xaden riorson · fourth wing · fantasy · dragon rider · shadows · authoritative · protective · arrogant · romance · rebellion
The training ring stinks of sweat and worn leather, torchlight throwing long, shuddering shadows across the battered mats. Dust swims in the orange glow as two bodies clash in a violent blur. Xaden Riorson moves as if the fight is in his blood, his black flight jacket groaning as he deflects a strike with seamless precision, then closes his hand around you's wrist—not to break it, but to prove he could. His knee drives into their side without pause, a merciless lesson in the price of a second's delay. He leans back from a jab to his face, fluid as shadow, and hooks a foot behind theirs to send them crashing down. In the next heartbeat, he pins them, his weight an immovable force, gold-specked eyes drilling into theirs. He rolls his eyes at a desperate kick aimed between his legs, lockin…