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It really was a special kind of hell to know that your boyfriend was out being the last bastion against the forces of evil while you were still stuck in class. As the weeks went by and life at Riorson House settled into a rhythm Violet found herself more and more annoyed about this. What good was she doing here in Aretia?
“The ward translation is good,” Mira said when Violet complained to her about it once when she was home from patrol. “We need to get the wards up and you’re the best person for that.”
Her failure to correctly raise the wards on the first try kind of threw that into doubt, and working with Dain to retranslate the journal was also not helping. Dain’s Krovlish was notably better than hers which was galling both because she was the one who had been expected to become a scribe and because this was Dain and she hated needing him after all that he’d done.
She was stewing over that during class when she became aware that Tairn and Andarna were having a disagreement in the back of her head. Since she’d already been distracted and her understanding physics was kind of a lost cause anyway, she tuned in to listen.
“If you truly do not want to see the aurora I will not force you,” Tairn was saying in a long-suffering tone. “But do not pretend not to want to see them just so you can maintain the illusion of being too mature for such things. That is in fact very juvenile.”
“What’s going on?” Violet interjected.
“You are in class, Silver One,” Tairn said with the same long-suffering tone. Violet did her best not to bristle.
“Since when do you care whether I pay attention in class?” she asked.
“Since you went somewhere where the curriculum isn’t entirely a diet of easily digestible lies,” Tairn said.
Ouch. Violet felt herself start to get defensive then had to admit that if the last few weeks of classes at Riorson House were any indication, Tairn was entirely right. “It’s physics,” she said. “Rhiannon is just going to have to explain it all to me again tonight anyway. What are you and Andarna fighting about?”
She could feel that Tairn wanted to keep pushing the point but Andarna spoke up first, “Tairn thinks auroras are interesting but they’re not.”
“She has actually been asking to see an aurora for years,” Tairn allowed the subject change. “She has just decided that they are boring now that I suggest viewing one tonight, because she is a juvenile and thinks all my ideas are bad.”
“An aurora?” Violet’s interest was piqued. “You can see auroras around here?”
“At some times of the year,” Tairn said. “Sgaeyl and I viewed them together on several occasions after the apostasy before I was recovered enough to return to the Vale.”
Violet was briefly confused about what Tairn had needed to recover from, but then realized he was referring to the emotional blow of Naolin’s death. She felt like she needed to say something, but was still trying to work out what when Tairn went on.
“Sgaeyl and I told the Hungry One about the auroras many times,” Tairn said. “Which is how I know that she does want to see them regardless of her protests.”
“I’d like to see an aurora,” Violet said. “I’ve never seen one either. My mom was never stationed anywhere that got them and they don’t happen at Basgiath either.”
“I will show them to you then, Silver One,” Tairn said. “Though they likely will not appear until very late. I will likely have to wake you.”
“That sounds fine to me,” Violet said.
“Oh, okay, FINE,” Andarna grumbled. “I guess I’ll come too.”
“Juveniles,” Tairn snorted.
~~~~
That night, after a long and demoralizing study session—Violet wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that she was still the only member of her squad who didn’t understand physics or the fact that every day the list of things she’d been taught about history or culture or politics that were actually just outright lies got longer—Violet returned to Xaden’s room. He was still gone and when she’d tried to pester Brennan on the subject earlier he had gotten annoyed because, “Vi, you literally just interrupted an Assembly meeting, can we please have this conversation at another time?” So Violet resigned herself to a lonely bath and getting some sleep before her outing with Tairn and Andarna.
Violet wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep before she resurfaced to the sound of someone moving about in the room. She would never forget the night with the unbonded in her room, and as a result she couldn’t sleep through other people being in her room anymore. Therefore the instant she became aware that she was not alone, she was wide awake. She lay very still, ears pealed, trying to gather as much information as she could before she had to fight.
“It’s me,” Xaden said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Violet relaxed immediately. She was glad it was Xaden, since she obviously needed to work on being awake and on edge without being obvious about it. She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. “Hey, when did you get back?”
Xaden climbed onto the bed and curled up against her, his arms wrapped around her from behind and his face buried in her hair. “Just now. The rest of the Assembly is asleep so we don’t have to report until morning,” he kissed the back of her neck.
