Black Sapphire | Xaden Riorson | S/H

LV

・・・　・・・　・・・

     I can hardly see Xaden by the time he pushes the door closed. A giant black hole has taken the center of my vision and makes the ring of light from the outer edge almost blinding. I blink and rub at them but my heart is beating so hard, it's rocking my whole torso, and they stay.
     Xaden's grip settles on my shoulders and pulls me forward. I barely manage to get my hands down onto the bed to crawl out instead of just falling. I reach for the chair as I hear him shuffling and I finally hits leather. I yank the jacket on without too much struggle. It takes me a bit longer of tapping my foot around to find my discarded pants that he'd gotten pretty far.

     "What time is it?" I murmur. I can hear my words are slurring, but Xaden doesn't seem to pick up on it. My palm rolls against my eye until a blue vision flashes and it grows painful. Thankfully, it makes the black almost disappear. It's enough to find my strap of daggers when I keep only that one open.
     "Four fifteen," Xaden reads off. I drop my feet into my boots and see he's already sat in one of the table's chairs to pull his tight. I reach down and yank the twin loops to tie all the laces at once on one boot, a trick of self-lacing my mom taught me for getting into corsets. I finish the other as he pulls on a jacket stacked to the brim with daggers from the table in the corner.

     "If Garrick's right and we're under attack, then my guess is they'll order the older years to staff the mid-guard posts, so you shouldn't be out in formation for too long," he tells me.
     I hum to tell him I heard him, but I'm losing sense of what he's saying. The Navarrian words hardly feel like a language I know in the moment. I stumble a step toward the door but am quickly pulled into his chest. I look through the one working eye up at his face as he cups my cheek. I can't really make out his features as much as I'd like, only those dazzling gold stars in the voids of his eyes.
     "We have to get out to formation. If I have to go, don't worry. I'm sure Sgaeyl will drag me back in a few days." He leans down and presses a hard but sweet kiss to my lips for only a moment, stopping me from asking him to switch languages. "Wanting you will be the death of me. Let's go."

     He holds a hand on the small of my back as we rush out of the room. The main corridor is packed with similarly scrambling students, many of which are still pulling on flight jackets over their dress uniforms. I catch Rhiannon aggressively braiding Violet's hair out in the field that reminds me to do the same, giving Xaden one last lingering glance before he moves toward the dais.
     I don't have the time, or frankly, the energy, to do my Tyrrish braids. They're beautiful, but in that beauty is complexity and precision. Instead, I split my hair in half and begin to twiddle together two twin box braids as Liam settles in by my side.

     "This had better be good because I was finally taking my shot with that gorgeous brunette healer," Ridoc whines from in a few feet in front of me. I glance over at Liam when his elbow hits me to see him desperately buttoning the suit jacket closed.
     "Good night?" I tease. My head is finally starting to cool and when I take another long blink, the second black hole disappears and I can see again.
     "Fine," he coughs out quietly. The sleeves of my jacket crinkle as I cross my arms, almost laughing at his response.
     "Anyone seen Dain?" Violet asks as Nadine runs in to join us.
     "All the squad leaders are up on the dais," she answers over her shoulder.