MORE FROM REBECCA YARROSTHE EMPYREAN SERIESFourth Wing Iron FlameOceanofPDF.com PIATKUSFirst published in the United States in 2023 by Red Tower Books,an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLCFirst published in Great Britain in 2023 by PiatkusCopyright © 2023 by Rebecca YarrosInterior art by Elizabeth Turner StokesInterior World map art by Melanie KorteInterior design by Toni KerrInterior endpapers by Amy RossInstagram: @LiteralamyThe moral right of the author has been asserted.All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, arefictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in anyform or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwisecirculated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without asimilar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.ISBN: 978-0-349-43704-0TPB 978-0-349-43703-3PiatkusAn imprint ofLittle, Brown Book GroupCarmelite House50 Victoria EmbankmentLondon EC4Y 0DZAn Hachette UK Companywww.hachette.co.ukwww.littlebrown.co.ukOceanofPDF.com To my fellow zebras. Not all strength is physical.OceanofPDF.com Iron Flame is a nonstop-thrilling adventure fantasy set in the brutal andcompetitive world of a military college for dragon riders, which includeselements regarding war, psychological and physical torture, imprisonment,intense violence, brutal injuries, perilous situations, blood, dismemberment,burning, murder, death, animal death, graphic language, loss of family,grief, and sexual activities that are shown on the page. Readers who may besensitive to these elements, please take note, and prepare to join therevolution… The following text has been faithfully transcribed from Navarrian into themodern language by Jesinia Neilwart, Curator of the Scribe Quadrant atBasgiath War College. All events are true, and names have been preservedto honor the courage of those fallen.May their souls be commended to Malek.OceanofPDF.com ContentsPart OneChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter Nineteen Chapter TwentyChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-TwoChapter Twenty-ThreeChapter Twenty-FourChapter Twenty-FiveChapter Twenty-SixChapter Twenty-SevenChapter Twenty-EightChapter Twenty-NineChapter ThirtyChapter Thirty-OneChapter Thirty-TwoChapter Thirty-ThreeChapter Thirty-FourChapter Thirty-FiveChapter Thirty-SixPart TwoChapter Thirty-SevenChapter Thirty-EightChapter Thirty-NineChapter FortyChapter Forty-OneChapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-ThreeChapter Forty-FourChapter Forty-FiveChapter Forty-SixChapter Forty-SevenChapter Forty-EightChapter Forty-NineChapter FiftyChapter Fifty-OneChapter Fifty-TwoChapter Fifty-ThreeChapter Fifty-FourChapter Fifty-FiveChapter Fifty-SixChapter Fifty-SevenChapter Fifty-EightChapter Fifty-NineChapter SixtyChapter Sixty-OneChapter Sixty-TwoChapter Sixty-ThreeChapter Sixty-FourChapter Sixty-FiveChapter Sixty-Six AcknowledgmentsOceanofPDF.com In this, the 628th year of our Unification, it is hereby recorded thatAretia has been burned by dragon in accordance with the Treatyending the separatist movement. Those who fled, survived, and thosewho did not remain entombed in her ruins.—PUBLIC NOTICE 628.85TRANSCRIBED BY CERELLA NIELWART RCHAPTER ONEevolution tastes oddly…sweet.I stare at my older brother across a scarred wooden table in theenormous, busy kitchen of the fortress of Aretia and chew the honeyedbiscuit he put on my plate. Damn, that’s good. Really good.Maybe it’s just that I haven’t eaten in three days, since a not-so-mythological being stabbed me in the side with a poisoned blade thatshould have killed me. It would have killed me if it hadn’t been forBrennan, who won’t stop smiling as I chew.This might go down as the most surreal experience of my life. Brennanis alive. Venin, dark wielders I’d thought only existed in fables, are real.Brennan is alive. Aretia still stands, even though it was scorched after theTyrrish rebellion six years ago. Brennan is alive. I have a new, three-inchscar on my abdomen, but I didn’t die. Brennan. Is. Alive.“The biscuits are good, right?” he asks, snagging one from the platterbetween us. “Kind of remind me of the ones that cook used to make whenwe were stationed in Calldyr, remember?”I stare and chew.He’s just so…him. And yet he looks different from what I remember.His brownish-red curls are cropped close to his skull instead of waving overhis forehead, and there’s no lingering softness in the angles of his face, which now has tiny lines at the edges of his eyes. But that smile? Thoseeyes? It’s really him.And his one condition being me eating something before he takes me tomy dragons? It’s the most Brennan move ever.Not that Tairn ever waits for permission, which means—“I, too, think you need to eat something.” Tairn’s low, arrogant voicefills my head.