Golden Son by Pierce Brown: Series Recap / Summary

Golden Son Recap/Summary

I am someone with a beyond terrible memory so I am usually forced to do a complete reread before a new book drops in a series. I've now got in the habit of doing chapter by chapter recaps for myself as I go. I'll be doing this for this series, so they will drop one by one eventually. I hope they prove useful for others but be warned that these were written as I went, with speed, and so some mistakes are expected. 

Red Rising Recaps:

Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age
Light Bringer
Red God

Golden Son Recap/Summary

Prologue: Darrow is still on Olympus with the ArchGovernor and is about to go on his shuttle. Darrow sees Cassius with his family, who all stare him down but Augustus says they can't harm him. Mustang holds his hand as they board the shuttle.

Part I: Bow

Chapter 1: Warlords - Darrow, now 20, is in charge of a starship (Quietus) and currently has a broken arm. His win on Olympus was 2 years ago and he left Mustang 12 months ago but she'd asked him to stay. They swapped gifts at the time - horse-crested ring for her and a razor for him.

Sons of Ares hasn't been in contact once since he won.

He is now at the Academy, where he is in charge of a fleet of warships. He is once again fighting other Golds but it is with fake ammo. Darrow's fleet and one other are left, the other is led by Karnus.

Roque and Tactus are on Darrow's team. Also Victra au Julii, who is 27 and covered in scars - she is Antonia's older sister, a girl he met at the Institute. 

Karnus is trying to lead them into a trap but they are aware of it. Karnus is Cassius's older brother, but his fleet has been reduced to 1 and Darrow still has 7 warships. He and a few other Bellona's joined the Academy when Darrow did, still wanting revenge for Julian.

They need to chase Karnus through an asteroid field. Darrow isn't worried, as he has his own trap planned.

Chapter 2: The Breach - Darrows fleet is attacked by the fake missiles they are given, taking multiple of his ships out of the game. But he had two of his already sneak up on Karnus and he orders them to attack.

Darrow is celebrating his win and the fact he will now become a Praetor. He is thinking of getting Sevro, Quinn and the Howlers back to join his crew. 

They then see that one ship has been hidden from their view and is now heading straight at them. He tells everyone to evacuate the ship. Darrow breaks his nose during the aftermath of the impact of the ship being hit. Darrow helps carry one of his injured crew, Theodora. 

He has an escape pod in his suite, but others try to escape with him. The Grays who helped him make it to his roon begin shooting the low Colors trying to get in. There are 6 of them in total, Darrow, Theodora and 4 Grays but only 4 seats. One tries to threaten him with a gun but is shot dead by another Gray. One Gray chooses to stay behind.

There is a thing called a starShell on the pod, which is a suit you can wear and then be launched into space. Darrow plans to use it to get to Karnus's ship and get revenge, as he destroyed his ship and killed most of Darrow's crew.

Just as he is about to do it, the Proctors turn off his controls so he can't, letting Karnus get away.

Chapter 3: Blood and Piss - 833 people died on his ship. Darrow returns to the Academy, having lost to Karnus.

Darrow goes to rest in a hot spring and is snuck up on by 7 people from House Bellona, including Karnus. Others include Kellan, Cagney.

They don't plan to kill him yet, only to beat him. He tries to fight but they surround him and easily beat him. But he has used his datapad to call for backup. They cut off his hair and then they piss on him.

Chapter 4: Fallen - Darrow is on the ArchGovernors ship, in his office. It has been 2 months since the incident in the garden and Darrow is now seen as an embarassment an d his position with Augustus isn't secure anymore. 

The Politico, Pliny, is telling Augustus about how there have been multiple bombings on Mars recently, with many Golds killed. Darrow has heard Pliny might have been behind why Karnus attacked him that day in the garden - which he also recorded. Another lancer is in the room, called Leto.

Augustus plans to turn people on Mars against the Sons of Ares(SoA). He'll do this by having his men take some poor Red families hostage and then threatending to kill them if they do not do as commanded. They'll make them wear bombs and then set them off in places with a high volume of children. 

Leto argues against the plan, says it would make them just as bad as SoA. 

Augustus tells Darrow that he plans to sell his contract to a different house because Darrow's blood-feud with the Bellona family is now having a negative effect on him. Mustang is currently a part of the Sovereign's court, which Augustsus blames on Darrow too, thinking he told her to do it.

Darrow tries to convince him not to go through with it, but he insists. 

Chapter 5: Abandoned - Darrow is sure he will be easily killed by the Bellona's once he is no longer protected by Augustus. Julian's mother, Julia au Bellona is set on having him killed, demands his heart is brought to her.

Darrow remembers when he was leaving for the academy, Mustang had begged him to stay for her. She'd almost told him she loved him, but even though they'd spent the year together, he hadn't been able to be honest with her and he knows she could sense that. In the end she gave him his razor and told him to go.

Chapter 6: Icarus - They land on Lunar, where his contract will be auctioned off. Roque is with Darrow and the name Lorn au Arcos comes up, who is now a recluse but was once a Rage Knight and the Sword of Mars. He tried to get Darrow to join his house but he chose Augustus instead.

Victra is on Lunar and sends for Darrow. Victra wonders why Darrow isn't close to her, he blames it on her sister Antonia. Victra confirms Pliny is behind his downfall, and has been plotting it since he joined Augustus. She shows him an address on a dataSlip and asks him to go there, eventually he agrees.

He and Victra go to the place together, go on a ship with 12 Grays, including a man named Valentin and his lieutenant Sun-hwa. They hand them scarabSkin armor to wear because where they're going could be dangerous if anyone recognises Darrow. 

Chapter 7: The Afterbirth - The travel through a city on Lunar where he sees graffiti of Eo. Darrow is disguised as an obsidian. Victra has taken him to see the Jackal.

Jackal was judged harshly for what he did in the games - especially the eating other students to survive part. He didn't bother going to the Academy and considers himself a businessman now. He owns almost 30% of the communications industry along with a silent partner.

Jackal doesn't like Pliny either. Leto was chosen by Pliny as he resembles Augustus's dead son Claudius and wants him to declare Leto his heir. 

The Lost City on Lunar is run by a well known crime organisation, that is clearly controlled by the Sovereign (Octavia au Lune).

Jackal wants take out the Sons of Ares.

Chapter 8: Scepter & Sword - Jackal wants Darrow to work with him and be the one to be seen as taking down Ares.

Jackal says Cassius is going to be made into an Olympic Knight by the Sovereign - who needs a Rage Knight and Morning Knight as hers have retired.

Darrow warns the Jackal that he will kill him if he allows Mustang to be hurt. 

Darrow agrees to work with him. Jackal's first job for him is to kill a man called Fencor au Drusilla. Jackal agrees to get Sevro and the Howlers back for him.

Then Darrow notices a woman and recognises her as Evey, the girl Darrow once told Mickey to take care of.

Darrow goes with Evey, she tells him she plans to kill the Jackal and Darrow runs back just as the bomb she planted goes off.

Chapter 9: The Darkness - Darrow manages to get to the Jackal in time to save him from the bomb but gets injured in the process. Then Darrow steals the datapad from a Red who is a part of the Sons of Ares and uses it to find them.

There he finds Evey and Mickey. Harmony is also there, tells him she is in charge now as Dancer is dead.

They have been crafting an army by having Mickey carve up Reds in to something different, but not into Golds because most can't survive it.

Dancer was killed after he hired some Grays for a job who then sold him out to the Police after he paid them.

Darrow asks her about Titus, the other red in the Games. She admits she sent him there and his real name was Arlus.

Darrow wants to finally meet Ares but they keep refusing him. Harmony has worked for him for years and even she doesn't know who he really is or what he looks like. Harmony shows Darrow more of their plans - they have hundreds of bombings to carry out. 

In three days they will hold a fancy gala to finish the Summit, which will be filled with important people from across all of Society. They want Darrow to help them to carry out an attack there. Essentially want to use him as a suicide bomber.

Darrow refuses so Harmony shows him the complete recording of Eo's death. He will now finally be able to see what Eo said as her last words to Dio - she was asking them to hide a crib from Darrow, as she was pregnant with his child and didn't want him to know after she died.

Chapter 10: Broken - Darrow finally agrees to do whatever Harmony and SoA ask of him. 

Darrow goes back to the Jackal, who assumes Pliny is behind the bomb. Jackal makes some offhand comment about how Victra is in love with Darrow. Jackal tells Darrow he will buy out his contract at the end of the Summit.

Roque tells Darrow he plans to bid on him, that he will borrow the money if he has to. He uses a sedative to knock Roque out, so that he won't die with everyone else at the gala. Even if Darrow doesn't die doing what he has to do, Roque will know he was behind it.

Chapter 11: Red - Darrow is at the gala and finally sees Mustang, who is there with Cassius. Cassius has been given the position of Morning Knight. Darrow only needs to say 'Break the chains' into his ring in order to start off the bombs that will kill everyone, but he can't bring himself to do it. He knows the better way to take the Golds down is internally, through civil war.

Part II: Break

Chapter 12: Blood for Blood - Darrow heads into the gala and makes a beeline for the Bellona table, which he jumps on top of.  Then he gives a speech in front of everyone, claiming the Bellona are corrupt and working to try to steal Augustus's Governorship. He then challenges Cassius to a duel in front of everyone.

Darrow speaks to Augustus, says he wants to help him because the Sovereign favours the Bellona over him. Darrow cuts himself beneath one eye, which is an old blessing they would do on Mars long ago. Augustus gives him his blessing to duel in his name.

Mustang comes to speak to him , she calls him a pawn and he calls her a trophy.

Before they fight, Cassius rubs it in that he has been with Mustang in ways that Darrow hasn't. 

They begin to fight and Darrow pretends like it is hard to keep up with Cassius's moves. But it is a ruse, as he has been training with Lorn au Arcos. He easily gets the best of Cassius - as he taunts him and his family. Darrow wants to cause a war to start between Bellona and Augustus. 

The Sovereign intervenes to stop him killing Cassius, which proves his point that she prefers House Bellona. She quickly changes the rules and now says it can end if Cassius surrenders. Darrow ignores her and cuts of Cassius's fighting arm. 

Mustang steps in his path to stop him killing Cassius, but then the Bellona family try to attack Darrow. A massive fight breaks out.

Darrow tries to help Mustang but she asks him to save her father instead and he does. Leto gets killed during the fight - by the Jackal but not many see it. He and Darrow made some kind of deal before this. 

Chapter 13: Mad Dogs - Darrow, Augustus and others escape using the lifts in the spire. He watches a group of four from House Falthe attack people from House Thorne. They take out the entire family, even the children.

When they get out of the elevator there are 40 people waiting from the families of Norvo and Codovan, but Augustus reveals they work for him. 

