Reviews from a Bookworm

Golden Son by Pierce Brown: Series Recap / Summary

2025-08-01T21:00:00.000+01:00

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

April 99p Kindle Deals

2025-04-02T18:38:00.006+01:00

Every month I post a video on Instagram and Tiktok with a rundown of some of the books that are on the 99p Kindle monthly deals for that month. I go through every page and pick out the main ones that I think will be of interest. I thought it might be useful to share a list on here, including links to go grab them.

I will try to organise them by genre as much as I can and link them. Some of these may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click the link and purchase.

@charnellv It's that time of the month again!!! April 99p Kindle deals for the UK - later than usual as I was visiting family! For a list with links go to my blog #romantasy #romancebooks #kindlebooks #99pkindledeals #ukbooks ♬ original sound - charnellv

Romance

Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola

Caught Up by Liz Tomforde
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan
Wildfire by Hannah Grace
Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey
Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams
The Pick-Up by Hannah Doyle
Dishonestly Yours by Krista & Becca Ritchie
The Co-Op by Tarah Dewitt

Keeping 13 by Chloe Walsh
The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore
Wild Love by Elsie Silver
God of Fury by Rina Kent
A Long Time Coming by Meghan Quinn
Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James
Consider Me by Becka Mack
Training the Heart by Paisley Hope
Fragile Sanctuary by Catherine Cowles

The Sweetest Oblivion by Danielle Lori
American Queen by Sierra Simone
The Darkest Temptation by Danielle Lori
The Best of All by Karla Sorensen

Played by Naima Simone

The Best Laid Plans by Karla Sorensen
Blood of My Monster by Rina Kent
The Predator by Runyx
One Last Rainy Day by Kate Stewart

This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
The Love Wager by Lynn Painter
Jasper Vale by Devney Perry
Looking Out for Love by Sophia Money-Coutts
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
Plot Twist by Breea Keenan
Kindling by Bonnie Woods
Well Played by Jen DeLuca
Broken Knight by L.J. Shen

Cleat Cute by Merly Wilsner
Beautiful Broken Love by Shanora Williams
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
The Lily of Ludgate Hill by Mimi Matthews
The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
You, with a View by Jessica Joyce

Vacation Wars by Meghan Quinn

The Ex Effect by Jo Watson

Accidentally Ours by Erin Hawkins
The Last Train Home by Elle Cook
Caribbean Crush by R.S. Grey
Happy After All by Maisey Yates
Always Remember by Mary Balogh
Give Me Butterflies by Jillian Meadows
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Model Behaviour by Kelsie Ray
When I Think of You by Myah Ariel

The Wrong Mr Right by Stephanie Archer
Cross the Line by Simone Soltani
Whisky Business by Elliot Fletcher
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
Savor It by Tarah Dewitt
The Player You Know by Veronica Eden
Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

Her Greatest Adventure by Hannah Cowan
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

Science Fiction & Young Adult

Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal
The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
Double Cross by Malorie Blackman
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper

Fantasy

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
Lady of Ashes by Melissa K Roehrich
The Road of Bones by Demi Winters
Finale by Stephanie Garber
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
Glow by Raven Kennedy
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
Nightweaver by R.M. Gray
A Curse of Blood & Stone by K.A. Tucker
Queen of Roses by Briar Boleyn
A Queen This Fierce & Deadly by Stacia Stark
The Shadow of Gods by John Gwynne
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Valour by John Gwynne

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez
The Savage Fae's Mate by Lola Glass
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien De Castell
What Lurks Between the Fates by Harper L Woods
Spells, String and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall
Dance of Thieves by Mary E Pearson

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
The God is Not Willing by Steven Erikson
Fathomfolk by
Feral Sins by
Wicked Cravings by

Dark Instincts by
Carnal Secrets by
A Vow of Dragons and Storms
The Sky Riders by Kerry Law

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
Secrets of the Deep by Marisa Noelle
Soul Hate by Hannah Kingsley
A Deal with the Shadow King by Anya J Cosgrove
Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton
House of Bane and Blood by Alexis L. Menard
Never A Hero by Vanessa Len
Jade Fire Gold by June CL Tan
The Wrath and the Damned by Ella Fields

Crime

The Crash by Freida McFadden
What Lies Between Us by John Marrs
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
2 Sisters Murder Investigations by James Patterson
The Other Emily by Dean Koontz
You Are Fatally Invited
First Wife's Shadow by Adele Parks
Someone is Lying by Heidi Perks
The Other Wife by Claire McGowan

Hunted by Abir Mukherjee
Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell
What You Did by Claire McGowan
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Cuckoo by Callie Kazumi
Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
The Four by Ellie Keel
Just One Look by Harlan Coben
The Wedding Party by Rebecca Heath

Mr Mercedes by Stephen King
The Lying Guest by Mahi Cheshire
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
Playing Nice by JP Delaney
The Beach Party by Nikki Smith
The Puppet Master by Sam Holland
The Leopard by Jo Nesbo
The Broken Places by Mia Sheridan

Baby Doll by Hollie Overton
When You Are Mine by Michael Robotham
With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
Hell Bay by Kate Rhodes
Don't Look Back by Jo Spain
The Play Date by Clara Dillon
Everyone Who Can Forgive Me is Dead by Jenny Hollander
The Unravelling by Vi Keeland
The Deadly Spark by Roxie Key

February 99p Kindle Deals

2025-02-01T14:39:00.009+00:00

I will try to organise them by genre as much as I can and link them. Some of these may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click the link and purchase.

@charnellv It's that time again! February 99p Kindle deals in the UK. The Helen Hoang books are about 80p more than that but they're so good I wanted to include them! #romantasy #romancebooks #kindlebooks #99pkindledeals #kubooks #romancerecs #bookdeals ♬ Viva La Vida Coldplay sped up - ol

Romance

Taming 7 by Chloe Walsh

The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yarros

God of Wrath by Rina Kent

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole

Five Brothers by Penelope Douglas

One Day by David Nicholls

Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope

Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

Mile High by Liz Tomforde

Full Measures by Rebecca Yarros

Not in My Book by Katie Holt

A Glasgow Kiss by Sophie Gravia

The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood

Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

A Not so Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn

Cruel Winter With You by Ali Hazelwood

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen

P.S. I Hate You by Lauren Connolly

Meet Me On the Bridge by Sarah J. Harris

Unromance by Erin Connor

Betting On You by Lynn Painter

Mr Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

The Temporary Roomie by Sarah Adams

Twisted Collide by Ava Harrison

The Do-Over by Lynn Painter

Keep Me in Your Heart by Monica Murphy

Between Friends & Lovers by Shirlene Obuobi

His Greatest Treasure by Hannah Cowan

Until You by Penelope Douglas

Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane

The Fiance Dilemma by Elena Armas

Bridesmaid for Hire by Meghan Quinn

Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar

The Man of Her Dreams by Sarra Manning

First Down by Grace Reilly

The Echoes of Us by Emma Steele

The Big Game by Cassie Connor

More Than a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban

When Haru was Here by Dustin Thao

Ne'er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola

The Beta and His Mate by B.E. Wakeford

Date with Destiny by Lucy Vine

Wild Things by Laura Kay

Charlie, Love and Cliches by Ella Maise

How Not to Fall in Love, Actually by Catherine Bennetto

Too Much by I.A. Dice

The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison

Only and Forever by Chloe Liese

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Not Just Gal Pals by Elizabeth Luly

Cold Hearted Casanova by L.J. Shen

When Grumpy met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

The Man I Never Met by Elle Cook

Much Ado About Nada by Uzma Jalaluddin

Triple Sec by TJ Alexander

The Devil in Blue Jeans by Stacey Kennedy

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

I Got You by Stacy Williams

Once Upon a Leap Year by Anna Bell

The Catch by Amy Lea

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson

The Fallback by Eleanor Goymer

The Scoring Secret by Ainsley Booth

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

He's a 10 by Jessica Yale

The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim

Maya's Laws of Love by Alina Khawaja

The Love Dare by Abiola Bello

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed

The Arc by Tory Henwood Hoen

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreaks by Laura Taylor Namey

Playing the Field by Ivy Bailey

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Fantasy

Gleam by Raven Kennedy

The Baby Dragon Cafe by A.T. Qureshi

A Kingdom This Cursed & Empty by Stacia Stark

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner

Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden

The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake

Faebound by Saara El-Arifi

The Inadequate Heir by Danielle L. Jensen

Viper by Suzanne Wright

A Fate of Wrath & Flame by K.A. Tucker

Find Me by Tahereh Mafi

The Wicked in Me by Suzanne Wright

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Bewitched by Laura Thalassa

The Undertaking of Hart & Mercy by Megan Bannen

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Red Sonja by Gail Simone

Sisters of Sword and Shadow by Laura Bates

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton

A Game of Veils by Eva Chase

Between Dragons and their Wrath by Devin Madson

A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kenney

Song of the Forever Rains by E.J. Mellow

Dance of a Burning Sea by E.J. Mellow

Symphony for a Deadly Throne by E.J. Mellow

Science Fiction

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Storm Front by Jim Butcher

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

Creation Code by Stephen Baxter

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

Scorpio by Marko Kloos

Crime & Thriller

The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas

The Cleaner by Mary Watson

Missing You by Harlan Coben

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson

Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo

Still Life by Louise Penny

The Close by Jane Casey

Listen to Me by Tess Gerristen

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

Our Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent

The Club by Ellery Lord

The Switch by Lily Samson

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Pike Island by Tony Wirt

The Neighbour's Secret by Sharon Bolton

End of Story by A.J. Finn

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak

Shall We Tell the President by Jeffrey Archer

Eleven Liars by Robert Gold

One by One by Ruth Ware

Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton

The Caller by Chris Carter

The Marriage Act by John Marrs

A Good Place to Hide a Body by Laura Marshall

The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz

The Retreat by Sarah Pearse

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Dirty Little Secrets by Jo Spain

Dark Island by Daniel Aubrey

The Other Tenant by Lesley Kara

The Ice Retreat by Ruth Kelly

A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

How to Die Famous by Benjamin Dean

The Soul Game by Javier Castillo

The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz

The Black Sheep by Sophie McKenzie

And So It Begins by Rachel Abbott

Fiction

The Berlin Sisters by Soraya M. Lane

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes

The Light Behind the Window by Lucinda Riley

Origin by Dan Brown

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Never by Ken Follett

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop

The Switch by Beth O'Leary

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The Sea Sisters by Lucy Clarke

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Ithaca by Claire North

Room by Emma Donoghue

Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

The Affair by Danielle Steel

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The Silk Merchant's Daughter by Dinah Jefferies

A Daughter's Return by Josephine Cox

The Flames by Sophie Haydock

The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale

The Vanished Days by Susanna Kearsley

The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis

Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson

One Moment by Becky Hunter

The Secret by the Lake by Louise Douglas

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Onyx Storm Recap / Summary

2025-01-21T19:17:00.060+00:00

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

Fourth Wing Complete Series Recap / Summary

2025-01-20T21:26:00.005+00:00

Fourth Wing Recap / Summary

I do chapter by chapter ones as I need to give myself as much detail as possible. They may be too detailed for some, but I share them in hopes they are useful to some.

Fourth Wing Recaps:

Fourth Wing
Iron Flame
Onyx Storm

Fourth Wing Recap / Summary

Chapter 1: It's Conscription Day at Basgiath War College. Violet Sorrengall is on her way to her mother's office, who is General Sorrengall who is in charge of the College. She has spent 6 months doing physical training to prepare for the day.

Story takes place in Navarre. Thousands of 20 year olds have shown up for Conscription Day in the quadrant of their choice - either a Infantry, Scribe, Rider or Healer.

Violet was originally going to be a Scribe, like her deceased father, but her mother insists she has to be a Rider. Most prepare their whole lives for that and she has only had half a year.

