Page 234 - Fourth Wing

Dain swallows, his eyes slamming shut. “No. I wouldn’t have.”

My heart hits the ground. I’ve always known deep down that Dain valued
rule and order more than relationships, more than me, but to have it so

cruelly displayed cuts deeper than Tynan’s sword.

Xaden scoffs.
Dain immediately jerks his head toward mine. “It would have killed me

to watch something happen to you, Vi, but the rules—”

“It’s all right,” I force out, touching his shoulder, but it isn’t.
“The dragons are returning,” Xaden says as the first of them lands on the

illuminated field. “Get back to formation, squad leader.”

Dain rips his gaze from mine and walks away, blending into the crowd of
hurried riders and their dragons.

“Why would you do that to him?” I hurl at Xaden, then shake my head. I
don’t care why. “Forget it,” I mutter, then march off, heading back toward

the spot where Tairn told me to wait.

“Because you put too much faith in him,” Xaden answers anyway,
catching up to me without even lengthening his stride. “And knowing who

to trust is the only thing that will keep you alive—keep us alive—not only
in the quadrant but after graduation.”

“There is no us,” I say, dodging a rider as she races past. Dragons land

left and right, the ground trembling with the force of the riot’s movement.
I’ve never seen so many dragons at flight in the same moment.

“Oh, I think you’ll find that’s no longer the case,” Xaden murmurs next to

me, gripping my elbow and yanking me out of the path of another rider
running from the other direction.

Yesterday, he would have let me run headfirst into him.

Hell, he might have even pushed me.
“Tairn’s bonds are so powerful, both to mate and rider, because he’s so

powerful. Losing his last rider nearly killed him, which, in turn, nearly
killed Sgaeyl. Mated pairs’ lives are—”