An Excerpt from: Recovered Correspondence of Lieutenant Xaden Riorson to cadet Violet Sorrengail:
Garrick has always been my best friend - his father was my father's aide, which in a way, makes him my Dain, except trustworthy. After Liam, Bodhi was, and still is the closest thing I have to a brother, perpetually tagging along a step behind
— ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. —
You saw your brother cross the parapet when you were sixteen. He succeeded. Then a few months later he was dead.
You keep your head down as you join the line waiting to ascend the steps to the parapet, wedged in between two other hopefuls and their packs, which appear to be balanced evenly on either side. Shit, maybe yours is too full.
At least you remembered to put on some boots with traction this morning before you picked up your bag and left your house, perhaps for the last time. You just hope no one notices you're gone before you cross the parapet. Once you're a full-fledged cadet, surely your father will have no choice but to let you stay at Basgaith. Better yet if you survive until Threshing.
When you reach the entrance, you give your name to the cadet waiting - not your real last name, of course, wanting to stay anonymous for the time being.
"Y/n Gray." you say, still keeping your eyes down. The cadet doesn't bat an eyelid. The only royal name people tend to recognise is King Tauri, and the Crown Prince of Navarre, Halden Tauri, your older brother.
As you place one foot on the first step, you feel a sudden sense of dread as you take in the height of the staircase, which you notice has no railing. It would only take one slip up on the smooth stone to fall to your death before you even get close to the parapet. You can't imagine your father's reaction to the news that not only did his only daughter run away from home to join the same war college his son died at, but she herself died the same morning before even catching a glimpse of the first challenge.
"I wonder how many candidates have fallen off the edge of the steps and died before even reaching the parapet." a voice mirrors your thoughts, and a familiar one responds.
"Two last year," she says. "Well, three if you count the girl someone landed on."
Reluctantly, you spare a glance at the women in front of you, and whip your head back down almost instantly. Shit, one of them is Violet. What the hell is she doing here? She was supposed to join the scribe quadrant, despite her mother's protests that all her children should be dragon riders. But after Brennan, surely she would want to protect Violet from this life, not through her head first into it. Perhaps her family's honour is more important than her daughter's life, you wonder to yourself.
"How many steps are there?" The woman whose name I don't know asks Violet, who, of course, knows the answer.
"Two hundred and fifty." she replies robotically. Her head is full to the brim with history, information which would have made her an invaluable asset to the scribe quadrant.
"Not too bad," the other woman replies. "I'm Rhiannon Matthias, by the way."
"Violet Sorrengail." she replies, and you have to adjust your footing when Rhiannon stops abruptly in front of you on the staircase.
"Sorrengail as in...?"
"The General? The very same." Violet sighs.
Rhiannon's shoes begin tapping each stair again as you ascend. "So, did you volunteer for this?"
"More like volun-told." she replies, and you feel a stab of sympathy. This is basically a death sentence, and her mother just told her to what, have a go at it? Maybe she'll make it through? At least the rest of you had a choice.
"Hey, what size are your feet?" Violet suddenly asks, and you're surprised at her sudden question.
"Eight?" Rhiannon replies confusedly, just as perplexed as you are.
"Here, trade a boot with me." Violet murmurs.
"What?"
"The soles of your boots are smooth, you'll slip on the parapet," she explains, already unlacing her shoe. "I'm a size seven, so it'll hurt like hell, but much better than falling."
They're holding up the line slightly as Violet scrambles to pull off her boot. As she does it, she stumbles slightly, and falls backwards into Rhiannon...who falls straight into you.
A wave of panic comes over you as your balance falters, and you nearly tumble backwards into the man behind you.
"Watch it!" he calls out, and you mutter a quick apology before looking up to see Violet staring down at you, one boot in her hand and the other balancing precariously on the edge of one step.
"Y/n?"
"Get a move on, you're holding up the line!" the man behind you shouts again, and Violet is forced to quickly switch a shoe with Rhiannon and begin plodding up the stairs again.
"Y/n, what are you doing here?" Violet turns so she's facing you as much as possible in the narrow stairwell.
"Well, I'm hoping not to be killed on the way to parapet." you joke slightly, but it lands flat as Violet continues to turn and look back at you.
"Um, am I missing something here?" Rhiannon asks. "Do you guys know each other?"
"This is...Y/n..." Violet starts, then falters.
"Gray," you finish, and Violet doesn't correct you, thank goodness. "Me and Violet were friends when we were kids."
You suddenly realise you've reached the top of the staircase, and a few metres in front of you, is the beginning of the parapet. Oh, shit. This is really happening. Now that you're not in the stairwell and forced to stay in a single-file line, Violet shuffles round to one side of you, muttering so only you can hear.
"Does your dad know where you are right now?" she says in a low voice.
"No, and I'd like to keep it that way." you reply not making eye contact. She needs to stop talking to you if you want to avoid unwanted attention.
"But, Y/n-"
"Seriously, Violet, the only way my dad is going to know that I was here any time soon, is if he hears my name on the death roll tomorrow."
Violet flinches, but doesn't say anything.
"Ready for the next one, Riorson?" a cadet at the entrance shouts, and you're suddenly frozen.
Riorson? You knew you would see him at some point, but you didn't realise it would be now.
"You ready for this Sorrengail?" Rhiannon yells over the wind, and you can't help but notice how Xaden's eyes snap up.
He takes a step forward calmly, but his expression is cold, hard. "You're General Sorrengail's youngest."
"You're Fen Riorson's son." Violet replies without missing a beat. Both of them are glaring at each other coldly.
Xaden sucks in a deep breath. "Your mother captured his father and oversaw his execution."
But my father ordered the execution, you think to yourself. If this is how he's acting with Violet Sorrengail, what is he going to do when he sees the girl who's father sentenced his dad to death?
"Your father killed my older brother," Violet responds. "Seems like we're even."
"Hardly." Xaden responds, his hands clenched into fists as he tenses.
"Are you going to kill me?" she asks - she doesn't sound scared, even if she feels it.
"Why would I kill you when the parapet can do it for me?" he says, a wicked smile curving his lips. "Your turn." he motions to the entrance.
Your breath catches as Violet steps forward, the wind and rain already soaking her leathers as she shuffles forward, Rhiannon following close behind.
Then it's your turn.
Until now, you weren't sure if Xaden would remember your face. But any doubt is destroyed the second his eyes narrow at you, an expression so full of disdain you think he might throw you off the parapet himself. He remembers you.
How could he forget? You were there, after all. You were fourteen, but you were there for every rebellion relic scorched onto 107 backs. For all 107 times the blade sliced into Xaden's skin. The 107 lives that were saved by his bargaining.
You remember how he stood next to his cousin, a protective arm around him as they watched their families be executed in front of their own eyes. The 107 marked ones' lives were spared, at least for a little while. If you can call being sent to a death sentence of a school when you turn 20 being 'spared'.
You can't help but wonder how many marked ones have since come to Basgiath, and how many have survived. From what you can see, Xaden has done well for himself - his jacket indicates that he's a wingleader. But what about the other children of the uprisers? What about the girl that would have joined Xaden in his first year here, Soleil, was it? And his best friend whose name escapes you, but whom you remember seeing with Xaden before.
And of course, his cousin, Bodhi. Who was sixteen when your father executed his mother.
You can still remember the way he cried out at the sentence, and the way Xaden kept him quiet, to avoid getting himself killed too.
"Go." he breathes out now in a low voice. He's not blowing your cover, so that's a bonus.
But even if you cross this parapet in one piece today, you're sure Xaden will be happy to finish the job off tomorrow.