Total pages in book: 295
Estimated words: 282090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1410(@200wpm)___ 1128(@250wpm)___ 940(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 282090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1410(@200wpm)___ 1128(@250wpm)___ 940(@300wpm)
“You will not let go,” he orders as we fly toward Basgiath, moving faster than I’ve ever felt him go before. The air rushing by feels so damned good, but it’s not enough to reach the furnace in my lungs or the molten marrow of my bones.
Mountains and valleys pass under me in a blur before I recognize the walls of the quadrant, but Tairn blows by the courtyard and then plummets to the valley below.
The river. Water. Cold. Clear. Water.
“I’ve already called for support.”
My stomach lurches as he pulls up to a hover at the last second, my body swaying from the change in momentum.
“Hold your breath.” It’s his only warning before water covers me from head to toe, gushing with bone-crushing force, icy from the last of the summer runoff. The contrast threatens to crack every part of me, to peel me away layer by searing layer.
I’ve lived with pain my entire life, but this agony is beyond my capability to endure.
Soundlessly, I scream, air gushing from my lungs as I dangle from Tairn’s claw, the water forcing the heat from my body, saving me with the same pummeling blows that tear at my skin.
Tairn yanks my head above water, and I gasp for breath.
“Almost there,” he tells me, holding me in the rapids.
The water beats at me mercilessly but lowers the temperature of my body until the last of the flames in my bones extinguish.
“Violet!” someone bellows from the shoreline.
My teeth chatter as my pulse slows.
“There.” Tairn walks to the bank—I hadn’t even realized he’d been standing in the river with me—and deposits me in the long summer grass beneath the row of trees that grow along the Iakobos.
I lie limp, fighting for the energy to take my next breath as my heart beats slower and slower. Summoning all my energy, I force my lungs to expand, to draw in air.
“Violet!” Imogen calls out from somewhere to the right, then falls to her knees beside me a moment later. “What the hell happened to you?”
“Too. Many. Strikes.” A rough blanket lands on my shoulders as I shake, water dripping from my nose, my chin, the unbuttoned edges of my flight jacket, which miraculously made the trip, too. Bone-shattering cold has replaced all the heat, but I’m breathing normally again at least.
“Oh shit.” Bodhi settles at my other side, reaching for my shoulders, then retreating.
“You’re so…red.” That’s Eya. I think.
“Glane says it’s burnout,” Imogen says, her hand surprisingly gentle on my back. “Tairn called for her. What do we do, Violet? You’re the only lightning wielder I know.”
“I. Just need.” I twist to the side, my legs curling under me, the words punctuated by the chatter of my teeth against one another. “A minute.” I look up at the trunk of the familiar sprawling oak tree in front of me and concentrate on holding myself together.
“Cuir says she needs food now that she’s cooled down,” Bodhi adds.
“A green would know,” Eya says with certainty. “Food it is.”
“How did this happen?” Imogen asks. “Carr?”
I nod. “And Varrish.”
Bodhi’s warm brown face appears in front of mine. “Fuck.” He tugs the edges of the blanket closed around me. “This is because of Andarna?”
“Yes.”
Bodhi’s eyes widen.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Imogen’s voice rises. “He used your signet as a punishment for Andarna not showing for flight maneuvers?”
“That asshole,” Eya seethes, shoving a hand through her dark hair as she exchanges a look with Bodhi.
After a minute, I find the strength to hold the blanket myself. At least my muscles are working again. Longing rips through me as I stare up at the tree, its wide trunk, which I know bears the scar from two knife marks.
I want Xaden.
It’s illogical. He couldn’t have stopped Varrish. I don’t need his protection. I don’t need him to carry me back to the dorms. I just…want him. He’s the only person I want to talk to about what happened on that mountain.
“I think we need to get her back to the dorms,” Imogen says.
“I’ll handle it,” Bodhi promises, capturing my gaze. “This won’t happen to you again.”
“Tell the humans that I will handle dragon matters,” Tairn says.
“How—”
“You will trust me.” It’s an order.
“Tairn says he’ll take care of it.” I rock forward and force myself to my feet. Bodhi catches my shoulders gently, wincing when I grimace. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”
“Can you walk?” he asks.
I nod, looking past him to the tree. “I miss him,” I whisper.
“Yeah. Me too.”
No one carries me. They simply stay at my side, step by step, as we make our way up the hundreds of stairs that spiral through the foundation walls and back to the dorms, our footsteps the only sound breaking the silence around us.
Because no one wants to say what we’re all thinking… If Andarna doesn’t show up at the next formation, Varrish’s second punishment might just kill me.