Page 261 - Fourth Wing

“Right. I forget that you guys fight each other, too.” Sympathy fills her

eyes.
“I’m really all right,” I promise her, leaving out the times I’ve caught

Oren gripping a dagger in my presence or the way Jack seethes in my

direction. “How about you? Is it everything you wanted?”
“It’s everything and more. So much more. The responsibility we have not

only to record history but to speed information from the front lines is more

than I ever could have imagined, and it’s so fulfilling.” She presses her lips
together again.

“Good. I’m happy for you.” And I mean it.

“But I worry for you.” She sucks in a breath. “The uptick in attacks along
the border…” Concern etches lines into her forehead.

“I know. We hear about them in Battle Brief.” It’s always the same,
striking at faltering wards, ransacking villages high in the mountains, and

more dead riders. My heart breaks every time we get a report, and a part of

me shuts down with each attack that I have to analyze.
“And Dain?” she asks as we head for the door. “Have you seen him?”

My smile falters. “That’s a story for another day.”
She sighs. “I’ll try and be here around this time so I can see you.”

“Sounds wonderful.” I refrain from pulling her into a hug and walk

through the door she opens.
By the time I return the cart to the library and make it through the lunch

line, our time is almost up, which means I’m busy shoveling food in my

mouth as fast as I can while the members of our original squad chat around
me. The newbies, two first-years and two second-years we took on when

the third squad was dissolved, are a table away. They’ve refused to sit with

anyone with a rebellion relic.
So, fuck them.

“It was the coolest thing ever,” Ridoc continues. “One second he was
sparring against that third-year with the wicked broadsword skills, and then