Page 374 - Fourth Wing

“Let her concentrate,” Sawyer chides.

The watch plummets for the ground, but I snap my hand back, yanking on
my power as though it’s a rope, and the watch flies toward me. I catch it

with my left hand before it can smack me in the face.

Rhiannon and Ridoc clap.
Xaden walks forward and plucks the watch from my fingers, dropping it

into his cloak. “See? She’s practiced. Now, we have things to do.” He puts

his hand on the small of my back and leads me out of the crowd.
“Where are we going?” I loathe the way my body demands I lean back

into his touch, but I miss it the second it’s gone.

“I’m assuming you’re not wearing flight leathers under that cloak.” He
opens the door to the dormitory for me, and I walk inside. The motion is so

easy that I know it’s not only practiced but second nature, which is at
complete odds with, well…everything I’ve come to know about him.

I pause, looking at him like we’re meeting for the first time.

“What?” he asks, closing the door behind us and shutting out the
blustering cold.

“You opened the door for me.”
“Old habits die hard.” He shrugs. “My father taught me that—” His voice

dies abruptly, and his gaze falls away, every muscle in his body locking as

though he’s preparing for an attack.
My heart aches at the look that crosses his face, recognizing it well.

Grief.

“Don’t you think it’s a little cold for flying?” I ask, changing the subject
in an attempt to help. The pain in his eyes is the kind that never dies, the

kind that rises like an unpredictable tide and floods the shoreline without

mercy.
He blinks, and it’s gone. “I’ll wait here.”

I nod and hurry to change into the fur-lined leathers we’re issued for
winter flight. He has that unreadable mask on when I return, and I know