⛥

Early September hits, and Violet has won every match against the other cadets. Thankful for her poison and not being matched against Vyshena yet, she was sure to climb the ranks soon. It wasn't until she was sent to match against Rayma that the cadet found herself with the healers.

Vyshena had paced back and forth, for some reason her muscles were incredibly tight as she rolled out her neck in a wince. "You all right?" Rhiannon asked as Violet questioned what she should do. Before answering, Vyshena slowly turned her head as Xaden pushed off of the wall and stalked his way over to the mat. "Oh, Gods," Rhiannon whispered as Vyshena completely turned her body to face them.

"I'm happy to step in," and as Xaden spoke, Violet took a step back and her eyes told the story of what she was thinking. "Go for the spot on his inner thighs, make it hurt." The voice wasn't Violet's, she didn't recognize it in her panicked fury of Xaden stepping to the mat and someone else's voice inside her head. But alas, she studied the man, really studied him, and found that he had so much muscle on his inner things it'd be a challenge to get to them. And what if she did? Was she to cut them? Punch them? She hadn't had a single clue.

But she felt rage, rage that wasn't her own and for a second Xaden turned his gaze to Vyshena who was standing with her arm crossed, and another holding up her chin. Raising her eyebrows at him, she saw the black fog hitting against the door and she kept it sealed shut.

This. With Xaden pinning down Violet on the mat, his thighs pried hers open. How was she to get to them? In a swift movement, Violet stole her hand back and used her feet to kick Xaden's shoulders hard enough to make him sit up and when he did, she used all her strength to punch his inner thigh and he went down. It was quick, he was down then back up in one second, but long enough for Violet to hold a blade under his chin and his eyes were full of confusion. Vyshena was the only one who known his weakness, and now Violet does.

"Do you yield?" For the sake of his sanity, "I yield." And he stepped away. His back facing Vyshena, this time it was her standing at the entry way of his mind. "Two is always better than one, right?"

⛥

"You told her?" Xaden had Vyshena against the wall of the college. "I didn't tell her anything." Vyshena argued, keeping her arms crossed and tight to her chest as he towed over her. "How'd she know?" He asked, interrogated, actually. "By the grace of Gods? Xaden, I don't know." She lied, straight through her teeth.

He kept his position, angry position as he debated on picking her up and flying her over his shoulder. Taking her to the sparring gym and flying her on a mat, take out your aggression. Everything you feel for me, out now. And Vyshena studied him, studied his mind. "Get out," he sighed once feeling the familiar sensation that he was home while pushing away from the wall and she tilted her head forward.

"You can do it but I can't?" From where they were at, no one could see them. Tucked against the hidden entrance as Vyshena leaned down and rubbed her thighs with heavy hands. "I don't want you in my thoughts." He replied, "why not? Scared that I'll figure something out I shouldn't?" Clearly it hit something in him as he went back for her, gripping her arms tight enough to bruise. "I don't want you to run again." She glanced down at his hands and brought her knee up quickly, hitting between his legs as he coughed and stumbled back, tucking his hand to his crotch.

"Keep your hands, off of me. You don't have the privilege to touch me anymore." She hit the rock and it opened, walking through the hidden halls as Xaden called her name. Rushing after her.

He grabbed her wrist, no, his shadows grabbed her wrist and she turned quickly. Hitting something back at him that halted his signet and caused him to stumble back. "You're stronger." He wanted to hit with anger, but joy filled his tone instead. "You can," and his mouth was shut before he could finish.

"You don't get the privilege to know me anymore. You stripped that away, you took it from yourself. It is none of your fucking business whether or not I am getting stronger, or what I'm getting stronger in. Our relationship is nothing besides a wingleader and a cadet." She snapped, and his mouth flung open again. "You did this!"

"You called it off!" He shouted back and there was hurt this time in his tone. "Two years ago you called it off because of something I kept from you to protect you!" His voice was loud. "To protect me? I am in pain every single day. I can't get things quiet enough to sleep, that's why I was out by the river. I am constantly stared at, gawked at, threatened by my own peers and my professors!" Xaden shook his head. "You didn't let me explain."

