Page 429 - Fourth Wing

“Hardly. Tell me something real.”

“Like what?” He turns in his seat to face me.
“Something like what those silver scars on your back are from.” I hold

my breath, waiting for the answer, waiting for him to say anything that

might let me in.
Even from twenty feet away, I can see him tense. “Why do you want to

know?”

My grip tightens on the pommel scales. I instinctively knew the scars
were private, but his reaction says there’s more to them than just a painful

memory. “Why don’t you want to tell me?”

Sgaeyl startles, then launches into the air, leaving Tairn and me behind.
“Are you pushing for a reason?” Tairn asks.

“Can you give me one not to?”
“He cares for you. That’s already hard enough for him.”

I scoff. “He cares about keeping me alive. There’s a difference.”

“Not for him there isn’t.”

…

The afternoon skies above Basgiath are crystal clear in the middle of May

for the first battle of the War Games that signify the approach of graduation.

As much as I want to feel excitement that I’m so close to actually surviving
my first year in the Riders Quadrant, my stomach is tight with anxiety.

Battle Briefs are getting more redacted. Professor Carr is getting more
anxious that I haven’t manifested a signet like almost the entire first-year

cadets. Dain is acting weird as fuck—friendly one minute and indifferent

the next. Xaden is getting more secretive—if that were even possible—
canceling some of our training for unexplained reasons. Even Tairn feels

like there’s something he’s not telling me.
“What do you think our assignment is going to be?” Liam asks from my

right as we stand in formation in the center of the courtyard with the rest of