Chapter 3 - Allani

I was up at dawn the next morning, leaving my hair down instead of putting it in a braid or bun like I usually do. 

"Which is a mistake on your part," Athana growled. 

She's been doing that for a while, acting more pissy since her mate, the one that I don't know about, has been away for a week.

"Are you ever going to tell me about your mysterious mate?" I asked. 

"My mate is none of your concern," Athana replied. 

I rolled my eyes, finally reaching the courtyard and getting into formation at the head of the wing,  

I tuned out the death roll. It didn't make a difference who was dead or not. It's not like I knew any of them anyway, because if any of my circle were dead, I would know, and the person who killed them would be ashes on the wind. 

"Second and third years, I'm assuming you know where to go. First years, I'm hoping that at least one of you managed to memorize your schedules." Aetos was saying. 

I walked up to them, Riorson following right behind me. 

"Wingleaders?" Aetos questioned, turning. 

"Please, continue directing the cadets." I motioned for him to go on. "We're only here to observe." 

"Sawyer?" Aetos continued. 

"I'll get them there." Sawyer said. 

He was one of the repeats from last year. 

"I expect you all to be alive when we go for sparring today." Aetos said. 

"And if we're not?" one of the first years asked. 

"Then none of us will have to bother with remembering your name, since it'll be called off on the death roll tomorrow." I cut in.

The first years give me wide-eyed stares, but Imogen just laughs. 

"And right there, is Allani Nightrain. Ruthless, brutal, and merciless." she introduces, waving a hand at me. 

They don't seem surprised at my name, probably because my eyes already give it away. Only Nightrain's have purple eyes with silver and gold like mine. 

The first years scatter, probably to their classes, and Imogen walks next to me and Xaden.

"So. Did you two finally get over whatever fight you had as children and fuck?" Imogen asked. 

We both stopped, giving her incredulous looks. Garrick and Bodhi walked up behind us. 

"What did you say, Imogen?" Bodhi sighed after glancing at my face. 

My emotions had turned from being unable to believe her words, to absolutely murderous in the span of three seconds.

Imogen started to back away slowly, but stilled suddenly, looking to the right of where we stood on the top of the staircase.

I followed her gaze, seeing Violet and Dain standing there.

As though they could feel our gaze, they turned, catching sight of us. 

"I already knew your parents were tight, but do you have to be so fucking obvious?" I snapped, glaring down at them. 

Sorrengail whispers something to Aetos.

"Let me guess. Childhood friends. First loves, even?" Xaden continues, and we start walking down the stairs. 

Aetos whispered something else, before turning back to us. 

"Correct, but they can hurt you. Run, Violet." Aetos said urgently. 

The girl listened, dashing off into the Battle Brief room. 

"Not going to run, Aetos?" I smirked. 

"You can't hurt me without cause." he replied, crossing his arms. 

Xaden stared him down for a couple more seconds, before we walked over into the Battle Brief room as well, climbing the tiers until we reached the third year tier.

I tuned out Professor Devera's speech for the first years. I've heard the same exact on before. It wasn't going to make a huge difference. 

I only started to focus when she talked about the raid. They were getting more desperate, but if they didn't stop soon, they wouldn't have enough drifts to defend Cliffsbane when the venin inevitably took them down. 

"What was the altitude of the village?" Rhiannon Matthias, Sorrengail's friend, asked. 

"Markham?" Devera shot the scribe a look. 

"Just above 10,000 feet. Why?" he quizzed. 

"Just seems a little high for a planned attack for gryphons. That's all." Matthias shot Sorrengail a heavy dose of side eye. 

"Good. And why don't you tell me why that's bothersome, Cadet Sorrengail? And maybe ask your own questions from here on out." Devera said. 

Every single head swung to look at Sorrengail. 

"Gryphons don't do as well at higher altitudes, so it's impractical for them to attack there. Wait. Didn't you say it took the riders less than an hour to arrive?" Sorrengail realized. 

So, the little Sorrengail has some brains to make up for her lack of strength.

"You had both strength, speed, and smarts in your first year." Athana reminded me. 

"I had been training since I could walk with my dad and then was lucky enough to get sent to a loving foster home where I could continue training. Sorrengail's been training for all of six months." I reminded her. 

My dragon made a slight hum of agreement. 

"... then they had to have been already on their way," Sorrengail concluded. 

Laughs broke out in her squad, and I pressed two fingers to my head. God, this entire squad is seriously stupid. Dragons can sense wards falling, so they were most definitely on their way. 

Devera answered the rest of the statement, and Sorrengail got it right. 

"Second and third years?" Devera asked, directing her gaze up to us. 

I waited for a couple of questions to be asked first. 

"What was the condition of the village?" Xaden asked.

Devera raised a brow. 

"Was it burned? Destroyed? The condition of the village matters when considering the motive." Xaden added.

"It was looted," Devera said. 

"Which begs the question. What was there that they wanted so bad? It wasn't a gem mining district, so it wasn't riches." I said, cutting in. 

Devera gives us both an approving look, gesturing towards us.

"And that right there, is why Nightrain and Riorson are wingleaders. You need more than strength to be a rider," she said. 

We got up, rising to our feet as we filed out of the Battle Brief room, heading for sparring. 

The sparring room was noisy, as to be expected. Sorrengail would be at a clear disadvantage for Assessment and challenges once they started. 

"It's only the first years that are fighting, right? The second and third years would only fight if it was against a first year, cause this is assessment." Imogen whispered. 

I nodded. 

"Although you were one of the few people in our first year who fought a third year. And won, if I remember correctly." Garrick said.

"I'm just so much better than all of you."I said, pulling out a dagger and starting to flip it in my hand. 

Imogen huffed a laugh, then glared at Sorrengail. 

"You're aware that Brennan would kill us if she died, right?" I asked. 

She gave me a nod, then looked at me.

"Doesn't mean we can't hurt her." she said. 

"Imogen Cardulo and Violet Sorrengail!" Emetterio called out. 

Imogen tossed a smirk over her shoulder at me as she walked onto the mat. 

"You know Sorrengail, you should really dye your hair if you don't want everyone to know who you are. You're the only silver-haired freak in the quadrant." Imogen mocked. 

"Never said I cared who my mother was. She did Navarre a service, saving us from traitors both from the outside and the inside." Sorrengail shot back. 

Fuck Brennan. I was going to murder her. 

"Bitch! Your mother killed my family." Imogen shouted, lunging for her.

I nearly groaned. If Imogen was against anyone else, she would be losing the spar already. Whenever you get emotion evolved in a fight, you have already lost. 

Imogen was a blur as she lunged, then dodged back, and lunged again with the same speed, holding Sorrengail's arm in a painful position. 

"Yield," Imogen said, twisting her arm further. 

"No." Sorrengail gritted out, her expression pained. 

Imogen twisted it, and I heard a pop as she dislocated the shoulder. Emetterio called the yield for Sorrengail, since she was clearly too stubborn to do it, but she didn't let Sorrengail go before breaking her arm, and stepping back, as Aetos rushed forward, yelling at Imogen and lifting Sorrengail up, running out of there. 

If Aetos's goal was to make sure that no one knew that he cared about Sorrengail, he utterly failed.

Third chapter! How do you guys like the story so far? And who do you think Violet should end up with, since the plan is for Xaden and Allani to end up together.