Onyx Storm (The Empyrean Book 3)

I’m either completely in love with your boyfriend or utterly terrified of him,” Ridoc says under his breath. “Not sure at the moment.”

“Both,” Cat answers from his left. “You can be both. Trust me.”

The flier scoffs. “I don’t do second-years.”

“Good thing I fuck like a third.”

Tairneanach, son of Murtcuideam and Fiaclanfuil, descended from—”

The uprising suddenly failed overnight on December 13, 433 AU, in what has been called the Midnight Massacre. The foreign troops disappeared, and the rebels were killed in their beds by Poromish forces. It is not their disappearance that strikes this scholar as particularly vicious but their obvious betrayal. There is a saying in Deverelli: The word is the blood. When they make a trade, broker a deal, it is considered law. I cannot help but wonder what part of the deal the Krovlan rebels did not uphold

It was whispered in academic circles that Cordyn had supplied troops and weaponry for the second Krovlan uprising, but the research has led me across the Arctile Ocean to Deverelli, known to our kingdom as the treacherous isle of merchants, who to my surprise may not have been the source of the arms, but perhaps the broker.

You get one chance to form your own squad, and you choose your ex, your current lover, the quadrant’s resident smart-ass, two people who have tried to kill you in the past year—one over said current lover—and whatever Dain is? These are your choices for the most important mission any rider could possibly undertake?”

“I’m glad someone said it,” Tairn chimes in.

“And…you.” It’s not my finest comeback.

“Don’t forget Halden’s guard,” Ridoc adds. “I’m sure they’ll be super useful.”

have an inkling of a thought of where he might have been headed in his hypothesis. I keep it to myself, partially because I’m scared to be wrong but mostly because I’m terrified I’m right. When Varrish mentioned last year that he thought the research dealt with feathertails, I never imagined it would lead in this direction

By the time Friday arrives, I’ve devoured The Dark Side of Magic, Red Regalia, The Scourge of our Times, and the nightmare-inducing A Study in the Anatomy of the Enemy, none of which brings me the answers I need for Xaden.

I have to know. I can handle it. But I have to know

Did. You. Love. Him?”