Violet's sister Mira has shown up, she is 26 and a Rider, and is arguing with their mother to not make her go for the Rider Quadrant, as she believes Violet will die.

All Navarrian officers spend 3 years at the college in their chosen quadrant. Their enemy is the Poromiel kingdom that has gryphons and gryphon riders.

Violet's mother was sick when she was pregnant with her - and it appears that Violet has always had some kind of health issue because of that, although it isn't immediately made clear what that is.

Mira and Violet had a brother who was also a rider, but he was killed 5 years ago fighting Tyrrish rebels.

Mira gives her better equipment and boots that aren't smooth on the bottom, as they will grip better as she makes it over the parapet, which is the first test she will face.

Facts we learn about Violet here - she has been with two men in her life so far and her hair naturally fades to silver at the ends.

The Riders quadrant has less rules than the others. Riders can kill each other at any time. And not all dragons are willing to bond to a rider so competition is fierce. Riders can't attack while one is sleeping - that is an offence that will get you killed.

Mira advises her to find Dain Aetos who is a current second year and someone Violet has been friends with since childhood, but has often wondered about them being more.

The parapet is a very narrow stone bridge leading to the citadel that the rider quadrant is kept in. It is up extremely high and they must cross it as their first task.

Children of rebels, known as separatist children, have been given marks as punishment for their parents crimes. They are known as relics that were given by a dragon. Seem to be like tattoos.

Mira warns her to stay away from Xaden Riorson, who is the son of Fen Riorson (aka the Great Betrayer who led the rebellion). All children of rebels were conscripted as punishment and they thought he'd die, but he made it and was chosen by a dragon and is now a wing leader. She warns he will kill Violet when he realises who she is.

Meets two people on way up to the parapet - Rhiannon Matthias and Dylan. Violet swaps one of her boots for Rhiannon's after she notices hers have the same slippery base Mira warned her about. Dylan dies trying to get across but Rhiannon makes it. 15% of candidates usually die during this trial.

She sees an incredibly attractive man taking names before the trial and quickly learns it is Xaden, who is instantly hostile when he learns who she is. Violet's mother executed his father, but his father killed Violet's brother.

It begins to rain - making the crossing harder.

Chapter 2: Meets another candidate, Jack Barlowe, who mocks her and attempts to push her off but misses. Repeats facts to herself as she crosses - a way to info dump to us but I only made note of the fact the continent is made up of 2 kingdoms that have been at war for 400 years. Navarre is bigger and made up of 6 provinces.

Jack shoves off the boy coming behind him and then speeds up to push Violet to her death next but she makes it across and then threatens him with a dagger.

Chapter 3: Violet sees Dain, who she notes has got more attractive. Dain is a squad leader, the highest rank you can be in second year. He wants both her and Rhiannon in his squad.

Riders gain magic once a dragon chooses them - as they channel their power to their rider.

Dain takes her to his room so she can wrap her knee - as she hurt it when she tripped on the parapet and banged it on the stone.

Dain tries to have her leave for the scribe quadrant as he believes she will die, but she knows her mother won't allow it. It appears Dain believes the dragons will see her as weak, again hinting at some kind of chronic illness.

301 cadets made it across and 67 died.

Commandent Panchek is in charge of the Riders Quadrant - but it is noted he aims to take Violet's mothers job before then going after General Melgren's. But Melgren's dragon gives him the ability to see the outcome of any fight before it happens.

They will face many more challenges before they reach the Threshing and then after that those left and chosen by a dragon will become riders. Only about 25% of them will survive.

Nyra is senior wing leader and head of First Wing.

There are three squads in each section and three sections in each of the four wings,

Rhiannon and Violet get chosen for Second Squad, Flame Section, Secon Wing - which Dain is in charge of. Xaden is in charge of the Fourth Wing and after he speaks to Nyra, she moves Dain and his section to Xaden's Fourth Wing.

Your squad are those who aren't allowed to kill you, but everyone else can.

8 dragons fly up and land on fortress walls. Dragons and humans work together because they get signet abilities from bonding. Once a rider bonds to a dragon, they can't survive without their dragon but a dragon can live just fine without their human.

Three people run scared from the dragons and are then burnt to death by them - they don't like weakness.

Chapter 4: They now stand to listen to them read out the names of those who died. Violet has a silver star on her uniform that signals she is a first year and a Fourth Wing patch too. She was put in the first floor dorms, Jack is on the third.

They will begin sparring twice a week. In two months they will do Gauntlet, which is an obstacle course they have to scale. If they make it through that they will get to the flight field for the Presentation, where dragons willing to bond will get to see them for the first time. Two days after that is the Threshing.

Sawyer is a boy in their squad who is a repeat - it means he made it through the previous year but no dragon wanted to bond with him.

Dain signals for her to meet him to talk. She asks why they were moved to Fourth Wing - he admits it is known by everyone that Xaden wants her dead.

Xaden's dragon is a Blue Daggertail called Sgaeyl and other dragons avoid her as she is so dangerous.

Once a rider is bonded they can do lesser magic like open doors and other things. A riders signet power is their strongest and unique to the bond with their dragon. Violet's mother can use the power of storms. Dain can read a person's most recent memories when he touches them but his is a classified ability that not many know about.

Xaden sees them together and calls out their closeness in front of other people. Dain tells Violet to run and she does.

Chapter 5: Violet is in Battle Brief, taught by Professor Devera.

They get up to date briefings every day. They learn that there was an attack in the east by a drift of Braevi gryphons and riders. Gryphon, like dragons, can also channel magic to their riders. But dragons have the unique ability to power wards that prevent all other magic being used. But those wards had gone down during the attack, allowing the enemy to use magic.

Have them ask questions about the attack. Violet, trying to keep a low profile, asks Rhiannon to ask what altitude the village was at. But she gets called out for it and told to ask the question herself next time. She asks a few more questions and correctly deduces that they knew the wards were failing before they went, which is why reinforcements arrived so quickly and spared more deaths.

Sparring is being taught by Professor Emetterio. Sawyer and Rhiannon make a deal with Violet, to help her with sparring if she helps them with history.

Jack kills a first year by snapping his neck.

She's made to fight a second year called Imogen, who say Violet's mother murdered her family. She tries to stab Violet but the armor she's wearing saves her life. Imogen gets the advantage and ends up snapping her bones.

Chapter 6: Dain carries her to the healers. He lost it when she was hurt - shouted at her to yield and then carried her away and now people know she is important to him. Healers have no magic so heal the regular way. Healing signets are very rare, Brennan was one.

Her shoulder is dislocated and one of her arms is broken.

To avoid confusion, I looked up what condition Violet has. It is never explicitly stated but she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a condition that Rebecca Yarros has. It affects the body’s connective tissue.

Mira has a scribe sneak a note and journal under her pillow. The journal was their brothers, who gave it to Mira when she joined the college. She has added to it, and it gives all the knowledge both of them learned while at the college.

Chapter 7: Violet has been sneaking out at night to find stuff to help her in upcoming Challenges. She will have to face off against another cadet, but the journal has helped her learn of ways she can find out in advance who she will face. She has a book of poisons and has been sneaking out to find different ingredients.

She is up a tree collecting berries when two people hidden beneath cloaks stop below it - they are Imogen and Xaden. More people show up - all have rebellion relics. There is at least 24 of them. The rules state that rebels can't be in groups bigger than three, which is why they are meeting up in secret.

She needs to hear what they are saying so moves down lower. They are talking about helping the first year rebel kids make it through and survive.

One asks when they will get to kill Violet, Xaden says she is his and he will kill her when the time is right.

Imogen is being made to do dish duty for a month by Dain for what she did. She says she should have done worse as Violet's mum is who executed her sister and mother. They point out her mother is responsible for almost all of their parents being caught and killed.

Someone named Garrick says punishing a child for what their parents did is not what they should be doing, as it is exactly what was done to them.

She waits after they all leave to climb down but is caught by Xaden.He knew she was there as his signet allows him to command shadows. She throws two daggers at him, he says she missed but she points out she hadn't. Purposefully threw them so they'd land either side of his head. He tells her to do that to Jack at some point and maybe he'll stop threatening to kill her.

He asks if she plans to report what she has seen and she says she doesn't. He asks why, she says because all he was doing was helping them. Says if she keeps her word then he will owe her and then he leaves.

Chapter 8: She knows her first challenge will be against Oren Seifert. She now does morning duty in the kitchens and she sprinkles a powder of dried berries over his food the morning of the challenge.

There are different breeds of dragons like Green Daggertails and Red Scorpiontails. Red Scorpiontails anger easily. Only 100 dragons have agreed to bond this year so far, which is less than the previous year.

Dragons can talk but only do so with their rider. They also only share their entire name with their rider.

Xaden's dragon is the rarest of the blue breeds, a Daggertail. She boned with Xaden, who is a relative of her previous rider, which is usually not allowed but she does what she wants.

There is only one black dragon besides the one General Melgren has. This one is a morningstartail. Black dragons are the rarest and one hasn't been hatched in 100 years. This dragon hasn't agreed to bond since his last rider died during the rebellion.

The signet you get from your dragon is unique, so not the same as the one given to their previous rider. His last rider had the ability to siphon power from other places including other dragons and riders. His rider died trying to bring another rider back from death and so he burned out and died. Violet asks Professor Kaori if the person he was trying to revive was her brother and he confirms that it was. He knew both her siblings and tells her she's is smarter than both.

She is about to fight Oren, Dain warns her that he overheard that he plans to try to kill her during the challenge. She insists she will be fine. Jack taunts her again and she takes Xaden's advice and throws two daggers at him.

She fights and wins against Oren, who is sick from the poison.

Then she does the same on the next challenge by poisoning the girl she has to fight. And then the next time by doing the same - she uses a different type each time to avoid suspicion. But on her sixth challenge, she does it too early and the girl is taken to healers so Xaden steps in to fight her instead.

Chapter 9: They begin to fight. He keeps disarming her of her daggers and kicking them away. Refers to her by the name Violence, rather than Violet. Tells her she's smart for taking out her challengers before they even begin to fight, which shows her that he knows what she has been doing. Warns her that if she doesn't actually ever face anyone properly, then she can't learn and get better. He gets her down to the mat, advices on places to stab someone from the position.

She asks how he knew what she was doing and he says she was too obvious with it.

She sneaks up to Dain's room that night and he massages her sore muscles. Dain has been speaking to Markham, had asked him to let her join the Scribe Quadrant and he agreed to take her.

He begs her to do it because he can't lose her. Believes the others will take her out when they go to see the dragons to present themselves to be chosen.

Chapter 10: They now get to practice on the Gauntlet - the obstacle course. They finally lose someone from their squad - Aurelie falls and dies while practising.

Parents can come and claim the body of their child or school can bury them under a stone and burn their personal items. Aurelie's parents chose the second one, so Violet wants to go and take her things to the burn pit herself.

Xaden sees her on the way back. She's still questioning if and when he is going to kill her. She admits she can't finish the Gauntlet as she can't scale the chimney section but he tells her she has everything she needs to get past that section.

Chapter 11: She's had 9 practice sessions on the Gauntlet and still hasn't figured out how to get through the chimney session.

The day of Presentation, she has to make it through the Gauntlet. She makes use of the ropes to help her scale the chimney. The last section is a 10 foot wooden ramp that she needs to scale - uses her daggers for this.

Chapter 12: 169 of them make it to the end and their squad comes 11th out of 36 squads. There are only 100 dragons up for bonding.

They've heard there is 101 dragons now, that a feathertail has come but feathertails don't bond. They walk past all the dragons and the feathertail is last - a small golden dragon. It isn't much taller than Violet and considerably smaller than the other dragons.

Wyvern are considered a story and nothing more - with two legs rather than four and willing and happy to eat humans.