“Yeah, yeah,” I reply in kind, mentally reaching out for Andarna againas one of the kitchen workers hurries by, offering a quick smile to Brennan.There’s no response from Andarna, but I can feel the shimmering bondbetween us, though it’s no longer golden like her scales. I can’t quite get amental picture, but my brain is still a little groggy. She’s sleeping again,which isn’t odd after she uses up all her energy to stop time, and after whathappened in Resson, she probably needs to sleep for the next week or so.“You’ve barely said a word, you know.” Brennan tilts his head just likehe used to when he was trying to solve a problem. “It’s kind of creepy.”“Watching me eat is creepy,” I counter after I swallow, my voice still alittle hoarse.“And?” He shrugs shamelessly, a dimple flashing in his cheek when hegrins. It’s the only boyish thing left about him. “A few days ago, I waspretty sure I’d never get to watch you do, well, anything again.” He takes ahuge bite. Guess his appetite is still the same, which is oddly comforting.“You’re welcome, by the way, for the mending. Consider it a twenty-first-birthday present.”“Thank you.” That’s right. I slept right through my birthday. And I’msure my lying in bed on the brink of death was more than enough drama foreveryone in this castle, house, whatever it’s called.Xaden’s cousin, Bodhi, strides into the kitchen, dressed in uniform, hisarm in a sling and his cloud of black curls freshly trimmed.“Lieutenant Colonel Aisereigh,” Bodhi says, handing a folded missive toBrennan. “This just came in from Basgiath. The rider will be here untiltonight if you want to reply.” He offers me a smile, and I’m struck again at how closely he resembles a softer version of Xaden. With a nod to mybrother, he turns and leaves.Basgiath? Another rider here? How many are there? Exactly how big isthis revolution?Questions fire off in my head faster than I can find my tongue. “Wait.You’re a lieutenant colonel? And who is Aisereigh?” I ask. Yeah, becausethat is the most important inquiry to make.“I had to change my last name for obvious reasons.” He glances at meand unfolds the missive, breaking a blue wax seal. “And you’d be amazedat how fast you get promoted when everyone above you continues to die,”he says, then reads the letter and curses, shoving it into his pocket. “I haveto go meet with the Assembly now, but finish your biscuits and I’ll meetyou in the hall in half an hour and take you to your dragons.” All traces ofthe dimple, of the laughing older brother are gone, and in their place is aman I barely recognize, an officer I don’t know. Brennan may as well be astranger.Without waiting for me to respond, he scrapes his chair back and stridesout of the kitchen.Sipping my milk, I stare at the empty space my brother left across fromme, chair still pulled out from the table as though he might return at anymoment. I swallow the remaining biscuit stuck in the back of my throat andlift my chin, determined not to ever sit and wait on my brother to returnagain.I push up from the table and head after him, out of the kitchen and downthe long hall. He must have been in a hurry, because I can’t see himanywhere.The intricate carpet muffles my footsteps along the wide, high-archedhallway as I come to— Whoa. The sweeping, polished double staircaseswith their detailed banisters rise three—no, four—more floors above me.I’d been too focused on my brother to pay attention earlier, but now Iblatantly gawk at the architecture of the enormous space. Each landing isslightly offset from the one below, as though the staircase climbs toward thevery mountain this fortress is carved into. The morning light streams in from dozens of small windows that provide the only decoration on the five-story wall above the massive double doors of the fortress’s entrance. Theyseem to form a pattern, but I’m too close to see the whole of it.There’s no perspective, which pretty much feels like a metaphor for myentire life right now.Two guards watch every step I take but make no move to stop me when Ipass by. At least that means I’m not a prisoner.I continue to stride through the main hall of the house, eventuallypicking up the sound of voices from a room across the way, where one oftwo large, ornate doors is pitched open. As I approach, I immediatelyrecognize Brennan’s voice, and my chest tightens at the familiar timbre.