In questo articolo potete leggere il capitolo bonus 16 Fourth Wing italiano (pov Xaden).
Esistono dei capitoli bonus di Fourth Wing, scritti proprio da Rebecca Yarros, quindi completamente canon. In questo articolo potete leggere il capitolo bonus 16 Fourth Wing in inglese. Ci ha fornito questo contenuto la pagina Fourth Wing Italia.
Ho pubblicato il capitolo 9 Xaden pov sempre in inglese qui.
Girando per questo sito puoi trovare anche gli stessi capitoli tradotti però in italiano, a cura della casa editrice.
XADEN
CHAPTER 16
“Don’t you see what happened? What Xaden’s done?” Aetos asks Sorrengail, panicking like the infantry soldier he should have been and insinuating that I changed the outcome of Threshing. If I act every time someone drags my name through a pile of bullshit, I’ll never get anything done. For the most part, I take note of the offense, file it away for future consideration, and move on. As Sgaeyl loves to remind me, dragons are not concerned with the opinions of the sheep…or most humans. But Aetos’s fingers dent in on the shoulders of Sorrengail’s uniform, right above the bandage from where she took the blade from that limp-dick first-year Tairn incinerated, and unexplainable rage pumps into my veins like little shards of ice, cutting everything in its path. I slam my mental shields down just like I do every time I’m near anyone, let alone a memory-reader. “Please, do tell me what it is you think I’ve done.” I step into the moonlight that illuminates most of the flight field and sever the flow of power from Sgaeyl, letting the night’s shadows fall back into their natural state so this asshole can see me clearly. “You manipulated Threshing.” Aetos takes his hands off Sorrengail’s shoulders, and I decide to let him keep them. For now. Seriously. Of all the laws I break around here, that’s the one he goes with? I almost laugh, but then the asshole puts himself in front of Sorrengail, like Violence actually needs his protection. He didn’t see her out there on the field today like I did, or he wouldn’t be hovering like a nanny. “Dain, that’s…” Sorrengail steps out from behind him. “Is that an official accusation?” Gods, please give me a reason to beat the pompous, Codex-loving shit out of him. Just once. “He’s nothing but an irritant. Have some self-control,” Sgaeyl lectures, like her affection for the little gold dragon isn’t what put us in this fucking situation. I keep my gaze locked on Aetos and off Sorrengail’s wide, hazel eyes and the scrapes that mar her skin. I definitely don’t let my attention wander down those tight curves— Fuck, she’s a distraction. One I can’t afford, and yet one I’ve just been saddled with for the rest of my godsforsaken life. And instead of glaring up at me with that fire I can’t seem to stay the fuck away from, it’s fear making her eyes appear more amber than blue in the moonlight. Fear for…Aetos? Something unpleasant twists in my gut. “Did you step in?” Aetos questions, his voice pitching toward whiny. “Did I what?” I lift my brow, letting all my loathing for his spoiled ass shine through. The pint-size morsel of straight-up arsenic nearly got herself killed on that field, and his concern is for protocol? “Did I see her outnumbered and already wounded? Did I think her bravery was as admirable as it was fucking reckless?” I make the monumental mistake of looking at her, and the rigid hold I keep on my temper slips. She could have died out there. She almost did. Right in front of me. “And I would do it again.” She tilts her stubborn chin at me. “Well-the-fuck-aware!” Shit. So much for only slipping—my control just evaporated. “Did I see her fight off three bigger cadets?” I narrow my eyes at Aetos. “Because the answer to all of those is yes. But you’re asking the wrong question, Aetos. What you should be asking is if Sgaeyl saw it, too.” “You did not just bring me into this nonsense.” “You sure as hell dragged me into it. Since when do you get all mushy over smaller dragons?” Not that the golden one isn’t cute. But going soft on cute gets you killed out here, which is exactly what makes Sorrengail so dangerous for me. Aetos looks away nervously, as he should. “His mate told him,” Sorrengail whispers. Guess someone filled her in on Tairn and Sgaeyl’s mating bond. “Since when do you get emotional over human women?” Sgaeyl challenges. “I’m pissed, not emotional,” I correct her. “She’s never been a fan of bullies,” I confirm. “But don’t mistake it as an act of kindness toward you. She’s fond of the little dragon. Unfortunately, Tairn chose you all on his own.” “Fuck,” Aetos murmurs, finally putting it together. “My thought