“I’m glad you’re back,” Violet smiled. She twisted a little to loosen his grip on her enough that she should roll over and kiss him. He looked exhausted, with deep rings under his eyes, so she figured kissing was probably going to be the extent of it tonight. She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
Xaden nuzzled the top of her head. “Glad to be back.”
~~~~
“Silver One,” Tairn’s voice interrupted her dreams. “Wake.”
Violet shifted in Xaden’s arms. He was still curled around her which was a novelty. Normally they fell asleep tangled together and then ended up separating during the night as a result of Xaden’s perpetual restlessness. It couldn’t have been very long since Xaden had gotten home if he hadn’t started tossing and turning yet.
“Mmm?” she asked Tairn.
“Do you still wish to view the aurora?” Tairn asked. “Because if you do, now is the time to leave.”
“Yes, I do,” Violet disentangled herself from Xaden and got out of bed. “Just give me a minute to get dressed.”
She crossed the room on quiet feet and began pulling on her leathers. Woken by her absence, Xaden shifted on the bed and groaned. “Violence?” he asked. “Come back to bed.”
“Tairn says that you can see auroras at this time of year,” she said. “You should come with us. Let’s go look at the stars.”
“Really?” Xaden muttered. “It’s literally the middle of the night.”
“What, you don’t want to see an aurora?” Violet asked, somewhere between teasing and disappointed.
Xaden rolled onto his stomach, burying his face in the pillows. “Violence, I grew up here. I have seen one before.”
Now the emotion she was feeling really was disappointment. She had been expecting this outing to be just her, Tairn and Andarna but now that Xaden was here she wanted him to experience it with her. However if he didn’t want to come she didn’t want to force him… “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” she said.
But Xaden was already pushing himself up. “No, it’s fine. Sgaeyl loves the idea and she’s decided we’re all going.” He rubbed at his eyes. “Just give me a minute to splash some water on my face and then we can leave.”
Violet waited on the edge of the bed while Xaden clumsily dressed and stumbled into the bathroom. Eventually he returned, still rubbing his eyes and looking like he wanted to collapse back into bed. “Maybe sure you bring gloves and a hat,” he said. “It’s cold outside.”
Violet retrieved her gloves from her bag and the extra hat of Xaden’s she’d taken to wearing herself because packing had been a bit far down their list of priorities when they’d escaped Basgiath and they’d forgotten some of her things. Xaden was leaning against the side of the armoire looking a little like he was going to fall asleep standing up and fall over.
“You’re sure you’re alright with coming?” Violet asked. She wanted him to come badly, but if he was that tired, maybe it would be best if he stayed here and got some rest.
“Do you want to argue with Sgaeyl about it?” Xaden asked. He shook himself before pushing off the armoire and turning to the door. “Come on, let’s figure out if this place is easier or harder to slip out of in the dead of night than Basgiath.”
~~~~
They met up with the dragons and then flew for about a half hour before the dragons set down. They were definitely in the foothills of the Cliffs of Dralor now, and while Violet was still fairly sure the geological feature they were on top of counted a hill, the slopes below where they had landed where very steep. She thought that she should hope Tairn didn’t fly off and leave her, because she’d have a hell of a time getting down on her own.
“Why would I ever do that?” Tairn asked.
“I don’t know,” she teased. “Maybe I’ll annoy you.”
Tairn chuffed but didn’t respond. Violet undid the straps of her saddle and slipped down his leg onto the ground. Xaden had already dismounted as was waiting for her. The cold air from the flight seemed to have done him some good because he was looking more alert and smiling at her. Someone had gotten their second wind, it seemed.
“Yeah, apparently I have,” Xaden agreed.
Weird that she’d spoken aloud without realizing it. It seemed like Xaden wasn’t the only one who was a bit tired for this adventure.
They walked to the edge of the hilltop together and looked back the way they had come. Aretia was invisible in the darkness. The city had no street lights even in the rebuilt sections and residents were required to have heavy blackout curtains over all their windows if they were burning candles or fires at night. Absolute darkness was necessary to hide the city’s recovery from any Navarrian riots that might be flying by.
