This document is a bonus chapter from *Fourth Wing* by Rebecca Yarros, narrated from Xaden Riorson’s perspective, in which he accompanies Violet Sorrengail’s squad to a midland outpost for a training exercise led by Violet’s older sister, Mira. Throughout the session, Xaden navigates his barely concealed feelings for Violet, his rivalry with Dain Aetos, and a covert mission run by Imogen. The chapter reveals a pivotal moment when Xaden and Violet discover they can communicate through their shared bond — a consequence of their dragons Tairn and Sgaeyl being mated — which Xaden finds both thrilling and dangerous. After the training exercise, Mira privately confronts both Dain and Xaden, warning Violet that Xaden could overshadow her growth and hinting at his dark history with their mother. The chapter reaches its climax when the outpost’s wards are suddenly dropped and a hostile gryphon drift approaches, forcing everyone to evacuate. Knowing Violet will refuse to leave without her sister, Xaden kisses her as a distraction, allowing Tairn to swoop in and carry her to safety against her will — an act Violet vows to hate him for, and one Xaden accepts with full awareness, resolved to live with her anger as long as she stays alive.
BONUS CONTENT
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
-XADEN-
Dain Aetos is dancing on my last fucking nerve. Between the petty comments he’s been making all
afternoon and what I’m sure he thinks are menacing glares, I’m ready to lean over and introduce his
face to the Montserrat briefing table.
But Violence wouldn’t like that, and as satisfying as it would be to hear his nose crunch against the
polished wood, I’m not about to do anything that could end this little training session early and
jeopardize Imogen’s mission, should her squad realize she isn’t actually vomiting in the infirmary.
Not that the healer will remember her ever being there, thanks to Imogen’s handy little signet. If she’s
on schedule, she’ll be on her way back from delivering the drop I brought with me. The thought
makes me reinforce my shields just in case Dain acts on the threat in his eyes. I’m not letting that
fucker’s hands anywhere near me.
“So all we do is wait for something to happen?” Ridoc Gamlyn asks—by Dunne, did he just put his
dirty-ass boots on the briefing table?
“Yes,” the older Sorrengail sister answers from the head of the table to my left, then gestures with her
right hand, knocking Gamlyn on his ass with lesser magic. “And keep your feet off the table.”
The taller of the riders stationed here chuckles and updates the battle map behind Violet’s sister, but
his face falls quickly, his eyes narrowing with suspicion when he catches me watching him. I scratch
my neck at the top of my collar, right over my relic, and hold his gaze until he drops it.
Shit like that is why I keep my inconvenient feelings about Violet to my damned self, no matter how
good she looks today or how delectable she smells sitting next to me, like some kind of citrus that
makes me want to bury my face in the side of her neck and see just how pink I can get her cheeks to
flush. No, if I did that, every rider in this room would look at her differently, and not in a good way.
Leave it to me to fall for the one woman on the Continent I can never fucking have.
4/12/26, 4:50 PM
FW Bonus Chapter 27 — Rebecca Yarros | #1 NYT Bestselling Author
https://rebeccayarros.com/fw-bonus-chapter-27
1/21
Still, I’d put myself right between her and Liam, ignoring his knowing little smirk, when I took the
chair closest to Violet. There’s nothing going on there, but he can back the fuck up when I’m around.
“Consider this your Battle Brief,” Mira Sorrengail lectures as Gamlyn scurries back into his chair at
the foot of the table. “This morning was about a quarter of the patrol we’d regularly fly, so normally
we’d just be getting back about now and reporting our findings to the commander. But for the sake of
killing time, since we’re in this room as the reaction flight for this afternoon, let’s pretend we’d come
across a newly fortified enemy outpost crossing our border”—she pivots to the map and marks a
nearby location with a red flag—“here.”
Aetos is too busy glaring at me to look, so I settle back into my seat and do what I do best—stare right
back.
“We’re supposed to pretend it just popped up overnight?” There’s a little snark in Emery Barnes’s
tone, but I keep my attention on making Dain as uncomfortable as possible just for fun.
“For the sake of argument, third-year,” Mira retorts.
Dain’s hands curl into fists on the tabletop, and a corner of my mouth rises. He’s pathetically easy to
rile.
“I like this game,” the shorter of the lieutenants stationed here comments from Mira’s side.
“What would our objective be?” Mira asks. “Aetos?”
Dain startles and jerks his focus to the map. I win. “What type of fortifications are there? Are we
talking a haphazard wooden structure? Or something more substantial?”
At least he asks good questions.
“Like they had time to build a fortress overnight,” Ridoc quips. “It has to be wooden, right?”
“You are all so fucking literal.” Mira rubs at her forehead like we’re a headache she can’t kick. “Fine,
let’s say they occupied a keep that’s already established. Stone and all.”
Which means there would be civilians or possibly prisoners inside. Wide-scale dragon fire is out. Fine.
Liam scouts out their defenses, then I drench the place in shadow for our assault. Half of us dismount
4/12/26, 4:50 PM
FW Bonus Chapter 27 — Rebecca Yarros | #1 NYT Bestselling Author
https://rebeccayarros.com/fw-bonus-chapter-27
2/21
while the other half take out the gryphons in the air, and I move in darkness below to free the
prisoners while Emery directs controlled blasts of fire by air-wielding, using Quinn as a scout.
My mind runs through three other battle strategies, then stutters on a fourth as I glance in Violet’s
direction and catch her lips pursing in concentration. Gods, that mouth. I dream about that mouth.
Fantasize about that mouth. That kiss is burned into my memory like a relic, taunting me with what
will never happen again, with what I never should have tasted in the first place.
Mira and Quinn start arguing about the scenario’s parameters, and I force my attention back to the
briefing.
“How many of you have been called out as third-years?” Mira folds her arms.
Emery raises his hand and I lift a couple of fingers.
Violet’s eyebrows rise, but she stays quiet, just like she has been all afternoon. I crack open my shields
just enough to sense that wispy silver bond that’s been steadily growing between the two of us—the
one she hasn’t noticed yet.
“I told you, it’s been known to happen between the riders of bonded pairs,” Sgaeyl reminds me,
annoyance sharpening her tone.
“And has Tairn told her?” I ask, to which she doesn’t bother replying.
Dain turns a shade that reminds me of a tomato. “That’s not correct. We’re never called into service
until graduation.”
I bite back a laugh and offer him a sarcastic thumbs-up.
“Yeah, all right.” Emery huffs a laugh. “Just wait until next year. I can’t count how many times we’re
the ones sitting in these very rooms in the midland forts because their riders have been called to the
front for an emergency.”
Aetos pales.
If he knew half of what’s actually happening beyond the borders, he’d probably pass out.
4/12/26, 4:50 PM
FW Bonus Chapter 27 — Rebecca Yarros | #1 NYT Bestselling Author
https://rebeccayarros.com/fw-bonus-chapter-27
3/21
