Wren never expected her life to change the moment she set foot in the Riders Quadrant at Basgiath War College. But everything shifted when she met Liam Mairi. Loving him was effortless, bright, and full of promise. Losing him was shattering.
His dea...
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There are so many things in my life I never expected. Surviving the Parapet wasn't one of them.
Everyone thought I'd fall. My father hoped I would. My brothers never doubted me, but only one of them ever believed in me. For him, I didn't just survive the crossing. I claimed it.
Now every day at Basgiath is another chance to defy the odds. I'm reckless enough to gamble my life, sharp enough to win, and stubborn enough to keep breathing.
But even here, surrounded by fire and steel, I can't harden myself to everything. Not to the names read off the death roll each morning. Those names belonged to people who fought, who dreamed, who maybe even laughed with us yesterday. The Riders Quadrant doesn't grieve, it marches on. Still, I feel every loss like a bruise under my ribs.
It's the same bruise that makes me fight harder, laugh louder, and hold tighter to the people I've chosen as my family. Because if this place is determined to break us, then I'll break myself first making sure they survive.
Boots scrape stone as we snap into formation, the wide courtyard of Basgiath looming around us like a cage. Pale morning light cuts through the gray clouds, glinting off the blades strapped to cadet hips. The ridgeline towers in the distance, dragons circling overhead in slow, threatening spirals. The air tastes like steel and ash.
Riorson steps forward, black uniform crisp, voice a blade that slices through the murmurs. "Aetos, Vaughn Penley will be leaving your command. You'll be gaining Liam Mairi from Tail Section."
The name alone is enough to send a ripple through the formation. Everyone's heard of him. You don't spend weeks in Basgiath without knowing the rider who's carved his way through sparring matches like the rest of us are training dummies. Fastest time up the Gauntlet. A record of wins so clean it makes every challenger think twice.
I'd seen him fight once. Calling it a fight is generous—it was more like watching a storm tear across the sparring ring. His opponent barely landed a hit before Liam had them flat on their back. Controlled. Precise. Relentless.
And now he's walking toward me, sunlight catching in that wheat-blond hair, shoulders squared like he was built for war itself. His eyes are the same sky-blue I tried not to think about that night after sparring, when I couldn't sleep.
A stupid, giddy heat blooms low in my chest. My stomach flips so violently I almost miss Riorson's next words. Almost.
He doesn't pause long enough for my heart to settle. "Mairi is statistically the strongest first-year rider. Fastest time up the Gauntlet. Undefeated in challenges. Bonded to a Red Daggertail. Any squad would be lucky to have him. Consider your odds in squad battle improved."
Of course he has to rub it in like a dagger.
"You're staring," Ryuu sing-songs in my head, smug as a cat. "Like a hatchling watching her first flame."