They make it to their hangar but the ship isn't there and they find out that Sovereign had them all sent away - she clearly had something planned. 

They are then attacked by Praetorians and Gold knights, 99 in total who are led by the Olympic Knight. The Olympic Knight turns out to be Fitchner. 

Fitchner and Augustus talk back and forth for a while, insulting each other before Fitchner knocks him out with a stunFist. Fitchner demands Darrow comes with him, but Darrow only agrees to go if he swears that none of his friends will be hurt and Fitchner agrees. 

Chapter 14: The Sovereign - Fitchner takes Darrow to the Sovereign. She tells him that he reminds her of her dad, the one she killed so she could take his place. The Sovereigns grandson is there - Lysander, who is only 8.

The Sovereign reveals Lysander is Lorn's grandson. 

Darrow refuses to apologise, says she should apologise as she broke the law. 

The Sovereign asks Darrow to come and work for her but he refuses. But she says if she can't have him then nobody else will. 

The Sovereign asks Darrow to play a game with her, with the winner being able to request anything they want from the other person. She brings out a box.

Chapter 15: Truth - There are two creatures inside that are a mix of scorpion/pitviper/centipede that the Sovereign calls Oracles - they can tell when you lie. She places one on his arm at a cut, so it can latch on. The Oracles can tell if you're lying so then she starts to question him.

Darrow asks how he can win the game and she says that he needs to get her to lie. He asks if he helped Karnus in the Academy and she admits she did. She asks where Augustus hides his electromagnetic weapons and he tells her, asks the same of her. 

He wants to know if she arranged for Mustang to get with Cassius but she tells him it was Mustang's idea. She asks him who Ares is, but he tells her he doesn't know. She seems to suspect that he may be a part of Sons of Ares. 

Mustang comes in and reports the deaths from the fights that broke out after the duel - 73 in total. Cassius lived and they will replace the arm Darrow cut off.

Before the game can end, Darrow asks if she planned to let Augustus and all the people on his table be assassinated at the gala. She lies and says no and is stung by the Oracle. 

Chapter 16: The Game - Mustang is angry as the Sovereign had told her that she would not harm Mustang's family. She defends it by saying it was the only way she could get Augustus out of power without him fighting back and causing more problems. She also believes that if she takes out Augustus, some of the rebellion will die down - shows footage of fighting taking place on Venus (Sons of Ares).

The Sovereign asks Mustang to allow her to take out her father and family, in order to help quash the rebellion. Mustang agrees, although it will mean that Roque, Tactus, Victra and the others working for Augustus will also be killed.

Chapter 17: What the Storm Brings - Darrow is taken to his room, where they have a naked Pink waiting for him in his bed, who he ignores. Another Pink walks in carrying a box, inside is a holoCube that shows a message from Mustang telling him to get down and then the lights go out and the doors automatically lock.

Sevro and 8 other Howlers show up outside in gravBoots and break through the window to get to Darrow. Sevro reveals Mustang got them all here weeks ago. Darrow has figured out Mustang is here to infiltrate the Sovereign's family and help prevent her from taking out her family. 

Sevro drops a big bag on the floor that is moving, has something inside Mustang got for them. 

Chapter 18: Bloodstains - Darrow and the Howlers escape out the window and head to the House Augustus villa. A jamField goes up, trapping them inside while they hunt to find everyone. They find slaughtered Pinks, Browns and Violets - the Bellonas have attacked.

Darrow and the Howlers start fighting the Bellonas but they quickly escape when they realise they are too outnumbered. 

They are then intercepted by two Praetorians and Darrow asks them to take him to Aja. It appears Victra betrayed them. The Augustans tried to leave in 2 ships but were shot down, but some of them survived including the ArchGovernor and the Jackal, as well as Darrow's friends. But they are trapped beneath the pool where they were hiding.

Aja tells Darrow to go back to his room. But he gets the bag Sevro gave him and brings out what is inside - Lysander, the Sovereign's heir. 

Darrow tells Aja to let all the people under the pool to leave or he will kill Lysander. Before they can leave, Aja grabs Quinn and beats her unconscious to try and get Darrow to let go of Lysander but it doesn't work. They all manage to escape on a ship using Lysander as their leverage. 

Chapter 19: Stork - The Jackal flies down to pick up Quinn and take her to the ship. She is having seizures while they attempt to help her. She will need surgery to help reduce the swelling on her brain. Roque shaves her head in preparation.

Darrow knows Sevro loves Quinn, even if he has never told her. They need to get Quinn to a medBay quickly or she won't survive. 

Jackal tells Darrow that Victra is still loyal to him.

Kavax is on board with them - Pax's father.

Tactus escapes with Lysander on an escape pod, meaning Darrow has now lost his bargaining chip and the sovereign can now attack them.

Chapter 20: Helldiver - They attempt to escape in the ship until Darrow comes up with a better idea. He has them fly the ship closer to the enemy ship, Vanguard. Darrow & Sevro get inside starShells and are launched towards the Vanguard - Victra kisses Darrow before he is launched.

Chapter 21: Stains - Sevro & Darrow are blasted into the bridge of the Vanguard. They fight the Golds & Obsidians on the bridge, killing them while they allow the Blues live. 

Darrow takes control of the ship - letting them know that with one press of a button he could kill all 20,000 people on board. But he asks them to fight for him instead. He tells them to capture or kill all the Gold commanders on the ship and they do.

A Stained on board fights his way to the bridge and then introduces himself as Ragnar Volarus - his mother is Alia Snowsparrow and his brother is Sefi the Quiet. Ragnar was being sent as a gift to the Julii but now says that he is now Darrows because he took control of the ship. Darrow accepts and Ragnar says he will now serve him.

Darrow asks Ragnar to save Augustus and the others who are docked in the hangar bay.

Chapter 22: Fire Blossom - Darrow asks for a Blue to come forward to be Captain of the ship. A woman named Orion xe Aquarii comes forward. A Blue called Pellus says she is just a Docker and insults her so she punches him. Others argue why they should be Captain but Darrow chooses Orion.

The Sovereign sends a leechCraft towards their ship. 

Darrow sends a message out via the comchannel where he reveals how the Sovereign tried to have Augustus, his family and those in his House killed. He reveals that she failed and that they now have one of her ships.

They manage to escape from the Sovereign's armada and some ships from other families choose to join them after what Darrow revealed. 

Quinn didn't make it. she died.

Darrow has a recording of everything the Sovereign said to him and he gives it to the Jackal to publish as it will ruin her even more.

Chapter 23: Trust - Darrow goes to talk to Sevro. Sevro said he came because he knows who Darrow is. He has him activate a jamField so they can talk. Sevro tells him that Ares sent him and he has a message from him recorded on a whisperGem. The message essentially tells him to keep doing what he is doing. Sevro knows that Darrow is a Red and still supports and wants to help him.

Victra is still with them, even though her family betrayed Augustus. She tries to make another move on Darrow but he shuts her down. 

Darrow goes to find food but finds Mustang instead.

Chapter 24: Bacon and Eggs - Mustang talks about how she thought Darrow was special and someone better but then he chose to go to the Academy and become just another killer for her father. She went to Cassius for the same reason she went to the Sovereign - to protect her family.

Darrow realises he loves Mustang but can't bring himself to kiss her when he knows he's lying to her and will have to hurt her in the end. She warns him not the trust the Jackal.

Ragnar wakes Darrow to tell him someone is in his suite - the Jackal.

They talk and agree to continue to work together. Darrow reminds him that Mustang cannot be hurt no matter what they do. Then Darrow asks him for info on Ganymede and the shipyards there. 

Part III: Conquer

Chapter 25: Praetors - They left Luna a month ago and are still all on the ship. The Sovereign is still hunting them and has put a bounty out for all of them. They are expecting reinforcements but not for another 6 months.

Kavax has a pet fox called Sophocles that he feeds jelly beans.

Darrow thinks they need to show their strength/power in order to get more people on their side. He wants them to do this by attacking at night and taking their children and ships.

Darrow has maps of Ganymede and all the ships there. One is a moonBreaker. Darrow wants to go and steal every ship there.

Chapter 26: Puppet Master - Darrow wants to kidnap the children from the Institute to use for ransom/leverage. Mutsang accepts this plan as she says Octavia will not stop until they are all dead so they need to win. 

Augustus wants Darrow to go to Lorn and convince him to join them. 

Chapter 27: Jelly Beans - Pax's family tell Darrow they don't blame him for his death and that House Telemanus will always help him when asked.

Chapter 28: The Stormsons - Darrow goes to see Lorn and Lorn tells him about Mars - that House Augustus was always strong but there was a more powerful House on Mars, House Cylus. They had ArchGovernorship and were well liked by the Sovereign at the time.

Back when Augustus was 7, his father tried to kill off the Bellona family with poison but failed. A war started and House Cylus sides with House Bellona.

The Augustus family were caught and the ArchGovernor killed all of them except Augustus himself. Then Cylus raised him for 20 years and he eventually asked for Iona au Bellona's hand in marriage, which was approved.

When the Bellona's returned home after the wedding, they received a box that contained Iona's head inside with the wedding rings inside her mouth.

The Bellona's went to see the ArchGovernor to demand justice but found Augustus there instead. He had wiped out the Cylus family completely. Lorn had helped because the Sovereign told him House Cylus was a threat. 

Augustus had been working with the Sovereign's daugher (Octavia, the now current Sovereign) who convinced her father to give Mars to Augustus. 

Lorn has a pet griffin named Icarus.

Lorn shouts the word Icarus, which is some kind of signal. Darrow then sees that his ship is surrounded. Lorn warns him that a death squad is waiting inside of Lorn's home for him. He tells Darrow to take the griffin and fly off to a hidden ship that he can escape on. Darrow refuses, saying Lorn will join the war whether he wants to or not. Then Darrow gives the signal to his Howlers to bring in the rest of his ships.

Chapter 29: Old Man's Wrath - Pliny is working with the Sovereign to try to take Darrow down. Darrow's hidden ships will easily take out the Bellona's.

Aja arrives, planning to fight and kill Darrow and Lorn. Tactus is also there, who has been made Praetorian. Aja has 12 Praetorian's with her in total.

Sevro shows up with his Howlers, who has added more to since we last saw them.

Darrow detonates landmines that he had secretly been dropping during his walk with Lorn. They detonate in 3 stages. 1st disables pulseShields and sends the Praetorian's flying, 2nd is a gravPit which pulls them all back in and then the 3rd stage explodes them all to pieces - only 3 survive.

Tactus and Aja escape and the Howlers pursue them.

Tactus finds where Lorn's grandchildren are hiding and plans to kill them all. Darrow says that he will forgive him for everything he has done and let him rejoin Darrow and the others, if he lets the children live. Tactus agrees but Lorn quickly kills Tactus after all the children leave. Darrow holds him as he dies.