One of their squad, Pryor gets burned to death by a dragon. Two green dragons approach Violet and keep sniffing her - she thinks it is due to the dragon scale armour her sister gave her that she wears under her clothes. Luca, a girl in their squad who keeps talking badly about Violet, is also burned to death by a dragon.

Chapter 13: It is October 1st, which is always the day of Threshing. She has been wandering through the valley for a while but hasn't found any dragon that wants to bond with her. Jack, Oren and Tynan are looking for something - she realises they plan to find the golden dragon and kill it.

She wants to find and warn the dragon, but trips on the way and injures her ankle. She finds it and tries to warn it to leave but it doesn't. Jack and the others arrive and she prepares to fight them when Xaden and his dragon appear and he warns them to rethink what they are about to do.

Chapter 14: The rules state that Xaden can only watch what they do, he can't actually step in and stop them or help Violet at all. Violet believes the golden dragon can't fly and doesn't have claws either, so won't be any help to her either.

The boys attack. She throws a knife that lands in Jack's shoulder. He is too injured and ends up running away, leavin Oren and Tynan to fight her. She manages to knock Oren out. But she gets injured and knows that Tynan can now kill her. But as he's about to, she notices that Xaden appears to be coming to help her, even though it's against the rules.

Before Xaden can interfere, the large black unbonded black dragon they were shown in class shows up. It burns Tynan to death and then tells her she should kill Oren next, but she says she can't kill him while he's knocked out. The golden dragon then flies off.

The black dragon tells her to climb on his back and she realises he is choosing her as his rider. His name is Tairneanach and tells Violet she may call him Tairn. He takes flight but she can't get a decent grip and falls while he is in the air.

Chapter 15: Tairn catches her in his claws - she can speak to him. Gets her back on his back and tells her to hold on as they put on a show. She asks why he chose her as his rider and he says it is because she saved the golden dragon. Rider and dragon share a special bond - so he can read her thoughts.

She has to tell the person taking roll call her dragons name, as only a dragons rider is told it. She gives Tairns name but then the golden dragon speaks to her too and tells Violet to give them her name too, which is Andarnaurram, Andarna for short.

Chapter 16: The others aren't happy - a rider has never been picked by more than one dragon before. Healers see to Violet's wounds and Jack is told he will need surgery for the shoulder Violet injured.

More dragons show up - so that they can have a meeting about what Tairn and Andarna have done.

Rhiannon, Sawyer and Ridoc all made it and have dragons, but Trina fell from hers and died.

Dairn comes for her and tells her she will need to choose between the two dragons and that she has to pick Andarna. He warns her that Tairn is mated to Xaden's dragon and have the strongest mating bond. Bonded pairs can't be kept apart for long, which means if she chooses Tairn than she will be around Xaden all the time.

Xaden shows up and Dain accuses him of orchestrating this whole thing. Violet finally realises that Xaden doesn't want to kill her because he has had multiple times where he could have and hasn't. Xaden says it has nothing to do with him and that Violet is the last person he'd want Tairn to have chosen.

Xaden questions whether Dain would have broke the rules to help save Violet's life and he says that he wouldn't have. After Dain leaves, Xaden warns her that she shouldn't trust Dain as much as she does.

He tells Violet that Tairn has a strong bond with Xaden's dragon, as well as with Violet now. Losing his last rider almost killed Tairn, which is rare in dragons but can happen. When he lost his rider, it didn't just almost kill him but Xaden's dragon too.

Each time a dragon gets a new rider, the bond between them is stronger than the last. Xaden tells her that they will have to work together now because if she dies it could end up killing him. And he warns her that those who didn't get picked by a dragon will try and kill her in the hopes Tairn will pick them as his next rider - 41 weren't chosen.

The dragons finish their meeting - as they have no law against a rider having two dragons they will allow Tairn and Andarna to share Violet.

The new riders are all given their relics and Violets is on her back. It is the black silhouette of a dragon flying, with a smaller golden one inside of it.

Dain finds her to insist that he cares for her and would do anything to help her, even though she now knows that isn't true. He kisses her but she doesn't feel anything when he does.

Chapter 17: Violet now has her own room, which is across from Rhiannon's - sees Sawyer leaving her room one morning.

They go for breakfast together. Soren is now being made to serve it, as he was one of the people not picked by a dragon. She also sees that Jack is being treated like an outcast by the others.

More people now want to sit and talk to Violet since she has been chosen by Tairn. Imogen says she will now help Violet to train with weights so they can strengthen her joints. She quickly realises Imogen is helping her because Xaden has told her too.

Only 92 students got bonded to a dragons and they now have to attend flight school. Only Tairn shows up for it as Andarna is too small to have a rider.

Violet struggles to stay on his back and he has to use some of his magic to help her stay on.

Dain finds her to talk about the kiss - says it shouldn't have happened because, even though he wants her, it doesn't look good for her to have a relationship with someone who ranks above her.

Violet begins to suspect that Imogen and Xaden are lovers.

Chapter 18: A month has passed and Violet now does duty in the Archives - returning and delivering books back to the Rider quadrant.

She asks for a copy of the book of folk tales her father used to tell her about wyvern and the venin that would ride them, but they don't have a copy - even though they have copies of most texts.

Sawyer is the first in the group to get his signet power, which is the ability to manipulate metal (Magneto style). Most get their signet power within a few months, but if it doesn't come then the magic given to them through the relic can eventually kill them.

Dain confronts her about the fact she is still struggling to stay on Tairn without him using his magic to keep her in place. He still doesn't believe in her and it makes her mad. She essentially tells him she thinks they shouldn't be friends anymore.

A first year named Jeremy gets the signet power of reading minds but they end up having to kill him as it is a power that drives you mad.

Violet is woken from sleep by Tairn shouting at her through their bond. People are in her room and trying to attack her. 7 unbonded students have come to attack her, including Oren. Oren grabs her and chokes her before eventually putting a knife to her throat. Violet hears Andarna shout 'Mine' in her mind before feeling a rush of power through the bond and everyone around her freezes.

Chapter 19: Andarna has frozen everyone but Violet. As she goes to leave she finds Xaden in the doorway and realises he was coming to help her. They all unfreeze and Xaden uses his shadows to choke the life out of everyone but Oren - he slits his throat instead.

Xaden checks her injuries and she has bruised ribs. Then he has her follow him through a secret tunnel so they can go and see Tairn. Xaden confronts Tairn and she realises they are talking to each other, even though dragons usually only talk to their rider.

Sgaeyl then talks to Violet - they can all speak to each other because of the mating bond that Sgaeyl and Tairn share.

Andarna explains about the freezing. Feathertails usually don't bond to a rider because they can accidentally give their power to the rider, and this power is different to the signet they give the rider. She gave Violet her power because she's still a feathertail, which essentially means she's still a young dragon at only two years old.

Violet can now use the time stopping power too, but only briefly. If she uses it too much she could kill Andarna.

Xaden warns her not to tell anyone about this new power she has.

Xaden wants to know how the 7 students got into her room and Violet reveals they weren't alone, that someone else let them in.

Chapter 20: Xaden tells Dain he is swapping one of their squad. He replaces Vaughn with someone called Liam, who is another rebellion kid. He has done it so someone else can look out for Violet.

Xaden accuses Amber of breaking the rules of the Codex and letting the others into Violet's room. Dain doesn't believe it, even after Violet confirms it.

Dain tries to touch her so he can see the memory for himself but she stops him, as then he would see the power she used (Not sure why he doesn't think to touch Amber to see?)

Instead Violet has Tairn share his memories with the dragons instead so they can then share with all the other riders. Amber is then found guilty and burnt to death.

Chapter 21: It's been a week since everything happened and Liam is still going everywhere with Violet. Liam is close to Xaden because they were fostered at the same place. Rebel kids were all sent to foster care after their parents were executed.

Liam reveals Xaden has put wards on her door so now the only people who can get into it are Violet and Xaden.

One of the scrolls she is delivering falls and opens and she sees it is about an attack that has taken place in Sumerton. She is surprised when it is not then mentioned during Battle Brief.

Chapter 22: Two months have passed and they still haven't mentioned the Sumerton attack.

They are taking part in sparring and she sees Xaden sparring with Garrick shirtless, she sees that his relic covers his back. When she gets closer to him, she also notices that it covers up a bunch of scars he has.

That night Violet finds herself flooded with power, as Tairn has finally decided she is ready and has started channelling power to her. But she is hit with overwhelming lust and realises it is Tairn's emotions she is feeling as he must be with Sgaeyl.

When what she's feeling almost has her making a pass at Liam, she decides to go outside for a walk to distract herself. Xaden is outside smoking something called churam, which he offers to her as he says it helps. He is also feeling the emotions from Sgaeyl.

Xaden offers to teach her how to put up mental shields to make it easier to deal with and allow her to block Tairn out when this happens. He shows her how to ground herself and he is impressed when she does it straight away, as it took him weeks to do it.

Afterwards they both give in to what they are feeling and kiss, despite both admitting it is a terrible idea. Xaden abruptly stops and says they can't because the desire she's feelings isn't hers, it is Tairns. He tells her to leave because he won't but he can't do this when it's not what she actually wants. She tries to argue that she does want it but he insists she leave so she does.

Chapter 23: Rhiannon now has her relic - she can summon things to her which is a very rare skill that will be very valuable once she can master it.

Dain comes to find Violet and warn her about Xaden again and says that his higher clearance means that he knows things that she doesn't and she needs to be careful.

Violet finds out she is going to be fighting Jack during the next challenge and that he will definitely try to kill her. She then makes Liam promise not to tell Xaden, as he will try to stop it and it will only cause them both more problems if he does.

As she's about to fight, she finally gives in and tells Liam he can warn Xaden but does it only because she knows he won't get to Xaden in time for him to stop the fight. While her and Liam fight, he manages to get his hands on her face and she feels extreme pain as soon as he does. He is using his powers on her, which is against the rules.

She has a vial on her that she opens and shoves the contents into Liam's mouth. It is oranges, something she knows he is allergic to.

She wakes up in the infirmary and Xaden is in the chair beside her bed.

Chapter 24: He's angry she didn't tell him about the upcoming challenge with Jack but she points out that he hasn't really spoken to her since the night they kissed. He tells her that he doesn't want to discuss that and that it was a mistake.

Xaden insists he will take over from Rhiannon and Liam in both training her and guarding her, as they seem incapable of doing it well.

Xaden has a bunch of daggers made for her, but in order to be able to use them she has to win them off him. So he allows her to spar him and easily disarm him of all of them so they can be hers.

Chapter 25: They are in the final round of squad battles and they are in 7th but if Liam wins his current fight they will jump to 3rd place, which he does.

Commandant Panchek shows up and tells them that their final part of the squad battle that should take place the next day will now happen in an hour. None of them know what exactly the task will be and can't prepare for it.

The task is to work as a squad, without their squad leaders, to find the thing they decide would be the most helpful to their enemies in regards to the war. They will be judged at the end and the winning team gets 60 points, which would be enough for their squad to win. They have 3 hours to do it.

Violet's idea is to break into her mother's office as she knows that is where they keep the most important information their enemies could want. They can all use their powers, Quinn has a very useful one that she can astral project so her real body stays in one place and her astral body can go somewhere else.

They quickly make work of breaking into the office and Violet finds a letter that is begging her mother for reinforcements. Her mother has a map that shows every outpost they have and every supply route they use. They decide to steal that.

Violet is the one who presents what they have brought to the judges and other squads.

Chapter 26: They won and their prize is to go spend a week at one of the frontline outposts. It takes them six hours of flying to get there. They have gone to visit Montserrat. Rhiannon's village is close by and she wants to sneak away to visit, even though it will get them in trouble if she is caught. Violet is happy to help her find time to go.

Mira is there and her and Violet are finally reunited.