“That’s not going to work.” Brennan’s deep voice echoes. “Nextsuggestion.”I make it through the massive foyer, ignoring what look to be two otherwings off to the left and right. This place is astounding. Half palace, halfhome, but entirely a fortress. The thick stone walls are what saved it fromits supposed demise six years ago. From what I’ve read, Riorson House hasnever been breached by any army, even during the three sieges that I knowof.Stone doesn’t burn. That’s what Xaden told me. The city—now reducedto a town—has been silently, covertly rebuilding for years right underGeneral Melgren’s nose. The relics, magical marks the children of theexecuted rebellion officers carry, somehow mask them from Melgren’ssignet when they’re in groups of three or more. He can’t see the outcome ofany battle they’re present for, so he’s never been able to “see” themorganizing to fight here.There are certain aspects of Riorson House, from its defensible positioncarved into the mountainside to its cobblestone floors and steel-enforceddouble doors in the entryway, that remind me of Basgiath, the war collegeI’ve called home since my mother was stationed there as its commandinggeneral. But that’s where the similarities end. There’s actual art on the wallshere, not just busts of war heroes displayed on stands, and I’m pretty sure that’s an authentic Poromish tapestry hanging across the hall from whereBodhi and Imogen stand in the open doorway.Imogen puts her finger to her lips, then motions at me to join in theempty place between her and Bodhi. I take it, noticing Imogen’s half-shaved hair has been recently dyed a brighter pink while I’ve been resting.Clearly she’s comfortable here. Bodhi, too. The only signs that either hasbeen in a battle are the sling cradling Bodhi’s fractured arm and a split inImogen’s lip.“Someone has to state the obvious,” an older man with an eyepatch anda hawkish nose says from the far end of a table that consumes the length ofthe two-story room. Tufts of thinning gray hair frame the deep lines in hislightly tanned, weathered skin, his jowls hanging down like a wildebeest.He leans back in his chair, placing a thick hand on his rounded belly.The table could easily accommodate thirty people, but only five sit alongone side, all dressed in rider black, perched slightly ahead of the door, at anangle where they’d have to turn fully to see us—which they don’t. Brennanpaces in front of the table but not at an angle he can easily spot us, either.My heart lurches into my throat, and I realize it’s going to take sometime to get used to seeing Brennan alive. He’s somehow exactly the same asI remember—and yet different. But here he is—living, breathing, currentlyglaring at a map of the Continent on the long wall, the map’s size onlyrivaled by the one in the Battle Brief lecture hall at Basgiath.And standing in front of that map, one arm leaning against a massivechair as he stares down the table at its occupants, is Xaden.He looks good, even with bruises marring the tawny-brown skin underhis eyes from lack of sleep. The high slopes of his cheeks, the dark eyes thatusually soften whenever they meet mine, the scar that bisects his brow andends beneath his eye, the swirling, shimmering relic that ends at his jaw,and the carved lines of the mouth I know as well as my own all add up tomake him physically fucking perfect to me, and that’s just his face. Hisbody? Somehow even better, and the way he uses it when he has me in hisarms— Nope. I shake my head and cut off my thoughts right there. Xaden maybe gorgeous, and powerful, and terrifyingly lethal—which shouldn’t be theturn-on it is—but I can’t trust him to tell me the truth about…well,anything. Which really hurts, considering how pathetically in love with himI am.“And what is the obvious thing you need to state, Major Ferris?” Xadenasks, his tone completely, utterly bored.“It’s an Assembly meeting,” Bodhi whispers to me. “Only a quorum offive is required to call a vote, since all seven are almost never here at onetime, and four votes carry a motion.”I file that information away. “Are we allowed to listen?”“Meetings are open to whoever wants to attend,” Imogen replies just asquietly.“And we’re attending…in the hallway?” I ask.“Yes,” Imogen answers with no other explanation.“Returning is the only option,” Hawk Nose continues. “Not doing sorisks everything we’re building here. Search patrols will come, and wedon’t have enough riders—”“It’s a little hard to recruit while trying to stay undetectable,” a petitewoman with glossy black hair like a raven counters, the umber skin at thecorners of her eyes crinkling as she glares down the table at the older man.“Let’s not get off topic, Trissa,” Brennan says, rubbing the bridge of hisnose. Our father’s nose. Their resemblance is uncanny.“No point increasing our numbers without a working forge to arm themwith weapons.” Hawk Nose’s voice rises above the others. “We’re still shorta luminary, if you haven’t noticed.”