Chapter 30: Gathering Storm - They are heading to the Hildas station with ten ships that they took from Kellan. Mustang joins them again.

Chapter 31: Coup - Mustang tells him that Augustus has been captured after Pliny staged a coup. He has arrested the Jackal and had Mustang's aunt and cousins killed. 

Mustang had been trying to take one of the Academy's when a Bellona fleet appeared and managed to take out every one of her leechCrafts. Then Pliny came to see her and showed her footage of her father failing to take Ganymede. He told her that he would not let her gamily end because he made an arrangement with the Sovereign.

Pliny tells her that the Sovereign will give him power and position and he gets to pick a reward of his choosing - he chose Mustang. Tells her that he will leave his current wife and marry her. Mustang took one of his eyes as her answer to his proposal.

The Jackal bought her time to escape, but it is likely Pliny has tracking on her ship as his way to find Darrow.

An Orange called Cyther says they could find the devices they are using to track the ship and send it off in a different ship so Pliny is sent off in the wrong direction. 

Sevro asks if he can keep Pliny's eyeball.

Chapter 32: Die Young - Tactus's body is still being kept in the medBay, where Roque is sitting with it. Darrow didn't realise his body was down there. Mustang wants to go and see it.

Roque is upset as he feels Darrow is sacrificing his friends to get what he wants. Tactus never sold the violin Darrow got him and had actually been practicing in secret.

Mustang then tells them what happened on her father's mission. Augustus sent in a lurcher squad of Grays to disable the the defensive nuclear reactors on Ganymede before Augustus and the rest of the ships arrived. They'd assumed all the ships dovked there only had skeleton crews on them but they were packed full of Praetorians and Olympic Knights.

Augustus tried to fight through as best he could. They watch on a holo as Augustus fights before Fitchner and Cassius show up and get him to the ground. Julii ships then finished off Augustus's men.

They question again whether they can trust Victra but Roque defends her and Darrow insists he trusts her.

Pliny has made Augustus's bannerman draw up a statement of surrender to take to the Sovereign. It will include changes to how Mars is run and make Pliny the head of a House, while the Julii & Bellona families will rule Mars.

Once the deal is agreed, Augustus will be executed in the Citadel. 

Mustang says they must rescue them otherwise no one will come to help them and they will lose. Darrow agrees.

Chapter 33: A Dance - Mustang goes to see Darrow in his suite. She asks him about the girl he lost, the one whose name he said in his sleep all that time ago. He keeps pushing her away and she asks him to ask her to stay but he doesn't, so she leaves.

Chapter 34: Blood Brothers - Darrow and some others are hiding amongst a supply drop being taken to Pliny's fleet. Darrow tries speaking to Ragnar to better understand him and what he wants, but Ragnar insists he has no wants and only obeys. Darrow tries to release Ragnar from his service but Ragnar says he shames him by doing that. 

Darrow ends up telling Ragnar about Eo and revealing he is not really a Gold. He gives Ragnar the chance to choose to stand with him and fight for more.

Chapter 35: Teatime - They are brought into the hangar of the Invictus - the lead ship that Pliny is using. 

Ragnar has chosen to join Darrow. They take down communications on the ship and split off to different parts of it. Darrow takes a team to the brig. They free 40 or so Peerless that they find who were loyal to Augustus. They find the Jackal too.

They use a leechCraft thermal drill to make a hole down into the control room. Darrow confronts Pliny but doesn't kill him, instead he leaves him there with his so-called friends who kill him before Darrow has even managed to leave the room.

Darrow sends out a message that he will be heading to Mars and that he wants an Iron Rain.

Chapter 36: Lord of War - Darrow leaked the footage of Pliny being taken down. Others have since come to join the fleet. Darrow gives a speech.

Chapter 37: War - All in the hangar of Pliny's ship. They are using some of their fleet to fight the Beollona's over Mars. Darrow is talking to Sevro and questions if Ares is even real or not. Their army now uses standards with either a wolf or slingBlade on them. Sevro wants to kill Augustus, as he says Darrow no longer needs him. 

Chapter 38: The Iron Rain - Darrow is inside of spitTube and gives his friends a speech before being launched as part of their fleet begins destroying the Bellona ships. Victra goes after their main ship, Warchild. Victra's mother betrayed the Bellona's to join them in the end. 

They land on Mars but lose people doing it. They make their way on foot, fighting as they go. Roque tells Darrow the Sovereign is on Mars and trapped in Agea - but Darrow already knew that and it's why he wants it. 

Chapter 39: At the Wall - Darrow knew where the Sovereign was because he let Aja go, knowing she'd go right back to her and he could trace her there. 

They head to the Institute on Mars and meet no opposition. Darrow tells his men and women that their first aim is to capture the Sovereign.

The Sons have soent the night creating a way into the city using the river. The plan is for Darrow to hunt for the Sovereign. Ragnar will get the gates open and Mustang will take care of the shield.

A Brown girl throws an EMP bomb at them.

Part IV: Ruin

Chapter 40: Mud - The EMP goes off, taking out all of their electronics. Darrow's starShell weighs him down and he sinks to the bottom of the river. The only thing on him that is still working is his razor. The only way he can think to escape would involve losing an arm, but it would open his suit to the water.

He manages to use the razor to get his shell suit off without losing a limb. He then finds Ragnar and cuts him out next. Golds are murdering many of his men on the bank of the river. Ragnar and Darrow steal armor from dead Golds they find before rescuing the rest of their men stuck in the river, including Sevro, Clown, Thistle, Screwface & Pebble. Only 11 of their 50 Obsidians are alive.

Chapter 41: Achilles - Darrow sends Ragnar and the Obsidian's off to get a gate open for his legates. Ragnar has chosen to join Darrow, knowing what he knows. Darrow gives him a razor which angers some of the others, like Thistle, who view him as a slave. Darrow knows Thistle won't follow him now because of it.

The rest of them travel on foot with no armor, hoping they can reach the Sovereign in time. Ragnar gets the gate open and kills the Wind Knight. They reach the Citadel and plan to get the Sovereign to leave it rather than hunting her down.

The shield around the city finally turns off - Mustang did it. The Sovereign will now be made to try to escape as more of Darrow's soldiers fly in. Darrow has to run and leave everyone else behind so he can try to reach her in time. 

He sees the Sovereign running to her ship with Aja, Karnus and Fitchner. Darrow manages to jump aboard before it can leave without him.

Chapter 42: Death of a Gold - Darrow is on the ship with the Sovereign and 6 Praetorians. They plan to kill him but realise he has a grenade. They roll the ship so that he drops it. Fitchner argues with them, saying they shouldn't kill Darrow because he could be useful to them alive. The Sovereign then orders Fitchner to kill him. 

Karnus pushes Fitchner out the way and tries to kill Darrow himself but Darrow takes him down alongside another Praetorian. Karnus had managed to cut him and he is very disorientated.

The Sovereign again demands Fitchner kills Darrow and gives her his head. Fitchner talks quietly to Darrow so no one else can hear - says it has been him all along and that Darrow was an idiot because he had everything sorted. Darrow asks him to tell Mustang/Eo that he loves them.

Fitchner then puts on his helmet, uses his pulseFist to knock everyone else back and then throws a sonic grenade at them. Blasts a hole in the ship for them to escape from - Darrow realises that Fitchner is Ares and has been the whole time.

Chapter 43: The Sea - Darrow wakes up on the beach with skingrafts on his body and Mustang beside him. Darrow has been unconcious for a week and the Sovereign escaped. Mustang's father is alive - the Jackal had him rescued. Roque captured most of the Bellona fleet. 

Mustang warns Darrow that Roque may be a potential threat, but he believes he can trust him. 

Lorn has allied with Victra and her family, they have made a deal with them.

Cassius and his mother are both missing but assumed alive, but his father and all his siblings were killed. 

Darrow gets overwhelmed by everything and cries. Then they kiss and he realises he can't let Eo and his guilt get in the way anymore as he loves Mustang and wants her. 

Chapter 44: The Poet - Darrow goes to talk to Roque - who feels used by Darrow. Sevro interrupts them, the Jackal has captured Ares and his friends 'the Red, the Pink and the Violet'.

Chapter 45: Gifts - They travel to Attica, which the Jackal now controls. The Jackal is having a new suit made for Darrow. Darrow has brough Victra and the Jackal presents. Then they are seemingly 'attacked' but Darrow set it up. It's Sevro and the others who manage to free and take back Dancer, Harmony and Mickey.

Darrow 'protects' the Jackal from them, earning his trust.

Chapter 46: Brotherhood - Darrow goes to see Dancer & Mickey. Then he speaks to Fitchner and asks for his story. He met his wife in a hospital after an earthquake. She'd lost a leg and they didn't want to replace it as she was a Red. Fitchner took her with him when he left. They moved to Mars and had to see a Carver in order to have children. Sevro was born. The Carver told the authorities about them 2 years later and they came while Fitchner was away with Sevro and killed his wife. Her name was Bryn and she was only 22 at the time. Sevro is half-Red and has only been told now.

Augustus wants to adopt Darrow into his family and make him his heir as they want Darrow to eventually be Sovereign. Darrow wants to go and see his family first and take Mustang with him but Sevro warns that he would have to kill Mustang if she doesn't accept it once she knows he is a Red.

Chapter 47: Free - Darrow goes to the garden where he buried Eo - so that he can get closure and move on, even though he knows he will always love her.

Chapter 48: The Magistrate - Darrow is met by the MineMagistrate Timony au Podginus. Darrow says he is there as they haven't been meeting mining quotas. The magistrate says they have had trouble with the miners rebellling.

Darrow asks Mustang to come with him.

Chapter 49: Why We Sing - Mustang follows him through his old town and questions how he knows where he is going. Darrow is finally going to fully let her in. 

He gives her a holoCube outside of his family home and tells her to watch it and then come in when she's done or leave.

His mum is awake and knows who he is, even though he looks so different. 

Mustang watched the holoCube and has left, is on her way back to the ship. He can let Sevro and Ragnar grab her so he has a chance to talk to her, or let her go. He lets her go. 

Narol is believed to be dead - fell down a mineshaft with Loran two years ago but they never found their bodies. 

Darrow tells his mum everything.

Chapter 50: The Deep - Darrow had shown Mustang the video of his carving. Mustang comes to find him and holds a scorcher to his head. She struggles to understand what he wants and if she can stand by why he does it. He tries talking to her but Ragnar shows up and plans to kill her in order to save Darrow. 

Darrow and Ragnar both end up kneeling before Mustang, putting their trust in her not to kill them. 

Chapter 51: Golden Son - Darrow is taking part in a victory parade in his honor. Mustang didn't kill them but she did walk away from them and hasn't been seen since.

