Fourth Wing Recap / Summary
I have made no secret of the fact I have a horrible memory and completely forget important book details when there is a long wait between book releases in a series. I would always go back and reread previous books each time a new one would drop and it got a little exhasting. I've since started making myself recaps - I've done them for series like Throne of Glass, ACOTAR, Crescent City and Red Rising. Now I'm starting Fourth Wing, it only seems right to do them for it too as there's quite a few more books to come.
I do chapter by chapter ones as I need to give myself as much detail as possible. They may be too detailed for some, but I share them in hopes they are useful to some.
Fourth Wing Recaps:
Fourth Wing
Iron Flame
Onyx Storm
Fourth Wing Recap / Summary
Chapter 1: It's Conscription Day at Basgiath War College. Violet Sorrengall is on her way to her mother's office, who is General Sorrengall who is in charge of the College. She has spent 6 months doing physical training to prepare for the day.
Story takes place in Navarre. Thousands of 20 year olds have shown up for Conscription Day in the quadrant of their choice - either a Infantry, Scribe, Rider or Healer.
Violet was originally going to be a Scribe, like her deceased father, but her mother insists she has to be a Rider. Most prepare their whole lives for that and she has only had half a year.
Violet's sister Mira has shown up, she is 26 and a Rider, and is arguing with their mother to not make her go for the Rider Quadrant, as she believes Violet will die.
All Navarrian officers spend 3 years at the college in their chosen quadrant. Their enemy is the Poromiel kingdom that has gryphons and gryphon riders.
Violet's mother was sick when she was pregnant with her - and it appears that Violet has always had some kind of health issue because of that, although it isn't immediately made clear what that is.
Mira and Violet had a brother who was also a rider, but he was killed 5 years ago fighting Tyrrish rebels.
Mira gives her better equipment and boots that aren't smooth on the bottom, as they will grip better as she makes it over the parapet, which is the first test she will face.
Facts we learn about Violet here - she has been with two men in her life so far and her hair naturally fades to silver at the ends.
The Riders quadrant has less rules than the others. Riders can kill each other at any time. And not all dragons are willing to bond to a rider so competition is fierce. Riders can't attack while one is sleeping - that is an offence that will get you killed.
Mira advises her to find Dain Aetos who is a current second year and someone Violet has been friends with since childhood, but has often wondered about them being more.
The parapet is a very narrow stone bridge leading to the citadel that the rider quadrant is kept in. It is up extremely high and they must cross it as their first task.
Children of rebels, known as separatist children, have been given marks as punishment for their parents crimes. They are known as relics that were given by a dragon. Seem to be like tattoos.
Mira warns her to stay away from Xaden Riorson, who is the son of Fen Riorson (aka the Great Betrayer who led the rebellion). All children of rebels were conscripted as punishment and they thought he'd die, but he made it and was chosen by a dragon and is now a wing leader. She warns he will kill Violet when he realises who she is.
Meets two people on way up to the parapet - Rhiannon Matthias and Dylan. Violet swaps one of her boots for Rhiannon's after she notices hers have the same slippery base Mira warned her about. Dylan dies trying to get across but Rhiannon makes it. 15% of candidates usually die during this trial.
She sees an incredibly attractive man taking names before the trial and quickly learns it is Xaden, who is instantly hostile when he learns who she is. Violet's mother executed his father, but his father killed Violet's brother.
It begins to rain - making the crossing harder.
Chapter 2: Meets another candidate, Jack Barlowe, who mocks her and attempts to push her off but misses. Repeats facts to herself as she crosses - a way to info dump to us but I only made note of the fact the continent is made up of 2 kingdoms that have been at war for 400 years. Navarre is bigger and made up of 6 provinces.
Jack shoves off the boy coming behind him and then speeds up to push Violet to her death next but she makes it across and then threatens him with a dagger.
Chapter 3: Violet sees Dain, who she notes has got more attractive. Dain is a squad leader, the highest rank you can be in second year. He wants both her and Rhiannon in his squad.
Riders gain magic once a dragon chooses them - as they channel their power to their rider.
Dain takes her to his room so she can wrap her knee - as she hurt it when she tripped on the parapet and banged it on the stone.
Dain tries to have her leave for the scribe quadrant as he believes she will die, but she knows her mother won't allow it. It appears Dain believes the dragons will see her as weak, again hinting at some kind of chronic illness.
301 cadets made it across and 67 died.
Commandent Panchek is in charge of the Riders Quadrant - but it is noted he aims to take Violet's mothers job before then going after General Melgren's. But Melgren's dragon gives him the ability to see the outcome of any fight before it happens.
They will face many more challenges before they reach the Threshing and then after that those left and chosen by a dragon will become riders. Only about 25% of them will survive.
Nyra is senior wing leader and head of First Wing.
There are three squads in each section and three sections in each of the four wings,
Rhiannon and Violet get chosen for Second Squad, Flame Section, Secon Wing - which Dain is in charge of. Xaden is in charge of the Fourth Wing and after he speaks to Nyra, she moves Dain and his section to Xaden's Fourth Wing.
Your squad are those who aren't allowed to kill you, but everyone else can.
8 dragons fly up and land on fortress walls. Dragons and humans work together because they get signet abilities from bonding. Once a rider bonds to a dragon, they can't survive without their dragon but a dragon can live just fine without their human.
