Page 421 - Fourth Wing

“Mira!” I scream, clawing at Xaden’s arms, but he’s already half carrying

me down the stairs with an arm clamped around my waist as if I weigh less
than the sword on his back. “I love you!” I call up the turret, but there’s no

way of knowing if she heard me.

“Can I trust you to get your own pack?” Xaden asks as he marches down
the hallway of the barracks. “Or am I going to have to carry you out of here

without whatever you brought?”

“I’ll get it myself.” I shove at him, and he lets me go.
It takes mere minutes to grab my pack and Rhiannon’s, since we’ve left

them intact, even cramming in our cloaks. Then I’m back in the hallway

where Xaden waits, his own pack slung over his shoulder. It looks
considerably smaller than the one he arrived with, and I don’t want to even

think about what he’s left behind in order to force me out faster.
I don’t bother looking at him, marching for the door, but he grabs my

elbow and spins me around. “Nope. It’s too dangerous to leave the fortress

walls. We’re going up.” He wraps his arm around my waist and all but hauls
me to the nearest turret. “Climb.”

“This is bullshit!” I yell at him, uncaring that every other member of our
squad who’s climbing the same turret can hear. “Tairn could help them!”

“Your sister is right. You have to make it out, so we’re leaving. Now

fucking climb.”
“Dain,” I argue, realizing he’s right in front of us.

He turns around and takes Rhiannon’s pack, slinging it over his own

shoulder. “For once, Riorson and I agree. It’s not just you we have to get
out, Violet. Think of every other first-year.” The plea in his eyes shuts my

mouth. “Are you going to sentence an entire untrained squad to death?

Because I’ll make it. Cianna, Emery, and Heaton will, too. And we all
fucking know Riorson will. But what about Rhiannon? Ridoc? Sawyer?

You want their deaths on your hands?” he asks, his words choppy as we
race upward toward the open door.