DARK PARADISE//Xaden Riorson

CHAPTER VII - The Book of Brennan

"What does it say?" I ask.

Violet hands me the note. I take it, handling it with care, trying not to bend the edges or crinkle the paper.

Violet,

I stayed long enough to read the rolls this
morning, and you aren't on
them, thank gods. I can't stay. I'm needed back with my wing, and even if I could stay, they wouldn't let me see you anyway. I bribed a scribe to sneak this into your bunk. I hope you know how proud I am to be your sister. Brennan wrote this for me the summer before I entered the quadrant. It saved me, and it can save you, too. I added my own bits of hard-earned wisdom here and there, but mostly it's his, and I know he'd want you to have it. He'd want you to live.

Love,
Mira.

I hand the note back to Violet. I recalled the story of what happened to Brennan, Violet's elder brother. He was killed in battle and another rider tried to revive him but only ended up dying in the process. Now Violet and Mira had no brother, just each other.

I shallowed the lump that had formed in my throat at the thought. I couldn't imagine what life would be like without Liam by my side. He's always been there for my every need, if he disappeared...I don't know what I would do.

"What are you two looking at?" Rhiannon asks, looking over Violet's shoulder.

"A note my sister left me—with my brother's journal." Violet says, her voice tense. She traces the cover of the book. "The Book of Brennan."

She flips to a page, reads it, then begins to cry. Just small tears rolling down her face. I place my hand on her shoulder in comfort. She looks over her shoulder at me and gives me a tearful smile.

"It's just his journal." Violet mutters. "He died five years ago." The same night my parents were slaughtered.

I guess it wasn't only the separatists kids who lost someone that night.

I always tried to keep an open mind about kids like Violet, who are the children of the people that declared my parents should be killed. I hated it when people treated me like I was my parents, so I didn't want to do the same for other kids. We aren't are parents, I can't judge based on blood. And clearly Violet was nothing like her mother. She would never order hundreds to be slaughtered while their children watched in horror.

The sight still haunts my memories every night and I don't think it will ever stop.

"Oh, that's..." Rhiannon murmurs to Violet, her eyes filled with sympathy. "We don't always burn everything, either. Sometimes it's nice to have something, you know?"

"I kept my mom's locket." I add.

The small golden locket laid in under my bed, ready for when I needed it. I was worried I was going to damage it if I wore it, and I would forever hate myself if I broke or lost the last memory of my mother.

I had never opened the locket. My mother had told me to wait till I felt the time was right, then I would be ready for what laid inside. I had sticked to that, wanting to do whatever my mother said.

"Yeah," Violet whispers, pulling me from my miserable thoughts. "It's everything to have this, and yet I know Mom will toss it in the fire if she ever finds it."

I furrow my brows. "Well then we'll have to enforce extra precautions to make sure it's never found." I say with a reassuring smile.

Violet nods with a smile. Rhiannon falls onto her bed, opening her massive history book. Violet turns her attention to The Book of Brennan, her eyes moving back and forth as she reads down the page. I make my way over to my bed, hitting the mattress with a loud thud. I yawn, rubbing my eyes. It feels like forever since I had time to sleep.

I get comfy under the covers, patting the pillows down to perfection. The minute I close my eyes, I pass out.

No dreams haunt my being tonight. No scenes of death and blood. No screaming, no snapping of bone. I sleep completely through the night.

I wake up feeling better than ever, even though it was two hours earlier than I usually get up. In that moment I decided that I was going to make myself a combat weapon in the two week time period till on-mat challenges began.

I snuck out of the dorm, the same way I had done two nights earlier when I had spoken to Xaden. Had all that happened really only happened in forty-eight hours? I guess it must've.

I snuck out to the forest again, this time watching my every step. I found whatever I could to help increase my strength and combat skill. I marked a tree to make a target. I grabbed the daggers from my ribs and threw them at the tree, all of them landing anywhere but the target.

Guess I really had to work on that.

After spending twenty minutes on the daggers I moved into speed and agility. Then pure strength, endurance and pain tolerance.

When the sun began to rise and the birds began to chirp I ran back to the citadel. As I hid throughout the courtyard and citadel I felt as if the shadows kept me hidden. The thought that maybe the master of them was the reason for this flooded my mind. I immediately shook the thought away knowing that that was madness.

I made my way to the dorm and hopped into bed before any of the girls awoke. Ten minutes later I was off to Battle Brief.

I had to smile to myself at the life I was creating. Maybe the Rider's Quadrant wasn't going to be quite as bad as I thought it was.

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Scenes from chapter six of Fourth Wing were used.