Three people run scared from the dragons and are then burnt to death by them - they don't like weakness.
Chapter 4: They now stand to listen to them read out the names of those who died. Violet has a silver star on her uniform that signals she is a first year and a Fourth Wing patch too. She was put in the first floor dorms, Jack is on the third.
They will begin sparring twice a week. In two months they will do Gauntlet, which is an obstacle course they have to scale. If they make it through that they will get to the flight field for the Presentation, where dragons willing to bond will get to see them for the first time. Two days after that is the Threshing.
Sawyer is a boy in their squad who is a repeat - it means he made it through the previous year but no dragon wanted to bond with him.
Dain signals for her to meet him to talk. She asks why they were moved to Fourth Wing - he admits it is known by everyone that Xaden wants her dead.
Xaden's dragon is a Blue Daggertail called Sgaeyl and other dragons avoid her as she is so dangerous.
Once a rider is bonded they can do lesser magic like open doors and other things. A riders signet power is their strongest and unique to the bond with their dragon. Violet's mother can use the power of storms. Dain can read a person's most recent memories when he touches them but his is a classified ability that not many know about.
Xaden sees them together and calls out their closeness in front of other people. Dain tells Violet to run and she does.
Chapter 5: Violet is in Battle Brief, taught by Professor Devera.
They get up to date briefings every day. They learn that there was an attack in the east by a drift of Braevi gryphons and riders. Gryphon, like dragons, can also channel magic to their riders. But dragons have the unique ability to power wards that prevent all other magic being used. But those wards had gone down during the attack, allowing the enemy to use magic.
Have them ask questions about the attack. Violet, trying to keep a low profile, asks Rhiannon to ask what altitude the village was at. But she gets called out for it and told to ask the question herself next time. She asks a few more questions and correctly deduces that they knew the wards were failing before they went, which is why reinforcements arrived so quickly and spared more deaths.
Sparring is being taught by Professor Emetterio. Sawyer and Rhiannon make a deal with Violet, to help her with sparring if she helps them with history.
Jack kills a first year by snapping his neck.
She's made to fight a second year called Imogen, who say Violet's mother murdered her family. She tries to stab Violet but the armor she's wearing saves her life. Imogen gets the advantage and ends up snapping her bones.
Chapter 6: Dain carries her to the healers. He lost it when she was hurt - shouted at her to yield and then carried her away and now people know she is important to him. Healers have no magic so heal the regular way. Healing signets are very rare, Brennan was one.
Her shoulder is dislocated and one of her arms is broken.
To avoid confusion, I looked up what condition Violet has. It is never
explicitly stated but she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a condition that
Rebecca Yarros has. It affects the body’s connective tissue.
Mira has a scribe sneak a note and journal under her pillow. The journal was their brothers, who gave it to Mira when she joined the college. She has added to it, and it gives all the knowledge both of them learned while at the college.
Chapter 7: Violet has been sneaking out at night to find stuff to help her in upcoming Challenges. She will have to face off against another cadet, but the journal has helped her learn of ways she can find out in advance who she will face. She has a book of poisons and has been sneaking out to find different ingredients.
She is up a tree collecting berries when two people hidden beneath cloaks stop below it - they are Imogen and Xaden. More people show up - all have rebellion relics. There is at least 24 of them. The rules state that rebels can't be in groups bigger than three, which is why they are meeting up in secret.
She needs to hear what they are saying so moves down lower. They are talking about helping the first year rebel kids make it through and survive.
One asks when they will get to kill Violet, Xaden says she is his and he will kill her when the time is right.
Imogen is being made to do dish duty for a month by Dain for what she did. She says she should have done worse as Violet's mum is who executed her sister and mother. They point out her mother is responsible for almost all of their parents being caught and killed.
Someone named Garrick says punishing a child for what their parents did is not what they should be doing, as it is exactly what was done to them.
She waits after they all leave to climb down but is caught by Xaden.He knew she was there as his signet allows him to command shadows. She throws two daggers at him, he says she missed but she points out she hadn't. Purposefully threw them so they'd land either side of his head. He tells her to do that to Jack at some point and maybe he'll stop threatening to kill her.
He asks if she plans to report what she has seen and she says she doesn't. He asks why, she says because all he was doing was helping them. Says if she keeps her word then he will owe her and then he leaves.
Chapter 8: She knows her first challenge will be against Oren Seifert. She now does morning duty in the kitchens and she sprinkles a powder of dried berries over his food the morning of the challenge.
There are different breeds of dragons like Green Daggertails and Red Scorpiontails. Red Scorpiontails anger easily. Only 100 dragons have agreed to bond this year so far, which is less than the previous year.
Dragons can talk but only do so with their rider. They also only share their entire name with their rider.
Xaden's dragon is the rarest of the blue breeds, a Daggertail. She boned with Xaden, who is a relative of her previous rider, which is usually not allowed but she does what she wants.
There is only one black dragon besides the one General Melgren has. This one is a morningstartail. Black dragons are the rarest and one hasn't been hatched in 100 years. This dragon hasn't agreed to bond since his last rider died during the rebellion.
