Iron Flame

“My house. My chair. My woman.”

“I do. I’m sorry if you expect me to do the noble thing. I warned you. I’m not sweet or soft or kind, and you fell anyway. This is what you get, Violet— me. The good, the bad, the unforgivable. All of it. I am yours.” His arm wraps around the small of my back, holding me steady and close. “You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.”

“Violence, remember it's only the body that's fragile. You are unbreakable.”

“Because love, at its root, is hope. Hope for tomorrow. Hope for what could be. Hope that the someone you’ve entrusted your everything to will cradle and protect it. And hope? That shit is harder to kill than a dragon.”

“You must save yourself," Tairn demands. "I chose you not as my next but as my last, and should you fall, then I will follow.”

“Stop bringing logic into an emotional argument.”

“My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side.”

“The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the rest of us lose our humanity.”

“You’re my gravity. Nothing in my world works without you.” “Gravity,” he whispers, a slow, beautiful smile curving his mouth. “The one force we can never escape,” I tease.”

“I love you,” I whisper. “You could throw my entire world into upheaval, and I would still love you. You could keep secrets, run a revolution, frustrate the shit out of me, probably ruin me, and I would still love you. I can’t make it stop. I don’t want to. You’re my gravity. Nothing in my world works without you.”

“There’s nowhere in existence you could go that I wouldn’t find you, remember?”

“Scratch her eyes out,” Andarna suggests. “Really. The eyes are the softest tissue. Just jab your thumbs in there—” “Andarna! Use some common sense,” Tairn snaps. “The kneecaps are a much easier target.”

“Good idea. I could use a snack.” Andarna’s tone is indecently excited. “We do not eat our allies,” Tairn lectures. “You never let me have any fun.”

“I think I liked you better before you decided that feelings were something we need to discuss.”“Sorry to inconvenience you, but this year the role of Violet Sorrengail”—he points to me—“ will be played by Xaden Riorson”—he taps his chest—“ who will drag her, kicking and screaming if he has to, into a real relationship with real discussions, because he refuses to lose her again. If I have to evolve, you do, too.”

“How long do you think it takes for someone to fall out of love?” He studies the skyline. “A day? A month? I’m asking because I don’t have any experience with it.” What the fuck? I fold my arms to keep from giving in to the impulse to jab him with the sharp point of my elbow. “I’m asking,” he continues, his throat working as he swallows, “because I think it will take you all of a heartbeat once you know.”

“I could torch him if you would like,” Tairn offers. “But you do seem attached.”

“Secrets make for poor leverage. They die with the people who keep them.”

“You’re capable of hurting me in ways I’m not sure you’ve even begun to fathom, Violet. I might be skilled enough to land a death blow, but you alone have the power to fucking destroy me.”

“Love doesn’t even have the decency to die. It just transforms into abject misery.”

“I love you. The world does not exist for me beyond you.”

“You want to know something true? Something real? I love you. I’m in love with you. I have been since the night the snow fell in your hair and you kissed me for the first time. I’m grateful my life is tied to yours because it means I won’t have to face a day without you in it. My heart only beats as long as yours does, and when you die, I’ll meet Malek at your side. It’s a damned good thing that you love me, too, because you’re stuck with me in this life and every other that could possibly follow.” My lips part. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, ever needed to hear. “I do love you,” I admit in a whisper.”

“I chose you not as my next, but as my last, and should you fall, then I will follow.”

“I bet we get seven inches tonight.” “Maybe more if you’re good.”

“Touch me and I swear to the gods, I’ll cut your fucking hands off and let the quadrant sort you out in the next round of challenges, Dain Aetos.”

“I'm just as reckless for you as you are for me.”

“If you didn't figure it out, you weren't worthy of knowing." She huffs. "I waited six hundred and fifty years to hatch. Waited until your eighteenth summer, when I heard our elders talk of a weakling daughter of their general, the girl forecasted to become the head of the scribes, and I knew. You would have the mind of a scribe and the heart of a rider. You would be mine." She leans into my hand. "You are as unique as I am. We want the same things." "You couldn't have known I would be a rider.""And yet, here we are."A thousand questions go through my head, none of which we have the time for, so I give her exactly what I wanted–to be seen for who and what she is."You are not a black dragon, or any of the six that we know of. You're a seventh breed.""Yes." Her eyes widen in excitement.”

“You do not have the right to burn what is mine.”

“But I’m begging you, Violet. Don’t offer me your body unless you’re offering me everything. I want you more than I want to fuck you. I want those three little words back.”

“She made it,” I whisper up to Liam.”

“We do not eat our allies. —Tairn’s personal addendum to the Book of Brennanas quoted by Cadet Violet Sorrengail”