After the ceremony Augustus asks Darrow to go with him and then questions why he gave Obsidians razors. Augustus wants him as his heir, not the Jackal. He also wants Darrow to marry Mustang. Reveals he also lied to the Reformers, he plans to put them all in prison once they have won against Octavia. Darrow pretends to go along with his plans.

Now they are all at a dinner hosted by Augustus. Darrow is to be presented with the Triumph Mask by Roque, which comes in a big ivory box.

Darrow realises too late that it's a trap. Roque has betrayed him, drugs him and Darrow then notices a bunch of the Pinks are actuallys Golds in disguise. Roque uses the term bloodydamn, showing that he knows who Darrow really is. 

Antonia shoots Victra. Lilath attempts to kill Lorn, cutting off 4 of his fingers. The Jackal stabs Lorn, killing him. 

Cassius and Aja arrive - Cassius says Darrow killed his family, including the children but Darrow has no idea what he is talking about. Cassius says he will find Sevro and Mustang and kill them both to punish him for it.

Cassius wants to kill him but the Sovereign ordered he be kept alive. 

Jackal tells his father, Augustus, that he paid Karnus and six Pinks to assault Claudius's girl so that he would fight and get killed. Planned it so his own brother would die. He was only ten at the time. Then the Jackal shoots his father in the head, killing him.

Jackal opens the ivory box and shows Darrow that the mask isn't in there, but Fitchner's head is, with his mouth full of grapes.

Red Rising Recaps:

Red Rising
Golden Son
Morning Star
Iron Gold
Dark Age
Light Bringer
Red God

Onyx Storm Recap / Summary

   

Onyx Storm 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. 

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. 

One thing to note is that I write these for me and type them out very quickly and so I apologise for any spelling mistakes. And also I know my brain likely confused there, their and they're multiple times while fast typing so again... SORRY! 

 

Fourth Wing Recaps:

Fourth Wing
Iron Flame
Onyx Storm

Onyx Storm Recap / Summary

Prologue: Opening note: Letter from General Melgren to King Tauri telling him that getting the wards back up at Basgiath killed General Sorengal and he advises that they should ally with Poromiel.

Violet is following Xaden and doesn't know where he is going. Follows him to where Jack is being kept. 

Violet can't accept that Xaden is now venin, he only drained a little and she thinks there must be some way to help him.

Andarna says she scorched the venin when she burnt it, something they usually can’t do. Thinks something changes in her magic when she changes colour.

Jack is taunting Xaden and is telling him to find someone else to fuck before he drains and kills Violet.

Andarna wants to find more of her kind and help find a cure for Xaden too.

Violet will tell Imogen everything so she can erase the conversation from Jack’s memory before he can tell anyone and get Xaden killed.

Chapter 1: TWO WEEKS LATER: Violet has been called to the King's council who are currently trying to come up with a peace deal with Poromiel but it isn't going well.

Basgiath has had storm after storm since her mother died, as she is no longer there to help control the weather with her powers. 

They've been hunting any venin left  behind and have killed 31 so far.

Xaden is keeping his connection to Violet blocked off as he doesn't trust himself.

Tairn agrees to help her and Andarna but he doesn't believe there is anything they can do to help Xaden.

Ridoc is fighting with his dragon, Aotrom because the dragon wants to go back to Aretia. They are staying where they are as being within the wards helps Xaden.

Ewan Faber has taken over as the wing leader of the Navarre Fourth Wing.

Imogen has told Garrick and Bodhi about Xaden and they want Violet to stop sharing a bed with him in case he hurts her or drains her. She tells them to fuck off.

Sawyer had a visit from Colonel Chanlyr, who commands retired riders. He is still recovering from losing his leg.

They hear screaming and a cadet comes running in, shouting that 'they're all dead' and he has a gray handprint on his neck. Venin are in the keep.

Chapter 2: Opening note: Rarest signets don't usually show up together. Only twice in history have two equally rare signets appeared at the same time.

The people in the infirmary have been completely drained. The venin are dressed as scribes and are amongst them. The venin are attempting to free Jack.

Violet watches as a venin disappears right before her eyes.

They fight and Xaden eventually shows, helping to kill the remaining ones.

Xaden tells Violet that Sgaeyl is still not speaking to him, angry about what he did. He thinks she can sense he is no longer whole but Violet doesn't believe that's true.

With his shields up, he didn't know she was in trouble but he could sense the venin and they can sense him too.

Chapter 3: Opening note: A letter Violet's mother never sent that said she worried Violet would let love cloud her logic one day. And if her past two relationships were anything to go by, she had horrible taste in men.

She is to see the Senarium - the nobles from every province of the Kingdom so she can argue Andarna's conditions for finding her kind.

They want to put her on a task force to find the 7th dragon breed and get them to join their side. Andarna has a list of demands but they refuse her first of picking their own team.

They say she must have Captain Grady lead the team and he will pick who comes. 

Lewellen gives Violet a note from Tecarus that warns her she only has 3 days left to uphold her end of their deal.

The next morning she wakes in bed next to Xaden. He can't help touching her and he makes her come before he has to stop. He can't have sex with her because he already started to channel and can't let himself lose control.

Chapter 4: Opening note: Rider cadets get a different leave to everyone else.

Duke Lindell is a part of the Senarium and is the man who took in Liam and Xaden when they were orphaned.

Xaden thinks they need to stay away from doing anything sexual together because he can't keep control if they do.

Mira arrives back and gives Violet a new conduit from Felix. Then also a rune disk from Trissa that has a rune for levitation, sound-shielding and warmth on it. She can see that the warmth rune is broken by a green shoot. They managed to alter what the rune was made from without breaking it. Kylynn is an agrarian, which is a plant wielder. They have found a way to use one rune while not using the other. 

Violet believes this discovery with the runes is a way to finally get Poromiel to agree to a deal, meaning she holds up her end of the deal with Tecarus.

Mira went back to study the wards in Aretia, she estimates they only have 6 months before they completely fail. It could take Violet decades to try and find Andarna's kind. She doesn't want her to go, thinks she will die if she does.

They give Brennan the rune disk and tell him to take it to the Senarium.

Chapter 5: First year fliers and riders are struggling to get along. A first wing has taken one of the fliers to the courtyard and challenging them. And their wing leader is making them fight with weapons.

Aura Beinhaven has a knife to the fliers throat. Dain tries to argue against what they're doing using the codex but as he left Basgiath, he no longer is in the chain of command. Aura is angry they all left and deserted them at Basgiath.

Aura demands Dain fight her, but Violet can tell she will try to use her fire power against him even though it is against the rules. Violet knows she is stronger than Dain, so she accepts the challenge.

Chapter 6: Violet talks to the crowd before they fight - pointing out the fliers and riders from Aretia came back and saved them. Talks about the importance of them working together.

Three professors show up before they can fight - Devera, Emetterio and Kaori.

Emetterio points out that the last time there was a shadow wielder and lightning wielder at the same time was during the Great War, when they managed to send the venin to the Barrens for hundreds of years.

They tell the cadets they are starting up lessons again the next day with or without a deal signed.

Brennan, Mira and Xaden have come to find her. They have reached a deal. Aaric's brother Halden showed up for negotiations. They have made an agreement that Halden will get to go with Violet on her mission and she isn't happy about it.

Halden is the heir to the throne and he and Violet clearly have history.

Andarnas demands - They agreed to allow all the people who left Basgiath for Aretia to be let back and pardoned. 

The first demand was securing the alliance with the fliers but that has failed. They want to send them back to Aretia.

Xaden got something else from the negotiations but won't tell her till she agrees that when she senses he has lost enough of himself to the venin that she will tell people. She agrees because she never believes he will get to a point where she will need to.

The King gave Xaden Tyrrendor, as well as his title back and a seat in the Senarium. Xaden doesn't want it though.

Violet knows she has to save the alliance and she will need to commit treason to do it.

Chapter 7:  Opening note: From the journal of Lyra, who didn't care what punishment she got for helping Braxtyn defend his people. She believed the wards should be for both Navarre and Aretia.

Violet, Ridoc, Rhiannon and Imogen are heading to the Healer Quadrant, where they meet Quinn, Bodhi and Maren. Only one who doesn't know what they are doing is Maren. Has Maren stay back with Imogen for now.

Dyre is there to meet them - Violet saved his life the year before and he has agreed to help them as he owes her. They are there to get Sawyer and bring him with them. 

They need Sawyer to alter the wardstone the way they did with the the runedisk. He tries to get them to find someone else but they say he is up for the job.

She hasn't told Xaden what they are doing and will only tell him once it is done.

Mira is waiting for them - had a feeling this is what they were going to do. Brennan is also there waiting for them. Mira isn't going to stop her.

They have Sawyer alter the wardstone and have Maren, a flier, try to use lesser magic until it works and they know they have altered the wards to let fliers use magic again.

Professor Devera is leading Battle Brief again. Professor Kiandra, a flier, will be joining to teach alongside him now they are back to agreeing on an alliance. 

Colonel Aetos arrives in the room and charges Violet with treason. 

Chapter 8: Dain tries to talk to his dad but his father disowns him and doesn't want to listen to him.

She is taken to the Senarium, where Xaden and the others are. They have her lightning-wielder patch that they say they found in the wardstone chamber, which is proof she was there and messed with it.

Xaden believes she has a plan, as he can tell she purposefully cut the patch off and didn't drop it by accident.

The wards still work against dark wielders but do let the fliers wield lesser magic.

Violet confesses to what she did and says thanks to her they now can negotiate the alliance. But they already signed the deal, which said all riders who left could come back and would be pardoned of treason. So she can't be punished for it.

Queen Maraya is there, has heard of what she did and that she risked everything to help keep her fliers at Basgiath. What she wanted in return was access to the King's library. 

Xaden realises she did all of it for him - to try and find a cure.

The Queen reveals her library is even grander than the King and she can have access to them all. 

Aetos reveals he has been made the commanding general of Basgiath. She says he can't afford to kill her, but he says he knows he can hurt her friends to hurt her. They will be punished for anything she does. 

He orders their squad to spend two day at Samara on the front lines. 

Chapter 9: They arrive in Samara but the person in charge, Degrensi, tells them the fighting stopped the day before. The squad spends the night in Xaden's room as it is still warded. 

They hear that a village nearby is being attacked (Newhall) which is where Maren's family is. They vote to go and try to help.

Chapter 10: Violet and the Tairn are the first to arrive as he flies the fastest. She sees the same silver-haired venin woman that was in Jack's cell. The venin waves at her and she realises they knew she'd come and that the attack on the village was a trap.

They are fighting the wyvern in a heavy storm and they get caught in a tornado. Tairn is thrown into a mountain so hard he is knocked out.

Garrick shows up, even though he should be hours away with Xaden. He helps Violet, who has dislocated her knee and needs it popped back in.

