Xaden Quotes

“Have you always been this tall?' I blurt the first thing that comes to mind.

'No, I was a child at some point.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“His thumbs stroke over the soft skin under my ears, and his gaze drops before he suddenly lets go and retreats a full step. 'Damn it. Touching you was a bad idea.'

'The worst.' I agree, but my tongue skims my lower lip.

He groans and my core melts at the sound. 'Kissing you would be a cataclysmic mistake.'

'Calamitous.' What would it take to hear that groan again?

The inches between us feel like kindling, ready to burn at the first suggestion of hear, and I'm a living, breathing flame. This is everything I should run from, and yet denying the primal attraction I feel is completely, utterly impossible.

'We'll both regret it.' He shakes his head, but there's more than hunger in his eyes as he stares at my lips.

'Naturally,' I whisper. But knowing I'll regret it doesn't stop me from wanting it- wanting him. Regretting is a problem for future Violet.

'Fuck it.'

One second he's out of reach and the next his mouth is on mine, hot and insistent.

Gods, yes. This is exactly what I need.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Good job remaining professional, Aetos.' Xaden scratches the relic on his neck I'm all but certain doesn't actually itch. 'Really shows those leadership qualities to their best advantage.'

One of the riders down the table whistles. 'Do you boys just want to whip it out and measure? It would be faster.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Oh, Violence, you're going to have to learn to shield against Tairn or his escapades with Sgaeyl will drive you mad- or into someone's bed.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Bet it would be even more awkward if I kissed you now, huh?'

Yes, please.

'The next time we kiss had better not be just to piss off Dain.' The next time had better only be because we want it.

'Next time, huh?' His gaze lowers to my mouth again.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Holy. Fucking. Hot.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You turned oranges into a weapon, Violence?'

I wiggle to a sitting position and shrug. 'I worked with what I had.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Now, earn your nickname and try your best to kill me.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“He stares at me in disbelief. 'You know what? We're not fighting tonight. Not if you want to learn how to shield.'

'Fine. We're not fighting. Teach me.' I tilt my chin. Gods, I barely reach his collarbone.

'Ask me nicely.' He leans closer.

'Have you always been this tall?' I blurt the first thing that comes to mind.

'No, I was a a child at some point.'

I roll my eyes.

'Ask me nicely, Violence,' he whispers. 'Or I'm gone.'
...

'Right then. All right. Will you teach me to shield?'

A smile curves his mouth, and my gaze drops to his lips. 'Say please.'

'Are you always this difficult?'

'Only when I know I have something you need. What can I say, I like making you squirm. It's like a sweet little slice of payback for what you've put me through these last couple of months.' He brushes the snow off my hair.

'What I've put you through?' Unbelieveable.

'You've scared me nearly to death once or twice, so I think saying please is a fair request.'

Like he's ever played fair a day in his life. I take a deep breath, and swat at a snowflake that lands on my nose. 'As you prefer. Xaden?' I smile sweetly up at him and inch a little closer. 'Would you pretty, pretty please teach me how to shield before I accidentally climb you like a tree and we both wake up with regrets?'

'Oh, I'm firmly in control of my faculties.' He smiles again, and I feel it like a caress.

Dangerous. This is so damn dangerous.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“I jolt at the simple knowledge that there's nothing he could do that I wouldn't welcome. I want him.

Only him. Here. Now. Anywhere. Whenever.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You could have killed him and saved us all a lot of drama.'

'I didn't want to kill him.' I roll my shoulders, testing it. Sore, but not dislocated. My face is tender, too. 'I just wanted him to stop killing me.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Xaden studies me with an intensity that makes me sway towards him. 'You are astonishing.' He shakes his head. 'I couldn't do that for weeks.'

'Guess I have a superior teacher.' The emotion swelling through me is more than joy. It's euphoria that has me grinning like a fool. I'm finally not only good at something, but astonishing.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Don't be a dick,' I whisper.

'You haven't even seen me start to be a dick.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Xaden lifts a hand a few inches above the table, and shadows pour from underneath our seats, filling the room and turning it dark as midnight in a blink. My heart jumps as my sight goes black.

'Relax. It's just me.' A ghost of a touch skims my cheek.

Just him is slightly... terrifying.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“That is...' Rhiannon murmurs beside me.

'It sure is,' I agree.

'Stop objectifying your wingleader,' Liam teases.

'Is that what we're doing?' Rhiannon asks, not bothering to look away.

My mouth waters at the muscled expanse of his back and that sculpted ass. 'Yeah, I think that's what we're doing.'

Liam snorts.

'We could just be watching for technique.'

'Yeah. We absolutely could be.' But I'm not.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You're staring. It's going to get awkward in about thirty seconds if you don't stop.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Are you pushing for a reason?' Tairn asks.

'Can you give me one not to?'

'He cares for you. That's already hard enough for him.'

