Ruthless 🗡️/ Fourth Wing

Chapter~39

Garrick's POV

Nora was a goddamn mess. It took hours to settle her down, and I don't blame her in the slightest. She didn't know me or Bodhi or Liam had rushed here the second she went missing. She didn't know that Xaden had gone feral—killing guards and General Gerard with his bare hands.

"I've never seen him like this before," Bodhi muttered, nudging my shoulder. We stood in the very cell where Nora had been hours ago. Her blood still stained the cold stone floor, but now the room was occupied by Kia, writhing as Xaden found new ways to inflict pain on him.

Imogran's on Nora duty. She's upstairs, trying to sleep off the poison still rotting in her blood. I say "sleep" loosely—Xaden had to sedate her, and when she wakes up, she'll make him regret it. I can already imagine the fury in her eyes.

"Tell me why," Xaden muttered, sheathing his blade and pacing with tension thick in his every step. Bodhi and I stood at the door, watching. Waiting.

Kai wouldn't talk. He wouldn't respond. The only sounds that escaped him were screams—sharp, agonizing howls that made even me flinch.

I pushed myself off the wall, my mind spinning with questions and the dark reality of it all. I could feel the chaos inside me, the urge to do something—to understand why all of this was happening. But it wasn't making sense. Not one bit.

"You know what doesn't make sense, Kia?" I said, my voice low but tight with barely contained anger. Xaden didn't stop pacing, but my words had their weight. The silence stretched between us like a rope about to snap. "How did you get here? How they've protected her. How you helped her—made her believe she wasn't a threat. You, of all people, you bastard—you knew what she was capable of, what she could do, and yet you let her keep her damn dragon on your land. You even blocked out her signet. You sealed her mind off, put up walls inside her head."

I stepped closer, my eyes locking onto him with a venom that even I hadn't expected. Kia had the nerve to glare back, but he said nothing. Nothing but the sickening sound of his breathing.

"You allowed her to believe she was safe with you, but you knew better. You knew what she was capable of, what she could do. You knew how dangerous she was," I spat, barely keeping the rage under control. "So what the hell are you really hiding, Kia? What game were you playing with her mind?"

I could feel the silence stretching long and thick. Kia's jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed at me, but he didn't speak. His silence said it all.

I took another step forward, my fists clenched, the tension in the room nearly unbearable.

Xaden and Bodhi left the room to talk

The silence hangs in the air, suffocating us both. Kia's bloodied form shifts slightly on the floor, but I don't take my eyes off him. I can feel the puzzle pieces clicking into place in my head, and it's like an icy chill creeping down my spine. Everything that's been happening over the last few days... everything that's been off... it's all starting to make sense in the worst way possible.

Nora had always been different, but I couldn't see it at first. At first, she was just a girl—fierce, strong, haunted by her past, but nothing out of the ordinary. But there were moments, weren't there? Moments that stuck in my mind like jagged shards of glass I couldn't ignore.

She could sense things that no one else could. She had power—more than just raw strength or elemental magic. No, it was more like something ancient—something primal—like she was connected to the very heart of the world itself.

"Damn you," I muttered under my breath. "How could I have been so blind?"

My fists clenched at my sides as the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. It was right there. Right in front of me, and I couldn't see it. The way she controlled that dragon—her dragon—wasn't just power. It was something far older. Something legendary. And now, everything is falling into place.

Kia shifted again, and I leaned in closer, my voice low and dangerous. "Nora. She's not just any dragon rider, is she? She's not some soldier or some tool for you to control. She is the one the stories spoke of."

Kia's lips twitched. A small, bitter smile that spoke volumes without saying a word.

"She doesn't even know, does she?" My voice broke through the silence, and I stepped back, pacing now. The pieces were all laid out, every connection, every truth that had been hidden from her—and from me.

"Oh she knows" Kai smirked and as I was about to say something else there was a ear piercing scream from upstairs and it wasn't Nora.

Xaden burst into the room, panic and urgency lacing his every movement. "It's Nora! Let's go!" he yelled, voice strained, like the very mention of her name could pull him to pieces.

I froze in the doorway, my mind still reeling from the revelations about her. I barely had time to react before Bodhi pushed in behind him, his expression unreadable.

"Dude, that's not Nora. That's Imogran," Bodhi said, his voice rough as he scanned the room. His eyes darted from Xaden to me, a flicker of confusion in his gaze.

I didn't have time for this. "Let me go up there and sort everything out," I said, already turning toward the door. I was beyond done with this.

But before I could take a single step, Xaden was in my path, blocking me with that typical ferocity of his. His eyes, wide with panic, flicked to mine, trying to drill some sense into me. "She isn't gonna want to see you after you sedated her," I said voice tight

"I just need to make sure Imogran's not dead." I continued

I didn't wait for his response, my steps echoing on the cold stone floor as I made my way out of the cell. Xaden's voice trailed after me, but it wasn't enough to make me pause.

"Don't do anything stupid, Garrick!" he called, but I was already out the door, my mind locked on the task at hand.

The hallways blurred around me as I stormed toward the upper levels, my thoughts consumed.