Rhiannon and Violet sneak out to go to her village and are caught by Mira. Mira gives in and agrees to go with them. Mira reveals she has the book of tales she wanted.

Xaden shows up at the outpost, as it seems 3 days is the most time Sgaeyl can be away from Tairn.

Chapter 27: They are all in a briefing room and going over a hypothetical situation and how they'd deal with it. Xaden is there and suddenly speaks to her in her mind - they can do it the same way their dragons can speak to the other rider.

Dain can't stop being petty about Xaden in the room. Mira calls them outside to scold them over it. Then she warns Violet that she needs to get stronger otherwise next year when he leaves after third year, it will be Violet who misses all her training having to fly to him every few days. She believes Xaden will keep her from her full potential. Xaden points out her is here - that Tairn didn't drag her away at all and that he abandoned his post to come here to her.

The wards have gone down and Tairn tells her that gryphons are on the way to where they are. Mira tells them to leave. Violet begs her to let them stay but Mira demands Xaden proves she can trust him by getting her out of there.

Everyone in their squad flies off first and she begs Xaden for them to stay and fight. He kisses her and asks her to leave for him. Tairn is almost there and she believes he kissed her to keep her distracted until he arrives. She tells him she will hate him for it but he says he's fine with that.

Chapter 28: It's been two days since they left. She finds out Xaden is 23. When she goes to tell him her birthday, he reveals he already knows as he has done all he can to learn everything about her. He says it was because he couldn't destroy her without knowing her first. She asks if that's still his plan and he says no. When she asks when it changed, he says it doesn't matter when it happened, just that it did. He says it might've been when he saw a knife at her throat, or fingerprints on her neck or when he realised he wants to do way more than kissing her.

When Dain shows up, she finally works out how to speak in Xaden's head too. They are all waiting outside Markham's office. When he shows up she asks if Mira is alive and he eventually confirms she is.

She begins to start asking Xaden more about himself - as a way to get to know him better after Mira pointed out she doesn't really know him.

For their first round of War Games they are tasked with getting a crystal egg that First Wing are guarding in a practice fort. They also have a flag they need to defend and have to carry with them. They will keep changing who carries the flag to make it harder for First Wing to get it.

Tairn shows up and has a new saddle, which will help her stay on. Xaden reveals he had it made for her and Tairn helped design it too. Violet says she can't use it as everyone will know she can't stay on if she doesn't use it but Xaden points out most people know that already. Tells her to count it as the favour he owed her.

She sees Liam and Jack fighting - sees Jack jump from his dragon to Liam and stab Liam before kicking him off his dragon. She needs Tairn catch Liam but realises they will be too late so she finally uses Andarna's freezing power to freeze everything but her and Tairn so she can grab him in time.

She feels her power getting stronger as she goes after Jack. She ends up sending a strike of lightning into the tower Jack is on and he falls to his death. Violet is a lightning wielder.

Chapter 29: Violet is feeling guilty for killing Jack. Xaden tells her that she did the right thing, that Jack deserved it and that he is happy she did it. He isn't surprised she's a lightning wielder, he had suspected it.

Xaden comes to see her that night in her room - as she's still dealing with killing Jack and finding out her signet power. She feels she is now just a weapon.

She kisses him.

Chapter 30: Xaden tries to stop it, telling her it isn't what she wants but she insists that it is. They finally give in and have sex. At one one point she accidentally sets fire to her curtains with her power. Also manage to break her wardrobe and chair too.

Afterwards she gives closer attention to the scars on his back. There are 107 thin lines on his back, which is the number of rebellion kids who carry the rebellion relic.

He explains he was offered a deal and he took it. He had to take responsibility for all of the kids and the fact they will all stay loyal and in return they were allowed to be given a chance in the rider quadrant rather than all being executed like the adults.

Scars were given to him as a reminder that if any of those 107 betray the kingdom then he will be killed.

She asks him to stay the night with her and he finally relents. He warns her not to fall for him though.

She asks how he knew she was going to be a lightning wielder. He explains that the first time they kissed he thought he saw her use it but wasn't sure.

When she wakes up, Xaden is gone but he did leave her with a vase of violets.

Professor Carr is at her door, she now has to go and train with him so she can have better control of her signet power. He wants to see her wield it but she isn't sure how to do it. Only times she's used it have been times of high emotion - when she was angry about Liam and when she fucking Xaden.

Xaden talks to her through their bond and she tells him what she's struggling to do. In answer he shows her visions of their night together through his eyes. She manages to use her power again and does it a few more times before it exhausts her, but she's not any better at aiming it when they are done.

Chapter 31: Xaden shows up to her room as she's trying to clean up some of the mess they made, he helps her. They talk and when she feels like he's about to shut down on her again she asks him to tell her something real - asks where he went one night when she saw him leave with Bodhi. He tells her they went to Athebyne but can't tell her why.

Finds the book from her dad on the floor and that they've cracked the binding and she finds a note hidden in it. It is dated a few months before he died. He reminds her that folklore is passed down through generations to teach them about the past. He tells her it will only take one generation to change or erase history and that he believes when the time comes, she will make the right choice.

She says her father changed after her brother died.

Some of the fables talk of dark magic that corrupted those that used it and made them into the venin who created wyvern. All the stories are about how too much power is a bad thing.

He suggests having sex again but she admits that she can't separate sex from emotions and that if they continue sleeping together, she will fall for him. He insists she won't fall for him because she doesn't know the real him yet. She says she could if he just opened up, especially since he is at risk of falling for her too but he insists he has no plans to fall for her.

She says they should chalk it up to a one time thing that they won't do again. But they both clearly want each other. She warns he can't dictate how she feels. And that they won't sleep together again until she is willing to risk what it does to her and if she falls than she will deal with it. He agrees.

They have heard King Tauri is coming to celebrate Reunification Day at the College. It's been a month since she started training with Carr. She can use more strikes now but still can't aim it.

Xaden and her haven't given in and had sex again yet.

They are 10 days away from graduation and from Xaden getting his assignment and told where he will be stationed. She asks Xaden to take her to bed, but he tells he that he hasn't changed his mind and they can't be together.

Violet starts to worry that Xaden has been sleeping with someone else and that's why he's not given in since they first slept together 1 1/2 months ago. Asks him and he seems mad she has asked.

They are all expected at a fireworks show that night to celebrate Reunification Day. Only when she's there with Liam and sees people looking at his rebellion mark does she realise this day celebrates the day his mother was executed. She tells him to leave but he insists on staying to guard her, even when none of the other rebel kids have come.

King Tauri shows up, standing beside Violet's mum.

Violet and Liam slip away and she goes to find Xaden. She realises he has gone across the parapet and she decides to go over it to see him. It's a bad idea when she has to go barefoot and in a dress uniform.

Chapter 32: She is partway across when she sees him sitting on a part of the parapet. As she makes her way towards him she realises that she's already in love with him.

He sees her and comes towards her, mad that she's even tried to do this as she could die. He tells her to go back but she says she only will if he comes too.

She says she knows why he can't see any future with her even though she is confident he wants her too because he shows it with the things he does. She knows he worries she won't feel the same about him when she learns more about who he is. She tells him she's now ready to risk her heart.

He asks why she asked about other women and she admits she was jealous of Imogen and the way she looked at him when he was sparring against Garrick. He tells her there is no one else and that he has been jealous too - also points out Imogen was looking at Garrick and not him.

Makes him tell her when he was jealous - he admits he saw the time Dain kissed her. She's confused as she didn't think he wanted her back then but he says he has wanted her since the day they met.

She gets him to take her to his room. She helps him undress and tells him to go to sleep. She admits that she loves him. That makes him finally give in and have sex with her again. This time she manages to break his window with her powers. Even after that, they can't stop and go again and again.

Garrick knocks and interrupts them. Something has happened and every single quadrant is being called to formation - they are under attack.

Chapter 33: They head to formation and Violet has to wear Xaden's jacket to keep warm as she goes directly from his room.

Turns out they aren't really under attack, it is another one of the War Game tasks. They will play out the scenario as if the wards had gone down and they were under attack. Each wing will be sent to a different region and each squad will need to pick an outpost to protect. Wingleaders will be assigned an outpost as the headquarters.

Xaden is given Athebyne - the place he went to on the secret mission Violet asked about. It will be an exercise that will take 5 days. Dain says they will claim the Elutval outpost in their region.

Andarna will come with her and Tairn. She has her own saddle that isn't for riding but will hook to Tairn's so he can carry her if she can't keep up.

Xaden comes over and tells Dain he needs Violet, that he will be taking her, Liam and Imogen as part of his headquarters squad. Dain argues and asks to keep Violet with him as she will be safer because Athebyne is past where the wards are.

Violet says if Xaden wants her with him then she will go and Dain finally figures out that there is something between them. He seems upset by it and begs her to stay as he believes Xaden will get her killed if she goes with him.

Chapter 34: They fly to the outpost but take a short break at a lake on the way there. Xaden comes to find her and holds her hand, not caring who sees despite him saying before that whatever was happening between them would be kept hidden from others.

He pulls her away from the others and helps massage her leg muscles as they've got sore from the ride over. Then they start kissing but a woman shows up and Xaden immediately uses his shadows to cloak Violet. It is no use though, as the person already knows who she is.

Xaden warns Violet to stay calm. When she takes a look she sees a pair of gryphon riders 30 feet away from them. The woman who spoke seems to be a few years older than Violet. Violet is about to use her lightning powers on them when Xaden stops her and tells her that she needs to trust him.

Xaden then hands her over to Liam, who pins her arms at her sides but then Tairn roars and he immediately lets her go. When Xaden heads towards the gryphon riders he chastises them for being early and Violet realises he knows them.

Chapter 35: At the start of every chapter we get a little note from either history or notes of important people and this one mentions that on the last day Xaden's father was alive, he accused the King of something so unspeakable that they won't even bother to repeat it.

Xaden says they were supposed to meet the next day and that they don't have a full shipment for them. Violet realises he is working with the enemy and that is where he has been sneaking off too.

She has come to warn them that a horde of venin attacked of their villages a few days ago. She starts to say more when Xaden stops her - explains they can't no details in case they every get interrogated.

After the gryphone rider leaves, Violet realises she is the only person surprised and that everyone else here obviously knew Xaden was helping them and also knew all about the venin.

Violet realises every single person with them in a child of rebel and now she believes they are all traitors. And she also realises both Tairn and Andarna knew too, even before they chose her.

Xaden comes towards her and she tells him she will kill him if he tries to touch her. She asks what he has been giving them and he admits the shipments they give them are weapons. He says they use them to fight venin but she doesn't believe they are real.

He tells her they are real. They are people who tapped into magic without the use of either gryphon or dragon and taking it from the Barrens, turning themselves into the venin. She realises if they do exist they don't attack them because they would be powerless due to their wards. But would also mean they would have to be unaware that those just outside are being attacked by them - Xaden points out that she could also realise that they do know and have chosen not to help.

He gives her a dagger, one that will help her defend against venin.

She's mad he hid all of this from her, she says he could have told her at anytime. He argues he couldn't and that it is a risk to tell her now because all Dain has to do is touch her and see the memory of it and then they are all screwed.

She admits she believes him but no longer trusts him. She realises her father was sending her a message. She thinks of the Archives and how it should contain 600 years of history but all texts are 400 years old. Realises when he talked of a generation erasing history he was hinting at the fact it had been done.

They reach the outpost and find it empty. Xaden questions what Dain whispered to her and she says it was just that he would miss her. He then remembers how Dain insisted if she went with Xaden she would be killed. He asks if Dain ever touched her after he told her about Athebyne - shows her that he'd touch her cheek. She says he did, but he always touches her like that.

They find a scroll from Colonel Aetos, Dain's father, that tells them their assignment is to stay alive. That's when they realise they have all been sent here to die.

