Page 48 - Fourth Wing

his chest.

“Violet?” Strong hands catch my elbows to steady me, and I look up into
a pair of familiar, striking brown eyes, flared wide in obvious shock.

Relief sweeps through me, and I try to smile, but it probably comes out

like a distorted grimace. He seems taller than he was last summer, the beard
that cuts across his jaw is new, and he’s filled out in a way that makes me

blink…or maybe that’s just my vision going hazy at the edges. The

beautiful, easygoing smile that’s starred in way too many of my fantasies is
far from the scowl that purses his mouth, and everything about him seems a

little…harder, but it works for him. The line of his chin, the set of his brow,

even the muscles of his biceps are rigid under my fingers as I try to find my
balance. Sometime in the last year, Dain Aetos went from attractive and

cute to gorgeous.
And I’m about to be sick all over his boots.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he barks, the shock in his eyes

transforming to something foreign, something deadly. This isn’t the same
boy I grew up with. He’s a second-year rider now.

“Dain. It’s good to see you.” That’s an understatement, but the trembles
turn to full-on shakes, and bile creeps up my throat, dizziness only making

the nausea worse. My knees give out.

“Damn it, Violet,” he mutters, hauling me back to my feet. With one hand
on my back and the other under my elbow, he quickly guides me away from

the crowd and into an alcove in the wall, close to the first defensive turret of

the citadel. It’s a shady, hidden spot with a hard wooden bench, which he
sits me on, then helps me out of my rucksack.

Spit floods my mouth. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Head between your knees,” Dain orders in a harsh tone I’m not used to
from him, but I do it. He rubs circles on my lower back as I breathe in

through my nose and out through my mouth. “It’s the adrenaline. Give it a
minute and it’ll pass.” I hear approaching footsteps on the gravel. “Who the