Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
“Never said I did,” he interrupts, looking toward Chradh with a flash of a smile as the Brown Scorpiontail lumbers to his feet. “Scared me there for a second.” He scoffs. “Yes, I know how much energy it takes. Trust me, you’re missing far more skin than I am.”
“You should go.” I motion toward Chradh and my knee throbs as the adrenaline starts to wear off. “Now, before they get close enough to see you. I know he’s blocked out the riot, so your secret is still safe if you leave in the next few seconds.”
Garrick’s gaze swings to mine, clearly torn. “Getting you into the saddle—”
“Thank you for risking exposure by coming to help me, but go.” I lift my brows. “My squad will help me.”
Garrick tilts his head like he’s listening, then nods. “You’ll come straight back to Basgiath?”
I nod. “Run.”
He stays a second longer, then takes off sprinting toward Chradh. He launches in the shadows, flying out of sight as my squad nears.
“Did you know?” I ask Tairn.
“We do not gossip about our riders.”
Good point. If they did, Xaden would be dead by now.
• • •
“This is ridiculous,” I tell Tairn as he descends not into the flight field but straight into the courtyard of the quadrant twenty hours later.
“So is thinking you can hobble back from the flight field.” Screams sound from the dozen or so cadets who run for the safety of the dormitory wing as Tairn lands in the mud. At least it’s stopped snowing.
“Violet!” Brennan charges past the fleeing cadets, his brow pinched with worry.
“Did you seriously tell my brother?” I glare at Tairn, knowing full well he can’t see me.
“Of course not.” Tairn snorts, and steam covers the dormitory wing windows.
“I told Marbh,” Andarna announces, landing on Tairn’s right, her scales as black as his.
“I’m fine!” I call down to Brennan, ripping the belt free and cursing when the stitches catch again. Biting my lip keeps me from crying out as I force myself out of the saddle. “So much for not gossiping.”
She snorts, and I begin the humiliating exercise of scooting over Tairn’s back on my ass while she looks on.
Tairn dips his shoulder when I reach it, and I fail to smother the sharp gasp of pain as I lift my right leg so I can slide down. “How about you go get me a set of crutches, and I’ll—”
“How about you get down here,” Xaden says, standing where I’d expected to find Brennan. My heartbeat jolts. Gods, he looks good, staring up at me with the kind of intensity that used to rattle my nerves when I was a first-year. He lifts one arm, and shadows rush up from beneath Tairn and solidify as they wrap around my waist. “Now would be preferable.” He crooks his fingers at me. “I would do the same for any wounded rider.”
“I somehow doubt that.” I slide down Tairn’s leg, and the shadows turn me sideways at the last second and lift me into Xaden’s waiting arms. “My, my.” I brush a lock of dark hair off his forehead, then hook my arms around his neck and settle against his chest, ignoring the throbbing protest of my knee as it bends. “What else can you do with those shadows, Lieutenant Riorson?”
He locks his jaw and keeps his eyes straight ahead as he carries me away from Tairn and past Brennan, who holds the door to the dormitory wing open.
“Commons is closest,” Brennan says, quickly catching up to Xaden.
Every line of Xaden’s body is rigid as he follows Brennan through the rotunda and up into commons. Tension radiates off him in waves of shadows that swirl like footprints as I look back over his shoulder, and when I reach out mentally, he has me blocked.
“You’re angry,” I whisper as Brennan charges ahead, ordering cadets out of a meeting room to the right of the announcements board.
“Anger does not fully describe my current feelings,” Xaden replies, striding through the door into the windowless chamber. Shadows shove all six chairs on this side of the long, coarse table out of the way, and he sets me on the surface with extreme care, then retreats, putting his back to the wall.
“I did exactly what you would have in the same situation,” I argue, bracing my weight with my palms as Brennan moves to my knee, leaving the door open. “If you would—”
Xaden lifts a single finger. “Not. Yet.”
My eyes narrow on him as Brennan slices through my wrap with a dagger. “And I thought you were headed home?” I ask my brother.
“Just helping put the finer points on the alliance.” He grimaces at the black-and-blue expanse of my knee. “Lucky for you, I’m still here. Twenty hours in the saddle didn’t exactly help the swelling, Vi.”
“Neither would have trying to dismount at Samara.” I wince as Brennan prods the joint.