“And where are we in negotiations with Viscount Tecarus for his?” alarge man asks in a calm, rumbling voice, his ebony hand tugging at histhick silver beard.Viscount Tecarus? That isn’t a noble family in any Navarrian records.We don’t even have viscounts in our aristocracy.“Still working on a diplomatic solution,” Brennan answers. “There’s no solution. Tecarus isn’t over the insult you delivered lastsummer.” An older woman built like a battle-ax locks her gaze on Xaden,her blond hair brushing just past her square alabaster chin.“I told you, the viscount was never going to give it to us in the firstplace,” Xaden replies. “The man only collects things. He does not tradethem.”“Well, he’s definitely not going to trade with us now,” she retorts, hergaze narrowing. “Especially if you won’t even contemplate his latest offer.”“He can fuck right off with his offer.” Xaden’s voice is calm, but hiseyes have a hard edge that dares anyone at the table to disagree. As ifshowing these people they aren’t worth his time, he steps around the arm ofthe massive chair facing them and settles into it, stretching his long legs andresting his arms on the velvet armrests—like he doesn’t have a care in theworld.The quiet that falls on the room is telling. Xaden commands as muchrespect from the Assembly of this revolution as he does at Basgiath. I don’trecognize any of the other riders besides Brennan, but I’d bet Xaden is themost powerful in the room, given their silence.“For now,” Tairn reminds me with the arrogance only a hundred yearsof being one of the most formidable battle dragons on the Continent canprovide. “Instruct the humans to bring you up to the valley once the politicsare finished.”“There had better be a solution. If we can’t supply the drifts with enoughweaponry to really fight in the next year, the tide will shift too far to everhope of holding the venin advance at bay,” Silver Beard notes. “This all willhave been for nothing.”My stomach pitches. A year? We’re that close to losing a war I knewnothing about a few days ago?“As I said, I’m working on a diplomatic solution for the luminary”—Brennan’s tone sharpens—“and we’re so wildly off topic I’m not sure this isthe same meeting.”“I vote we take Basgiath’s luminary,” Battle-Ax suggests. “If we’re thatclose to losing this war, there’s no other option.” Xaden shoots Brennan a look that I can’t decipher, and I breathe deeplyas it hits me—he probably knows my own brother better than I do.And he kept him from me. Of all the secrets he hid, that’s the one I can’tquite swallow.“And what would you have done with the knowledge had he shared it?”Tairn asks.“Stop bringing logic into an emotional argument.” I fold my armsacross my chest. It’s my heart that won’t fully let my head forgive Xaden.“We’ve been over that,” Brennan says with finality. “If we takeBasgiath’s forging device, Navarre can’t replenish their stores at theoutposts. Countless civilians will die if those wards fall. Do any of youwant to be responsible for that?”Silence reigns.“Then we agree,” Hawk Nose says. “Until we can supply the drifts, thecadets have to return.”Oh.“They’re talking about us,” I whisper. That’s why we’re standing out oftheir direct sight.Bodhi nods.“You’re uncharacteristically quiet, Suri,” Brennan notes, glancing at thewide-shouldered brunette with olive skin and a single streak of silver in herhair, her nose twitching like a fox, sitting next to him.“I say we send all but the two.” Her nonchalance skates a chill down myspine as she drums her bony fingers on the table, a giant emerald ringcatching the light. “Six cadets can lie as well as eight.”Eight.Xaden, Garrick, Bodhi, Imogen, three marked ones I’d never gotten achance to know before we were thrown into battle, and…me.Nausea rises like a tide. The War Games. We’re supposed to be finishingthe last competition of the year between the wings of the Riders Quadrant atBasgiath, and instead, we entered deadly battle with an enemy I’d thoughtwere only folklore last week, and now we’re…well, we’re here, in a citythat isn’t supposed to exist. But not all of us.My throat tightens, and I blink back the burn in my eyes. Soleil andLiam didn’t survive.Liam. Blond hair and sky-blue eyes fill my memory, and pain eruptsbehind my ribs. His boisterous laugh. His quick smile. His loyalty andkindness. It’s all gone. He’s gone.All because he promised Xaden he’d guard me.“None of the eight are expendable, Suri.” Silver Beard leans on the backtwo legs of his chair and examines the map behind Xaden.“What do you propose, Felix?” Suri counters. “Running our own warcollege with all our spare time? Most of them haven’t finished theireducation. They’re of no use to us yet.”