother would have pulled her back here.”
“She would have been safe.”
Xaden wondered if love had addled Aetos’ brain because ht mean was just so fucking stupid over this.
There was a roar, and Xaden looked to see it was Cath. Cath landed on the stone wall close to where they were, but instead of roaring at Xaden, he looked right at Aetos. Maybe the dragon could get it through Aeto’s thick skull that there was no saving Violet. He had done all he could to save her. He wanted to make sure she was safe, but Aetos wanted her someplace that would have gotten her killed.
Desertion was just as bad for riders as it was for everyone else. Despite the entire thing of Lilith Sorrengail asking him to protect her, she had put her in the place where Violet was more likely to die.
“Have you told her about your scars yet?”
“Is that a challenge?” Xaden knew that he would win when it came to Violet, and there was no room for jealousy with them.
When they had woken up, Xaden had told Violet all about Cat. It had been a hard conversation, but Xaden laid it all out because he knew that at some point, she was going to be around them. He knew that she had never measured up to her siblings, and he didn’t need her thinking that she wasn’t enough. She was more than enough as she was.
“No, it’s a reminder that you have secrets.”
“No, I don’t. Not from her, not about me. I have a lot of secrets that are not mine to tell, and I tell her that. I also make sure she knows that I love her.”
“Love? I love her. You are just-” Aetos shut up when Cath blew heat at him.
Xaden could feel it from where he was. He knew that Cath could be vicious when he wanted to be. Xaden knew that no dragon could really be trusted when it came to any human that wasn’t their bonded rider. Even Sgaeyl would probably never really like anyone but Xaden, maybe his kids one day. She would not hurt children, but that was about the extent of it. She might hurt Violet a little to keep her away. It was the way they were. It was just life.
“I’d listen to him, or Tairn will make you listen to Cath.”
“Tairn’s not…” Aetos trailed off like he realized what he was about to say.
“According to Sgaeyl, there is not a person here that Tairn hasn’t offered to kill, even me. There is nothing that would stop him from protecting Violet, and that includes killing anyone who is a threat. You think you know better what is better for her, but you aren’t even listening to her, Aetos. You don’t seem to have listened to her at all since she arrived here. Start with that.”
“You are helping me?”
“Violet misses her friend, but I have to wonder if you were ever her friend. Or were you just waiting in the wings for when you were out of here and able to marry? Did you want to have a perfect wife at home that would give you kids and not do anything that would jeopardize your career? A superstar scribe who would have her own fame. Look at Dain Aetos; he married General Sorrengail’s daughter.”
“It was never like that.”
“No? Good. Prove that to her.”
“Not you?”
“I couldn’t give two fucks about you. I mean that. The only time I think about you is when you are hurting her. I would gladly kill you for that, but I stayed my hand because as much as that would feel good, it would hurt Violet. Make yourself a threat to her, and I will do it. I will gut you like a fish and leave you to die.”
Aetos swallowed, and he stepped back, finally disengaging from the attack stance he had. Cath rumbled with displeasure. Xaden wondered what it was like to have an idiot for a rider to a dragon. Some dragons didn’t choose the best. Xaden had seen that a few times, but there were ones like Tairn and Sgaeyl who did choose well but had their own reasons for it. He still wasn’t sure why she had picked him, but Xaden would never be upset about it. She said it was because he was ruthless, but there was something else there, but he wasn’t going to question Sgaeyl about it.
“How is your face?” Garrick asked as he stepped to turn Xaden around to face him.
“Fine. He hits like a first-year, or I just caught him off guard enough to turn away in time before he broke my nose.”
“It’s going to bruise.”
Xaden nodded and looked at where Aetos was standing in front of Cath, with the dragon looking like he wanted to kill his own rider. “I wonder if a dragon has ever had to kill their own rider for reasons. Like if one drew from the earth or just fully went insane or something? That would be something that I think would be hard to do.”
“One would hope that another dragon was around to do it, but I’m sure it happened a long time ago, during the war or even in the years since. Some dragons don’t mind keeping the secret from their riders for their own reasons. I’m sure more than a few have killed their riders to keep it.”
Xaden looked at where the first years were coming back in from the training they had been doing. They all looked tired. The flight lessons were always the worst as one got used to riding a dragon and staying on. He looked for Violet and found her bringing up the rear with Liam beside her. They were both talking more animatedly than the others, and Xaden wondered if that was something where they were just hyped up more or if they were just so engrossed in what they were doing that the fatigue from flying just wasn’t there. He walked over to meet with Violet and Liam. Rhi, Sawyer, and Ridoc looked like they were ready to sleep. It was still a little while from dinner, but everything was done for the day outside of a few squads in the second year that needed to have a few extra minutes on the flight field to get used to each other after moving people around.
It took a few moments for Violet to notice Xaden and Garrick standing near where they would be passing. Violet smiled at him, and she stepped to the side, out of the line, to head to where Xaden was standing. Liam nodded at Garrick and looked at Xaden.
“She did really well in the seat today. With the added protection it gives, Tairn was able to really focus, but he still did shit that pissed her off.”
“He is training me for war, and he doesn’t like the way that they are training all of us.”
