30 parts Ongoing Conscription day is the worst. Especially if you're a Riorson.
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"Anyone else feel like changing their mind?" Xaden shouts, casting his gaze out over the remaining cadets. "No? Excellent. Roughly half of you will be dead by this time next summer. A third of you again the year after that. And the same your last year." He briefly catches my gaze before moving on. "No one cares who your mommy or daddy is here." Unless your mommy or daddy sided with my father, then everyone cares. "Even King Tauri's second son died during his Threshing. So tell me again: Do you feel invincible now that you've made it into the Riders Quadrant? Untouchable? Elite?"
This time no one cheers.
"Because you're not untouchable or special to them." Xaden points a finger at the navy-blue dragon behind him and leans forward slightly, and says, deadly calm, "To them, you're just the prey."
I swallow the lump in my throat. He's trying to scare us, they all are, so the dragons know who to pick off. But I will not let any of them win. I may not have had a choice in coming to the Riders Quadrant, but now that I'm here, the only way I'm leaving is on the back of a dragon.