“Xaden,” she said, a thought hitting her. “Is this your hilltop? The one you ground on?”
He shook his head. “That hilltop is on the other side of Aretia. I don’t think I’ve ever been on this hill before, and it would have so hard to get up without a dragon that I’m sure I’d remember if I had.”
She almost asked if he’d been back to his hilltop since the end of the rebellion but then realized that the answer to that was almost certainly yes and that she didn’t actually want to know if he’d gone there since they’d all deserted and just hadn’t mentioned it to her. Tonight had the potential to be a good night and she didn’t want to ruin it by picking yet another useless fight with her boyfriend about the fact that he didn’t tell her things.
Xaden half turned away from her, ostensibly distracted by the dragons, though Violet had the weird feeling that he’d known she was thinking about asking about his hilltop and was glad that she hadn’t. Andarna was practically jittering in excitement. She looked like she would be jumping up and down if not for a desire to behave as a regal dragon.
Violet smiled. “Someone has given up on pretending to be too cool for this,” she said.
“What?” Xaden looked back at her and she remembered that not only had he not been around for the discussion that afternoon, he couldn’t hear Andarna when she talked.
“Andarna tried to convince Tairn that she was too cool for this adventure when they were originally discussing it,” Violet explained and rolled her eyes. “Teenagers.”
Sgaeyl let out a snort of agreement which meant that at least one of the three dragons was paying attention to them.
Xaden smirked. “Who would have thought teenaged dragons were this much like teenaged humans?”
Violet smiled back. “Are you speaking from personal experience?”
The instant her words left her mouth she regretted them, because since when did Xaden answer her questions? But Xaden responded without hesitation, “No, Imogen was the one who was too cool for everything, which really shouldn’t surprise you at all. Garrick, Bodhi and I were in the business of ever more complex pranks.”
Violet couldn’t contain a surprised laugh. The idea of Xaden of all people playing pranks seemed unfathomable. “Who was the brains behind your escapades?” she asked, though she thought she already knew.
Xaden grinned. “I was. Garrick tried on occasion, but his ideas were all fucking terrible and we always ended up grounded when we let him call the shots. Bodhi was content to just follow in our wakes. He said being the accomplice not the mastermind guaranteed a lighter punishment no matter the crime.”
Violet giggled. “I mean, he’s not exactly wrong.”
“I suppose not,” Xaden admitted. “Maybe he’s onto something when he says he’s the only one of the three of us with any common sense, though don’t tell him I said that.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
“Did you get in trouble as a teen?” Xaden asked after a moment.
“I mean, yes, but not the fun kind,” Violet admitted. “It was more getting yelled at for talking back or not doing my chores or my schoolwork or whatever. I got into a little of the fun kind of trouble as a kid, but I was sick or hurt a lot and the only potential accomplice I had was Dain and he was afraid of getting in trouble. Mira was the prankster of the four of us, though all her best hijinks were actually masterminded by Brennan. No one could never prove he’d been involved, though, because he’s Brennan and even back then you could tell he was going to grow up to be a tactician.”
Xaden opened his mouth to respond, then paused. “You know, actually I can see the two of them having had that dynamic. I was just thrown by the fact that your brother doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who got in trouble when he was younger.”
“He wasn’t,” Violet said. “He got Mira in trouble on his behalf, weren’t you listening?”
“Cease your inane chatter,” Tairn broke in. “Turn you attention to the sky or you will miss it.”
Violet looked up and gasped. Ribbons of color wove their way across the sky. It was beautiful. She had seen drawings of auroras in books and read some descriptions of them and while she’d known that logically it was impossible either of those things were the same as the real thing she was still taken aback. There were colors and they were beautiful. She found it hard to breathe.
She looked over at the dragons. Andarna was balanced on the very edge of the hill staring up. Violet could feel her childlike wonder through the bond. Tairn and Sgaeyl where laying together a bit further back from the edge, their heads close together and their tails intertwined. Violet stepped closer to Xaden and slid her arms around his waist. He hugged her back and kissed the top of her head without looking away from the sky.
“It actually has been a very long time since I last saw this,” he said in a tone that made Violet think that by “very long time” he meant “before the rebellion.” “Thank you for dragging me out of bed for this.”
