“It’s been a fortnight. I’m on leave.”
“So you are.” Varrish blinks at me, then looks at the female lieutenant on my left. “Nora, search her bag.”
“I’m sorry?” I put a step between me and the woman.
“Your bag,” Varrish repeats. “Article Four, Section One of the Codex states—”
“That all cadet belongings are subject to search at the discretion of command,” I finish for him.
“Ah, you know your Codex. Good. Your bag.”
I swallow, then roll my shoulders, letting the pack slip off my back before holding it out to the left, never taking my eyes from Varrish. The first lieutenant takes the rucksack from my hand.
“You may leave, Cadet Durran,” Varrish says.
Bodhi moves closer to my side, and the male lieutenant takes a step closer as well, the mage lights catching the signet patch—fire wielding—on his uniform. “As Cadet Sorrengail’s section leader, I am the next in her chain of command. And as Article Four, Section Two of the Codex states, her discipline falls to her chain of command before being brought to cadre. I would be negligent in my duty were I to leave her in potential possession of…whatever it is you’re looking for.”
Varrish narrows his eyes as Nora empties my bag onto the ground.
So much for a clean change of clothing.
Tairn lowers his head behind me, angling slightly to the side and growling deeply in his throat. At this angle, he can scorch two of them without touching Bodhi or me, which would only leave one for us to dispatch if we have to.
Anger prickles along my spine, and I fist my hands like that’s going to actually help me contain the burst of power crawling through my veins.
“Was that really necessary?” the other lieutenant asks.
“He said search,” Nora replies before looking up at Varrish. “Clothing,” she says, flipping the pieces over. Her hands tremble when she glances in Tairn’s direction. “Second-year physics text, land navigation manual, and a hairbrush.”
“Give me the book and the manual.” Varrish holds his hand out to Nora.
“Need a refresher?” I ask, suddenly grateful I left my copy of The Gift of the First Six in my room, not that it’s taught me anything besides the fact that the First Six weren’t the first riders—they were simply the first to survive.
Varrish doesn’t respond as he flips through the pages, no doubt looking for scrawled secrets in the margins. His jaw flexes when he doesn’t find any.
“Satisfied?” I drum my fingers along the sheaths at my thighs.
“We’re done here.” He tosses the book onto the pile of clothing. “See you in forty-eight hours, Cadet Sorrengail. And don’t forget—since your feathertail decided not to join you for formation again, I will be pondering your punishment for dereliction of duty while you are gone.”
And with that threat, the trio walks away, the mage lights winking off one by one as they pass, leaving us in the dark again except for the circle of light directly above us.
“You knew that was going to happen.” I glare at Bodhi before crouching in front of my discarded things, packing them back into the bag. “That’s why you insisted on walking me out.”
“In addition to the very real attempts on all of our lives—Imogen and Eya were attacked today, too, coming out of a briefing for third-years—we suspected they’d search you but wanted to confirm,” he admits, dropping down to help.
They could have died. My heart stutters in my chest, and I quickly fold that fear into the box where I’ve decided to hide all my feelings this year. Well, all emotions except one: anger.
“You used me as a test?” I jerk the fastener on the pack closed and shove my arms through the straps, hoisting it to my shoulders. “Without even telling me? Let me guess—it was Xaden’s idea?”
“It was an experiment.” He grimaces. “You were the control.”
“Then what the fuck was the variable?”
The bells ring out, the sound faint from here.
“Check Tairn. It’s midnight. You should get going,” Bodhi says. “Every minute you stay is one fewer that Tairn gets with Sgaeyl.”
“Agreed.”
“Stop using me like I’m some kind of game piece, Bodhi.” Each word is sharper than the last. “You two want my help? Ask for it. And don’t fucking start on me about my shielding abilities. That’s no excuse to send me into something unprepared.”
He looks abashed. “Fair point.”
I nod, then mount the ramp Tairn creates by dropping a shoulder. Moonlight and what little mage light reaches this height is more than sufficient for me to find the saddle. I could navigate the spikes of Tairn’s back in the darkest night. I proved that in Resson.
There are already two packs twice the size of mine secured behind the saddle.
“Good thing they didn’t search me,” Tairn says.
“Are we carrying…” I blink twice.
“We are,” he confirms. “Now get in the saddle before they change their minds and I’m forced to incinerate your leadership. Later I’ll have more than a few words for the wingleader about not preparing you, trust me.”
Taking a second to secure my pack, too, I settle in for the flight, dragging the leather across my thighs and strapping in.
“Let’s get to them,” I say once I’m buckled.
Tairn backs up a few steps, no doubt to keep Bodhi clear, and then launches into the night, every wingbeat taking us closer to the front lines…and Xaden.
Sgaeyl watched me kill another cadet for bullying Garrick during Threshing. She says she chose me for my ruthlessness, but I think I just reminded her of my grandfather.
—RECOVERED CORRESPONDENCE OF LIEUTENANT XADEN RIORSON TO CADET VIOLET SORRENGAIL
CHAPTER TWELVE
The landscape around the Samara outpost is as severe as the command that runs it.
We’re high in the Esben Mountains, a mile or two from the eastern border with Poromiel, and surrounded by peaks that are still tipped with snow in the height of summer. The nearest village is a half-hour flight. There’s not even a trading post within walking distance. This is as cut off from society as it gets.
“Be careful,” Tairn orders me, waiting behind me in the field where he landed. “It’s known to be…brutal as a first assignment.”
So naturally, they’d send Xaden here.
“I’ll be all right,” I promise. “And my shields are up.”
To be sure, I check the walls of my mental Archives, where I ground in my power, and can’t help the little bounce in my step when I see only a hint of light from my bonds coming from the doorways. I am definitely getting better at this.
I head for the entrance to the mammoth fortress that rises before me, its dark-red stone cutting into the crisp blue sky. It’s probably laid out like Athebyne and Montserrat, but it’s easily twice as big as either. Two companies of infantry and eighteen dragons and their riders are stationed here.
Something sways up high on the wall, and I look to see a man in infantry colors sitting in a cage about four stories above me.
Well, all right then. It’s a little after eight in the morning, so I can’t help but wonder if he’s been up there all night.