She asks why he is there and not with Xaden and he says Xaden completely lost it when he found out Violet was crossing the border. 

The venin comes to find her and appears to wield lightning, but venin shouldn't be able to use signet powers. The venin says her name is Theophanie and that they lured Violet there, have killed Maren's parents but left her brother's alive as a sign of goodwill.

The venin wants Violet to answer one question, which is which of her dragons bonded her first. She refers to Andarna as an irid.

Chapter 11: Andarna's kind are the irids and Theophanie lured Violet there to try and get to Andarna. She says Violet & Xaden will eventually join the dark wielders and when they do, they need to let her train them and not someone called Berwyn.

Theopanie says Violet will come to her because she can give Violet what she wants - knowledge. She also refers to Garrick as a walker. Then she leaves, letting them both live.

Violet realises that Garrick has a second signet, which is how he travelled to her so quickly. 

Violet has Garrick leave before the others arrive and once they do, they fly back to Basgiath where Xaden is waiting for her. He carries her to the commons and he is very angry.

Aetos tries to send Maren's brothers away, as they haven't opened the borders but Xaden makes them citizens of Tyrrendor.

Aetos is going to make Garrick and Xaden join the Eastern Wing and not able to fraternise with cadets - he is finding a way to keep her and Xaden apart. 

Once Violet is mended he orders everyone out of the room and then kisses her.

Chapter 12: Stops kissing her to tell her how crazy it made him when he learnt she was going past the wards and he couldn't reach her. He says he would have done whatever it took to get to her if it had been possible. Warns that he would have drained the earth again if it meant keeping her alive.

He's worried about if she can handle the fact all he can give her right now is this, a mere kiss and not much else because he can't risk losing control. She insists she can and won't lose him.

She has Xaden confirm that Garrick is a distance wielder. Points out Xaden has a second signet and that Liam did too, as she saw him wield ice once. It would appear a lot of the marked cadets have a second signet.

He asks what was left out of the report - she tells him everything, including that she thinks venin have signets too.

A week goes by and Xaden is gone but she receives a letter from him. He almost burnt out during a battle and has to stay back to recover. But does believe he may have worked out how to stop himself burning out. She believes he has worded it carefully but that he messed up and drained a little, so has to hide away until his eyes return to normal.

Violet and Imogen go down to see Jack and question him. She has brought the alloy from her conduit, with enough power in it to keep him alive for at least a week. Will give it to him if he talks. 

She wants him to answer four questions. First is if the venin can sense each other and he says they can. And newly turned venin can't hide themselves but Sages and Mavens can, so they could be surrounded by them and not know.

 She asks if they need to be taught to channel - he says those with no experience with magic would but riders and fliers already know how to channel so it is easy for them.

Then she asks if he knows what the venin have planned and he says he doesn't. Her last question is how you can cure it. He says he doesn't need or want to be cured.

Chapter 13: Opening note: Lewis Markham has had Jesinia transferred over to Professor Grady because she failed her exams and will no longer be able to be in the adept program.

Rhi, Ridoc and Sawyer are going with her to the archives. They make fun of the fights her and Xaden have and the mocking is on point.

They believe irids is short for iridescent.

Jesinia was kicked out after they came up with a ridiculous test. She's trying to find research for them but it is hard going. They think they need to get Dain to help them retrieve Violet's father's research.

In Battle Brief it is confirmed that Sages and Maven have signets. They will now need to train against people using signets so Eastern Wing have sent their most powerful rider to help - which is Xaden.

She's excited to see him before she realises what him being a teacher means for their relationship.

Chapter 14: Violet goes to find Dain to ask him for his help in getting her father's research from her mother's old rooms, that his father now uses.

Xaden comes to find her. She thinks they have to break up because it is against the codex for them to be together while he is a teacher. He doesn't care about the rules and plans to ask for an exemption.

General Aetos comes in, knows they want to ask for an exemption and says they won't get one.

Dain agrees to help her.

Violet is in a meeting with Captain Grady and his chosen squad when Xaden comes to join. They are trying to decide where to search for irids first.The team has:

Captain Henson - an air wielder
Lieutenant Pugh - farsight
Lieutenant Foley - agrarian
Cadet Beinhaven - fire wielder
Lieutenant Winshire - infantry

They are getting Mira to come as they need a shield. They want to search near the north coastline first, close to the Emerald Sea. Violet thinks they should look to the south, specifically Deverelli. 

Chapter 15: Her and Xaden are still being kept apart - she is being watched almost constantly so they've not managed to sneak around to see each other and it has been almost a week.

They get  to go to the outside arena to have their first training session with Xaden.

A student, Loran, makes a comment about how Xaden is newly graduated and probably not rhe best person to teach him so Xaden gets him to try and take him down. Xaden easily beats him.

Xaden goes against everyone and easily wins. He saves Violet for last and she asks him not to let her hurt him.

Chapter 16: They start and he immediately uses his shadows to plunge her into darkness. Teaches her how to feel the difference between his shadows so she can locate him in them and find him, will only show her. Then he kisses her while no one can see.

Afterwards she asks why only she needs to know how to do it and he says it's because she's the only one who can kill him.

They've gone down to the local tavern to drink. Lynx and Aaric still haven't got their signet and are running out of time. 

Dain comes to find her - says he can't sneak anyone into his father's rooms with him so she has to trust him to go and get the research himself. She agrees and tells him where he can find it. 

Chapter 17: Opening note: From a letter from Violet's father to her, saying they can trust no one.

Sloane comes to see her - she now has duty in the Archives and has brought Violet some books from her and one that is from Dain, which she knows is her father's research that he has found a clever way to deliver to her without anyone knowing.

When she gets it out she realises it is locked. Is a six letter lock and if she gets it wrong then it will destroy the book. Her father left a note that says 'First love is irreplaceable'

Next training session Xaden has Garrick come so they can practice fighting against a wind wielder. 

Violet and the others choose to fight him as a squad. When he fires ice back at Violet it makes Xaden angry. Violet manages to use her lightning to melt Garrick's dagger. They are interrupted by Prince Halden, Aaric's brother, showing up.

She notes Halden is as beautiful as she remembers, with stunning green eyes. They clearly used to date but he cheated on her and she walked in on him having sex with someone else.

He brings her a letter from Viscount Tecarus. He has sent the books she wanted and also got a meeting set up between her and King Courtlyn of Deverelli. In exchange for the meeting he wants a specific gem that she will need to get and deliver the Amelian Citrine.

The gem he wants is an amplifier for lesser-magic. If she goes to get it, Halden says he will order Grady to change their first searching place to where she wants to go.

Halden wants to know if she's with Xaden and she insists they are sticking to the Codex. Halden wants another chance with her. But when he tries to touch her hair, Xaden sends his shadows flying at him and throws him across the room. 

Chapter 18: Opening note: It is hard to explore the isles as no ship makes it across the Emerald Sea.

Anna, Halden's guard, is clearly more to him given the way she reacts when he is hurt.

Xaden pretends like it was an accident but tells Halden he heard him talking to Violet and can promise that she hasn't thought of Halden once since Violet saw him. 

Violet figures out the answer to the lock on her father's research - it is Aimsir. Once she opens it she finds he left a note for her. His research is on the second Krovlan uprising. While he wrote it for others to read, he believes Violet will understand it.  

He advises her to travel to Cordyn and then to Deverelli and find a merchant called Narelle Anselm. He says she will need to give him the rarest thing she has and in exchange she will be given something she needs. He tells her the only person she can trust is Mira.

Xaden comes to see her and asks if she loved Halden and she realises he is jealous. Tells him she dated Halden for 7 months when she was 18 and thought what she felt for him was love, but it is nothing close to what she feels for Xaden.

He kisses her but jumps away the moment he starts to feel like he is losing control.

She tells him about the letter and he says they will go, even though it means getting the gem that is in enemy territory.

Chapter 19: Four days later and Violet and Grady's team are on the way to get the citrine gem. They make it to Anca and find it empty.

They find the gem but Aura ends up using her fire wielding when a door opens and she is scared it's a venin. She ends up killing Grady and it sets the houses on fire.

They run to the center of the town so the dragons can pick them up but Aura is killed by a wyvern. The rest of them manage to escape.

Mira has the gem but it seems damaged. She also found a note next to it for Violet from Theophanie reminding her that Theophanie can get her any time she wants and questions why Violet doesn't come to her for the answers she needs.

Chapter 20: She's read her father's book 3 times and believes she has some idea of what he found out but hasn't told anyone else.

Ridoc wants to be added to the search team - feels things go wrong when Violet goes off without anyone from their squad. He has also been learning to master his signet and has figured out he can freeze the water inside fruit and believes he could do the same to water inside of a human.

Violet goes to see the Senarium and she quickly rejects all of their plans for her, including the new leader of her team. She wants to pick her own team and also where she goes. She plans to bring Xaden, Ridoc, Cat, Drake (Cat's cousin?), Mira, Dain, Halden and whoever is guarding Halden. 

If she succeeds she can swap out her team as she pleases, if she loses than Xaden will lost his title.

Chapter 21: Opening note: From her father's research - Tyrrendor was the last to stop communication with the isles.

They fly to Cordyn first, but the gryphon's struggle to keep up because they have to carry Halden and his guard.

Tecarus comes out to greet them and will have to make them share rooms. After Halden confirms that Xaden is with them as a Duke and not a teacher, he lifts an exhausted Violet up and carries her to his room.

Tecarus warns them they can't go to the isles with Halden being carried in a basket, as it looks bad. So he says he will take him by boat and they can meet them there. Also warns them against making deals with King Courtlyn when they meet and to not give away what Violet can do.

They travel out the next day and once they reach a certain point away from the mainland, their magic begins to fade. They lose their powers and the dragons can no longer speak to each other. Violet can't talk to Xaden through their bond either.

Chapter 22: Opening note: From her father's research - Rumors that Cordyn supplied weapons and forces to the 2nd Krovlan uprising but he suspects they brokered the deal. 

They land at Tecarus's manor house on the isle. Violet learns only she can still communicate with her dragons and no one else can.

Mira has brought some runes with them to test if they work on the isles.

Xaden seems relaxed for the first time in a long time. There is no magic here to tempt him and he seems happier than she's ever seen him, which makes her consider the offer Tecarus once made her.

Chapter 23: Opening note: From her father's research - The uprising failed overnight when all foreign soldiers abruptly left and the rebels were taken out in their sleep. He says the Deverelli don't break a deal usually so he suspects the Krovlan rebels didn't uphold their side of it and that is why they were betrayed at the end.

They ride on horses to the market so Violet can find the merchant her father told her about. People seem frightened of them and call them 'fire-bringers'. Xaden finds out where the woman is that they need and that she owns a rare books shop.