“It’s actually Sgaeyl you need to thank if memory serves,” Violet said, also without looking away from the sky.
“Oh, I already have,” Xaden said. “She wouldn’t have let me get away with not doing so, but why can’t I thank you too?”
~~~~
By the time the aurora faded from the sky Violet and Xaden where sitting together on the ground, leaning back against Tairn’s leg. Violet was surprised Tairn was allowing Xaden this close to him, since she was fairly sure that if she even tried to touch Sgaeyl she’d end up ashed, regardless of the fact that they’d all die from it.
Andarna was a ball of energy. Looking at her you would never imagine that it was at least two in the morning. “That was so cool!” she gushed. “Did you see it? The colors! It was amazing!”
“I suppose you are glad you didn’t refuse to come now?” Tairn asked.
Andarna froze while she tried to figure out how to defend herself and huffed in annoyance. “You’re mocking me,” she whined.
“You’re making it too easy for him,” Sgaeyl said which only made Andarna huff even louder and the rest of them laugh.
Xaden listed over to rest his head on Violet’s shoulder. The movement was so sudden and so unlike him—normally she was the one leaning on him—that Violet jumped. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Is it okay if I fall asleep here?”
It appeared someone’s second wind had worn off. “Of course,” Violet said, then because as always she needed to know, “Are things really going that badly? You know, out on patrol.”
He shifted a little, getting comfortable on her shoulder. “It could be going a lot worse, I suppose,” he said. “But we don’t have enough dragons and riders to field the number of riots we actually need, so no one’s getting enough time off. Plus I sleep badly and sharing a tent with Garrick doesn’t help. He snores.”
“It is truly atrocious,” Sgaeyl cut in. “I wonder if there is something wrong with him?”
“As nice as it would be if there was an easy fix, I really doubt I’m lucky,” Xaden said. “Maybe I should damn my pride and get some earplugs.” His and Sgaeyl’s snorts of amusement were shockingly similar.
“Well, you can sleep now,” Violet said, then remembered that they were on the top of a random hill in the middle of the night. “Or I suppose we could fly back to Aretia?”
Xaden sighed. “Here is fine with me.”
“But not with me,” Sgaeyl said. “If you were going to sleep exposed to the elements, we should have just stayed on patrol. Besides, the cold will hurt the Silver One’s joints.”
Violet blinked. She hadn’t realized Sgaeyl knew that, but of course she was. Sgaeyl obviously knew everything Xaden knew, which was a frustrating realization because that meant she knew more than Violet did.
Evidently, the appeal to Violet’s well-being was the thing needed to get Xaden moving again. He straightened up again, rubbing his eyes and readjusting his hat, Violet was disappointed to lose the weight of him leaning on her. Maybe they should try that mild role reversal again sometime.
“Are Tairn and Andarna done with whatever they’re doing?” Xaden asked, standing and holding out a hand to help Violet up.
Violet wasn’t sure if he was talking to her or Sgaeyl but Sgaeyl was the first to respond. “No, but they can’t fly and argue at the same time,” a disdainful sniff. “At least I hope I am not mistaken in assuming they can.”
“I can hear you!” Andarna whined.
~~~~
Violet and Xaden slipped back into his room like ghosts, Xaden’s shadows and uncanny sense of whether there were other people around aiding in their quest to remain undetected. Violet wasn’t really worried about being caught—this wasn’t Basgiath, what was the worst that could happen? They be subjected to a lecture from her not-dead big brother?—but it still seemed like too much a bother to have deal with being caught so she was glad for Xaden’s proficiency in concealing his movements. Once back in the room they changed quickly and climbed into bed, curled up together the way they had been earlier that night.
“I’m really glad you got home and could come with us tonight,” Violet told him. “Even if you were tired.”
“I’m glad to have gotten to experience it with you,” Xaden sounded like he might already be half asleep, which was maybe for the best because that brought out something of a softness in him. “Even if I was out of it for at least part of night.”
She laughed. “Yes, well that just means that we’re going to have to do it again when everyone is more fully awake.”
She felt him smile against her collarbone. “You’ll get no complaints from me,” he said. “Though perhaps Andarna might want to lodge some.”