“As if any of you has a say in if we return,” Xaden interrupts, earningeveryone’s attention. “We will take the advice of the Assembly, but it willbe taken as only that—advice.”“We cannot afford to risk your life—” Suri argues.“My life is equal to any of theirs.” Xaden gestures toward us.Brennan’s gaze meets mine, then widens.Each head in the room turns toward us, and I fight the instinct to retreatas almost every set of eyes narrows on me.Who do they see? Lilith’s daughter? Or Brennan’s sister?I lift my chin because I’m both…and I feel like neither.“Not every life,” Suri says as she looks straight at me. Ouch. “Howcould you have stood there and let her overhear the conversation of theAssembly?”“If you didn’t want her to hear, you should have closed the door,” Bodhiresponds, stepping into the room.“She cannot be trusted!” Anger might color her cheeks, but that’s fear inSuri’s eyes.“Xaden has already taken responsibility for her.” Imogen sidesteps,moving slightly closer to me. “As brutal of a custom as it may be.”My gaze whips to meet Xaden’s. What the hell is she talking about?“I still don’t understand that particular decision,” Hawk Nose adds. “Decision was simple. She’s worth a dozen of me,” Xaden says, and mybreath catches at the intensity in his eyes. If I didn’t know better, I’d thinkhe means it. “And I’m not talking about her signet. I would have told hereverything discussed here anyway, so an open door is a moot point.”A spark of hope flares to life in my chest. Maybe he really is donekeeping secrets.“She’s General Sorrengail’s daughter,” Battle-Ax points out, frustrationclear in her voice.“And I’m the general’s son,” Brennan argues.“And you’ve more than proven your loyalty over the last six years!”Battle-Ax shouts. “She hasn’t!”Anger heats my neck, flushing up to my face. They’re talking about melike I’m not even here.“She fought at our side at Resson.” Bodhi tenses as his voice rises aswell.“She should be confined.” Suri’s face turns downright ruddy as shepushes away from the table and stands, her gaze jumping to the silver halfof my hair that forms my coronet braid. “She can ruin us all with what sheknows.”“Agreed.” Hawk Nose joins her with palpable loathing aimed in mydirection. “She’s too dangerous not to keep prisoner.”The muscles of my stomach tense, but I mask my expression like I’veseen Xaden do countless times and leave my hands at my sides, close to mysheathed daggers. My body might be frail, my joints undependable, but myaim with a knife is lethally accurate. There’s no fucking way I’m going tolet them cage me here.I scan each of the Assembly members, assessing which is the biggestthreat.Brennan rises to his full height. “Knowing that she’s bonded to Tairn,whose bonds get deeper with each rider and whose previous bond wasalready so strong that Naolin’s death nearly killed him? Knowing we fearhe’ll die if she does now? That because of that, Riorson’s life is tied tohers?” He nods toward Xaden. Disappointment tastes bitter on my tongue. Is that all I am to him?Xaden’s weakness?“I alone am responsible for Violet.” Xaden’s voice lowers in puremalice. “And if I’m not enough, there are not one but two dragons whohave already vouched for her integrity.”Enough is enough.“She is standing right here,” I snap, and an unflattering amount ofsatisfaction courses through me at the number of jaws that drop in front ofme. “So stop talking about me and try talking to me.”A corner of Xaden’s mouth rises, and the pride that flashes through hisexpression is unmistakable.“What do you want from me?” I ask them, striding into the room. “Wantme to walk Parapet and prove my bravery? Done. Want me to betray mykingdom by defending Poromish citizens? Done. Want me to keep hissecrets?” I gesture toward Xaden with my left hand. “Done. I kept everysecret.”“Except the one that mattered.” Suri lifts an eyebrow. “We all know howyou ended up in Athebyne.”Guilt clogs my throat.“That was not—” Xaden starts, rising from his chair.“Through no fault of her own.” The man nearest us with the gray beard— Felix—stands, blocking Suri from my sight as he turns toward her. “Nofirst-year could withstand a memory reader, especially one considered afriend.” He pivots to face me. “But you have to know that you haveenemies at Basgiath, now. Should you return, you must know that Aetoswill not be among your friends. He will do everything he can to kill you forwhat you’ve seen.”“I know.” The words are thick on my tongue.Felix nods.“We are done here,” Xaden says, his gaze catching and holding Suri’sand then Hawk Nose’s, their shoulders drooping in defeat.“I’ll expect an update on Zolya in the morning,” Brennan says.“Consider this Assembly meeting adjourned.”