The signet you get from your dragon is unique, so not the same as the one given to their previous rider. His last rider had the ability to siphon power from other places including other dragons and riders. His rider died trying to bring another rider back from death and so he burned out and died. Violet asks Professor Kaori if the person he was trying to revive was her brother and he confirms that it was. He knew both her siblings and tells her she's is smarter than both.
She is about to fight Oren, Dain warns her that he overheard that he plans to try to kill her during the challenge. She insists she will be fine. Jack taunts her again and she takes Xaden's advice and throws two daggers at him.
She fights and wins against Oren, who is sick from the poison.
Then she does the same on the next challenge by poisoning the girl she has to fight. And then the next time by doing the same - she uses a different type each time to avoid suspicion. But on her sixth challenge, she does it too early and the girl is taken to healers so Xaden steps in to fight her instead.
Chapter 9: They begin to fight. He keeps disarming her of her daggers and kicking them away. Refers to her by the name Violence, rather than Violet. Tells her she's smart for taking out her challengers before they even begin to fight, which shows her that he knows what she has been doing. Warns her that if she doesn't actually ever face anyone properly, then she can't learn and get better. He gets her down to the mat, advices on places to stab someone from the position.
She asks how he knew what she was doing and he says she was too obvious with it.
She sneaks up to Dain's room that night and he massages her sore muscles. Dain has been speaking to Markham, had asked him to let her join the Scribe Quadrant and he agreed to take her.
He begs her to do it because he can't lose her. Believes the others will take her out when they go to see the dragons to present themselves to be chosen.
Chapter 10: They now get to practice on the Gauntlet - the obstacle course. They finally lose someone from their squad - Aurelie falls and dies while practising.
Parents can come and claim the body of their child or school can bury them under a stone and burn their personal items. Aurelie's parents chose the second one, so Violet wants to go and take her things to the burn pit herself.
Xaden sees her on the way back. She's still questioning if and when he is going to kill her. She admits she can't finish the Gauntlet as she can't scale the chimney section but he tells her she has everything she needs to get past that section.
Chapter 11: She's had 9 practice sessions on the Gauntlet and still hasn't figured out how to get through the chimney session.
The day of Presentation, she has to make it through the Gauntlet. She makes use of the ropes to help her scale the chimney. The last section is a 10 foot wooden ramp that she needs to scale - uses her daggers for this.
Chapter 12: 169 of them make it to the end and their squad comes 11th out of 36 squads. There are only 100 dragons up for bonding.
They've heard there is 101 dragons now, that a feathertail has come but feathertails don't bond. They walk past all the dragons and the feathertail is last - a small golden dragon. It isn't much taller than Violet and considerably smaller than the other dragons.
Wyvern are considered a story and nothing more - with two legs rather than four and willing and happy to eat humans.
One of their squad, Pryor gets burned to death by a dragon. Two green dragons approach Violet and keep sniffing her - she thinks it is due to the dragon scale armour her sister gave her that she wears under her clothes. Luca, a girl in their squad who keeps talking badly about Violet, is also burned to death by a dragon.
Chapter 13: It is October 1st, which is always the day of Threshing. She has been wandering through the valley for a while but hasn't found any dragon that wants to bond with her. Jack, Oren and Tynan are looking for something - she realises they plan to find the golden dragon and kill it.
She wants to find and warn the dragon, but trips on the way and injures her ankle. She finds it and tries to warn it to leave but it doesn't. Jack and the others arrive and she prepares to fight them when Xaden and his dragon appear and he warns them to rethink what they are about to do.
Chapter 14: The rules state that Xaden can only watch what they do, he can't actually step in and stop them or help Violet at all. Violet believes the golden dragon can't fly and doesn't have claws either, so won't be any help to her either.
The boys attack. She throws a knife that lands in Jack's shoulder. He is too injured and ends up running away, leavin Oren and Tynan to fight her. She manages to knock Oren out. But she gets injured and knows that Tynan can now kill her. But as he's about to, she notices that Xaden appears to be coming to help her, even though it's against the rules.
Before Xaden can interfere, the large black unbonded black dragon they were shown in class shows up. It burns Tynan to death and then tells her she should kill Oren next, but she says she can't kill him while he's knocked out. The golden dragon then flies off.
The black dragon tells her to climb on his back and she realises he is choosing her as his rider. His name is Tairneanach and tells Violet she may call him Tairn. He takes flight but she can't get a decent grip and falls while he is in the air.
Chapter 15: Tairn catches her in his claws - she can speak to him. Gets her back on his back and tells her to hold on as they put on a show. She asks why he chose her as his rider and he says it is because she saved the golden dragon. Rider and dragon share a special bond - so he can read her thoughts.
She has to tell the person taking roll call her dragons name, as only a dragons rider is told it. She gives Tairns name but then the golden dragon speaks to her too and tells Violet to give them her name too, which is Andarnaurram, Andarna for short.
Chapter 16: The others aren't happy - a rider has never been picked by more than one dragon before. Healers see to Violet's wounds and Jack is told he will need surgery for the shoulder Violet injured.
More dragons show up - so that they can have a meeting about what Tairn and Andarna have done.
Rhiannon, Sawyer and Ridoc all made it and have dragons, but Trina fell from hers and died.
Dairn comes for her and tells her she will need to choose between the two dragons and that she has to pick Andarna. He warns her that Tairn is mated to Xaden's dragon and have the strongest mating bond. Bonded pairs can't be kept apart for long, which means if she chooses Tairn than she will be around Xaden all the time.