I scoff. 'He cares about keeping me alive. There's a difference.'

'Not for him there isn't.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You choose the oddest times to defend her, Aetos,' Xaden all but rolls his eyes as he looks at Dain. 'And the most convenient times not to.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Forget second thoughts. I just want more.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Three days?' Dain fires back, leaning in. 'You couldn't make it three days?'

'It has nothing to do with him.' I interrupt, setting my dragon down with a little more force than necessary. 'That's up to Tairn and Sgaeyl.'

'You never considered that it was you I couldn't stay away from?'

I crook my right arm and jab it into Xaden's biceps. He doesn't mean that. Not when he's still adamant that kissing me was a mistake. And if he does... I'm not going there...

'Now, now, you'll give our little communication secret away if you can't keep from being so... violent.' He barely restrains a smile, obviously loving that he gets the last word.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“She's only alive because of you,' Jack spits, but the blood drains from his face.

'Right, because I'm the one who buried a dagger in your shoulder at Threshing.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Want some? Unless you're here to continue our earlier argument, in which case, none for you.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Apparently I can't trust Liam to report deadly situations or Rhiannon to train you on the mat, seeing how easily Barlowe had you pinned, so as of this moment, I'm taking over.'

'Taking over what?' My eyes narrow.

'Everything when it comes to you.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“Though we probably could have waited a couple of days for my arm to heal up before doing this.' The stitches pull, but I've had worse.

'No.' He shakes his head, unsheathing one of his daggers and walking forward. 'The enemy doesn't give a shit if you're wounded. They'll use it to their advantage. If you don't know how to fight in pain, then you'll get us both killed.'

'Fine.' I shift my body weight in annoyance. Little does he know, I'm almost always in pain. It's pretty much my comfort zone. 'That's a good point, so I'll let you have it.'

'Thank you for being so gracious.' He smirks...”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“The pain in his eyes is the kind that never dies, the kind that rises like an unpredictable tide and floods the shoreline without mercy.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You don't have to use your powers, Vi,' Dain starts, his voice soft and comforting.

'Stop. Fucking. Coddling. Her.' Xaden bites out every word at Dain. 'She is not a child. She's a full-grown woman. A rider. Start treating her like one and at least have the decency to give her the truth.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You just want her to be like you,' Dain argues. 'A cold-blooded killer. Soon you'll be telling her that it's all right, you get used to the killing.'

I inhale a sharp breath.

Xaden nails him with a glare. 'The blood in my veins is as warm as yours, Aetos, and if it's my job you want next year, then you'd better start understanding that you never get used to killing, but you do understand that it's necessary.' He turns back to me, his dark gaze boring into mine. 'This isn't primary school. This is war- and you heard me say it once before, but the ugly truth those not on the front lines choose to forget is there are always body bags in war.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You're actually going to help me?'

'I've been helping you for months.' His hand flexes at my waist, and I swear I can feel the warmth of his touch through my cloak and leathers.

'No, you sent Liam to help. He's been helping me for months. My forehead puckers. 'Weeks. Almost months. Whatever.'

He has the nerve to look offended. 'I'm the one who burst through your door and killed everyone who attacked you, and then I removed the other threat to your life with a very public, very polarising display of vengeance. Liam didn't do that. I did.'

'The crowd wasn't polarised. They were all for it. I was there.'

'You were torn. In fact, you begged Tairn not to kill her, damn well knowing she'd just come after you again.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“You have to go.' HIs words are clipped and at odds with the heat in his eyes, his ragged breaths.

'Why?' The cold is a shock to my system without his body heat.

'Because I can't.' He rakes both hands through his hair and leaves them on the top of his head. 'And I refuse to act on desire that isn't yours. So you have to walk back up those steps. Now.'

I shake my head. 'But I want-' Everything.

'This isn't your want.' He tilts his head up at the sky. 'That's the fucking problem. And I can't leave you out here on your own, so have just a little mercy on me and go.'

Silence ices over between us as I get ahold of myself. He's saying no.

And the shitty part about it isn't the chill of chivalrous rejection. It's that he's right. This started because I couldn't tell Tairn's emotions from my own. But those emotions are gone, aren't they? My door is wide open, and I don't feel anything coming from Tairn's direction.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing

“It was a mistake. You and I are going to be stationed together for the rest of our lives, never able to escape the other. Getting involved- even on a physical level- is a colossal blunder. No point talking about it.'

I barely keep from clutching at my chest to see if all my organs are where they're supposed to be, since it feels like he just eviscerated me with four sentences. But he had been just as into it as I was. I was there, and there was no mistaking that kind of... enthusiasm. But maybe it was the churam. 'What if I want to talk about it?'

'Then feel free, but it doesn't mean I have to be a part of the conversation. We're both allowed our boundaries, and this is one of mine.”
― Rebecca Yarros, Fourth Wing