Page 307 - Fourth Wing

My shoulders tense as Pierson hurries to open the door. Maybe it’s just

that I haven’t been around marked ones before Basgiath, but the outright
hostility toward them is becoming glaringly, uncomfortably obvious to me.

We walk into the Archives and wait by the table just like every other

morning.
“How do you do that?” I ask Liam in a hushed whisper. “Handle when

people are that rude without reacting?”

“You’re rude to me all the time,” he teases, drumming his fingers on the
handle of the cart.

“Because you’re my babysitter, not because…” I can’t even say it.

“Because I’m the son of the disgraced Colonel Mairi?” His jaw ticks, his
brow furrowing for a heartbeat as he looks away.

I nod, my stomach sinking as I think back over the last few months. “I
guess I’m really no better, though. I hated Xaden on sight, and I didn’t

know a single thing about him.” Not that I do now, either. He’s infuriatingly

good at being completely inaccessible.
Liam scoffs, earning us a glare from a scribe near the back corner. “He

has that effect on people, especially women. They either despise him for
what his father did or want to fuck him for the same reason, just depends on

where we are.”

“You actually know him, don’t you?” I crane my neck to look up at him.
“He didn’t just pick you to shadow me because you’re the best in our year.”

“Just now catching on, huh?” A grin flashes across his face. “I would

have told you that on the first day if you hadn’t been so busy huffing and
puffing about the pleasure of my company.”

I roll my eyes as Jesinia approaches, her hood up over her hair. “Hey,

Jesinia,” I sign.
“Good morning,” she signs back, her mouth curving in a shy smile as her

gaze darts up to Liam.
“Good morning.” He signs with a wink, clearly flirting.