Xaden shows up and Dain accuses him of orchestrating this whole thing. Violet finally realises that Xaden doesn't want to kill her because he has had multiple times where he could have and hasn't. Xaden says it has nothing to do with him and that Violet is the last person he'd want Tairn to have chosen.
Xaden questions whether Dain would have broke the rules to help save Violet's life and he says that he wouldn't have. After Dain leaves, Xaden warns her that she shouldn't trust Dain as much as she does.
He tells Violet that Tairn has a strong bond with Xaden's dragon, as well as with Violet now. Losing his last rider almost killed Tairn, which is rare in dragons but can happen. When he lost his rider, it didn't just almost kill him but Xaden's dragon too.
Each time a dragon gets a new rider, the bond between them is stronger than the last. Xaden tells her that they will have to work together now because if she dies it could end up killing him. And he warns her that those who didn't get picked by a dragon will try and kill her in the hopes Tairn will pick them as his next rider - 41 weren't chosen.
The dragons finish their meeting - as they have no law against a rider having two dragons they will allow Tairn and Andarna to share Violet.
The new riders are all given their relics and Violets is on her back. It is the black silhouette of a dragon flying, with a smaller golden one inside of it.
Dain finds her to insist that he cares for her and would do anything to help her, even though she now knows that isn't true. He kisses her but she doesn't feel anything when he does.
Chapter 17: Violet now has her own room, which is across from Rhiannon's - sees Sawyer leaving her room one morning.
They go for breakfast together. Soren is now being made to serve it, as he was one of the people not picked by a dragon. She also sees that Jack is being treated like an outcast by the others.
More people now want to sit and talk to Violet since she has been chosen by Tairn. Imogen says she will now help Violet to train with weights so they can strengthen her joints. She quickly realises Imogen is helping her because Xaden has told her too.
Only 92 students got bonded to a dragons and they now have to attend flight school. Only Tairn shows up for it as Andarna is too small to have a rider.
Violet struggles to stay on his back and he has to use some of his magic to help her stay on.
Dain finds her to talk about the kiss - says it shouldn't have happened because, even though he wants her, it doesn't look good for her to have a relationship with someone who ranks above her.
Violet begins to suspect that Imogen and Xaden are lovers.
Chapter 18: A month has passed and Violet now does duty in the Archives - returning and delivering books back to the Rider quadrant.
She asks for a copy of the book of folk tales her father used to tell her about wyvern and the venin that would ride them, but they don't have a copy - even though they have copies of most texts.
Sawyer is the first in the group to get his signet power, which is the ability to manipulate metal (Magneto style). Most get their signet power within a few months, but if it doesn't come then the magic given to them through the relic can eventually kill them.
Dain confronts her about the fact she is still struggling to stay on Tairn without him using his magic to keep her in place. He still doesn't believe in her and it makes her mad. She essentially tells him she thinks they shouldn't be friends anymore.
A first year named Jeremy gets the signet power of reading minds but they end up having to kill him as it is a power that drives you mad.
Violet is woken from sleep by Tairn shouting at her through their bond. People are in her room and trying to attack her. 7 unbonded students have come to attack her, including Oren. Oren grabs her and chokes her before eventually putting a knife to her throat. Violet hears Andarna shout 'Mine' in her mind before feeling a rush of power through the bond and everyone around her freezes.
Chapter 19: Andarna has frozen everyone but Violet. As she goes to leave she finds Xaden in the doorway and realises he was coming to help her. They all unfreeze and Xaden uses his shadows to choke the life out of everyone but Oren - he slits his throat instead.
Xaden checks her injuries and she has bruised ribs. Then he has her follow him through a secret tunnel so they can go and see Tairn. Xaden confronts Tairn and she realises they are talking to each other, even though dragons usually only talk to their rider.
Sgaeyl then talks to Violet - they can all speak to each other because of the mating bond that Sgaeyl and Tairn share.
Andarna explains about the freezing. Feathertails usually don't bond to a rider because they can accidentally give their power to the rider, and this power is different to the signet they give the rider. She gave Violet her power because she's still a feathertail, which essentially means she's still a young dragon at only two years old.
Violet can now use the time stopping power too, but only briefly. If she uses it too much she could kill Andarna.
Xaden warns her not to tell anyone about this new power she has.
Xaden wants to know how the 7 students got into her room and Violet reveals they weren't alone, that someone else let them in.
Chapter 20: Xaden tells Dain he is swapping one of their squad. He replaces Vaughn with someone called Liam, who is another rebellion kid. He has done it so someone else can look out for Violet.
Xaden accuses Amber of breaking the rules of the Codex and letting the others into Violet's room. Dain doesn't believe it, even after Violet confirms it.
Dain tries to touch her so he can see the memory for himself but she stops him, as then he would see the power she used (Not sure why he doesn't think to touch Amber to see?)
Instead Violet has Tairn share his memories with the dragons instead so they can then share with all the other riders. Amber is then found guilty and burnt to death.
Chapter 21: It's been a week since everything happened and Liam is still going everywhere with Violet. Liam is close to Xaden because they were fostered at the same place. Rebel kids were all sent to foster care after their parents were executed.
