Page 431 - Fourth Wing

“Yes.” His tone is so gruff that I have to press my lips in a tight line to

keep from laughing.
“Come on. You’re taking forever over there. Give a girl a hint.”

“Both,” he growls, but he doesn’t shut me out with his shields—which I

know he can do—so I have a little mercy on him and the meeting he’s
supposed to be leading and leave him be.

Offense and defense? This afternoon should be interesting.

“You hear from Mira?” Rhiannon whispers, shooting me a quick glance.
I shake my head.

“That’s just…inhumane.”

“Did you honestly think they’d break the no-correspondence rule? Even
if they tried, Mom would have shut that down with a quickness.”

Rhiannon sighs, and I don’t blame her. There’s not much more to say on
the subject.

The leadership meeting breaks up, and Dain heads over with Cianna. He’s

practically beaming, his hands clenching and unclenching with nervous
energy.

“Which is it?” Heaton asks. “Offense or defense?”
“Both,” he says as the other squad leaders report back to their riders.

I fake surprise and glance past him, but Xaden and the section leaders are

nowhere to be seen.
“First Wing has taken a defensive position in one of the practice forts in

the mountains, and they’re guarding a crystal egg,” Dain tells us, and the

older riders in our squad murmur with excitement.
Makes sense. It’s probably a symbolic nod to the different breeds of

dragons bringing their eggs to Basgiath when Navarre unified.

“What are we missing?” Ridoc asks. “Because you guys seemed thrilled
about an egg.”

“From past years, we know that eggs are worth more points,” Cianna
says, grinning enthusiastically. “Flags have statistically been the lowest, and