Shadows in the Closet
Fourth Wing x Reader
The first thing Xaden noticed was that everyone looked relieved when he arrived. Which was never a good sign. Bodhi had met him at the flight field with a look that bordered on desperation.
Imogen had crossed her arms and said, "Good. Your turn."
He looked between them and muttered, "That's ominous."
Then Tairn had immediately pushed concern through the bond.
Not irritation.
Not annoyance.
Concern.
That alone had put Xaden on edge. Now, standing in the courtyard, he followed Violet's line of sight.
A first-year girl. Standing beside Sloane. Laughing.
That was it.
No immediate threat.
No visible injury.
No obvious reason why the strongest woman he knew appeared to be unraveling.
Xaden sighed.
"Violence."
Violet jumped.
Actually jumped.
Then spun toward him.
For a moment, shock crossed her face.
Then relief.
Pure relief.
The kind she only ever showed him. A second later she crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around him. Xaden caught her automatically.
His arms tightening around her waist.
Gods.
She felt thinner.
He frowned immediately.
"They told me."
Violet groaned into his chest.
"So don't even try to hide it."
For a second she simply held on tighter.
Then he felt her nod.
"Not here."
His eyes flickered toward the courtyard.
Toward the watching cadets.
Toward the mysterious first-year.
Whatever this was...It wasn't a conversation for public consumption. So he nodded. And led her toward her room.
The door shut behind them.
Silence.
Xaden dropped his pack beside the desk.
Then sat on the edge of her bed.
Watching her.
Waiting.
Violet remained standing.
Arms folded.
Pacing energy practically radiating from her.
He'd seen her like this before.
Before Resson.
Before Aretia.
After learning Brennan was alive.
But this felt different.
Sharper.
More personal.
More painful.
"What is wrong?"
Nothing.
No answer.
Xaden waited.
Then tried again.
"I've been told you don't take care of yourself."
Still nothing.
"You refuse to eat properly."
Silence.
"Sleep properly."
A twitch.
"Train properly."
A glare.
"There she is."
Normally that would've earned a retort.
Instead,
Nothing.
His stomach dropped.
Because Violet always fought back.
Always.
"What is going on, Violence?"
She sighed.
Looked down.
Then slowly looked back up.
And Xaden froze.
Tears.
Actual tears.
Not angry tears.
Not frustrated tears.
Not the controlled kind she hid behind sarcasm.
She was devastated. Something inside him immediately went cold. Because Violet Sorrengail could survive almost anything. Whatever had done this...
It was bad.
Very bad.
Without a word he reached for her.
Pulled her down beside him.
Wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
And that was all it took.
She shattered.
"She's supposed to be dead, Xaden!"
The words ripped out of her.
Raw.
Broken.
"I saw her die!"
Xaden stayed silent.
Listening.
"I saw the body!"
Her breathing became uneven.
"I saw the blood."
A tear slid down her cheek.
"I saw it."
Gods.
Who?
"What is that supposed to mean?" she whispered. "How is she here?"
Xaden kept his voice soft.
Careful.
"I think I'm going to need you to elaborate."
Violet laughed.
A horrible sound.
"I sound insane, don't I?"
She stood abruptly.
Beginning to pace.
"The thing is, Dain had a younger sister."
That caught his attention.
Immediately.
Aetos.
So that's why everyone kept mentioning him.
"She was younger than me by three years."
Violet spun around.
Wild-eyed.
"So tell me how she's suddenly only one year younger and attending Basgiath."
Xaden frowned.
That made no sense.
"That's one."
She held up a finger.
"Two."
Another finger.
"She died."
The room went still.
Even the dragons fell silent.
No commentary from Tairn.
No dry observations from Sgaeyl.
Nothing.
"Unlike Brennan, who apparently was never fully dead, she doesn't remember anyone."
Violet's voice cracked.
"Not me."
Another step.
"Not Dain."
Another.
"Not my mother."
A third finger.
"Three."
She laughed again.
"She's using Dain's mother's maiden name."