Liam reveals Xaden has put wards on her door so now the only people who can get into it are Violet and Xaden.
One of the scrolls she is delivering falls and opens and she sees it is about an attack that has taken place in Sumerton. She is surprised when it is not then mentioned during Battle Brief.
Chapter 22: Two months have passed and they still haven't mentioned the Sumerton attack.
They are taking part in sparring and she sees Xaden sparring with Garrick shirtless, she sees that his relic covers his back. When she gets closer to him, she also notices that it covers up a bunch of scars he has.
That night Violet finds herself flooded with power, as Tairn has finally decided she is ready and has started channelling power to her. But she is hit with overwhelming lust and realises it is Tairn's emotions she is feeling as he must be with Sgaeyl.
When what she's feeling almost has her making a pass at Liam, she decides to go outside for a walk to distract herself. Xaden is outside smoking something called churam, which he offers to her as he says it helps. He is also feeling the emotions from Sgaeyl.
Xaden offers to teach her how to put up mental shields to make it easier to deal with and allow her to block Tairn out when this happens. He shows her how to ground herself and he is impressed when she does it straight away, as it took him weeks to do it.
Afterwards they both give in to what they are feeling and kiss, despite both admitting it is a terrible idea. Xaden abruptly stops and says they can't because the desire she's feelings isn't hers, it is Tairns. He tells her to leave because he won't but he can't do this when it's not what she actually wants. She tries to argue that she does want it but he insists she leave so she does.
Chapter 23: Rhiannon now has her relic - she can summon things to her which is a very rare skill that will be very valuable once she can master it.
Dain comes to find Violet and warn her about Xaden again and says that his higher clearance means that he knows things that she doesn't and she needs to be careful.
Violet finds out she is going to be fighting Jack during the next challenge and that he will definitely try to kill her. She then makes Liam promise not to tell Xaden, as he will try to stop it and it will only cause them both more problems if he does.
As she's about to fight, she finally gives in and tells Liam he can warn Xaden but does it only because she knows he won't get to Xaden in time for him to stop the fight. While her and Liam fight, he manages to get his hands on her face and she feels extreme pain as soon as he does. He is using his powers on her, which is against the rules.
She has a vial on her that she opens and shoves the contents into Liam's mouth. It is oranges, something she knows he is allergic to.
She wakes up in the infirmary and Xaden is in the chair beside her bed.
Chapter 24: He's angry she didn't tell him about the upcoming challenge with Jack but she points out that he hasn't really spoken to her since the night they kissed. He tells her that he doesn't want to discuss that and that it was a mistake.
Xaden insists he will take over from Rhiannon and Liam in both training her and guarding her, as they seem incapable of doing it well.
Xaden has a bunch of daggers made for her, but in order to be able to use them she has to win them off him. So he allows her to spar him and easily disarm him of all of them so they can be hers.
Chapter 25: They are in the final round of squad battles and they are in 7th but if Liam wins his current fight they will jump to 3rd place, which he does.
Commandant Panchek shows up and tells them that their final part of the squad battle that should take place the next day will now happen in an hour. None of them know what exactly the task will be and can't prepare for it.
The task is to work as a squad, without their squad leaders, to find the thing they decide would be the most helpful to their enemies in regards to the war. They will be judged at the end and the winning team gets 60 points, which would be enough for their squad to win. They have 3 hours to do it.
Violet's idea is to break into her mother's office as she knows that is where they keep the most important information their enemies could want. They can all use their powers, Quinn has a very useful one that she can astral project so her real body stays in one place and her astral body can go somewhere else.
They quickly make work of breaking into the office and Violet finds a letter that is begging her mother for reinforcements. Her mother has a map that shows every outpost they have and every supply route they use. They decide to steal that.
Violet is the one who presents what they have brought to the judges and other squads.
Chapter 26: They won and their prize is to go spend a week at one of the frontline outposts. It takes them six hours of flying to get there. They have gone to visit Montserrat. Rhiannon's village is close by and she wants to sneak away to visit, even though it will get them in trouble if she is caught. Violet is happy to help her find time to go.
Mira is there and her and Violet are finally reunited.
Rhiannon and Violet sneak out to go to her village and are caught by Mira. Mira gives in and agrees to go with them. Mira reveals she has the book of tales she wanted.
Xaden shows up at the outpost, as it seems 3 days is the most time Sgaeyl can be away from Tairn.
Chapter 27: They are all in a briefing room and going over a hypothetical situation and how they'd deal with it. Xaden is there and suddenly speaks to her in her mind - they can do it the same way their dragons can speak to the other rider.
Dain can't stop being petty about Xaden in the room. Mira calls them outside to scold them over it. Then she warns Violet that she needs to get stronger otherwise next year when he leaves after third year, it will be Violet who misses all her training having to fly to him every few days. She believes Xaden will keep her from her full potential. Xaden points out her is here - that Tairn didn't drag her away at all and that he abandoned his post to come here to her.
The wards have gone down and Tairn tells her that gryphons are on the way to where they are. Mira tells them to leave. Violet begs her to let them stay but Mira demands Xaden proves she can trust him by getting her out of there.
Everyone in their squad flies off first and she begs Xaden for them to stay and fight. He kisses her and asks her to leave for him. Tairn is almost there and she believes he kissed her to keep her distracted until he arrives. She tells him she will hate him for it but he says he's fine with that.
