Page 56 - Fourth Wing
P. 56
“Stop putting words in my mouth. You know what I mean. Even if you
survive to Threshing, there’s no guarantee a dragon will bond you. As it
was, last year we had thirty-four unbonded cadets who have just been
sitting around, waiting to restart the year with this class to get a chance at
bonding again, and they’re all perfectly healthy—”
“Don’t be an asshole.” My stomach falls. Just because he might be right
doesn’t mean I want to hear it…or want to be called unhealthy.
“I’m trying to keep you alive!” he shouts, his voice echoing off the stone
of the stairwell. “If we get you to the Scribe Quadrant right now, you can
still ace their test and have a phenomenal story to tell when you’re out
drinking. I take you back out there”—he points to the doorway that leads to
the courtyard—“it’s out of my hands. I can’t protect you here. Not fully.”
“I’m not asking you to!” Wait…didn’t I want him to? Wasn’t that what
Mira suggested? “Why would you tell Rhiannon to put me in your squad if
you just wanted to sneak me out the back door?”
The vise around my chest squeezes tighter. Next to Mira, Dain is the
person who knows me best on the entire damned Continent, and even he
thinks I can’t hack it here.
“To make her leave so I could get you out!” He climbs two steps,
shortening the distance between us, but there’s no give in the set of his
shoulders. If determination had a physical form, it would be Dain Aetos
right now. “Do you think I want to watch my best friend die? Do you think
it’ll be fun to see what they’ll do to you, knowing you’re General
Sorrengail’s daughter? Putting on leathers doesn’t make you a rider, Vi.
They’re going to tear you to shreds, and if they don’t, the dragons will. In
the Riders Quadrant, you either graduate or die, and you know that. Let me
save you.” His entire posture droops, and the plea in his eyes shreds some
of my indignation. “Please let me save you.”
“You can’t,” I whisper. “She said she’d haul me right back. I either leave
here as a rider or as a name on a stone.”
