Page 53 - Fourth Wing

are easy to spot.

“Make yourself at home.” He grins, leaning back against the closed door
and hooking one ankle over the other. “As much as I hate that you’re here, I

have to say it’s more than nice to see your face, Vi.”

I look up, and our eyes meet. The tension that’s been in my chest for the
last week—hell, the last six months—eases, and for a second, it’s just us.

“I’ve missed you.” Maybe it’s exposing a weakness, but I don’t care. Dain

knows almost everything there is to know about me anyway.
“Yeah. I’ve missed you, too,” he says quietly, his eyes softening.

My chest draws tight, and there’s an awareness between us, an almost

tangible sense of…anticipation as he looks at me. Maybe after all these
years, we’re finally on the same page when it comes to wanting each other.

Or maybe he’s just relieved to see an old friend.
“You’d better get that leg wrapped.” He turns around to face the door. “I

won’t look.”

“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” I arch my hips and shimmy my
leather pants down past my thighs and over my knees. Shit. The one on the

left is swollen. If anyone else had taken that stumble, they would have
ended up with a bruise, maybe even a scrape. But me? I have to fix it so my

kneecap stays where it’s supposed to. It’s not just my muscles that are weak.

My ligaments that hold my joints together don’t work for shit, either.
“Yeah, well, we’re not sneaking away to swim in the river, are we?” he

teases. We grew up together through every post our parents had been

stationed at, and no matter where we were, we always managed to find a
place to swim and trees to climb.

I fasten the wrap at the top of my knee, then wind and secure the joint in

the same way I’ve done since I was old enough for the healers to teach me.
It’s a practiced motion that I could do in my sleep, and the familiarity of it

is almost soothing, if it didn’t mean I was starting in the quadrant wounded.
As soon as I get it fastened with the little metal clasp, I stand and tug my