They go in and ask for Narelle and get attacked by two people that they easily overpower. Narelle appears, she is a much older woman and the people who attacked them are her grandchildren. Narelle immediately knows who Violet is and says she must be there to get the books her father left for her. 

Chapter 24: Narelle is 93 and she refers to Violet and the others as Amaralis. She mistakes Xaden as Dain because she notes him and Violet are together and her father always used to talk about how he knew Dain & Violet would end up together.

Violet's father, Asher, risked his life to hide all his work with Narelle so Violet could get it one day. She will get it if she answers 3 things for Narelle.

The first is the name of the first piece of her father's work he hid for her, which she already has. The second is her theory on why the Krovlan rebellion failed. She had one but hadn't told anyone yet.

She believes it failed because Krovlan promised Deverelli dragons and then couldn't deliver them.

The third question is why she left Halden - her father knew she eventually would and she is curious what made her in the end. She admits she walked in on him fucking his professor.

She is given 6 books and each one has it's own passcode lock on it.

Chapter 25: Opening note: From a letter Xaden's father wrote saying that marriage was necessary and that love is inconsequential for people like them. 

Xaden kisses her and she realises he is willing to have sex with her here because it doesn't matter if he loses control as there is no magic here. They fuck and manage to break a table.

She talks about how they could stay on the isles but he insists they can't because Sgaeyl is in pain here without magic. All the dragons are. He won't let her be in pain and he also won't let Violet sacrifice her whole life to do that for him either.

They are interrupted when everyone shows up with the new that King Courtlyn has decided to keep Halden. Xaden is the only aristocrat they have and must be the one to go see the King, but he says Violet will go with him. 

Chapter 26: Opening note: From research on the venin - when an asim, like what Xaden is, was taken away from magic they seemed fine for about a day before getting worse and eventually needing to be killed.

She asks Tairn why he didn't tell her he was in pain but he says she doesn't tell him every time she is in pain, which is almost daily. Also notes Andarna seems fine here. 

They go to see King Courtlyn but his guards say they aren't allowed in. But Xaden insists they will be seen, says he is Duke of Tyrrendor and Violet is his consort. While they're escored to the King she points out she isn't his wife and he brings up the question of when would be a good time for that to happen - she says when they're not fighting to stay alive.

They come in to see King Courtlyn, Halden and Tecarus sitting together. They ask Halden what he did - he says he made a deal by asking to use Tecaru's manor house as the base while they search in return for giving him the gem he wanted. And when that wasn't good enough he offered something else. Whatever it is, Courtlyn inists it isn't his to give and stabs a dagger into his hand.

What he tried to give is the dagger currently in his hand. It is technically Xaden's as it is the Blade of Aretia. 

Courtlyn has three white panthers named Shira, Shena and Shora. 

Courtlyn will make the same deal with Xaden as Halden wanted if he is honest with him. He asks who he is loyal to, Navarre or Tyrrendor and if he lies then there is no deal. Xaden says his loyalty is to Violet above anything, then it would be Tyrrendor and then Navarre.

She asks if venin have ever been to the isles - trying to find if they defeated them or cured them. 

Courtlyn had Halden's guard, Anna, killed and is feeding her body to his panthers. Killed her when she was found trying to steal a list of items from his treasury, the list was written by Halden.

Those items are ones that belonged to Halden's kingdom but have been given to them in deals over the last 100 years. She realises Halden has screwed them over. Xaden asks Courtlyn to make the deal with him and Tyrrendor instead and in return he will give them his family's sword.

Courtlyn gets bored of it and orders all of them to be killed except Tecarus.

Chapter 27: Xaden throws Halden a sword so they can fight the guards. Xaden says they shouldn't kill anyone as they do need a deal.

They fight guards and one manages to smash Violet's conduit. A man manages to split the skin on her cheek. She's never seen him so angry before and he vows to kill everyone.

Xaden is using magic to kill them with shadows - he took it from the alloy of her broken conduit. She has to ask Andarna and Tairn for help to get them out of this.

Has Andarna come it Shira in her mouth and uses it as a bargaining tool to get Courtlyn to agree to negotiate. Then she sends Xaden back to Aretia for a week and says she will see him after in Basgiath.

She agrees to give him the gem for what they want as well as a piece of dragon egg shell - it is part of Andarna's egg. Courtlyn agrees as long as Halden never returns to his land.

Courtlyn knows they will search Unnbriel first and says he may have another trade Violet would be interested in. 

Chapter 28: They're in battle brief 3 days later - told them how Courtlyn wanted Violet and Xaden to work for him in exchange for weapons.

Looking at the map and the movement of the venin, she guesses they know about the wards at Aretia and are moving in towait for them to fall.

It's been 8 days since Xaden left and he isn't back and he should be. 

 The first years from their squad show up - want to help Violet with her search. Sloane keeps blushing at Dain. He berates her for not training her signet. 

She gives them some of the books they are working through and asks them to read them and give her a summary on them.

Xaden comes back but his eyes haven't returned to their normal colour, they are amber instead of gold and she knows they are running out of time. He seems to be able to read more than just her intentions now - as though his second signet is getting stronger or he is getting better at using it.

All the different islands they need to check will take far too long, more than the 5 months they have until the wards fall. She decides they will have to break the rules they were given - keep flying to explore all the islands without going back to report like they are supposed to.

Bodhi gives her the serum and antidote she asked for. Tells her to take Garrick with her when they go. 

A second year starts draining from the ground and Carr immediately kills her.

Chapter 29: Opening note: From Asher's notes on Unnbriel, their next stop - they worship the god of war and hate cowards.

Takes 10 days to get everything ready to leave. She also brings Maren and Trager. Aaric arrives with his dragon Molvic, he is going to come. He refuses to let Halden get anyone else killed.

Aaric reveals himself to Halden for the first time and he realises he has been at Basgiath the whole time his father was looking for him. Tells Halden he will go as the royal representative and he will stay behind.

They fly to Deverelli, will rest for 2 days before flying on to next island. They know some runes will work off the continent but not sure which ones so will test them while they are there.

They fly on to Dunne. Violet notices a bracelet Mira is wearing - something about it is familiar to her but she can't figure it out.

Asks where Mira went on her leave - to see their grandmother who they haven't seen since Violet was three. Their parents cut contact with her.

They sleep and are woken when a man sneaks up on them, but Xaden manages to get a knife to his throat.

Chapter 30: There are almost 20 other men on horseback surrounding them, they tell them they should leave the island. She notes every soldier is almost exactly the same height and build, look very similar.

They try to deny their request to meet the queen as they deem them not worthy as they could sneak up on them. The dragons and gryphons reveal themselves, showing that they let them sneak up on them. They're so startled by the dragons that Violet can tell they don't have any here so Andarna's kind won't be on this island.

Xaden knows that if he defeats their best soldier in a fight then he can get in to see the Queen. They are only allowed to bring half the squad and Violet picks Xaden, Aaric, Cat and Dain to come with her.

They travel to the capital, Eistol and are taken to a place where the fight will take place. She sees a temple that has six pillars that each have a symbol on - sword, fire, water, shield, claw and a book.

When more people arrive she notices every single one has silver hair.

Chapter 31: Violet spots a young girl with hair likes hers, brown but then silver at the end. 

Two people appear - a general and a high priestess. Ask if they are sure they want to accept the fight to gain an audience with the Queen and Xaden confirms they do. Then one woman and two men are sent in - Costa, Marlis and Palta.

Aaric wants to fight but Xaden says no. They pick Costa for Xaden to fight. The Priestess decide Xaden won't fight by himself and sends Dain in to fight with him. She sends Palta in to fight him.

The Priestess asks if Violet chose to be a rider and she says she chose her life. The Priestess then says it is good they didn't complete her 'dedication', but she doesn't know what that means. Priestess says she can still see Violet with them if she chooses that instead. Then she says Violet must fight too.

Chapter 32: She will be made to fight Marlis, the woman. Andarna is angry, knowing they always planned to make three of them fight. Violet can't block out her emotions without magic so feels it all.

All have to use the same weapon so Xaden chooses daggers, as that is what Violet is best with. She manages to get Marlis pinned but she won't yield. Dain is unconscious and lost his fight. Xaden is on the ground, trying to hold back his opponents dagger. Violet can keep Marlis down or help Xaden. Throws a dagger to help him and still keeps Marlis pinned, but when she still won't yield there are two lightning strikes and Marlis then yields.

Xaden asks if the lightning was her but she says it can't have been because there is no magic out here. 

It turns out Marlis is the Queen. Violet tells her they are looking for the 7th dragon breed but she insists they have seen no dragons in hundreds of years. Then Violet asks them to ally with them to help fight. Marlis wants to know how she wielded lightning but Violet still isn't sure it was her.

Marlis doesn't want to fight with them, but will let them stay and rest on her isle. What they want for fighting is the same as everyone else - dragons. 

Chapter 33: Opening note: From a guide on dragons - A dragon will always choose what is best for their kind rather than their rider. 

Marlis wants 12 eggs, two of every breed, before she will fight with them. They refuse the deal.

They rest for a day and then travel to the next isle, Hedotis - the island of wisdom. One of them will have to prove their wise in order to get an audience with their leadership, the triumvirate (three person leadership)

Violet notes Cat may be interested in Trager.

A group come down to see then, including Faris - one of the triumvirate. She notes his eyes are purple. He wants them to stay at his home and has brought his wife to meet them, Talia. Talia is Xaden's mother.

Chapter 34: They have taken up the offer to stay in Faris's house but Xaden is refusing to see or speak to his mum.

Xaden didn't even know his mother was from Hedotis. They spot Cat and Trager walking while holding hands. He asks if she thinks he should go to dinner but she won't make the choice for him. Says she isn't the best person to ask as her mother just died and she'd give anything to have dinner with her.

He doesn't want to give her his time after she abandoned him. Reveals she left on his 10th birthday. 

They see two boys run out of the house and Xaden realises his mother has more children. 

He finally agrees to go to dinner when he hears the triumvirate will be present.

Violet has a plan - has Andarna follow the two boys when they go off to stay with their grandparents. Then she brings a vial to Talia in the kitchen that she says is dried arinmint.

Chapter 35: They go to dinner. The triumvirate is made up of Nairi, Faris and Roslyn. The dinner will serve as their test on whether they are deemed worthy or not.

They question why Xaden hasn't formed an alliance with Cat - she explains she said yes to the proposal and he said no. They think he should be with her long enough to get an heir. They want to draw up a wedding contract to last a few years and have the legal ceremony performed the next day. He tells them to draw up the contract but then gives them the spelling for Violet's full name.

He says Violet is the one thing he has chosen for himself and he won't give her up for any alliance.

The triumvirate comment that they don't even know the real name of their continent but Aaric does. He knows from records that it was once known as Amaralys and at times known as Amelekis too.