Now Xaden understood why everyone was panicking.
At least partially.
"She can't be some stranger that looks like her."
Violet ran a hand through her hair.
"Because that's their family name."
Silence. Heavy. Oppressive.
"She was so young."
The words came out barely audible.
"So young."
Xaden looked away briefly.
Thinking.
Trying to make sense of impossible information.
Finally he spoke.
"What if she never died?"
The moment the words left his mouth he regretted them.
Violet exploded.
"You think I didn't think of that?"
She resumed pacing immediately.
Faster now.
More frantic.
"Xaden, I saw the body."
Her voice rose.
"I remember every second."
Tairn shifted uneasily through the bond. The memory was affecting him too.
"We all went to sleep."
She pointed toward the floor as if reliving it.
"And sometime during the night someone broke into the fort."
Xaden frowned.
Impossible.
Forts weren't easy targets.
Not with dragons nearby.
Not with officers.
Not with wards.
Exactly what Violet said next.
"A fort, Xaden!"
She threw her hands into the air.
"How does someone break into one of these places?"
Another step.
"WITH DRAGONS!"
Another.
"GUARDED!"
Another.
"BY!"
Another.
"DRAGONS!"
The room vibrated with her fury.
Then suddenly...Her voice dropped.
And somehow that was worse.
"Dain's father went to check on her."
Silence.
"She was the only one who hadn't come out to see what had happened."
Violet stopped pacing.
Stopped moving entirely.
"Her room was a mess."
The words were quiet.
"There were signs of restraint."
Xaden's stomach twisted.
"Blood."
Violet swallowed.
"Everywhere."
Gods.
"And Y/n?"
Xaden asked softly.
Violet closed her eyes.
"Missing."
The room remained utterly silent.
"No one could find her."
A deep breath.
"Riders searched."
"Infantry searched."
"Everyone searched."
Then...Her voice broke completely.
"They found a body."
Xaden went still.
"A body that matched her height."
Another breath.
"Her skin."
Another.
"Her hair."
Another.
"Everything."
Gods.
"And carved into it was a message."
Violet's eyes opened.
Filled with tears.
"'Eye for eye.'"
The words seemed to linger in the room.
Like a curse.
Like a ghost.
For a long time neither of them spoke.
Finally Violet sank onto the chair opposite him.
Looking exhausted.
Broken.
"She was twelve."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Twelve."
Xaden felt something twist in his chest.
Because he'd lost people.
Gods knew he'd lost people.
But twelve?
Twelve was a child.
Not a soldier.
Not a rider.
A child.
"Aetos, my father, and my mother buried it."
Violet stared at the floor.
"Made everyone swear secrecy."
Another laugh. Another broken one.
"Because how do you survive that?"
Her eyes lifted to his.
Desperate.
Searching.
"How do you survive watching a little girl die?"
Xaden had no answer.
Because he didn't. Not for this. Not for her right now.
"And now," Violet continued, "of all times, she appears."
The fury returned.
Smoldering beneath the grief.
"Venin are real. We're at war. We don't know who to trust. And suddenly she shows up."
She shook her head.
"No memories. No explanation. No reason."
A pause.
Then the question she'd clearly been asking herself for weeks.
"The dead don't just come back."
Tairn remained silent.
Andarna remained silent.
Even Sgaeyl remained silent.
Because they all knew she was right.
Brennan hadn't come back from death.
He'd escaped it.
That was different.
This...This was something else.
Violet's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Naolin gave his life for Brennan."
The room seemed colder suddenly.
More dangerous.
"Who gave theirs for hers?"
No one answered.
"What happened?"
The question hung between them.
Xaden sat motionless. Processing. Analyzing.
Trying to fit the pieces together.
But none of them fit.
Not with the information he had.
Not with anything he knew.
And that was perhaps the most unsettling part.
Because Xaden Riorson was good at finding hidden truths.
At seeing patterns.
At uncovering secrets.
This?
This felt like staring at a puzzle with half the pieces missing.