exactly.” I shake my head at the squad leader. “Sorrengail is the last person on the Continent I’d ever want to be chained to me. I didn’t do this.” In one second on that field, my attitude toward Violence changed from maybe-I’ll-kill-her-or-maybe-I-won’t to protect-her-at-all-costs. And not because she’s brilliant, or beautiful, or infuriatingly capable of shredding my carefully crafted control, even though she’s absolutely all of those things. No. I had no choice in this. Tairn made my decision for me. “And even if I had.” I step into Aetos’s space, and to his credit, he doesn’t retreat as I hover over him. “Would you really level that accusation knowing it would have been what saved the woman you call your best friend?” At some point, Sorrengail is going to have to recognize that the last year in the quadrant has changed her little friend into someone she doesn’t actually know. His silence is fucking delicious, saying more to incriminate him than I ever could. “There are…rules,” he stammers, trying his best to stare me down even though I have inches on him. Odd time to grow a spine, but good for him. “And out of curiosity, would you have, let’s say, bent those rules to save your precious little Violet in that field?” Her name tastes odd on my tongue, softer than the nickname I prefer. “This is cruel, even for you,” Sgaeyl notes with a hint of amusement. “It’s unfortunate that it hurts her, but she’s going to have to toughen up to survive our partnership, and Aetos can’t be anywhere around us.” “Oh, so we’re not discussing that you were already moving when Tairn landed?” she fires back. “That had he not arrived, you’d be guilty of the very thing the colonel’s offspring accuses you of doing?” “I moved on instinct to protect—” “Let’s not embarrass each other by letting you finish that sentence.” I fucking hate when she does that. She’s the only being on the Continent with a sharper tongue than mine. Well. Violence might give her a run for her money. Damn, Aetos still hasn’t answered. “That’s unfair to ask him.” Sorrengail walks straight up to me, putting herself beside Aetos as the rhythmic beat of dragon wings fills the air. Guess the Empyrean has made its choice as to if they’ll let her bond both dragons. “I’m ordering you to answer, squad leader.” I lock my gaze on his. Come on. Show her who you really are. Aetos swallows so obnoxiously loud that I can hear it, then squeezes his eyes shut. “No. I wouldn’t have.” I scoff. Fucking rule-loving coward. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as Violence. She’s half his size and a thousand times braver. Talk about a disproportionate relationship. There’s no rule in this godsforsaken college that would keep me from saving Bodhi’s, Garrick’s, or Liam’s life…and now hers. Aetos swings his face toward Sorrengail, but even I can see the damage is done. She looks like someone just shredded her favorite book. Shit. What is that uncomfortable weight sitting in my lungs? Is that… No. It can’t be guilt. I can’t remember the last time I felt guilty about…well…anything that didn’t involve a marked one. “It would have killed me to watch something happen to you, Vi, but the rules—” Aetos whines. “It’s all right,” she interrupts, lifting her hand to his shoulder. And it’s enough to turn the guilt to nausea, which I’m oddly thankful for. “The dragons are returning.” I note the obvious as they start to land, causing cadets to scramble out of the way. “Get back to formation, squad leader.” Aetos scurries away like the little rat he is. “Why would you do that to him?” Sorrengail damn near shouts at me, then shakes her head. “Forget it.” She dismisses me, walking away without another word. I blink. Swear to Amari, the five-foot-nothing pain in my ass is the only person who ever has the nerve to dismiss me. I’m moving before my common sense can tell me to leave well enough alone. “Because you put too much faith in him.” I catch up to her in a matter of steps. “And knowing who to trust is the only thing that will keep you alive—keep us alive—not only in the quadrant but after graduation.” “There is no us,” she retorts, barely avoiding a collision with another rider running by, causing my heart to jolt. Yesterday, I might not have cared. Today, her blood is my blood. “Oh, I think you’ll find that’s no longer the case.” I grab hold of her elbow and pull her out of the path of another imminent collision. Is this what it’s going to be like, trying to keep this woman alive? She’ll stand up to three armed bullies to defend the smallest dragon, but she won’t watch where the fuck she’s walking? “Tairn’s bonds are so powerful, both to mate