Chapter 28: It's been two days since they left. She finds out Xaden is 23. When she goes to tell him her birthday, he reveals he already knows as he has done all he can to learn everything about her. He says it was because he couldn't destroy her without knowing her first. She asks if that's still his plan and he says no. When she asks when it changed, he says it doesn't matter when it happened, just that it did. He says it might've been when he saw a knife at her throat, or fingerprints on her neck or when he realised he wants to do way more than kissing her.
When Dain shows up, she finally works out how to speak in Xaden's head too. They are all waiting outside Markham's office. When he shows up she asks if Mira is alive and he eventually confirms she is.
She begins to start asking Xaden more about himself - as a way to get to know him better after Mira pointed out she doesn't really know him.
For their first round of War Games they are tasked with getting a crystal egg that First Wing are guarding in a practice fort. They also have a flag they need to defend and have to carry with them. They will keep changing who carries the flag to make it harder for First Wing to get it.
Tairn shows up and has a new saddle, which will help her stay on. Xaden reveals he had it made for her and Tairn helped design it too. Violet says she can't use it as everyone will know she can't stay on if she doesn't use it but Xaden points out most people know that already. Tells her to count it as the favour he owed her.
She sees Liam and Jack fighting - sees Jack jump from his dragon to Liam and stab Liam before kicking him off his dragon. She needs Tairn catch Liam but realises they will be too late so she finally uses Andarna's freezing power to freeze everything but her and Tairn so she can grab him in time.
She feels her power getting stronger as she goes after Jack. She ends up sending a strike of lightning into the tower Jack is on and he falls to his death. Violet is a lightning wielder.
Chapter 29: Violet is feeling guilty for killing Jack. Xaden tells her that she did the right thing, that Jack deserved it and that he is happy she did it. He isn't surprised she's a lightning wielder, he had suspected it.
Xaden comes to see her that night in her room - as she's still dealing with killing Jack and finding out her signet power. She feels she is now just a weapon.
She kisses him.
Chapter 30: Xaden tries to stop it, telling her it isn't what she wants but she insists that it is. They finally give in and have sex. At one one point she accidentally sets fire to her curtains with her power. Also manage to break her wardrobe and chair too.
Afterwards she gives closer attention to the scars on his back. There are 107 thin lines on his back, which is the number of rebellion kids who carry the rebellion relic.
He explains he was offered a deal and he took it. He had to take responsibility for all of the kids and the fact they will all stay loyal and in return they were allowed to be given a chance in the rider quadrant rather than all being executed like the adults.
Scars were given to him as a reminder that if any of those 107 betray the kingdom then he will be killed.
She asks him to stay the night with her and he finally relents. He warns her not to fall for him though.
She asks how he knew she was going to be a lightning wielder. He explains that the first time they kissed he thought he saw her use it but wasn't sure.
When she wakes up, Xaden is gone but he did leave her with a vase of violets.
Professor Carr is at her door, she now has to go and train with him so she can have better control of her signet power. He wants to see her wield it but she isn't sure how to do it. Only times she's used it have been times of high emotion - when she was angry about Liam and when she fucking Xaden.
Xaden talks to her through their bond and she tells him what she's struggling to do. In answer he shows her visions of their night together through his eyes. She manages to use her power again and does it a few more times before it exhausts her, but she's not any better at aiming it when they are done.
Chapter 31: Xaden shows up to her room as she's trying to clean up some of the mess they made, he helps her. They talk and when she feels like he's about to shut down on her again she asks him to tell her something real - asks where he went one night when she saw him leave with Bodhi. He tells her they went to Athebyne but can't tell her why.
Finds the book from her dad on the floor and that they've cracked the binding and she finds a note hidden in it. It is dated a few months before he died. He reminds her that folklore is passed down through generations to teach them about the past. He tells her it will only take one generation to change or erase history and that he believes when the time comes, she will make the right choice.
She says her father changed after her brother died.
Some of the fables talk of dark magic that corrupted those that used it and made them into the venin who created wyvern. All the stories are about how too much power is a bad thing.
He suggests having sex again but she admits that she can't separate sex from emotions and that if they continue sleeping together, she will fall for him. He insists she won't fall for him because she doesn't know the real him yet. She says she could if he just opened up, especially since he is at risk of falling for her too but he insists he has no plans to fall for her.
She says they should chalk it up to a one time thing that they won't do again. But they both clearly want each other. She warns he can't dictate how she feels. And that they won't sleep together again until she is willing to risk what it does to her and if she falls than she will deal with it. He agrees.
They have heard King Tauri is coming to celebrate Reunification Day at the College. It's been a month since she started training with Carr. She can use more strikes now but still can't aim it.
Xaden and her haven't given in and had sex again yet.
They are 10 days away from graduation and from Xaden getting his assignment and told where he will be stationed. She asks Xaden to take her to bed, but he tells he that he hasn't changed his mind and they can't be together.
Violet starts to worry that Xaden has been sleeping with someone else and that's why he's not given in since they first slept together 1 1/2 months ago. Asks him and he seems mad she has asked.