"Because your explanation means nothing to me. You kept it from me, when you knew all along and you thought I'd be okay with it and I'm not and it cost you, everything." Vyshena had a slight chuckle past her sentence and Xaden furrowed his brows. "You think I wanted what you could give me through power?" He asked, hurt in his tone as his tired eyes studied her. "Why else?"

"Because I want you, Hena. I don't want a title, I don't want power. I want you, and what you make me feel." Vyshena debated on kneeing him again to show him what she can makes him feel but she fell mute. "The consequences of your own actions." She turned, walking away.

"Ruined my fucking life. Ruined my joy and my happiness and my purpose. You were not the only person I lost!" Eon. He called but she kept walking. He did this to himself. He is the consequence of his own actions that he faces every single day and Vyshena wanted nothing from him, nothing that he could give her but he was the reason everything was taken from her.

As if it was to anyone's surprise, Vyshena was the first cadet to succeed in climbing the gauntlet. It took her 47 seconds as she lunged up the side of the cliff and somehow managed to pull herself up and over. Meeting with Xaden who only took her name and time. The rest of the cadets tried to, and some passed but not nearly as quick as Vyshena.

The princess hoped that if she completed the gauntlet today, she'd be granted to focus on her studies rather then wait the hour at the top with Xaden and the few who made it. Sawyer took a seat beside her on the edge as she snacked on a pack of nuts she brought, offering the bag to him as he took it without words, as if they've been long friends and snacked as they watched the fellow cadets.

It makes sense that Vyshena had completed it quickly. From Violet's memories of the lesson when Kaori interrogated her about her family and dragons, she's done this her whole life. If anything, she's more trained on riding than any other cadet here, even the third-year's, maybe even the professors.

"You need to speak with her," Sgaeyl spoke in Xaden's head as he leaned over the podium at the top. "It's not that easy." Answering with a sigh in his head, glancing to Vyshena and Sawyer as a twinge of jealousy ripped through him at the sight.

"Not that easy? Tell her I will go and retrieve Eon and Fyda and bring them here. Your pain is my pain." Xaden knew if the dragons stepped foot on Basgaith, if the elders knew they were alive they'd be stripped from Vyshena before she could fight for them and left dead amongst her children. "Figure out what you want. Hena back, your happiness, or gloom." Xaden no longer felt his dragon in him as he sighed and rose his eyebrows as a cadet climbed their way to the top with splinters in her hands.

He recognized her as Rhiannon, then saw the wide smile on Vyshena's lips as the girl crawled her way over to the silver haired princess and laid on the grass. "Gods be good," Rhiannon sighed as Xaden took the time. Rhiannon Mattias, 3 minutes, 4 seconds.

Before Violet, Aurelie Donas had slipped from the rope and fell to her death. It was the first, normal, death Vyshena saw here and she stared at the broken body as blood came from behind her head. Her eyes were open, staring at the sky and she heard Rhiannon gasp beside her. Xaden pushed from the podium, walking to the edge while he found Emetterio rush over and hold his fingers to her pulse. He knew she was dead, falling from that height ensures it.

A few cadets had taken slow steps to the body, and Rhiannon called for Violet. "Keep going!" She shouted and Sawyer slowly turned to Vyshena. "Better here then not being able to mount a dragon." He spoke and Vyshena shook her head. "She slipped, her hands were too sweaty." Answering while Xaden looked down at her. There was pain in her eyes as she stared at Aurelie, pain that she refused to speak of. Everything was always silent with her.

Violet, Rhiannon and Vyshena stood beside each other at next morning formation. Her hands folded together in front of her lap as she stared at Captain Fitzgibbons who read from the roll. Aurelie Donas. Second Squad, Flame Section, Fourth Wing.

Vyshena ignores how Violet had quickly wiped her eyes free of tears, wishing she could have that sympathy toward anyone. Admiring the girl's strength and smarts, and ability to feel.

Violet was walking back from the burn pit, thinking of everything she could have done differently. Shit, wait, was Vyshena with them? Violet notices how both, Vyshena and Xaden stopped. They know she's there.

Vyshena had waited in the shadows, leaving Garrick and Bodhi to keep walking inside. "I just need to know my chances here." Violet's voice was quiet as if she was trying to keep hidden, and Vyshena felt the pride oozing out of Xaden. "That's the oddest way I've ever been hit on-" and that twang of jealousy that easily slipped past Vyshena and into Xaden. He had a small smirk on his face, but not from Violet.

