Page 419 - Fourth Wing

flying in hopes I’ll finally figure out how to keep my damned seat without

Tairn holding me in place. He’s—”
She flinches. “You can’t keep your seat?”

“No.” It’s barely a whisper, and the heat of embarrassment scorches my

skin.
“How the hell can you not?” Her mouth hangs open.

“Because I’m not you!” I shout.

She rears back like I’ve slapped her, our hands breaking apart. “But
you…you look so much stronger now.”

“My joints and muscles are stronger because Imogen makes me lift these

horrible weights, but that doesn’t…fix me.”
Mira blanches. “No. I didn’t mean it like that, Vi. You’re not anything

that needs to be fixed. I just didn’t know you couldn’t hold your seat. Why
didn’t you tell me?”

“Because there’s nothing you can do about it.” I force a wry smile.

“There’s nothing anyone can do about the way I’m made.”
A long, uncomfortable silence stretches between us. For as close as we

are, there’s still so much we don’t share.
“She’s getting better,” Xaden offers, his voice calm and even. “The first

few weeks were…disastrous.”

“Hey, he caught me before I hit the ground,” I argue.
“Barely,” Xaden grumbles before turning back to Mira. “You don’t have

to trust me—”

“Good, because I don’t,” she says. “All of that power in the hands of
someone with your history is bad enough, but to know your dragons are so

tangled up that you can’t be more than three days from Violet is

unacceptable in every possible way I can think—” She goes completely
still, her eyes un-focusing.

“There’s a drift of gryphons headed this way!” Tairn bellows.
“Fuck! The wards are down,” Mira mutters, apparently receiving the