They are all expected at a fireworks show that night to celebrate Reunification Day. Only when she's there with Liam and sees people looking at his rebellion mark does she realise this day celebrates the day his mother was executed. She tells him to leave but he insists on staying to guard her, even when none of the other rebel kids have come.
King Tauri shows up, standing beside Violet's mum.
Violet and Liam slip away and she goes to find Xaden. She realises he has gone across the parapet and she decides to go over it to see him. It's a bad idea when she has to go barefoot and in a dress uniform.
Chapter 32: She is partway across when she sees him sitting on a part of the parapet. As she makes her way towards him she realises that she's already in love with him.
He sees her and comes towards her, mad that she's even tried to do this as she could die. He tells her to go back but she says she only will if he comes too.
She says she knows why he can't see any future with her even though she is confident he wants her too because he shows it with the things he does. She knows he worries she won't feel the same about him when she learns more about who he is. She tells him she's now ready to risk her heart.
He asks why she asked about other women and she admits she was jealous of Imogen and the way she looked at him when he was sparring against Garrick. He tells her there is no one else and that he has been jealous too - also points out Imogen was looking at Garrick and not him.
Makes him tell her when he was jealous - he admits he saw the time Dain kissed her. She's confused as she didn't think he wanted her back then but he says he has wanted her since the day they met.
She gets him to take her to his room. She helps him undress and tells him to go to sleep. She admits that she loves him. That makes him finally give in and have sex with her again. This time she manages to break his window with her powers. Even after that, they can't stop and go again and again.
Garrick knocks and interrupts them. Something has happened and every single quadrant is being called to formation - they are under attack.
Chapter 33: They head to formation and Violet has to wear Xaden's jacket to keep warm as she goes directly from his room.
Turns out they aren't really under attack, it is another one of the War Game tasks. They will play out the scenario as if the wards had gone down and they were under attack. Each wing will be sent to a different region and each squad will need to pick an outpost to protect. Wingleaders will be assigned an outpost as the headquarters.
Xaden is given Athebyne - the place he went to on the secret mission Violet asked about. It will be an exercise that will take 5 days. Dain says they will claim the Elutval outpost in their region.
Andarna will come with her and Tairn. She has her own saddle that isn't for riding but will hook to Tairn's so he can carry her if she can't keep up.
Xaden comes over and tells Dain he needs Violet, that he will be taking her, Liam and Imogen as part of his headquarters squad. Dain argues and asks to keep Violet with him as she will be safer because Athebyne is past where the wards are.
Violet says if Xaden wants her with him then she will go and Dain finally figures out that there is something between them. He seems upset by it and begs her to stay as he believes Xaden will get her killed if she goes with him.
Chapter 34: They fly to the outpost but take a short break at a lake on the way there. Xaden comes to find her and holds her hand, not caring who sees despite him saying before that whatever was happening between them would be kept hidden from others.
He pulls her away from the others and helps massage her leg muscles as they've got sore from the ride over. Then they start kissing but a woman shows up and Xaden immediately uses his shadows to cloak Violet. It is no use though, as the person already knows who she is.
Xaden warns Violet to stay calm. When she takes a look she sees a pair of gryphon riders 30 feet away from them. The woman who spoke seems to be a few years older than Violet. Violet is about to use her lightning powers on them when Xaden stops her and tells her that she needs to trust him.
Xaden then hands her over to Liam, who pins her arms at her sides but then Tairn roars and he immediately lets her go. When Xaden heads towards the gryphon riders he chastises them for being early and Violet realises he knows them.
Chapter 35: At the start of every chapter we get a little note from either history or notes of important people and this one mentions that on the last day Xaden's father was alive, he accused the King of something so unspeakable that they won't even bother to repeat it.
Xaden says they were supposed to meet the next day and that they don't have a full shipment for them. Violet realises he is working with the enemy and that is where he has been sneaking off too.
She has come to warn them that a horde of venin attacked of their villages a few days ago. She starts to say more when Xaden stops her - explains they can't no details in case they every get interrogated.
After the gryphone rider leaves, Violet realises she is the only person surprised and that everyone else here obviously knew Xaden was helping them and also knew all about the venin.
Violet realises every single person with them in a child of rebel and now she believes they are all traitors. And she also realises both Tairn and Andarna knew too, even before they chose her.
Xaden comes towards her and she tells him she will kill him if he tries to touch her. She asks what he has been giving them and he admits the shipments they give them are weapons. He says they use them to fight venin but she doesn't believe they are real.
He tells her they are real. They are people who tapped into magic without the use of either gryphon or dragon and taking it from the Barrens, turning themselves into the venin. She realises if they do exist they don't attack them because they would be powerless due to their wards. But would also mean they would have to be unaware that those just outside are being attacked by them - Xaden points out that she could also realise that they do know and have chosen not to help.
He gives her a dagger, one that will help her defend against venin.
She's mad he hid all of this from her, she says he could have told her at anytime. He argues he couldn't and that it is a risk to tell her now because all Dain has to do is touch her and see the memory of it and then they are all screwed.
She admits she believes him but no longer trusts him. She realises her father was sending her a message. She thinks of the Archives and how it should contain 600 years of history but all texts are 400 years old. Realises when he talked of a generation erasing history he was hinting at the fact it had been done.