and rider, because he’s so powerful. Losing his last rider nearly killed him, which, in turn, nearly killed Sgaeyl. Mated pairs’ lives are—” “Interdependent, I know that,” she snaps back, anger highlighting the blue in her eyes as she rips her gaze from mine, focusing on the movement of the riot as they land. What in Dunne’s name is wrong with me that I’m noticing shit like that? “Now who’s getting mushy?” Sgaeyl asks. “Attracted and mushy aren’t the same thing.” And I’m already pissed at myself for the first. I’m sure as hell not slipping into the second. “Each time a dragon chooses a rider, that bond is stronger than the last, which means that if you die, Violence, it sets off a chain of events that potentially ends with me dying, too. So yeah, unfortunately for everyone involved, there’s now an us if the Empyrean lets Tairn’s choice stand.” Her eyes flare and her lips part. And I’m definitely not thinking about her mouth, not when I have bigger concerns like how to keep her alive. Not thinking about the best angle to kiss her, either. Or what her perfect ass would feel like in my hands. “And now that Tairn is in play, that other cadets know he’s willing to bond…” Gods, they’re going to come after her. On the mat. In the halls. In the damned bathing chamber that I can’t exactly patrol. I force my gaze away and exhale with enough force to actually call it a sigh. “That’s why Tairn told me to stay with you,” she whispers, like she’s finally grasping the severity of our situation. “Because of the unbonded.” “The unbonded are going to try to kill you in hopes they’ll get Tairn to bond them.” Garrick heads my way, and I shake my head. Any news he has from last night’s mission has to wait. “Of all the people in the quadrant, Tairn had to bond Sorrengail?” Life is about to get infinitely more complicated. “Feel free to question his motives,” Sgaeyl suggests. “Hell no. I prefer my head attached.” He’s one surly motherfucker. “Tairn is one of the strongest dragons on the Continent, and the vast power he channels is about to be yours. The next few months, the unbonded will try to kill a newly paired rider while the bond is weak, while they still have a chance of that dragon changing its mind and picking them so they’re not set back a full year. And for Tairn? They’ll do just about anything.” I can’t help but sigh for real this time. “There are forty-one unbonded riders for which you are now target number one.” I hold up my pointer finger. “And Tairn thinks you’ll play bodyguard.” She snorts. “Little does he know just how much you dislike me.” “He knows exactly how much you dislike her and how often you stare—” “I will volunteer for every cold-weather mission in existence if you—” “Rude. As if your inability to control your own hormones should result in my discomfort.” She mentally shudders. Ruthless and vicious as my girl might be, she draws the line at the cold unless we’re flying for Aretia. “He knows exactly how much I value my own life,” I counter, my gaze roaming down Sorrengail’s body. There’s absolutely nothing to dislike about what I see. In fact, if Amari herself ever designed a woman with my downfall in mind… Well, fuck. Maybe that’s exactly what Violence is—my downfall. Soft skin. Sharp mind. Fierce temper. Deadly with a dagger. Brave to a fault. And utterly unruffled. “You’re freakishly calm for someone who just heard she’s about to be hunted.” What makes her lose complete control? What kind of man would she let unravel her? “She’s two years your junior and in your chain of command.” Sgaeyl feigns outrage. “And you’re fifty years younger than Tairn. Your point?” “It’s a typical Wednesday for me.” Sorrengail shrugs, and my gaze locks onto the flush in her cheeks, that delicate bloom of pink that tells me she’s not as unaffected by me as she likes to pretend. “And honestly, being hunted by forty-one people is a lot less intimidating than constantly watching dark corners for you.” Fair point. The gold dragon lands behind us, followed by the monstrosity Sgaeyl calls a mate, and I walk the hell away as quickly as possible now that Sorrengail’s protected, heading across the field to where Sgaeyl waits at the end of the row with the other wingleaders’ dragons. Garrick stands just off to the side of Chradh—his Brown Scorpiontail—and lifts his eyebrows as I approach. “So, you and the general’s daughter…” “Not funny.” I shake my head and ignore Sgaeyl’s chuff beside me as General Melgren takes the front of the dais. My skin crawls, just like it always does when he’s near. Fucking murderer. It’s not hard to tune him out; I’ve practiced ignoring him for years. Besides, I don’t