“Once your group is in its second year, there will be weekends, and you can spend part of that working on the stuff that Tairn thinks you all need to know beyond what the teachers do. Sgaeyl did something close with us,” Garrick said.
Xaden nodded as he learned a lot from that, which wasn’t taught anymore. While they were training to fight in the war, they were being trained to fight in a very different war than the one they would be fighting, and it was shortsighted even to think that those who were trained to fight griffins were going to be able to change tactics easily to fight venin.
“Have wyverns been spotted?” Violet asked.
“I’ve not been told, but there are still some things they keep from us just in case one of us is found out,” Xaden said.
Violet nodded.
Xaden hadn’t thought much about the wyverns entering the fight. It would change a lot of things since they were even harder to kill than venin, from what Xaene had been taught growing up. He had a different education than others, and maybe it was time to actually start to work on spreading that around to make sure that everyone was good with what was coming.
Many changes needed to be made to how things would be, and maybe this would be the first big change.
“Dinner?” Violet asked as she yawned a little.
“Yeah, let’s go and get a table settled. Are you guys going to join us?” Liam asked.
“No, we have a short meeting, but I wanted to see how the saddle did in the kind of training going on today.”
“Tairn says it’s perfect, and he was glad you listened to him.” Violet grinned for a few seconds, and then she laughed.
“Is that not what he said?”
“No, I embellished a little bit to make sure that he would sound like he was actually liking it. He’s such a grouch.” Violet leaned in to kiss Xaden’s cheek, and before she could slip away from him, he pulled her back and kissed her properly.
There were a few catcalls from those around them, but most people just passed on by without any attention given. There were a lot of things that this would complicate, but as long as they focused on the relationship, there would be a lot they could hide if things turned sour with the way the professors at Basgiath thought of them.
“Has your mother found out yet?”
“I’m not sure, but I honestly don’t care that much. She has never approved of anything I did, and I’m not going to run and get her approval of this when I really, really don’t care at all about it.”
Xaden nodded. He had brought it up once before, but he wanted to make sure that she was sure about it.
“Does Liam still really have to follow me around?”
“He likes you all, and while, yes, he keeps an eye on things, he’s not hurting,” Xaden said.
Violet looked to the side where Liam was talking to Garrick about something that was low enough that even Xaden couldn’t hear it. He smiled when Liam looked at him. It was a simple smile, and Liam nodded before going back to talking to Garrick.
“He’s never really had friends his own age. He had me, Garrick, and Bodhi more than anyone else. His sister is a year younger than him, but he hasn’t been able to see her much. He’s also a deterrent more than a threat. There are those who will hesitate with what they do when it comes to it if they know they are going to have to fight him to get to you.”
“I never thought about it like that. It’s a good tactic. I just don’t want him to hate me at some point over this.”
“Never. He would rather help protect you than see you hurt. He agreed to be moved to your squad, Violet. If he had hated it, I would have figured something else out.”
Violet nodded before she yawned again.
“Let’s get food.”
—
“You are going to need to make sure that you protect yourself as much as her in the coming year,” Sgaeyl said.
“I know. She’s going to need to work on who she trusts and who she doesn’t. There is a lot of this year left, and I’ll make sure that she can stand on her own. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure.”
Xaden looked into the area around the castle where he was, and he signed as he saw the professors on the grounds talking to each other. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he hoped it wouldn’t be something bad.
This was war, though, and Xaden knew that deaths happened in it. Many people needed to live to ensure that things continued, but Xaden would give himself for Violet. He knew that. He wanted her to live and be happy.
“War is no place for sentiment like that, but I understand what you mean. I never thought I would want something as much as I wanted Tairn. We have lived our lives alone for a long time, and I wasn’t sure that I would want something like that. Mating bonds are rare between us, but I have to wonder if that’s because they are rare or it’s because of something else where even the Empyrean doesn’t want us to mate like that too often.”
Xaden wasn’t sure it would be something in the end, the thoughts in his head about running away. He knew that he would never do it, but he wondered if there was a point where the innocents in Navarre would stop making him care for them. If there was a point where he pulled everyone he cared about to Aretia and protected them there. The breeding grounds in the Vale be damned. Of course, there was a lot in life that would be horrible if the venin ever got there, but there was a point where something was going to be the end.
“We can only do what we can. We can only protect those who help us protect them.”
“That’s not something I even want to think about, but I know that when push comes to shove, many humans would rather just stay behind the wards and not have to deal with anything like this. The venin threat is something we cannot let just run unchecked. Violet’s behind me, and I never thought I would need to have someone to let me know I was doing the right thing.”
“Love changes us all. We do this for love, for the love of each other, and then the love for those we call friends.”
“You have friends?” Xaden asked.
Sgaeyl snorted in his head. The bond was strong between them, and it thrummed deep inside of him. He wanted to think that it would last all of his life, well it was since there was no breaking it when he was alive. He never wanted to have to outlive Sgaeyl, even by moments. That was a fate worse than death, Xaden thought. The connection was something that he thought was deeper than most humans wanted to admit.
“Darkness is coming, and it’s coming for us all,” Xaden said as he turned to go back inside to where his bed was, still smelling of Violet even if she wasn’t there.
The End