Across the bond he felt Tairn's unease.
Felt Sgaeyl's.
Even Andarna's curious silence.
A dead girl. A lost memory. A hidden name.
A twenty-year-old mystery.
And a return timed perfectly with the beginning of a war.
Finally, Xaden exhaled.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Then looked at Violet.
"There are only two possibilities."
She stared back.
Waiting.
"Either Y/n Aetos never died."
A pause.
"Or someone wants us to believe she did."
Violet opened her mouth.
Probably to argue.
Then stopped.
Because there was a third possibility.
One neither of them wanted to say aloud.
One hanging in the silence between them.
The possibility that frightened them all.
That somehow...
Against every law of nature they understood...
Y/n Aetos had truly died.
And someone, or something, had brought her back.
Neither of them spoke the thought.
But it remained there anyway.
Waiting.
Like a storm on the horizon.
The room had finally gone quiet.
A miracle, really.
Because for the last week, Violet's mind had been moving at a pace that would have made even a dragon dizzy.
Xaden sat against the headboard of her bed, one arm draped protectively around her sleeping form.
Her breathing was finally even.
Peaceful.
For the first time since he'd arrived.
The candle beside the desk burned low.
Outside, Basgiath slept.
Or at least attempted to.
Xaden looked down at Violet.
Dark circles lingered beneath her eyes.
Evidence of days spent chasing answers she couldn't find.
Gods, he hated seeing her like this.
Violet could handle pain.
She could handle danger.
She could handle impossible odds.
What she couldn't handle was a mystery.
Especially one she couldn't solve.
Especially one involving someone she'd loved.
After a few moments, Xaden carefully reached through the bond.
Sgaeyl.
His dragon answered immediately.
You are awake.
Observant as always.
A snort echoed through the bond.
And you are concerned.
That wasn't even worth denying.
After a brief hesitation, Xaden pushed further.
Toward another bond.
One that felt like ancient power and perpetual irritation.
Tairn.
The response was immediate.
What?
I have a question.
Those are usually followed by stupidity.
Xaden almost smiled.
Almost.
About the girl.
Silence.
Not because Tairn was surprised.
Because he wasn't.
Because apparently everyone was thinking about the same thing.
Finally the black dragon spoke.
Ah.
That single word carried more concern than Xaden had ever heard from him.
And that alone was unsettling.
Have either of you ever seen anything like this?
For several moments neither dragon answered.
Then Sgaeyl spoke first.
No.
Simple.
Direct.
Certain.
Never?
Not in six centuries.
That got his attention.
Sgaeyl wasn't prone to exaggeration.
If she said neverâ
She meant never.
Tairn shifted somewhere across the valley.
His consciousness brushing the bond.
Neither have I.
Xaden frowned.
What about venin?
The response came instantly.
No.
Not from one dragon.
From both.
Absolute certainty.
Venin cannot create life.
Sgaeyl's tone was sharp.
Cold.
Matter-of-fact.
They corrupt it.
Tairn continued.
Twist it.
Destroy it.
A pause.
But they do not create it.
Xaden thought about Violet's theory.
The impossible theory.
Someone returning from death.
And if they somehow did?
Another silence.
Then Tairn answered.
There would be a mark.
Xaden stilled.
Explain.
The ancient dragon's irritation surfaced immediately.
Must I explain everything to the two of you?
Yes, Xaden answered without hesitation.
Tairn growled.
Anything touched by such power leaves evidence.
Corruption.
Decay.
Instability.
Something.
His voice grew thoughtful.
Which was somehow more unsettling than his anger.
I have observed the girl extensively.
Of course he had.
Tairn observed everything.
There is nothing unusual about her.
Other than the fact she should be dead.
Precisely.
The bond fell silent again.
Xaden looked toward the sleeping Violet.
Her hand twitched slightly against the blanket.
Even asleep, she didn't look fully at peace.
You think she's truly Y/n?
The answer came immediately.
Tairn does.
Sgaeyl sounded intrigued.
