Page 300 - Fourth Wing

“Tara,” Rhiannon offers.

“Will you all shut the hell up?” Dain barks in his superior-officer voice.
Our mouths snap shut.

Mine drops open again when I realize it’s Xaden climbing the steps to the

dais. My stomach lurches as I suck in a tight breath. “This is about me,” I
whisper.

Dain glances back at me, confusion furrowing his brow before whipping

his attention toward the dais, where Xaden now stands at the podium,
somehow managing to fill the entire stage with his presence.

From what I remember reading, his father had that same magnetism, the

ability to hold and capture a crowd with nothing but his words…words that
led to Brennan’s death.

“Early this morning,” he begins, his deep voice carrying over the
formation, “a rider in my wing was brutally, illegally attacked in her sleep

with the intent of murder by a group primarily composed of unbondeds.”

A collection of murmurs and gasps fills the air, and Dain’s shoulders
stiffen.

“As we all know, this is a violation of Article Three, Section Two of the
Dragon Rider’s Codex and, in addition to being dishonorable, is a capital

offense.”

I feel the weight of a dozen glances, but it’s Xaden’s I feel most of all.
His hands clench the sides of the podium. “Having been alerted by my

dragon, I interrupted the attack along with two other Fourth Wing riders.”

He dips his chin toward our wing, and two riders—Garrick and Bodhi—
break formation, then climb the steps to stand behind Xaden, their hands at

their sides. “As it was a matter of life and death, I personally executed six

of the would-be murderers, as witnessed by Flame Section Leader Garrick
Tavis and Tail Section Executive Officer Bodhi Durran.”

“Both Tyrs. How convenient,” Nadine, one of our new additions to the
squad, says from the row behind Ridoc and Liam.