need to listen in order to know what he’s going to say. Tairn will get his way. She’ll bond both dragons. Even the Empyrean isn’t going to tell the second-largest dragon on the Continent no when he finally wants to bond. They want him back on the battlefield. “Is this going to be a problem?” Garrick asks as Melgren prattles on. “No.” “Right.” The word drips with sarcasm. “I’m fine.” I scan the first-years who survived Threshing. “I’ve seen corpses more fine than you,” my best friend mutters. “Of course corpses are fine. They have nothing to worry about.” And I’ve just been handed Violet-fucking-Sorrengail to protect if I want to live. Which I do. Or rather, I have to. Especially since Melgren just announced that she gets to bond her dragons. I lower my shields just enough to feel for the bond. The hard sapphire one I share with Sgaeyl is locked into place as always, but now there are two more. The onyx I recognize as Tairn, and the other, a glimmering strand of…silver, like the ends of her hair. Fuck. He really did bond her. Only a mating bond like Sgaeyl and Tairn’s could link me to another rider whether or not I want it. Sorrengail looks across the field at me, and I slam my shields back into place and hold up my pointer finger. She’s now target number one around here, and my biggest liability. “Guess we’ll need to keep her alive,” Garrick mutters as General Sorrengail steps forward to give her yearly speech about family even though she threw hers to the dragons. “Yes.” How the hell am I going to keep her alive through all the first-year shit I’m nowhere near? I look across the field and spot Liam, my foster brother, standing in front of his new Red Daggertail as the dragons gift their riders with relics to channel magic. “Maybe I should move Liam into her squad.” “Liam?” Garrick questions. “He’s the best in his year.” I nod as the first-years break out in celebration. “I trained him to fight, so I know he’s capable of protecting her.” Plus, he’s as loyal to me as I am to him. “Or you could give her a chance to make it on her own first.” Garrick folds his arms across his chest and glances sideways at me. There are a multitude of reasons he might be right. “But if that’s the route you choose, everyone likes Liam, so hopefully she will, too. It will make it easier for him to guard her.” “She’ll like him.” That unpleasant feeling flares in my gut again, twisting into a knot. Garrick grins. “Don’t worry. He won’t fuck her.” My eyes narrow at Garrick. “Why would I care if he…” The words die on my tongue as Aetos walks behind Sorrengail and reaches for her back. That asshole is unlacing her armor. He’s got his hands on her skin. I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth to quell the quickly rising nausea. “Relax, he’s lacing her back up,” Garrick says, and I know without looking the asshole is still smiling. “See? She’s already turning around.” Sorrengail turns in Aetos’s arms, and he lifts his hands to her face. No doubt he’s pilfering through her memories to see if I actually interfered. “Nothing to… Oh shit.” Garrick’s voice fades to a whisper as Aetos lowers his head and kisses Sorrengail. Fire rushes through my veins and shadows spasm around me, distorting my vision for a second. Dain-fucking-Aetos has his mouth on my Violence. Not mine. But that doesn’t stop the knot in my stomach from unfurling, spreading like acid into my system, burning through my chest and making it hard to draw breath until that snot-nosed asswipe lifts his head. “Damn. You all right over there?” Garrick asks, laughter lacing his tone. “I’m…” I pin my feet to the field with shadows to keep from marching over there and feeding Aetos my fist. How fucking dare he kiss the mouth he wouldn’t bend a rule to protect, when I would— “Yes, what would you do?” Sgaeyl asks. Fuck me. What wouldn’t I do? “You’re looking a little green.” Garrick flat-out laughs, and I force air in and out of my lungs as Sorrengail steps back from Aetos. He grins down at her, but…wait. She isn’t returning the sentiment. No, Sorrengail looks like she just accidentally kissed her cousin and can’t retreat fast enough. Talk about awkward. “In twenty years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you jealous before. This is amazing.” Garrick claps his hand on my shoulder. Jealous. That’s exactly what this hot, corrosive feeling is—jealousy. And now I’m linked to this woman for the rest of our lives. I need to stay as far away from her as possible. “But you won’t,” Sgaeyl predicts, and I’d be tempted to raise my middle finger if I didn’t think she’d bite the damned thing off as a reminder that she can.”