And Tairn knew the child.
That surprised Xaden.
Then againâ
Of course he had.
The dragons had known all of them for years.
Before they became riders.
Before they crossed the Parapet.
Before everything.
Tairn's voice softened unexpectedly.
She used to try to sneak food to hatchlings whenever she visited Basgaith.
Xaden blinked.
That was not the answer he'd expected.
What?
When she was young.
A pause.
She believed dragons got lonely.
Another pause.
Ridiculous notion.
Yet there was unmistakable fondness buried beneath the words.
She left pastries near the Threshing field every visit.
Xaden couldn't stop the small smile that formed.
That sounded exactly like the girl Violet had described.
Then the smile faded.
Because it only made the situation worse.
If Tairn remembered her...
If he recognized her...
Then this wasn't simply resemblance.
This was Y/n.
Or someone who had once been Y/n.
She's affecting Violet more than I realized.
A deep rumble echoed through the bond.
Tairn already knew that.
How?
The black dragon's answer carried surprising gentleness.
Because I feel her.
Xaden's chest tightened.
Of course.
The bond.
Tairn felt everything Violet felt.
Sometimes more than she realized.
She watches the girl constantly.
I know.
No. You do not.
The words were firm.
Ancient.
Certain.
Curiosity is the foundation of Violet Sorrengail.
It always has been.
That much was true.
She seeks answers.
Patterns.
Logic.
Understanding.
Another pause.
There is none to be found here.
Xaden understood immediately.
That was the problem.
Not grief.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
The absence of explanation.
Violet could endure almost anything if she understood it.
This?
This offered no understanding.
No pattern.
No answer.
Only questions.
Thousands of them.
It unsettles her.
Tairn's voice lowered.
And therefore it unsettles me.
The admission hung heavily in the bond.
Because Tairn didn't unsettle easily.
Not after centuries.
Not after wars.
Not after venin.
Yet somehow one twenty-year-old rider cadet had managed it.
Sgaeyl huffed.
She is not the only one.
That surprised Xaden.
You're unsettled too?
I am interested.
A distinction.
A very Sgaeyl distinction.
Tairn snorted.
You are unsettled.
Interested.
Unsettled.
Interested.
Both.
The dragons lapsed into silence.
For several moments nobody spoke.
Then Tairn said something unexpected.
The boy concerns me.
Xaden frowned.
Dain?
Yes.
The answer was immediate.
He barely functions.
That matched what Violet had said.
His focus is fractured.
His discipline absent.
General Aetos reprimanded him twice this week.
Xaden raised an eyebrow.
That was significant.
Dain Aetos was many things.
But careless wasn't one of them.
And?
He did not react.
Now that was concerning.
The Dain Xaden knew would have taken such criticism personally.
Especially from his father.
Tairn's voice deepened.
The appearance of the girl affects him more than Violet realizes.
Which was saying something.
Because Violet was already worried.
He avoids her.
The girl?
No.
Tairn paused.
Violet.
That made Xaden sit straighter.
Why?
Because she remembers.
The answer hit harder than expected.
Because of course she did.
Violet remembered Y/n before she died.
Before whatever happened.
And Dain probably couldn't bear being around the one person who remembered everything too.
The room grew quiet again.
Violet shifted slightly in her sleep.
Her breathing remained steady.
Finally.
At least for tonight.
Xaden brushed a strand of silver-tipped hair from her face.
Whatever happened, he said quietly through the bond, I'm going to find out.
Neither dragon answered immediately.
Then Tairn spoke.
And for once, there was no sarcasm.
No arrogance.
No amusement.
Only certainty.
You will try.
Xaden frowned.
Meaning?
The ancient black dragon was silent for a long moment.
When he finally spoke, the words settled heavily in the darkness.
Some mysteries wish to remain buried.
A chill crawled down Xaden's spine.
Not because of the words.
But because Tairn sounded like he believed them.
And for a dragon who had lived centuries...
That was perhaps the most unsettling thing of all.
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