Chapter 36: The mission is a way to test their loyalty. If they choose to leave they can get to a new headquarters in time to compete in the War Games. But if they do leave then the village nearby will be killed by venin. They either leave or choose to help the village, which is outside the wards and technically an enemy village.

Liam says four venin are on their way, in purple robes.

The gryphon rider shows up and tells them to leave because if they stay they are likely to all be killed too. She reveals they lost a whole drift (squad) to only two of them as well as a whole city, so four could take everyone out easily.

Violet knows the choice is to live and leave like a coward or to stay and die like a rider should. Xaden tells them all that he is going to stay but he isn't making any of them stay. They can if they want but they can also leave. He doesn't want Violet to stay.

Violet realises her mother knows the truth and never did anything - that she sacrificed her own son to keep it a secret.

Everyone else agrees to stay and so does Violet. Liam uses his gift to see what is happening down in the village, he sees three surrounding the city and attacking while one heads towards a clock tower in the centre.

They can't kill venin with the dragon fire, they have to kill them with the special daggers they have.

Then they see what they think is a gray dragon until it breathes blue fire and she realises it is a wyvern with only two legs. Xaden gives her another dagger that will kill the venin so she has two.

She says Melgren can use his signet gift to know the outcome of the battle but Xaden reveals he can't see anything because of Xaden's own power.

Xaden tells her to live through this and he will tell her anything she wishes him too. She tells him she needs him to live too.

They find a mine that they can use to evacuate villagers through.

The venin can channel magic from the earth itself and have powers too. Violet keeps trying to use her lightning but she can't aim it.

Watches as the venin channelling magic somehow also drains it from people, including one of their riders Soleil.

Violet finally manages to hit a wyvern with her lightning, which stops its heart and kill it.

Liam's dragon gets attacked by a wyvern and killed, meaning Liam is now dying. He makes Violet promise to look after his sister when she comes to the college next year. Xaden arrives and Liam tells him there are two riders with the dozens of wyvern that have shown up. Liam dies.

Violet needs to be the one to kill the riders while Xaden tries to hold off all the wyverns. He tells Violet that without her he is nothing. She lets anger fuel her and manages to hit one wyvern but then Tairn is attacked by another.

Chapter 37: She sees that one of the venin has stabbed Tairn with a sword and has landed on his back. Violet has to stand on Tairn in order to fight the venin and try to kill it. The venin manages to stab her with a dagger.

The venin says she wants to cut Violet open and see where all her power comes from or hand her over to her 'sage'. Violet realises that she is horribly outmatched and this venin is only a student. Xaden uses his power to help Violet, putting her and the venin in darkness. She sneaks up on the venin and stabs her, which causes the venin to fall of Tairn.

Violet is burning from the wound in her side. She sees wyvern are dropping dead because she killed one venin. Realises Liam had worked out that when you kill a venin, any of the wyvern they made will then drop dead.

She begs Xaden to drop his wall of shadows, asks him to trust her and he does.

Violet takes more and more power from Tairn and even a little from Andarna so she can fill the sky with lightning and manage to control at least one strike to hit the venin she needs to take out.

She sees Xaden take out the last venin just as she falls from Tairn's back.

Chapter 38: Andarna has stopped time and come after Violet, she has her on her back even though she can't carry her. They make it to the ground and Xaden catches her, realising she has been poisoned by something on the venin's dagger.

She can hear them all talking but can't speak, and the poison has cut her off from her magic and being able to communicate with Xaden, Tairn or Andarna. They need to get her to a healer but can't make it back to their own, Xaden says he knows somewhere else they can go. Garrick says it will put them all at risk if they go but he doesn't care.

Xaden begs her to fight it because he has fallen for her and he needs her to live.

She hears a familiar voice but can't place it.

Chapter 39: The note at the start of this chapter is the last words of Xaden's father before he died, which was him calling them all cowards.

This chapter is from Xaden's POV. It has been three days and Violet still isn't awake. He regrets not telling her he fell for her before this happened but he'd been scared.

She finally wakes up. And she kisses him. He promises to make everything up to her and when she asks what he means, he realises she might not remember everything.

Andarna is bigger now and her gift is gone but they don't know why.

She gets to the window of the room she is in and realises they are in Aretia, a place they have been rebuilding. But Violet knows it was burnt to the ground. He explains how they are rebuilding it.

Violet figures out why more than three rebels can't meet up - Melgren can't see what they are doing when there is more than three of them. Violet orders Xaden to leave the room so she can get dressed.

He does and goes to speak to Garrick. They've discovered a small iron box beneath the clock tower that the venin were clearly after.

Violet invites Xaden back in. Before he tells her everything, he asks if she is with them and willing to fight and she says she is. But when he reaches for her she steps back. Says she is willing to fight with him but can't be with a man she no longer trusts. He insists he will spend every day earning it back.

Someone knocks on the door - it is Brennan. He is alive and he mended her.

I hope you find this useful!

Iron Flame Recap / Summary

Part One

Chapter 1: The opening note for this chapter tells us Aretia was originally burned in the Unification year 628th, which was 6 years ago.

Violet is in a kitchen in Aretia eating with her brother, Brennan. She was unconscious for three days and missed her 21st birthday. Her brother now goes by the surname Aisereigh. When Brennan leaves to go to a meeting Violet follows after him.

Bodhi and Imogen are also listening at the door. Only need 5 of the 7 Assembly members there to cast a vote, 4 votes needed for anything to pass. Brennan is in the meeting along with Xaden, as well as a man named Major Ferris, women called Trissa and Suri.

They can't creat a weapons forge yet because they need a 'luminary' and are currently in talks to try to get one from someone called Viscount Tecarus but Xaden won't agree to his offer.

Suri is angry when she finds that Violet is listening - she doesn't believe she can be trusted but Xade has vouched for her already. Refer to what he had to do as brutal custom but Violet doesn't know what that means.

Chapter 2: Opening note: There is a valley above the Riorson house that is the hatching place for the Dubhmadinn Line, which both Codagh and Tairn come from.

This is where Brennan has spent the last 6 years when everyone believed he was dead. Naolin was Tairn's previous rider, who they are told was killed trying to save Brennan. What people don't know is that Naolin did succeed in bringing Brennan back, even though it killed him.

Brennan came here because he can't stand by while innocent people are killed, especially knowing that their kingdom knows and ignores that it is happening.

There are two types of wyvern that they have seen so far - one breathes blue fire and the other is a little faster and breathes green fire. He believes they have only 6 months before the venin and wyvern numbers grow enough for them to attack Navarre.

Brennan believes Aretia may have a wardstone that is inactive, even though they believed only one was made. They don't currently know how to get it working again.

Violet finally gets taken to see her dragons and she finally sees what has happened to Andarna. She has doubled in size and is now black, as dragons are only gold when young. Using her power to stop time has forced her to age quicker than she should. She will need to get back to Vale and go into a type of hibernation until she can finish the process.

Violet wants them to return to the college, as she believes all rebellion kids will be killed if they don't. Brennan doesn't want her to go as he thinks she will be executed if she does.

Violet learns the names of the three other rebel kids with them Eya, Ciaran and Masen.

Xaden will work to teach Violet to keep up her shields so Dain can't use his powers on her.

Chapter 3: Opening note: Just a note about how the Riders Graduation is very boring compared to the others.

They have flown back to Basgiath.

Tells Tairn to pass a message to Sgaeyl that she wants to talk to Xaden. Xaden points out she could have said it to him in her mind but she no longer wants to do that with him.

She asks Xaden if the rebels or revolution as they call it, have any scribes in it but he confirms they don't.

First thing her and Xaden do when they return is go to Liam's room and Violet grabs the letters he keeps under his bed so she can hide them in her room to stop them being burnt. Once someone dies, it is expected that all their possessions be burned. She runs into Rhiannon and Ridoc and she asks Rhiannon to keep them hidden for her, just in case they are executed.

She questions how he can lie to those he cares about as it is something she will need to learn to do. He still insists he didn't lie, he just didn't tell the whole truth. She reminds him he promised he will tell her everything she wants to know but he stipulates he will tell her everything she wants to know about him, which is different to what he said.

She tells him she needs complete honesty from him about everything or she won't be able to forgive him or be with him.

They arrive to death roll just as their own names are being read out.

Chapter 4: Opening note: Dreamless sleep is what they call the hibernation that dragon young go into. All humans know about it is that it is vital and the time it lasts varies for each dragon breed.

Violet's mother is confused why they were added to the death roll when they are all clearly still alive.

Xaden tells of how Aetos sent them off to fight - how they were sent to Athebyne but then lies and says they were attacked by gryphons and that Liam amd Soleil both died.

Aetos is angry and comes to speak to Xaden and Violet but Xaden knows he can't truly accuse them of anything without revealing to everyone that they know about venin and wyvern.

Dain comes running towards her seemingly relieved to find she's alive but when he tries to reach for her she warns him not to touch her or she'll cut his hands off.

Xaden is determined to deal with Dain his way, so in front of everyone he makes a point to say that everyone knows Violet has chosen him and not Dain.

Then Graduation begins and all third years will now be made lieutenants in the army and be told where they will be sent. Xaden gets his and he tells Violet he will come see her before he has to leave in the morning.

Violet is now officially a 2nd Year, and of 11 in her original squad only her, Nadine, Sawyer, Ridoc and Rhiannon made it through.

Chapter 5: Opening note: Major Burton Varish caused three deaths of prisoners while interrogating them and so was moved from his wing because of it.

Riders are celebrating graduation. Xaden shows up to say goodbye. Has to be out of his room tonight which is why he is leaving before morning as he knows Violet won't offer to let him sleep in her bed for the night. She says she won't until he is willing to give her complete honesty.

Xaden is being sent to the frontlines.

Colonel Aetos introduces them to Major Varrish, who will be their new vice commandant. They give her and Xaden orders from Melgren. Her orders say she can have 2 days leave every two weeks to go and see Xaden and Xaden's likely says the same thing about Violet. It means they will get to see each other every 7 days, when their dragons don't spend more than 3 days apart usually.

Aetos says he is no longer worried about what Xaden and Violet know as the knowledge will die with them.

Chapter 6: Opening note: Quadrants are supposed to obey one Code of Codex but riders follow the Codex more and essentially get their own rules to follow.

Aetos has essentially threatened to kill both of them, as well as making a threat to Mira's life too.

She realises he is stationed a days flight away which means when they do meet, it will only be for a few hours before one of them has to fly back.

He warns her she can only trust those who were with them in Resson.

He leaves without even kissing her as she still doesn't trust him.

Dain has been made their wingleader now Xaden is gone. Rhiannon is now their squad leader.

Chapter 7: Opening note: Anytime someone requests a text from the Archives it is noted down.

It has been 5 days since Xaden left and the new first years will arrive the next day.

They have a new professor, Professor Grady who teachers the Rider Survival Couse on how to survive if they fall off their dragon. It is kept secret as they have two tests to do and pass before they can make it to third year.

They will be trained in how to survive and how to withstand torture - will be taken at some point and tested on that too.

Violet plans to defy Xaden's request for her not to get involved with what the rebelion are doing and instead heads to the archives to see Jesinia. She asks if they have books on when the college was founded and why they chose it as the location for the wards. She finds her two books on it.

Chapter 8: Opening note: From Brennan's book talking about how hard it is to watch the First Years on the parapet as you have to watch them die.

Xaden left her books on weaving fabric into knots and even left her fabric to practice with and she has no clue why.

Violet recognises one of the first years and refers to him as Cam, but he gives the name Aaric Graycastle. Aaric is his middle name and Graycastle is one he made up. He is someone Violet has known since childhood, and who obviously doesn't want anyone to know that he is actually King Tauri's son. His father doesn't know his doing it and likely won't be happy, since he already lost a son at the college a few years ago.

