Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Stick to the west,” I remind them. “We’ll meet up tonight.”
We nod at one another, then split up, heading into the shaded forest. I take the westernmost path as instructed, and the others disappear behind the countless varieties of trees.
“You did well with the speech.”
“For fuck’s sake!” My hand flies to the center of my chest as Xaden appears at my side as though he’d been walking there the entire time. I shake my head. “You have to stop doing that.” He’s become a menace with those shadows of his, but I’m grateful for the cover they provide when we need secrecy. Which is pretty much always around here.
“Do I, though?” His smirk fades quickly. “I mean it. You did well with the others. Ciaran left with more conviction than he arrived with.”
“I could have done better, but I’m not you.” It comes out a little more petulant than I’d prefer.
“No one asked you to be.” He shoots me a look, then grasps my shoulders and turns me, stopping us in the middle of the forest. His eyes bore into mine as he leans down slightly, bringing our gazes level. “Bodhi, no one asks, expects, or wants you to be me.”
“Yeah.” I force a quick, easy grin. “Of course. Only if you die, right?”
Naturally, he sees straight through it.
“I’m not going to die, and even if I did, we’re no longer held to the heir and spare positions.” He lifts the eyebrow Sgaeyl scarred last year. “We have no title to defend anymore, remember?”
“True.” I sigh. “But the council—”
“Fuck the council. I’m doing more than enough to keep them happy.” He clasps the back of my neck. “You are exceptional, and worth a thousand of me. You are calm when I’m unreasonable and steady when I’m volatile. You inherited every admirable quality of your mother’s while I seem to have acquired every disreputable one from my father.” He lets me go, then ruffles the tight curls on the top of my head like we’re kids again. “Being too much like me would only detract from your excellence.”
“Thanks.” My barely there smile is genuine this time, and we begin walking again, heading deeper into the forest. That’s another skill he’s developed in the last year that I lack—the gift of saying whatever someone needs to hear at the exact moment they need to hear it. “You’re not supposed to be out here, you know.”
“I’m observing.” His shrug raises, then lowers the swords he keeps strapped to his back.
I prefer mine at my hip. “Not interfering?”
“As if I would ever break the Codex when no one’s looking,” he quips sarcastically.
“So you’re just observing me?” My back stiffens. “Why? Because you don’t think I’ll make it on my own?”
“No,” he counters. “I’m just here to pass a mess—” He throws his hand in front of me, effectively halting our steps, and his head swings left.
A second later, I hear voices approaching from the southeast.
Fuck, even Xaden’s hearing is better than mine.
“I just don’t think it’s fair that they get the same chances we do,” a guy whines as he walks with three other cadets from First Wing. I know that voice. It’s the cadet who broke Norwood’s nose during breakfast a few days ago. He and his friends have made the lives of the marked ones in First Wing painful.
Shadows swirl around Xaden and me as we move quietly to the shelter of the nearest tree.
“Their parents nearly tore this kingdom apart,” a girl agrees.
Awesome. They’re talking about us. My jaw clenches. If they had any idea what’s really happening beyond our borders, maybe they’d understand the choices our parents made.
“Right?” the first replies. “And now they have two squad leaders. Can you imagine graduating and being put under the command of a fucking separatist’s kid?”
Xaden’s mouth quirks upward, and I fight a grin.
The fact that both he and Garrick are squad leaders in our wing may aggravate the shit out of the Navarrians, but it’s a point of pride to those of us who wear rebellion relics. Only exceptional cadets are chosen to be squad leaders, and knowing Xaden and Garrick have both risen to leadership gives hope to the rest of us that we won’t be judged only on the actions of our parents but might be allowed to stand on our own merit.
We didn’t choose to be here, but we can make our own decisions now that we are.
“It’s bad enough to have one Riorson in charge, but his doppelgänger is coming up through Fourth Wing right underneath him,” another girl complains, their voices growing louder as they come closer.
My smile slips. Do Xaden and I look alike? Sure, that’s genetics. But we have different eyes, complexions, hair, and builds. He’s got two inches and at least twenty pounds on me.