At dinner they are given chocolate cake and it is mentioned that Talia had been saving the chocolate for weeks, which means she knew Xaden would come. She gave him chocolate cake on his birthday, the day she abandoned him. Violet realises something is wrong, tries to stop them all eating it but is too late for Garrick who collapses on the table and isn't breathing.

Chapter 36: Xaden can feel Garricks heart is still faintly beating. Faris won't tell them what they put in the cake. He is smug when he asks if Violet will threaten to kill him in order to find out but she says she's already killed them all - she poisoned them with the tea and gave everyone but them the antidote before they drank it. Says she will give them it if they give her the one for Garrick.

Violet finds the cook and figures out what he used, but the cook manages to stab Ridoc.

Chapter 37: Ridoc is fine, it only went through his flight jacket.

They can use figs to help Garrick - they crush them into water and get him to swallow it. When Garrick wakes, Xaden almost kills Faris and Ridoc tries to stop him. Violet gets between him and Ridoc when she sees Xaden isn't himself and is worried what he might do. Violet manages to get through to him and get him to stop.

Gets them to agree to an alliance only when she tells them that Andarna is outside Faris's parents home and that she will kill his two boys if he doesn't. He agrees and lets them leave.

Then they fly on to the next isle to check - Zehyllna. When they reach it they find the people are waving and aren't frightened at seeing them arrive with dragons. There are thousands of seats in the area they can land all filled with people, as though they knew they were coming.

When they land they suddenly realise there is magic on this isle.

Chapter 38: There's not as much magic as they are used to but the dragons can all talk to each other and the riders/fliers can all talk to their dragons/gryphons again.

Xaden asks her to promise never to do what she did with him and Ridoc again - not to step in when he is not himself because he is worried what he might do to her if she does.

They are greeted by a woman called Calixta who says she is mistress of the days 'festivities'. They know they are here for an alliance, as they heard about her team and what they are doing weeks ago and have been waiting for them to arrive.

Ask to see the Queen and she says they can if they are willing to accept whatever 'gifts' their god decides to give them. Calixta sits at a table with a large stack of cards and says each card represents a different gift they could get.

Mira is gifted wine. Maren gets tunics. Dain receives a slap round the face. Garrick gets a bucket. Aaric gets a small broken mirror. Xaden gets an empty glass box. Violet gets a compass but it appears to be broken as far as she can tell. Ridoc receives cheek kisses from a man. Cat gets a ruby necklace. Drake receives a kitten. Trager pulls a card with an arrow on it and is immediately shot through the heart with an arrow before any of them have a chance to react.

 

Chapter 39: Trager's gryphon collapses and dies next. They can't react, as they were told they needed to accept every so-called gift they received. Instead Violet has to thank them.

Aaric spoke to the Queen and made a deal - the isle will provide 40,000 troops to them for the war against the venin.

Chapter 40: Opening note: They've doubled the rates of conscription.

They fly to a small island to burn the bodies of Trager and his gryphon, Sila.

Drake has named the kitten Broccoli.

They realise they are by a set of small islands they can't see on any of the maps they have. She splits them off into pairs to go and check all the surrounding small islands for the irids. The groups are: Cat & Maren, Drak & Dain, Aaric & Mira, Xaden & Garrick, Violet & Ridoc.

Xaden comes to speak to her - she's worried how he's doing as these isles also have magic. Says it tempts him but he won't use it, but Violet knows he might if she's with him as she sees herself as a trigger. He argues it's that he'd do anything to protect her and that's why he wields when she's in danger and that's exactly why she paired him with Garrick and not her.

Violet is with a sleeping Andarna when she sees dragon prints in the sand that don't belong to any of their dragons. And then can smell the sulphur smell of dragons too. They have been camouflaged like Andarna can and she realises she is surrounded by 6 irid dragons.

Chapter 41: One of the dragons speaks to Violet in her head, then she realises all of them can speak to her in her head - as far as she knew, dragons only spoke to those they bonded too.

The irids refer to Andarna as criterion. They ask what she did to her tail, as she has a scorpiontail and they all have feathertails. Andarna says she chose it and they want to know how.

There are hundreds of irids and they don't live/bond with humans. They have Andarna tell them everything from when she's hatched to now. Afterwards she asks for them to join them in the fight against venin.

When Andarna asks if she passed their test, they say they weren't testing her but Violet and Violet failed. They say she used Andarna, used her power and made her go into the Dreamless Sleep early and now her wings aren't how they should be because of it.

They say she was criterion - purposefully left behind to see if humans would stop using magic as a weapon with the wards in place but that clearly didn't happen. The irids are a peaceful den, unlike the others. 

He says Andarna has handed over a gift to Violet that is incredibly dangerous. 

Chapter 42: Opening note: Letter from Melgren to Queen Maraya that they are sending them four dragons & riders, as well as weapons.

They refuse to help them, even if all humans are killed because they think that might be for the best. When Andarna questions a cure for venin, they say there isn't one. Venin slowly kill a piece of their soul each time they wield and they can't get that back and can never be cured.

Only one of the irids, Leothan, seems to want to consider helping them. The rest reject Andarna and say she can't be allowed onto their isle nor to learn more about her kind.

The dragons seem to do something when Xaden and Garrick show up that makes his eyes red. They know what he is and are angry that Violet & the others are working with a venin. The irids all leave after one calls Xaden an abomination.

Ridoc saw Xaden's eyes and now knows why she wants to find a cure so badly. 

Chapter 43: Ridoc has Violet tell him as much as she can before the others come back. They have decided they will head back home afterwards as there's no point continuing their search.

She tries to explain everything to Ridoc but he can't understand and worries about the danger Xaden poses. He says every venin continues to wield and he will eventually become the next rank of venin. Asks what Xaden needs to do for her to give up on him and she says she won't, no matter what he does. That she won't be able to kill him, even if he fully turns to the dark. 

Ridoc says she has to give him a line that if Xaden crosses he can turn him in otherwise he won't keep the secret and will tell everyone else. She says if Xaden hurt her then he isn't himself anymore.

To keep the secret he also says she has to tell Rhiannon, Sawyer and Jesinia too. Ridoc says they need more people to know and protect Violet because when Xaden fully turns, people will know the easiest way to kill him would be to kill Violet. 

Xaden is keeping distance from her since the dragons comments - feels she almost had the two irids who stayed behind on her side before they realised what he was. 

They fly back to Basgiath, ready for whatever punishment they will get. General Aetos comes and gives Violet a letter - it is from Theophanie. Questions why they travelled so far for the answers she can give them and alludes to the fact they'll see each other again soon.

General Aetos says that Suniva was taken by the dark wielders and Queen Marays is dead.

Chapter 44: Leadership interviews them all for 12 hours but they are spared from punishment because King Tauri knows Aaric is with them and is just happy to have him back. 

In Battle Brief they find out the venin dropped into Suniva, easily bypassing the huge walls that protect it and set a fire that burned almost everyone to death. Of the four riders they sent - only one made it out alive and so did two dragons. 

Xaden shows up and asks what Suniva had in their armory - they had six crates of daggers that the venin then took. They realise the venin knew this as their must be more among them who are feeding information back.

The venin came in through a storm, using the clouds, which means Theophanie was with them as she can control lightning the way Violet can to get them through the storm clouds without getting hit. And to be that strong she has to be a Maven.

Violet, Ridoc, Rhiannon and Sawyer go down to see Jesinia. She has a package for Violet from Chantara. Violet tells them about Xaden.

Chapter 45: Opening note: From recovered letter from Violet to Xaden - talking about how she thinks she completely fell for him when he gave her the saddle for Tairn.

Violet is having another nightmare about the Sage - can see Draithus burning behind her. Tells her to come to him and when she refuses he lifts the sword of Tyrrendor and goes to strike her with it and then she wakes up.

She opened the package it was from Xaden, he had a nightgown and robe made for her from the fabric she had liked when they were in Deverelli and then had it sent back to Basgiath for when they got back. She decides to try and get him to stop brooding by writing to him like he did for her.

They need to learn a battle dismount and then how to quickly get back on their dragon - Violet & Tairn manage it, but have to do it differently to everyone else.

She speaks to Xaden after class - gives him a letter and a black wrist cuff as a gift, as it's his birthday.

Felix shows up - to give Xaden news of Aretia. Two wyvern got through the wards before eventually dying. The wards are weakening there. He has come to help train Violet. 

Chapter 46: Three weeks have passed. Xaden has been called to Tyrrendor.

They come across Lewellen and Calldyr arguing. Xaden arrives and says he has already decided, even when Halden appears to say he forbids it. Xaden plans to open his borders to take in civilians.

He says Draithus will fall within a few weeks and he will take any citizens who can make it through the pass to Tyrrendor.

Lynx finally gets his signet - a shadow wielder. Xaden says the magic knows he will be gone soon and has picked another.

Xaden says he is leaving - has resigned from being a teacher. Violet begs him to stay or at least meet her in Aretia. Xaden leaves.

Chapter 47: Sawyer asks Violet to come with him as he tries to attempt to mount his dragon with the prosthetic leg he has. He struggles at first and argues with his dragon when it wants to adjust how they do it to help him but gives in at the end.

The squad then flies to Aretia, as they are meant to spend a week there. Brennan comes to see her once they arrive and tells her he knows about Xaden being venin. He can't heal him, he's tried. Xaden's also been looking for other ways to stop it and it makes Violet happy because she realises he hasn't given up.

Chapter 48: Xaden comes back and kisses her. He's not channelled for 73 days and she asks what number he has to get to before he will trust himself to be with her and he said he'd picked 76 days. But he came back to her when he realised he didn't channel when he was beyond the wards and that meant he should be able to keep control with her. But he needs her to give over control if they are going to do this and she agrees.

Chapter 49: They have sex.

Chapter 50: Opening note: From a letter from Xaden to King Tauri, refusing Tauri's request for Xaden to send him Tyrrendor troops.

She's having the same nightmare again, where the Sage says he's tired of waiting for her to come to him and that he will kill 'her' if she doesn't.

She wakes to find Xaden having a nightmare beside her and she wakes him up. He asks about her dream and she describes it - that she is on a battlefield in Draithus and it burns and the Sage holds her by the throat. 

She says this time was different, she looked down in the dream to channel from the earth but it was his hands she saw. Xaden says it's because she wasn't in her dream, she was in his. Violet's second signet is dream walking.

In the nightmare the Sage is talking to Xaden about Violet - he wants him to bring her to him. They realise this isn't the first time she has done it, she also thinks she may have been in Maren's dream back in Samara. 

She can wander into anyone's mind why they are sleeping without knowing it.

Chapter 51: They are under attack at Aretia. Aaric tells her they need to protect Dunne's temple which is outside of the walls because it is how they will save Tyrrendor.