Vyshena wasn't sure why she waited until Violet left. Wasn't sure why she waited for him, but as he peeked around the corner and leaned against the brick with his arms crossed. He said nothing as he trailed his eyes to Vyshena, a small smile on his lips. An I knew it smile and Vyshena debated on cutting it off.

"How is Threshing going to go?" Xaden didn't jump from his spot in bed, wasn't surprised that she spoke to him. Instead he rose his brows. "No clue, Hena." Responding with a sigh. "What if they try and burn me?" Xaden thought about all of this. Thought about what's going to happen during Threshing. What'll happen if a dragon does bond to her. What the beasts will do when they find out. "Sgaeyl is more than welcome to host you. You know that." If the beast loved anyone other than Xaden, it was Vyshena. She's had a soft spot for the princess since bonding with the shadow, even enough to dive into past memories of Xaden to learn more about her. Scolding him harder than Vyshena did when his secrets came to light. Sgaeyl banned him from speaking to her until he resolved their issues, and after a few weeks of silence on the rider and his dragon, and after he pleaded on his hands and knees, tears streaming down his cheeks she finally cracked.

"I am not riding on the back of Sgaeyl with you." Her tone was harsh when she spoke and Xaden chuckled. "She will be greatly offended when she hears of this. She's been waiting." There was a silence between them but Vyshena still stuck in his mind. "There's still the possibility of her going. No one will know,"

"The elders will know and tell their riders. Tairn won't stand for it."

"Sgaeyl promises,"

"I don't care what she promises, Xaden. I care about the safety of them and this school is not safe." She knows exactly where her beasts where, and exactly who had them. "How are they?" Asking, daring, Xaden to speak about the beasts.

"Well, Fyda is moody. As always. She flees every chance she gets. Eon is sad, she misses Liam." Vyshena slowly shut her eyes, knowing the beasts were trying their hardest to get back to her. "I need to see them."

"Get on the back of Sgaeyl and we'll go." She believed him. She believed Sgaeyl and how much the dragon trusted her, but she couldn't allow Xaden back in. Not with what happened, not with what he kept from her. No, she wouldn't. "She will take you, Hena." It was still too much of a risk, even if she could sneak away. She feared she wouldn't come back to the school.

Xaden was lonely, again. His mind bare of everything her besides his own thoughts.

The day of Threshing. Violet had been nauseas the whole morning as she stared at Rhiannon and Vyshena with wide eyes. "Do you have a plan on getting up?" Rhiannon asked as she slipped on her shirt. Vyshena did the same, staying in her bra for longer than intended. Violet still wondered where her rebellion relic was, and debated asking her about it, but from the waist of her pants and the mark that barely peeked through, Violet kept the question to herself.

"Shouldn't you have a rebellion relic?" Rhiannon asked as Vyshena walked past them with her shirt in her hand, slipping it over her head while she sat between Rhiannon's thighs as the girl braided her stark white hair. "They tried." Was her only response and Violet furrowed her brows. "They marked everyone but you?"

"It's a long story." Another thirty minutes pass, Violet between Vyshena's thighs as she braided her hair into a crown as Rhiannon had swung her dagger around, practicing for sparring within the next days. As well as Threshing, if any of the other cadets dared to come near her.

The three girls walked from their dorm and out to the field where the gauntlet was. "I'm going to go after you." Vyshena told Violet who furrowed her brows. "You don't want to get it done?" Violet asked quietly as Emetterio called the first cadet to go. "I'm going after you." Her tone spoke differently to Violet, as if the princess had a plan on making sure she got up.

Vyshena paused, waiting for Violet who had gotten in a lunge position before she raced for the cliff side she had to crawl on. And when Vyshena lifted herself up onto the deck, seeing Violet swing her dagger into the side of the wood after she ran up as far as she could, something gently held onto the bottom's of Violet's feet, allowing her to put her weight on an object she couldn't see. She paid no attention to it in fear of others noticing, but when she threw herself over the side and laded on the gravel with the help of the invisible force, that weight was off of her feet and Vyshena was behind her.