Liam's sister Sloane shows up and Violet helps her even though she shouldn't. Sloane knows who she is and know how her brother really died and blames her for it. She makes it across the parapet.

Violet notices that Ridoc has got a tattoo - it is of a swordtail.

Sloane is placed in First Wing until Dain has her moved to theirs instead.

Major Varrish's dragon is orange, called Solas and only has one eye. Three first years try to run and he burns them, but doesn't care that Violet and her wing are in the way so they have to duck to try to avoid it. Solas ends up killing over half of their third squad. Violet's back is burned but it didn't go through her armour.

Ciaran was one of the people burned to death.

Tairn shows up when Solas goes to take out someone else who is running. He is there to confront Solas for burning Violet. Solas flies off and Tairn reveals he threatened to kill Varrish if Solas hurts her again. Also reveals he is the one who took his eye.

Chapter 9: Opening note: The mountains of Steelridge range where Basgiath college now is and so are the wards was originally the breeding ground for green dragons from the Uaineloidsig line.

Violet has been having nightmares - mostly about the one venin that escaped them at Resson, the Sage. She goes running every morning as she can't sleep and because she knows she isn't a strong runner and needs to improve if she's going to survive.

Battle Brief is next and they learn about two new gryphon attacks. One happened in Sipene, a place not far from Montserrat. And the second was on Athebyne. The shock of them talking about it makes her shields slip until Tairn reminds her to put them up again.

Violet goes to Bodhi, tells him she wants to help but he tells her Xaden has given him instructions to make sure she doesn't.

Rhiannon talks to Violet and reveals she thinks the college is hiding something from them. She believes something is happening in the Healer Quadrant because she took an injured 1st year there and he was ushered away behind a guarded door.

Sloane is put to face off with Aaric on the mat but wants to fight Violet instead but is refused. A first year boy, one they saw cruelly throw someone from the parapet, comes forward when he hears Violet's name. Nadine jokingly pretends to be her and the first year grabs her and snaps her neck.

Chapter 10: Opening note: Some join the Riders Quadrant because they've been paid to go in and kill someone. Someone tries to assassinate Mira but she managed to kill them.

Nadine is dead and Violet is angry. She tells everyone to not interfere while she fights the boy who killed her. She quickly makes work of using her daggers - throwing two at him and cutting the tendons by his knee with others. He grabs her and she manages to break his nose but he still won't let go. Manages to get hold of her and squeeze her throat.

And as he tries to kill her he repeats what Aetos said to her and Xaden about their secrets dying with them and she realises he is who sent him to kill her. His eyes are red-rimmed and it appears he might be under the influence of some kind of substance.

Violet manages to use a dagger t stab him over and over again in his kidneys, killing him and saving herself. Violet is in a lot of pain and has a concussion.

She doesn't leave after and watches the rest of the challenges. Sloane isn't a good fighter and now she's worried she might not make it through.

When it's over she goes to her room and Xaden is there - he was supposed to come the day before but didn't. She asks Xaden about Samara where he is posted. He has to prove himself again and is treated differently because of who he is, who his father was.

She asks about the wards on her room as Rhiannon couldn't get in but he says she can bring anyone in as long as she's touching them when they come in.

She tells Xaden about Sloane and why she hates her. But Xaden believes he is to blame for Liam dying.

Xaden has to leave to do things and tells her to sleep. He gives her a piece of paper, tells her this is one of the ways he can start to let her in. He says he will see her in Samara and gives her directions to his room, which is also warded but his room will only let him or Violet enter.

She realises what he gave her is a letter from him.

Chapter 11: Opening note: From the letter Xaden gave her that tells her Garrick is his best friend and then Liam and Bodhi are his next closest friends.

It has been three days since Xaden left and she is still running with Imogen every morning. Jesinia shows up to talk to Violet. She gives her a book about the first riders that she wanted. She also says she needs Violet's help - she's trying to translate a book from Old Lucerish, which is one Violet knows how to read.

She suddenly sees a 2nd year Third Wing student being dragged away by two riders and Professor Markham. Jesinia believes it is her fault because that student had requested a book from the Archives and she had noted it down but won't tell Violet what book he requested.

Mira sends Violet a letter and she's disappointed it wasn't from Xaden. Rhiannon asks if they are still together and she says no. While she can't tell her the full story, she does say it was because he lied to her and she can't trust him.

She notices a bunch of her sister's letter has censored so she can't read it.

Varrish comes to speak to her - he heard about the assassination attempt and mocks her for almost being killed by a first year. He mentions Andarna and that he finds it weird that her father was writing about feathertails and now she has ended up with one.

They will need to learn how to do a 'running landing' which is getting off their dragon while it is moving. It won't be easy for Violet to do.

Violet has to leave to go to Xaden - Bodhi tells her to pass along that the next shipment is almost complete and that it is raw. Tries to tell Violet he has never seen Xaden care for anyone like he cares for her and then says not even for Catriona and she asks who that is but he won't say.

Bodhi fended off his own assassination attempt and other rebel kids have also been attacked.

She's about to mount Tairn when Varrish appears to tell her she needs to delay her leaving. He wants to search her bag before she leaves. Realises afterwards that Xaden and Bodhi knew it would happen. Luckily they didn't check Tairn, who has two bags on him.

Chapter 12: Opening note: From one of Xaden's letter, Sgaeyl says she chose him after she saw him kill a student that was bullying Garrick.

She makes it to Samara and Xaden's room but he isn't there. She uses their bond to find him and he is out sparring with another rider. She speaks to someone in the crowd watching to find out what is going on and learns they are fighting for the only pass available to them this weekend.

Xaden is easily winning before he spots Violet and gets distracted. She finally speaks to him through the bond to tell him to stop toying with the other guy, Jarrett, and win. He earns 48 hours off but tells them he only needs 24, which is how long he will have with her.

She wants him but knows she shouldn't. She does ask him to kiss her though and he does. But then she wants more and tries to convince him they can keep it to just sex. But he can't do it, as he wants what they used to have and knows he won't get that by sleeping with her.

He says he is happy to kiss her whenever she wants but can't sleep with her until she can give him all of her and can tell him she loves him again.

She asks Xaden about the daggers they made to kill venin. They are made from same material that powers wards. A part of the dagger is an alloy, one that can hold power. This is what can hold power and make the wards stronger. It needs to be imbued with power and when it is used up they need to do it again.

They need to smelt the alloy to make more daggers which is why they want an armory at Aretia. A dragon can fire a crucible but hey need the luminary to make the fire hot enough to smelt the alloy.

Chapter 13: Opening note: Academic punishments are given by the commandant's officer.

Violet returns to Basgiath and is summoned to see Carr and Varrish - Varrish had ordered her to bring Andarna to a flight lesson and she didn't, so he wishes to punish her for it. He has her practicer her lightning powers over and over again. She is starting to burn herself out though as they are pushing her past her current limits.

After 40 strikes she collapses and Tairn demands they finish. Varrish orders her to do one more strike and she does but she gets an arm cramp that makes her hold the power and not release it like she should. She can't stop it, which means it will kill her. But she manages to cut it off.

Tairn takes her to water to try and cool her down. If Andarna doesn't come to the next lesson than the next punishment will likely kill Violet.

Navil Jacek is the student Markham took for requesting a certain book - he was then found dead in his room and Violet believes they killed him.

Sloane hasn't improved and now Violet is worried she won't survive her first challenge.

Violet is walking to a physics lesson when a bag is thrown over her head and she loses consciousness

Chapter 14: Opening note: Infantry and Riders struggle to trust each other or work together.

Violet wakes up - was taken as part of the RSC training along with some others. They are now in a forest. It is her, Rhiannon, Sawyer and Ridoc.

Xaden and Sgaeyl are due to arrive the next day so if it takes longer than that she tells Tairn to leave without her to see Sgaeyl.

There are also infantry students with them too.

Professor Grady shows up and advises them to hydrate but when they drink from the flasks they realise they've been drugged with something that cuts off their connection to their dragon and signet powers too.

Violet's squad is paired up with 4 infantry cadets called Tomas, Brisa, Mirabel and Cohen.

The riders and infantry are both given a map and told they will need to work together to use the skills they learnt in class to get to an extraction point on the map in order to succeed. Also have a few medics with them and a scribe, Aoife.

There are two groups taking part and the dragons from the other group will be trying to hunt them down.

It takes them far too long to realise they have been given two completely different maps and that's why they aren't having any luck figuring out where to go.

They come across Jack Barlowe's dragon who still hates Violet for killing him. This encounter ends with one of the students, Tomas, getting killed before the dragon leaves.

Chapter 15: Opening note: Just a warning in Brennan's book about how bad the RSC course is.

By the end of the next day they still haven't found the extraction zone and Violet has missed seeing Xaden. Dyre, one of students who is with Violet's team, says he owes her a debt because she saved him from Jack's dragon.

Rhiannon tells Violet that she has noticed something is up with her and that she is pulling away from people and acting differently.

They are eventually picked up the next day having failed to complete the task.

Tairn reveals this is the first year they took away the connection to the dragons and signet power. No one is happy about it, as it means they could technically do it whenever they want.

Chapter 16: Opening note: Another letter from Xaden, this time revealing his dad wanted him to join the infantry like he did.

Violet goes to the archives to ask Jesinia what book Jacek wanted that got him killed. He had asked for information on a border attack the archive has no record of, even though he swore it happened as he had family that were killed in the attack.

Jesinia admits she has never reported any of the books Violet has requested, even though she should. After she asked for the folktales and they didn't have it, Jesinia realised the Archives are incomplete and that it might be intentional.

Jesinia agrees to help Violet but wants something in return.

Sloane is going to be made to have her first Challenge against a student called Dasha. Violet knew she wasn't strong enough to win so poisoned Dasha in order to help her. She tells Sloane what she did after the fight and tells her she will have to train with Imogen to get better. Sloane doesn't want to agree until Violet tells her she has 50 letters Liam wrote to her and she can earn them one a week by going to train with Imogen.

Jesinia brings Violet a book on the First Six and we find out what she wanted in return is to read the book of folktales.

Violet is about to leave to fly to Xaden when Varrish shows up to check her things. When she finally gets to Samara she finds out Xaden is on 24 hour duty somewhere she has no clearance and can't see him.

Chapter 17: Opening note: To create Navarre and the wards the dragons lost one of their hatching areas and humans lost a lot of lives while migrating there.

Xaden & Violet believe they are purposefully being kept apart as a punishment.

Rhiannon gets a letter from her parents showing a public notice from their village about being wary of strangers. Markham takes it off her.

Chapter 18: Opening note: From the book on the First Six she learns they pushed the wards as far as they could to make Navarre.

Xaden shows up the next Saturday earlier than expected and she's in her room going over her books. When he realises she is doing research on the First Six, he gets angry and realises Brennan told her about the wardstone in Aretia. He's not happy she's researching classified things in the Archives.

She eventually agrees to let him come meet Jesinia so he can see for himself that Violet can trust her. They run into the mender, Nolan, who looks terrible.

Xaden learns she let Jesinia take the book of folktales and is angry, again - so far this book is mainly these two having the same exact fight every time they meet up and apparently they're not exhausted by it but I am!

They have another fight where he accuses her of shutting him out when he's trying to be more open. But then she realises he wants her to tell him she loves him again but he has never, not once, told her he loves her.

He storms off and then leaves without saying goodbye.

Chapter 19: Violet has flight training again and Andarna still isn't there but when Varrish tries to punsih her again, Tairn fights back. He attacks Varrish's dragon, Solas, and gets her by the neck and threatens to kill her if Varrish doesn't agree to not punish Violet. He agrees but Tairn also makes him get down on his knees and apologise to her too.

Chapter 20: Opening note: Another letter from Xaden where he says he forgot what it was like to be loved after his father was killed. He came to the college and became the brutal person he needed to be but remembered what it was like after Violet told him she loved him.