Violet & Tairn fly off to fight the incoming wyvern.

Chapter 52: Rhi and her dragon chase after Theophanie after Tairn gets a small injury. Andarna defied Violet's orders to stay behind and has gone to help protect the temple.

Theophanie shows up there and the priestess of the temple calls her a heretic. Violet works out that Theophanie used to be a priestess herself.

Suddenly Theophanie sees something behind them at the temple that freaks her out so much that she immediately leaves, so do the two venin with them. One completely disappears the same way Garrick can.

A wyvern falls from the sky and slides into a temple pillar, breaking it to pieces. Xaden shows up and uses his powers to slow the pieces down so they don't hurt Violet as they fall. 

The wards are up and working properly because Leothan, the irid, had come and got them up.

Chapter 53: Opening note: Leothan is from the same den as Andarna, they are family. He says Violet can stay while they talk but no one else can.

He wants to give Andarna a chance and will teach her if she comes back with him. She says she can't as she is bonded to Violet but he insists irids are different and she can break that bond if she wants to.

Violet realises Andarna wants to go and that she can't hold her back and stop her. Their bond is seemingly broken and Andarna leaves.

Chapter 54: Opening note: No rider has lived through losing their dragon.

Violet has stayed in bed for three days mourning the loss. It takes Mira coming back to finally get her out of it,

Mira and Brennan get into an argument about their grandmother, Niara, after he realises she went to see her. Mira said she had to because she'd read their mother's journals and she purposefully didn't write about the months that they left Mira & Brennan with Niara and went somewhere with Violet. Grandma stopped speaking to them when they returned.

Mira believes they took her to be dedicated - a high priestess has warned that Violet could still come to them and finish it but she'd turn venin. When Brennan asks to know exactly what the Priestess says, she explains they told her that the heart that beats for or in Violet would turn trying to do something for the right reasons. 

Xaden reveals the Priestess was talking about him. 

Chapter 55: Opening note: Talladium is Navarre's most important resource and if they lose that they'd be done for.

Navarre may declare war on Tyrrendor because Xaden refused to follow the Seranium's orders and send more troops. Halden has an army stationed close by and so Xaden has refused to send Talladium to Navarre until they leave.

Violet is struggling even worse with runes now she doesn't have Andarna's magic.

Bodhi and Xaden are arguing becuase Bodhi wants to drop out and join the fighting. But he needs him to stay and graduate - needs him safe to take over for him, if and when he turns full venin.

Chapter 56: Opening note: An order from the King for Xaden to restore the supply of Talladium. 

She's in Xaden's dream again but when she realises and calls to him, it makes him turn and suddenly she is not seeing it through his eyes but able to walk through it instead. The Sage tells Xaden that if Violet doesn't come to him then 'she' will die, but she doesn't know who he means.

Garrick knocks at their door, bloody and beaten. Theophanie attacked his patrolling group but left him alive to deliver a message. She says the venin have reached Draithus and only have 5 hours to deliver Bodhi and Violet to her or 'she' dies. 

When Violet notices the dragon scale that Garrick is holding she finally knows who they mean. It belongs to Teine, Mir'as dragon, which means they have her too.

Chapter 57: They're all arguing over what to do. Trissa says they shouldn't bother to go because Melgren has seen the outcome already and they lose. But she says he has only seen one outcome, so if they take more marked ones he wouldn't have been able to see the outcome, so they can go and win if they try.

Xaden wonders what she could want with Bodhi. Garrick doesn't know but she asked for Xaden to bring his 'brother' and he assumes Bodhi is the closest thing. But Xaden realises she's talking about Jack, his venin brother rather than something else as both turned by the same Sage.

Brennan makes Violet choose what they focus on because if they try and save everyone and do everything, they will lose. She says killing Theophanie is what they should concentrate on first.

Chapter 58: They arrive at Draithus and see the huge numbers of wyvern and venin there. Aaric and his dragon were seen flying away from the battle.

Mira's dragon Teine has been chained down to the ground and Theophanie has a knife to Mira's throat. Mira says Violet is minutes away from turning and she's interested to see what finally makes her do it.

They bring out Jack like Theophanie wanted, but she slits Mira's throat anyway.

Chapter 59: Theophanie throws a dagger at Jack, trying to kill him. Brennan shows up to try and heal Mira. Sloane and Dain arrive next and Violet begs her to help Brennan as he doesn't have enough power to help. Dain coaches her through what to do and has her siphon power from him to Brennan until Mira is healed.

Sloane delivers something to Violet from Aaric, it is addressed to him from someone from Dunne and she doesn't open it.

Xaden leaves to pull off his part of the plan, leaving her with Bodhi.

Chapter 60: They can't get Teine to wake up but need to get him off the ground so he can't be drained. Tairn will need to carry him out but it will take him away from Violet.

Theophanie shows back up and Violet realises Tairn is out of range so she can't draw from his power. 

Violet realises she got Theophanie's signet wrong - she is not a lightning wielder, there is just lightning when she is around sometimes because her signet is the same as Violet's mother. She's a storm wielder and can even create tornadoes, which her mother couldn't even manage.

She gets Bodhi to leave and then the two fight, she manages to stab Theophanie in the leg. 

Chapter 61: Rhiannon's POV: Rhiannon's is up on the Medaro pass, trying to help the civilians making their way through it and fighting off the attacking wyvern.

Chapter 62: Violet headbutts Theophanie in the face so she drops her. Theophanie says venin can't feel love. To avoid being drained when Theophanie puts her hand to the ground, Violet climbs on the dead body of a wyvern. 

Sgaeyl comes and grabs Violet and takes her to Tairn. 

There are so many wyvern and Violet continues to use her lightning to take them out. 

Aaric is on his way back to them and is bringing 1,000 Zehyllna soldiers with him. 

Violet & Tairn fly after Theophanie as she seemingly retreats to somewhere else.

Chapter 63: Imogen's POV: She's fighting wyvern with her dragon and trying to keep Bodhi alive. Quinn, her best friend, is in the tower that she can see two venin heading towards and she'll need to dismount her dragon to go fight them and help. 

Dain joins her as they go to fight the venin. When one blasts fire at them, she has Dain duck behind her and his shield, which she then seems to turn to stone to protect them. It must be her second signet but we don't know exactly what it is.

She finds Quinn fighting a venin and she helps her kill it before she realises that it stabbed Quinn and she can't be saved. She asks Imogen to tell Jax she loves her, then she tells Imogen she should 'tell him' so she can be happy. Quinn dies.

Garrick appears and uses his walker signet to get them out of there, but he is running low on power now.

Chapter 64: Opening note: From a note from the High Priestess Deservee to Aaric to go along with the gift, warning that only someone touched by Dunne should wield their wrath.

Violet is trying to hit Theophanie's wyvern with lightning but her conduit shatters and she's not sure she can aim without it.

They hear a painful roar that she realises is coming from Xaden. She tries to get through to him but can't.

A net is thrown over her and Tairn and they begin to fall. They both get hurt as they fall, she breaks her arm. They eventually come to a stop and she has a rune on her that helps loosen the net enough for Tairn to try to make his way out of it.

She finds the package from Aaric and sees he has left a note on it for Violet. Inside is a dagger made from carved marble that she recognises. The note tells her it is for when she loses her dagger and to use it in the dark. 

Theophanie also used a net to catch Sgaeyl.

A massive wave of shadows is coming towards them and she knows it is Xaden using more power than Sgaeyl can give him so he must be channelling. 

Violet realises Aaric is a precog and can see what will happen. It's why he told them to protect the temple. It's how he knew Violet would lose all her daggers fighting and need this one. And also how he knew the shadows would cover them and she'd be fighting in the dark.

The dagger is made from the marble from the temple pillar, a temple that Theophanie can't enter. 

Andarna appears and is enough of a distraction for Violet to stab Theophanie in the heart, killing her. 

Chapter 65: Xaden's POV: He sees Sgaeyl captured in the net and hurt and that's what makes him lose it. He won't let them kill her. Berwyn, the Sage is there, as Xaden didn't actually manage to kill him. 

He has turned someone else venin and keeps referring to them as Xaden's brother. It feels like a betrayal to Xaden and he doesn't understand how that person turned. We don't get to see who it is - a part of me thinks Garrick but we don't know for sure.

Panchek is there - he sold them all out to the venin.

Xaden watches Berwyn kill a dragon with a dagger, which he didn't know was possible. When he moves towards Sgaeyl, Xaden loses it and channels from the ground to take out all the venin and wyvern around them and saving everyone else.  But he can't kill Berwyn because of their bond.

It's only Violet that gets him to stop, when he hears her tell him she loves him. He stops because he knows if he goes any further the next part of himself he will lose will be the part that loves her.

Sgaeyl gets free and he asks if she will finally leave him now but she says she's not sure there's anything left of him to leave. He lowers his shield to show her something and asks her to see for herself. Whatever she sees shocks her and she questions whether he really thinks 'she' will help and he says she will because she loves him - he must mean Violet.

Violet has been knocked unconscious and she doesn't think Tairn will let Xaden anywhere near her. He begs her to convince Tairn. 

Chapter 66: Opening note: From the Codex - lieutenants can marry whoever they choose once they have graduated. 

Violet is suddenly outside Riorson house, feeling a little disorientated. Brennan comes running out to ask where she's been, as she's been missing for 12 hours.

Someone gives him a report - there are 4 riders and their dragons, as well as 3 elders that have been murdered. And 4 riders still missing. They believe Riorson did it. 

There are also 6 dragon eggs missing.

She's confused and not sure what has happened. They notice she has an emerald ring on her wedding finger - it is the same stone that's used in the Blade of Aretia. 

There's a note in her pocket from the Head Priestess of Dunne, that blesses her legal marriage to Xaden.

There is a note from Xaden to Violet, telling her not to look for him and that 'it's' hers now (I think we are supposed to think the it refers to Tyrrendor, but that's not how he usually refers to it and I think he may mean his soul) She realises that Imogen wiped her memories of what happened, of her wedding to Xaden and the last 12 hours. Imogen says she did what Violet asked her too.

THE END

 

Thank you, I hope this was useful! And here are my other recaps I have done so far.

 

Throne of Glass recaps:

Throne of Glass
Crown of Midnight
Heir of Fire
Queen of Shadows
Empire of Storms
Tower of Dawn
Kingdom of Ash

ACOTAR recaps:

A Court of Thorns and Roses
A Court of Mist and Fury
A Court of Wings and Ruin
A Court of Frost and Starlight
A Court of Silver Flames  

Crescent City recaps:

House of Earth and Blood
House of Sky and Breath
House of Flame and Shadow

Red Rising Recaps:
Red Rising
Golden Son

Fourth Wing Recaps:
Fourth Wing
Iron Flame
Onyx Storm