Whisper [Fourth Wing]

Chapter Five

"GO EASY ON HER, IM." I whisper to the pink-haired Imogen as she bounces with a newfound purpose.

Violet steps hesitantly onto the edge of the mat, looking like she's about to keel over and have a heart attack and I don't blame her for being scared of the murderous glint in Imogen's eyes.

Sure Imogen had every reason to hate Violet. She was the daughter of the woman who killed Imogen's parents after all but were we judging people on their parents now? Because if we were then not only did I have every right to kill Xaden for what his father did to my country, but every marked one in this quadrant had every right to want me dead. I'm still not sure some of them don't. I'm the daughter of the King, if he can even be called that, who ordered the execution of the separatists. The same King who had their children watch their parents get burnt alive for simply wanting to be free.

But I wasn't dead. I was still alive. My best friends were marked ones. I was bonded to two of them through our dragons. If we were going down that road, I'd just betrayed my fathers orders for the son of the great betrayer. I wasn't my father and Imogen knew that. Violet wasn't her mother yet for some reason, Imogen couldn't see past that. Maybe she hadn't really gotten past me being who I was. Knowing Imogen, the only reason she put up with me was so that she knew how to destroy me once we were out of the quadrant and the codex wasn't protecting me.

"Sorrengail." Imogen looks Violet over like she's something she's scraped off the side of her boot, narrowing her pale green eyes. "You really should dye your hair if you don't want everyone to know who your mother is. You're the only silver-haired freak in the quadrant."

Great. So she wasn't going to go easy then. She was going to go full blown Imogen.

"Never said I cared if everyone knows who my mother is." Violet circles the second-year on the mat. "I am proud of her service to protect our kingdom—from enemies both without and within."

As her jaw tightens at the dig, a bubble of hope rises in my chest. Marked ones blame her mother for the execution of their parents. Fine. But they needed to keep that off the mat. My mother often says the minute you let emotion enter a fight, you've already lost. I've never prayed harder that my mother was right. Nothing against Imogen, she was the closest friend I had other than Sawyer, but she could be so damned stubborn sometimes. The only way Violet was coming out of this alive was if Imogen was too angry to think straight.

"You bitch," she seethes. "Your mother murdered my family."

She lunges forward and swings wildly, and Violet quickly sidesteps, spinning away with her hands up. They do that for a few more rounds, and somehow, Violet manages to land a few jabs to Imogen's side. Maybe she just might survive this in tact.

Imogen growls low in her throat as she misses Violet again, and her foot flies at her head. Vi easily ducks, but then she drops to the ground and kicks out with her other foot, which lands square in Violet's chest, sending her backward. She hits the mat with a thud, and Imogen's already above her, so damn fast. Unnaturally so.

"You can't use your powers in here, Imogen!" Dain shouts.

Imogen is trying her best to kill Violet. She shifts slightly, pulling something from her waist and I spot the flash of light against metal before her hand flies toward Violet's ribs and she smiles. No. Imogen was going to kill her. She didn't care about the codex. All Imogen cared about right now was getting revenge for her mother.

"Imogen!"

I don't think. My instincts have me stepping forward toward the mat but I stop when her smile fades and I don't hear Violet cry out. Every head turns toward me and I look like a fool. To them, nothing happened. They couldn't see Imogen pull out the dagger. They couldn't see that Violet should be dead right now. Why wasn't she?