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but i was not a heavenly child. a savage with a temperament wild. even here as we are standing now. i can see the fear in your eyes.
ANIMAL FEAR marika hackman | 2015
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Niamh Berragain is a battle-axe.
A child born and bred for war. Like the vast majority of her family before her, she spent her childhood desiring one thing: to be a rider. She wished to mount the back of a dragon and feel the rush of wind in her hair, the sting of the rain on her skin, the power flowing through her as she activated her signet. She watched as her father tossed fire around like a ball and her mother floated far above her in an attempt to entertain her children, and she wished that one day, she would be able to engage in something so wonderful.
Now, at the age of twenty, she is doing just that. She has been training her entire life to enter the rider's quadrant at Basgiath war college: mastering hand-to-hand combat, climbing the smaller mountains in the Esben range being careful to not lose her footing, even spending numerous hours curled up in her room reading about the different types of dragons. Every second of her existence has led up to this moment, and she's only one Parapet away.
While the youngest Berragain is facing her first year as Basgiath, her elder siblings are tackling a similar battle. A war is brewing on the continent. It seems that every other day there is a gryphon attack on one outpost or another. They're crossing the border and infiltrating Navarre, and tensions are rising on the border. Secrets are holding Navarre together, and tearing it apart at the very same time. Niamh is no stranger to secrets. She knows her father has kept them from her for her entire life. It is his job to keep secrets for her and her siblings. It's how he ensured their survival. But never did she anticipate that he was hiding something so destructive.
Gryphons and their fliers are not the greatest threat to Navarre. Not even close. She has been lied to about this notion every single day. And it's not until she joins her brother in the Fourth Wing and gets wrapped up with Violet Sorrengail and those who surround her that she realizes the truth. Love is not a weakness. Everything is a lie. No one has her best interest. Fairytales are real. Everyone is going to die.