Violet flies to Samara and Xaden comes to find her right away and tells her she needs to ask him to kiss her in front of everyone or she may be made to sleep in a different room. She has no idea what he is going on about but gives in and kisses him.

Mira shows up - she has been moved to Samara.

Violet asks Mira about the wards because her signet power is that she's a shield and can also extend the wards. She can't tell her much though as a lot of information on the wards is classified.

She brings up the wyvern to Mira, testing the waters and trying to get her to guess because she wants to tell her about them and also Brennan being alive. Mira just thinks she's sleep deprived and we, the audience, learn that maybe Xaden is right not to want to tell her everything because she can't keep her mouth shut.

Xaden returns from his duty to find her in bed, struggling to sleep. They decide to talk rather than fight. She admits that she almost told Mira and that he was right not to trust her. She asks him about the book on knots and he says he can tie every single one of them and thought she could learn. She opens up about her nightmares.

She asks what the alloy is and is surprised when he tells her. It is Talladium, a few other ores and also contains dragon shells, which have magic.

Chapter 21: Violet can't do rolling dismounts and is now in a sling as she got injured trying. Tairn says they will need to make adjustments for her so she can graduate.

She has started learning to tie the knots in her spare time.

There was an attack in the East and Masen was killed. He is the 4th perso who was in Resson with her that has now died/been killed and many others including her have been attacked.

Dain tries to talk to her and when she continues to refuse he uses his rank to get her paired against him on the sparring mat. He talks while they fight and denies knowing what his father was going to do. She says she can never forgive him for taking her memory and then telling his father what he saw as he got Liam killed because of it.

He still insists she doesn't know everything about Xaden and tells her that her own mother was the one who put the 107 marks into Xaden's back.

Rhiannon makes her talk after the sparring session and she reveals how people who went with her have been dying or getting attacked. Tells Rhiannon that what Dain stole from her was a memory, revealing what his signet is to Rhiannon.

Rhiannon asks what killed Liam's dragon but Violet won't say and tells her she can't ask again.

Aaric breaks his wrist during his fight and Violet agrees to take him to the infirmary. She asks where the King believes he is and he says on a tour of the Kingdom for his 20th birthday.

Aaric knows what the Kingdom is doing - about venin and wyvern and that is why he is here. He realised after his guards started carrying around the new daggers.

Chapter 22: Violet dreams of the Sage, who says he has been waiting years for someone with her powers.

Xaden visits and is going to take her down to the forge so she can see where they get the weapons from that they smuggle out - he is trying to be more open. She in turn reveals she found a book that show the First Six carved the wardstones themselves.

She needs to find a text written by one of the Six and she is sure one must exist as her father spoke of it once.

Varrish intercepts them before they can reach the forge, she is supposed to be in interrogation training with the others but couldn't grab her because of the wards he put on her room.

Xaden doesn't want her to go because he thinks Varrish will kill her. She knows he can't stop it so she uses her connection with Sgaeyl to get him to let her go, even if he is unhappy about it.

Chapter 23: Violet is given a secret phrase that she has to resist giving up even under torture. She's put in a room with Rhiannon, Ridoc and Sawyer and get to ask questions to Professor Grady first, as well as eat and drink.

They can also try to get out of the torture by escaping, but no squad has ever managed it.

They are told to each share a secret before it begins - something else they will then need to keep secret. Rhiannon shares about when her and Violet snuck out. Sawyer's is that he never told his family he had to redo first year. Ridoc's is that he is scared of snakes.

Violet tries to say hers is that she loves Xaden, but the others insist it isn't a secret and everybody knows that. So instead she tells them that their infantry are killing Poromish civilians that try to cross their borders.

Violet warns them not to drink the tea offered as she recognises the smell as the same thing that cut them off from their dragons and powers before.

They are taken to another room where Rhi, Ridoc and Sawyer are chained to a wall and Violet is strapped to a chair in the middle of it. Two riders come in to start the interrogation, one with the signet power to tell when they're lying.

They beat them all and then leave. Varrish comes in and is angry they haven't broken yet and so he brings in Dain.

Chapter 24: Opening note: Every once in a while a squad come along that outshines everyone but then burns out very quickly and turn on each other.

Violet uses their connection to tell Xaden that Dain is there. He insists he is coming but when Violet realises that is exactly what Varrish wants, she tells him to stay away.

Varrish wants Dain to practice his powers on Violet and learn how to see memories that are before their most recent. Dain refuses and walks out.

Varrish punches Violet's dislocated shoulder and she passes out. When she wakes up she is being mended by Nolon.

He warns her that Varrish has extended their torture by another day and that they need to escape. Then he leaves, making up a lie to convince Varrish to leave with him.

Ridoc melts the hinges off the first door so they can get back into the first holding room. The main door is also locked but Violet feels one of her daggers heat and when it presses against the door, the door unlocks.

Chapter 25: Opening note: A part of Panchek's journal that says if they ever wanted to invade Poromiel then they should first go to the Academy in Zolya where the gryphon riders are trained.

They become the first squad to ever escape the interrogation.

They attend Battle Brief and there is a notice informing them that two days ago Zolya was defeated by dragons with blue fire. About 10,000 people died.

Violet works out the notice was printed locally and wasn't approved.

Markham pretends it is a piece of propaganda they were supposed to be studying. Then Markham announces what Nolon has been working on for months - he has managed to mend Jack Barlowe, the student Violet crushed under a mountain.

Jack is alive and still wants her dead.

Chapter 26: Opening note: Menders aren't the same as healers. Healers have a strict code to stick to but menders don't.

They announce there was an attack on Samara the night before and one rider was badly hurt. Violet believes it was Xaden and walks out of class to go to him, even though she doesn't have leave.

Chapter 27: Opening note: Rider's need to be able to fully control their shields by third year or they risk being controlled by their dragons emotions.

She immediately goes to find Xaden in Samara and finds him sparring against Garrick and seeming completely fine.

Violet starts to panic about what she did and why she came there, feels overwhelmed by Tairn's emotions.

Xaden drags her into a shower room to calm her down. He shows her his arm where he was clearly injured and almost lost it, but was mended. Tells her he would have done the exact same thing if it had been her who was hurt.

He realises she came because she was worried, which he takes as more evidence she loves him. He kisses her.

She tells him she wants him but he tries to deny her because she still hasn't said she loves him. But he eventually caves and they have sex.

Afterwards he invites her to come drop some daggers off at a rendezvous point.

Chapter 28: Opening note: Gryphon riders don't have signets but do have powers.

Reach the meeting point and 7 gryphon riders arrive. One of them is Syrena, she was there at the lake in Resson. One of the women with them is looking at Xaden like she wants him.

Xaden questions the attack on Samara where he was attacked by a gryphon. They attacked because they wanted to try to get more daggers. He says if they steal any daggers from outposts then he will cut off every shipment to them.

The other woman is called Cat and she seems to not like Violet very much.

They question if Xaden would really let them die and he says he would if it meant saving his own people.

Xaden says he is fighting, getting them weapons and currently building a forge to do more. Cat says he has had two chances to get a luminary from Viscout Tecarus and has turned it down and Cat blames Violet for that.

Syrena calls Cat by the name Catriona and she realises this is the woman that Liam once spoke about when he said he'd never seen Xaden care about anyone the way he cares for Violet, not even Catriona.

Chapter 29: Opening note: A recruit taking off without leave is likely to be executed or court martialled.

Violet asks if Cat is his ex and he confirms she is.

She wants to know what the Viscount wanted for the Luminary and he says he wanted to see Violet use her powers. But Xaden doesn't trust that he wouldn't then try to take Violet.

She then tells him about Jack, the Zolya attack and the interrogation. He gives her his flight jacket to wear and gives her a new dagger to keep on her.

She flies back and Varrish is waiting for her. She signals to Rhiannon to get the dagger before he can find it and she manages to.

Professor Kaori shows up and accuses Varrish of abusing his power.

Violet is cleared of all charges for leaving when she did.

Rhiannon asks what the dagger is for and she finally tells her, Ridoc and Sawyer about the Venin.

Chapter 30: Opening note: Only riders and some assigned scribes can enter the Riders Quadrant, others do so at the risk of being killed.

She tells Rhi, Sawyer and Ridoc everything that ahppened with the venin but doesn't tell them about where she went after she was stabbed - so not about Aretia or Brennan being alive.

They quickly learn all their dragons already know but as the Empyrean is undecided on whether to help or not, no dragon will risk telling their rider.

They tell Violet they want to help her with the research into the wards.

Ridoc reveals he knows that the college has two journals from the First Six because he saw them noted down in a ledger in Violet's mum's office - also saw it is kept in an underground vault.

She tells Jesinia about the journals and vault and she says she will try to find out where it is located.

She doesn't get to see Xaden for three weeks and it becomes clear that they are being kept apart as a punishment again.

During Threshing Aaris bonds to a Blue Clubtail and Sloane gets a Red Daggertail, like her brother Liam had.

Jesinia sends a note to meet - she's found the vault. Ridoc agrees to go and see her as Violet has a watch at the Academic Tower.

Violet reaches the top of the tower to relieve Eya when 4 people in infantry uniforms attack them. They are assassins, paid to take them both out - clearly Aetos is still trying to kill all the people who went to Resson.

She manages to take down three but Eya is stabbed and the fourth guy manages to throw her off the tower until she is clinging to the edge of it. He's about to push her completely off when someone stabs him through the throat.

Chapter 31: Jack is the one who saved her. He says dying and coming back gave him a second chance and made him change. He says they are even as now he has given her a second chance too.

Eya is dead.

Ridoc arrives and tells her Jesinia found the vault but they need someone from King Tauri's bloodline to get through it as it is a royal vault.

Chapter 32: Xaden and Violet finally get to see each other and she tells him about how she told her squad everything. She also tells him the plan to break into the vault and he insists on coming too.

They will go with Ridoc, Sawyer, Bodhi, Imogen and Quinn but still need to get Aaric to work with them.

She tells Aaric they need his help and he can refuse outright and leave but if he wants to know why and what they need his help with they will have to kill him if he doesn't agree because of the knowledge he will have.

Aaric doesn't want to help because he hates Xaden for killing his brother Alic. Xaden says his brother was a bad person an he doesn't regret it.

Aaric finally agrees because he hears they will be stealing from his father and he hates his father more than he hates Xaden.

Jesinia says only four of them can come and they pick Xaden, Aaric, Violet and Imogen.

They have one hour to get to the vault, break in and take what they need before the archive closes for the night and the wards kick in and kill them.

Chapter 33: Vault is located behind a hidden door in the bookcases. They go down and find an open archway that leads to a small library of books, but the archway is warded and only one with royal blood can walk through it.

Aaric grabs Violet and drags her through with him so she can help him look.

Aaric worked out they are looking to find a way to ward a rebel area.

Violet finds the journal but warded too so Aaric grabs them but it burns him, causing blisters on both his hands.

They are running for the door when the Archive begins to seal itself shut.

Chapter 34: Opening note: Another letter from Xaden - he had a fight with his father right before he died and he regrets that. His father wanted to send him away to protect it.

They make it out just in time.

Xaden will take 1 journal to Brennan so he can start translating too.

Violet begins translating the other and notes it keeps mentioning an 'iron rain' when it comes to the wards and creating them.

Xaden leaves.

Nolon comes to see her as she is on his mending list and then he gives her a lemonade to drink. She realises too late it has been drugged with the stuff that cuts off her magic and link to her dragons.

Nolon betrayed her for Varrish.

Chapter 35: Violet wakes up and she is strapped to a chair. Nolon comes in with Varrish - they have the journal she stole and want to know why she took it. They also bring in a woman named Nara, who has the power to detect lies.

Varrish wants answers but she refuses to give him any so he begins torturing her by breaking her fingers.

