Page 425 - Fourth Wing

“Figured you’d already be waiting.” He holds out one of the mugs as an

offering. “It’s coffee. Sgaeyl says you haven’t slept.”
“It’s none of Sgaeyl’s business if I’m sleeping,” I snip. “But thanks.” I

take the cup. He looks like he’s had a full eight hours and a vacation since

yesterday. “I bet you’re sleeping like a baby.”
“Quit telling Sgaeyl about my sleep habits,” I grumble at Tairn.

“I’m not dignifying that demand with a response.”

“Andarna is my favorite.”
Tairn snorts.

Xaden leans back against the wall across from me and sips his coffee. “I

haven’t slept well since the night my father left Aretia to declare the
secession.”

My lips part. “That was more than six years ago.”
He stares at his coffee.

“You were—” I pause. “I don’t even know how old you are now.” Mira

was right. I know almost nothing about him. And yet…I feel like I know
who he is in the very marrow of his bones. Could my emotions be any more

scattered when it comes to him?
“Twenty-three,” he answers. “My birthday was in March.”

And I didn’t even know. “Mine is in—”

“July,” he answers with a ghost of a smile. “I know. I made it my
business to know everything there was to know about you the second I saw

you on the parapet.”

“Because that’s not creepy.” I let the coffee warm my freezing hands.
“Can’t know how to ruin someone without understanding them first,” he

says quietly.

I lift my gaze to find that his is already on me. “And is that still your
plan?” Mira’s words have haunted me for two days.

He flinches. “No.”
“What changed?” Frustration tightens my grip on the mug. “When