They reach the outpost and find it empty. Xaden questions what Dain whispered to her and she says it was just that he would miss her. He then remembers how Dain insisted if she went with Xaden she would be killed. He asks if Dain ever touched her after he told her about Athebyne - shows her that he'd touch her cheek. She says he did, but he always touches her like that.
They find a scroll from Colonel Aetos, Dain's father, that tells them their assignment is to stay alive. That's when they realise they have all been sent here to die.
Chapter 36: The mission is a way to test their loyalty. If they choose to leave they can get to a new headquarters in time to compete in the War Games. But if they do leave then the village nearby will be killed by venin. They either leave or choose to help the village, which is outside the wards and technically an enemy village.
Liam says four venin are on their way, in purple robes.
The gryphon rider shows up and tells them to leave because if they stay they are likely to all be killed too. She reveals they lost a whole drift (squad) to only two of them as well as a whole city, so four could take everyone out easily.
Violet knows the choice is to live and leave like a coward or to stay and die like a rider should. Xaden tells them all that he is going to stay but he isn't making any of them stay. They can if they want but they can also leave. He doesn't want Violet to stay.
Violet realises her mother knows the truth and never did anything - that she sacrificed her own son to keep it a secret.
Everyone else agrees to stay and so does Violet. Liam uses his gift to see what is happening down in the village, he sees three surrounding the city and attacking while one heads towards a clock tower in the centre.
They can't kill venin with the dragon fire, they have to kill them with the special daggers they have.
Then they see what they think is a gray dragon until it breathes blue fire and she realises it is a wyvern with only two legs. Xaden gives her another dagger that will kill the venin so she has two.
She says Melgren can use his signet gift to know the outcome of the battle but Xaden reveals he can't see anything because of Xaden's own power.
Xaden tells her to live through this and he will tell her anything she wishes him too. She tells him she needs him to live too.
They find a mine that they can use to evacuate villagers through.
The venin can channel magic from the earth itself and have powers too. Violet keeps trying to use her lightning but she can't aim it.
Watches as the venin channelling magic somehow also drains it from people, including one of their riders Soleil.
Violet finally manages to hit a wyvern with her lightning, which stops its heart and kill it.
Liam's dragon gets attacked by a wyvern and killed, meaning Liam is now dying. He makes Violet promise to look after his sister when she comes to the college next year. Xaden arrives and Liam tells him there are two riders with the dozens of wyvern that have shown up. Liam dies.
Violet needs to be the one to kill the riders while Xaden tries to hold off all the wyverns. He tells Violet that without her he is nothing. She lets anger fuel her and manages to hit one wyvern but then Tairn is attacked by another.
Chapter 37: She sees that one of the venin has stabbed Tairn with a sword and has landed on his back. Violet has to stand on Tairn in order to fight the venin and try to kill it. The venin manages to stab her with a dagger.
The venin says she wants to cut Violet open and see where all her power comes from or hand her over to her 'sage'. Violet realises that she is horribly outmatched and this venin is only a student. Xaden uses his power to help Violet, putting her and the venin in darkness. She sneaks up on the venin and stabs her, which causes the venin to fall of Tairn.
Violet is burning from the wound in her side. She sees wyvern are dropping dead because she killed one venin. Realises Liam had worked out that when you kill a venin, any of the wyvern they made will then drop dead.
She begs Xaden to drop his wall of shadows, asks him to trust her and he does.
Violet takes more and more power from Tairn and even a little from Andarna so she can fill the sky with lightning and manage to control at least one strike to hit the venin she needs to take out.
She sees Xaden take out the last venin just as she falls from Tairn's back.
Chapter 38: Andarna has stopped time and come after Violet, she has her on her back even though she can't carry her. They make it to the ground and Xaden catches her, realising she has been poisoned by something on the venin's dagger.
She can hear them all talking but can't speak, and the poison has cut her off from her magic and being able to communicate with Xaden, Tairn or Andarna. They need to get her to a healer but can't make it back to their own, Xaden says he knows somewhere else they can go. Garrick says it will put them all at risk if they go but he doesn't care.
Xaden begs her to fight it because he has fallen for her and he needs her to live.
She hears a familiar voice but can't place it.
Chapter 39: The note at the start of this chapter is the last words of Xaden's father before he died, which was him calling them all cowards.
This chapter is from Xaden's POV. It has been three days and Violet still isn't awake. He regrets not telling her he fell for her before this happened but he'd been scared.
She finally wakes up. And she kisses him. He promises to make everything up to her and when she asks what he means, he realises she might not remember everything.
Andarna is bigger now and her gift is gone but they don't know why.
She gets to the window of the room she is in and realises they are in Aretia, a place they have been rebuilding. But Violet knows it was burnt to the ground. He explains how they are rebuilding it.
Violet figures out why more than three rebels can't meet up - Melgren can't see what they are doing when there is more than three of them. Violet orders Xaden to leave the room so she can get dressed.
He does and goes to speak to Garrick. They've discovered a small iron box beneath the clock tower that the venin were clearly after.
Violet invites Xaden back in. Before he tells her everything, he asks if she is with them and willing to fight and she says she is. But when he reaches for her she steps back. Says she is willing to fight with him but can't be with a man she no longer trusts. He insists he will spend every day earning it back.
Someone knocks on the door - it is Brennan. He is alive and he mended her.
I hope you find this useful!
