fourth wing xadens pov

chapter 11

Chapter 11Gauntlet

“Fourth Wing, move out!” I call from the front of formation the next morning, refusing to look back at the lines of first-years waiting behind me. This is one of the deadliest days in the quadrant. Even if they make it up the Gauntlet, they still have to survive Presentation.

That’s the reward you get for besting an obstacle course designed to push every physical and mental limit you have. The chance to walk in front of a group of temperamental dragons and hope they don’t finish the job.

I lead the files of cadets to the gate, trying to kid myself that I can’t look at any of them. When really, it’s only one face I don’t want to see.

But even avoiding Violet, I can’t stop replaying the memory of her from last night, the raw fury in her eyes as she screamed her limitations at me. How even when she said she couldn’t do it, her eyes lit up in a way that said she knew she would.

She will not die today. I feel it echo with every footstep as we march through the tunnel.

My shadows linger behind me, determined to check on her. They swirl in the darkness of the tunnel as the rest of the sections trudge through, tracking her steps despite my best efforts to keep them locked down.

She’s walking next to Aetos, and I feel my stomach squeeze as his hand threads through hers in the darkness. “Please,” he begs.

“I can’t.” Violet says quietly, shaking her head. “Any more than you would leave Cath and run to the scribes yourself.”

Even now, he’s pedalling this same old story. It takes every ounce of self-control to not send one of my shadows to spear for his mouth and gag it shut. This narrative of how she’s too weak to survive here is the only thing that’s going to get her killed. And he won’t stop talking. It’s like he thinks if he can say it enough times, he can convince himself he did everything he could to save her.

When really, he should just get out of her damned way.

“That’s different,” Aetos says. “I’m a rider.”

She is too, asshole.

“Well, maybe, I am too,” she whispers. I can’t tell if she believes it.

“I don’t want to bury you, Vi.” The morning light streams into the tunnel as they reach the exit, and my shadows stutter against the brightness. I force them to follow their final few steps into the open air.

“It’s inevitable that one of us will have to bury the other,” Violet says. Fuck, what is he doing to her? He should be building her up, not telling her she’s going to end up in a body bag.

“You know what I mean. Please don’t do this.” In his desperation, he says it so loudly that I’m sure the cadets in front of them can hear.

They pause at the exit, staring out at the panorama of soaring mountains and dipping valleys that is the backdrop to today’s futile exercise. The Gauntlet is carved into the face of the cliff, each obstacle leading to the next with an even greater distance to fall. My shadows pool against the cliff face, unable to stretch out after them without creating suspicion.

I strain to hear the last wisps of their conversation.

“I don’t know if I can watch,” Aetos says, his voice fading into the distance.