Page 225 - Fourth Wing

infinitely patient as he secures Jack’s sling.

I look Jack straight in those evil eyes and smile. I’m done being scared of
him. He ran back in that meadow.

Rage mottles his cheeks in the mage light, and he swings his feet over the

end of his table and charges toward me. “You!”
“I what?” I slip off the end of my table and leave my hands loose by the

sheaths at my thighs.

Professor Kaori’s eyebrows jump as he glances between us. “You?” he
murmurs.

“Me,” I answer, keeping my focus on Jack.

But Professor Kaori moves between us, throwing his palm out at Jack. “I
wouldn’t get any closer to her.”

“Hiding behind our instructors now, Sorrengail?” Jack’s uninjured fist
curls.

“I didn’t hide out there, and I’m not hiding here.” I raise my chin. “I’m

not the one who ran.”
“She doesn’t need to hide behind me when she’s bonded to the most

powerful dragon of your year,” Professor Kaori warns Jack, whose eyes
narrow on me. “Your orange is a good choice, Barlowe. Baide, right? He’s

had four other riders before you.”

Jack nods.
Professor Kaori looks back over his shoulder at the line of dragons. “As

aggressive as Baide might be, from the way Tairn’s looking at you, he’ll

have no problem scorching your bones into the earth if you take another
step toward his rider.”

Jack stares at me in disbelief. “You?”

“Me.” The throbbing in my ankle is down to a manageable, dull ache,
even standing on it.

He shakes his head, and the look in his eyes transforms from shock, to
envy, to fear as he pivots toward the professor. “I don’t know what she told