Vyshena heard the argument about Violet being disqualified, and went to stand beside Rhiannon as Xaden ended it. She couldn't help but be scared. Not knowing if the other dragons would respect her enough. If they would burn her, only for the other cadets to realize that she was un-burnable. If the next days would prove she would remain riderless for the rest of her life in fear of risking her own. She wouldn't repeat the year she was forced into. She'd flee, fake her death and get on the back of her beast and run until the ocean started to curve.

The afternoon sun beat down on Vyshena as she offered to wait at the back of the line. But once Rhiannon had pulled her back to formation, the silver haired princess stood behind Violet and in front of Rhiannon. "Gods be good," she prayed in her native tongue while hearing Garrick's shouting voice to get in formation. Vyshena looked up and released a breath, she would not be scared. She would not be scared that she was in the middle of two of her friends, dear friends that she felt like she could trust. Friends that did her hair, and asked questions as if they hadn't been shy to. Friends that stuck up for her and loved her despite her attitude.

She found Xaden whose eyes were on her and he snaked against the shut door. With a crack of power, it opened. "You will be okay." His voice was soft in her mind and he nodded his head once slowly. Vyshena nodded hers, blowing out another breath as Luca's questions went deaf to her ears. Something about a golden feathertail and she snapped her head back to Xaden. "I know."

"A baby?" Xaden went quiet again as he listened to the cadets worries about the unknown dragon. It seemed like everyone was unaware of the knowledge that a feathertail was an infant, maybe just born a year ago.

Vyshena turned to Rhiannon as they walked in a single file down the meadow, "you have an idea of who you might look for?" Vyshena asked and Rhiannon smiled. "Any that come to me." Vyshena smiled, "smart girl."

"Taught by the best." Rhiannon praised, squeezing her hands in Vyshena's direction while they heard Violet chuckle. "Lenayon? Since you told your dragon to flee, does that even mean you can bond another?" Tynan's voice shouted to carry over Violet's head and Vyshena made a sour look on her face. "Not sure, Tynan. Maybe they'll set fire to me, wouldn't you like that?" They pass by another set of reds and Violet puffed air from her lips.

"Yeah, taking you out so I don't have to." Vyshena rolled her eyes. "I don't understand the issue you have with me, Tynan. I have been quiet all year, kept to myself,"

"You beat him in duel." Rhiannon responded and Vyshena gasped and held her hand over her heart. "Duel?" She joked. "Tynan didn't even put up a fight!" Vyshena spoke and Violet laughed. It was true, another ten second brawl that left Tynan with a broken nose and blood on Vyshena's knuckles.

A few minutes pass, "my brother was awesome, but he and Dain are my only experience with growing up around little boys." Violet said and Vyshena smiled. "I grew up with Xaden and Liam, so I think you have a better experience than I do." Before Violet could ask another question, a huff sounded and Vyshena slowly turned her head to the greens. Where one had stood up on it's legs and lowered its head to Vyshena. Violet's mouth dropped open, this was it. The princess would meet Malek. Rhiannon slowed down as the beast that stalked its way over toward Vyshena bowed at her feet.

The entire quadrant stopped, all staring at Vyshena who had a thirty foot dragon kneeling before her. "Stand," she said and the beast stood. Its eyes closing slowly, and Vyshena studied it's features. She furrowed her brows, and tears weld in her eyes as she took a step forward, out of formation. "Vyshena!" Rhiannon spoke under her breath, but the princess ignored her and set a rough hand on the snout of the beast. Violet heard her speak the dead language, and the dragon had lifted itself up. It looked like it nodded it's head, and the bat of its wings had knocked Violet backward, Vyshena's hair blowing behind her shoulder at its departure.

When Vyshena turned, she released a shuttered breath and looked at Violet. "What, the fuck, was that?" Vyshena chuckled, glancing toward the group of greens. She couldn't tell her the truth. That her blood was the same as theirs, in a way the dragons saw her as an equal. "Not sure," so she lied between her teeth as they continued their way.

Vyshena couldn't stop thinking about that. "Queen, you have arrived." As the green dragon bowed before her. She was more embarrassed than anything of the spectale it made out of her. They all knew her motives, all understood what she was and who she came from. Her parents fought on the dragons side, always. If it came down to it, her parents would be on their beasts if a war broke out between men and gods, and the others knew that. They respected the Lenayon's because they were the only other gods that walked this realm.

Maybe this would go good for her.