She's been tortured by him over and over again and begins to have hallucinations of Liam.

She's been gone 2 days and it will be at least another 5 before Xaden even realises she is gone.

Varrish reveals his signet is that he can see people's weaknesses but couldn't see hers until he'd tortured her and he shields slipped. Now knows that hers is the people she cares about.

He took her knowing Xaden will come for her and abandon his post without leave to do it, which is what he wants. That will then allow him to punish and interrogate him next.

Dain is brought down and told he needs to look at her memories because she is part of a rebellion.

She's been tortured for 5 days and Varrish has heard that Xaden has abandoned his post.

Violet realises that when Dain touches her, she can choose to show him memories rather than having him see whatever he wants. She shows him the venin, wyvern and Liam dying. Then she remembers all the pain she's felt while being tortured which causes Dain to let go.

Dain only makes note of the fact she was stealing weapons and smuggling them to another kingdom. He then asks for the dagger from Varrish to confirm what he saw and then holds it to her throat.

She thinks he is going to kill her, but he was acting so he could get the dagger from Varrish. Then he attacks Varrish with it instead.

Xaden finally arrives and kills Nara.

Chapter 36: Xaden is furious. He straps Varrish down so that Violet can kill him, but she is too weak so Xaden helps her push the dagger into his heart.

Xaden says they have to leave, but she points out that if he does that then he will lose everything he has worked for. But he says he would be happy to see Aretia destroyed if it meant that Violet got to live.

Xaden finally tells her he loves her and the he is glad that their lives are tied together because he wouldn't want to live without her.

They leave the room and find her mum with a knife to Garrick's throat. She gives Violet the antidote so she can get her powers back. She then reveals Xaden has caused chaos by having dead wyverns dropped off at outposts along the border so they will learn about the wyvern.

Violet and her mum finally talk. She knows what is happening outside their borders but says she did what she had to in order to keep her children safe.

She made Violet join the Rider Quadrant as she knew she'd eventually figure out the truth and if she was in the scribe quadrant, Markham would have killed her once he realised she knew. Instead she agreed to let Xaden and the other rebel children live as long as he agreed to join the Riders and keep Violet alive once she joined.

Before they leave, Violet wants to give the other students the chance to come with them. Dain quickly agrees to go with them.

Tairn says Andarna is still asleep and this is the longest a dragon has ever slept.

Three dragons have agreed to carry out Jesinia and two other scribes.

Bodhi's power is that he can counter people's signets - he uses it to stop professors who arrive to try and stop them talking to the other cadets.

A few professors agree to go with them, including Devera. She reveals she was the one who put the Zolya notice in Battle Brief.

They leave and over 100 cadets and 200 dragons agree to go with them.

They arrive in Aretia

Part 2

Chapter 37: Opening note: Riorson House has never been breached by any army.

Violet has another nightmare about the sage and then wakes up in bed with Xaden. Brennan came and mended her the night before.

She wakes him and wants him to fuck her but he is worried that she is stealing. Violet goes down on him until he loses control and gives her what she wants.

Xaden & Violet need to meet with the Assembly, who are unhappy they brought so many as they weren't prepared for it and are worried it may mean they will be found.

The Assembly want to interrogate Violet but Xaden reminds them he took responsibility for her - shows a long scar on his chest. He also reminds them that they are on his land and in his home.

Andarna finally wakes up.

Chapter 38: Andarna is awake but struggling - she can't fully extend her wings or fly currently. Tairn says it is complications from how often she had to be moved and woken up during the time she should have been sleeping. Andarna will never carry a rider.

They've started classes in Aretia for the cadets.

Violet has continued to translate the journal and it mentions blood magic.

They learn Generel Melgren prevented news of the wyverns getting to the public.

The family of the riders who came to Aretia will be offered the chance to come there too.

The venin have set up a base in Zolya.

A riot of dragons and riders are approaching and Mira is leading them. Mira says Xaden came for them all and that's why they're here. Mira apologises for not believing her when she tried to tell her about the venin. She says their mother showed up in Samara and told her the truth and gave everyone the chance to leave if they wanted and 40 chose to come to Aretia.

Brennan comes out and Mira punches him in the face after realising he has been alive the whole time.

Chapter 39: Opening note: From the journal of Warrick saying that the blood of the 'six and the one' is what got the wards to work.

Violet tells her siblings and Xaden that she believes she can get the wards working with the help of the 6 most powerful riders.

They head to the wardstone, which appears to be made of iron.

She believes they need to cut themselves and then touch it. 6 strongest are Violet, Xaden, Felix, Siri, Bodhi and Brennan. They do it but it doesn't work.

Violet wants to go to Tecarus to get the luminary but Xaden refuses again so she asks Mira for help.

Chapter 40: Opening note: Xaden's father's first ally was Viscount Tecarus.

Felix takes Violet to train how to aim her lightning strikes. He tells her she has no control, aim and hasn't even managed to shoot it from her hands, which he reveals should be possible.

Felix gives her a conduit to help siphon her powers whenever she gets too out of control so she doesn't risk hurting people.

Violet plans to go behind Xaden's back and go see the Viscount with Mira and Brennan.

Tairn agrees not to tell Sgaeyl until they are back.

Brennan warns her to keep her shield up because even though the gryphon fliers don't have signets, they still have basic magic and a very good grasp on mindwork.

They arrive and are greeted by some fliers before Xaden shows up.

Chapter 41: Opening note: Queen Maraya has refused to marry and so she named her cousin Tecarus as her heir, even though he is in his 50s and has no heirs.

They're at the palace and she notes Xaden knows it well. He came when Sgaeyl sensed Tairn was travelling.

Viscount wants them to change for dinner and asks his niece to help Violet - his niece is Cat. Violet realises that is why Xaden knows the place so well.

Xaden is angry Violet is there - tells her most people in the palace would happily kill her.

Cat riles Violet up and makes her jealous by suggesting she knows Xaden better.

When Violet gets to dinner, Xaden kisses her in front of everyone and then uses his shadows to hide them from everyone. He warns her that Cat has the power to heighten a person's emotions.

Tecarus takes them outside so she can show her powers. He has a metal chest he wants her to hit with it. It's the Rybestad chest and it belonged to Xaden's father.

Tecarus will give them what they want if she goes into the arena he has built and hits the target. But she can't leave till she does and Xaden can't enter it.

The chest was part of a different deal for an alliance with his father, but Xaden says it was a deal he officially turned down the year before.

The chest suddenly opens and a venin comes out of it.

Chapter 42: Opening note: Professor Carr believed Mira would never learn to produce her own wards and had only managed it when she was very upset.

Brennan and Mira join her in the arena to help. But the arena floor is wet so she has them get out and throws two daggers at the venin's feet to keep it in place and then hits the water with lightning as Tairn flies her out, killing the venin.

When she gets out she finds Xaden has the Viscount by the throat using his shadows. Violet stops him killing him.

The arena was made from stones already drained by venin which is why it contained the venin and stopped it being able to drain anything outside of it. This shows this isn't the first one they've caught.

They agree to sit down and negotiate after Xaden forces Tecarus to apologise to Violet.

Tecarus wants Violet to be his personal bodyguard for two years and then he will let her go and live her life with Xaden somewhere away from the continent. They refuse that offer.

Then he says they can have the luminary if they agree to take 100 gryphon flier cadets to Aretia to train alonsider their riders.

Brennan agrees, as long as they are given 100 crossbolts as well.

Chapter 43: Opening note: The Cliffs of Dralor that they will need to get over to reach Aretia are 12,000 feet high in some places and the gryphon won't make it over them. There is one path they could try to use but it is deadly.

It's been 4 days since they made the deal and the luminary has already been dropped at their new forge.

Now all the Aretia cadets and gryphon fliers are now looking up at the Medaro Pass that Brennan needs them to use. Wants them all to hike it, while the dragons fly above as it is too narrow for them.

Xaden has gone off on his own mission.

Violet gets assigned to help Cat's drift through the pass. She's paired up with a flier called Maren, who is Cat's best friend.

Maren reveals Violet was a ransom target for a very long time and many thought Xaden would take her during her first year but instead he showed up to defend her.

Sloane is with them and clearly doesn't like Cat because she knew her brother didn't like her and he liked most people. Sloane admits she doesn't hate Violet anymore. She's been reading Liam's letters and it up to the October when he got assigned as her guard.

There are traps along the pass tha they need to avoid.

Fliers are chosen by the gryphons by going to the edge of Cliffsbane and jumping off as the gryphons fly past. If they managed to land on one and stay seated then it will bond with them. Failing doesn't equal death, they just land in the ocean below and swim back to shore and pick a different branch of service to join.

They all suddenly feel a weird pulse down their bonds - a draon has hatched in Aretia which every channeling creature within four hours of there will sense.

There is one trap they have to jump over but one flier called Luella falls short and then over corrects, launching herself at Violet. Visia, Luella and Violet all go towards the edge. Ridoc saves Vi and she has to grab the other two, injuring herself in the process.

Ridoc got shot from arrows from the trap Luella set off.

Chapter 44: Opening note: Gryphons bond for life.

They saved Visia but Luella falls from the cliff and dies. Her gryphon Cibbe then starts dying too. The noises it makes attracks a wyvern that grabs her and flies away.

They're up very high and the mist is thick so they can't see through it, but it seems the wyverns don't have as much of a problem. They get anyone with wind/weather powers to help get rid of it.

Violet gets on Tairn to go and try to fight the wyvern. They fly above the clouds and then she fires her lightning into it, killing all the wyvern inside of them. Her lightning is drawn to the wyverns magic.

Venin share thoughts with all they wyvern they've created so it means they will now know where they are and that they have gryphon fliers with them too.

Chapter 45: Opening note: The venin aren't just from the Barrens, they also recruited fliers who never bonded a gryphon.

Cat is still causing trouble for Violet - she knocked on Xaden's door in a silk robe and got annoyed when Violet answered.

Andarna has continued to grow and may be able to fly soon.

Rhi's family has arrived, as have other cadets families.

Professor Trissa calls all 2nd years to a lesson to learn how to channel their excess magic into runes that can then be placed into objects for different uses - like mage lights.

Runes get tempered with power to do specific things. It isn't well known as it has been banned back in Navarre.

Cat is the first to do an unlocking rune.

Chapter 46: Xaden is back for a little while. She realises he put an unlocked rune on her dagger and that's why it opened the door in the interrogation room.

She asks about the rune by his bed - he says Liam's mum made them for all 107 rebel children and it was to protect them when their paretns went off to fight.

Fliers and riders will be put together for all classes and be expected to follow the Riders codex. Each squad of riders will have to take a drift of fliers.

Cat challenges Violet to a fight and once they start, she realises that Xaden had trained Cat too.

Chapter 47: Opening note: Venin have ranks. Initiates have red rings in their eyes that change when they drain. Asim's eyes changed to different shades of red and their veins swell when they are worked up. Sage's have permanent red eyes and swollen veins at their temples. Maven's are the highest rank and have never been captured.

Cat tries to get into Violet's head by talking about how she had Xaden first and knows what he likes in bed. She says she's a better fit for him than Violet is and that he will tire of Violet and go back to her.

Violet gets in some good hits and tells Cat it isn't her fault that Xaden doesn't love her but Cat says he can't love anyone and that she's fighting for a crown, not love. She insists she was engaged to him and won't give up and that he is only using Violet for sex.

Violet uses what Rhiannon taught her to get an advantage and begins to choke Cat. She would kill her but Xaden speak to her in her mind and it clears it enough for her stop.

Cat was cheating by using her mindwork on Violet. Violet has to ask Xaden to help her as can't let go of the hold she has on Cat's throat. Xaden does and then takes her to the Assembly room, kicking out everyone who is in there so they can be alone.

Chapter 48: Opening note: The power that House Riorson once had was given to House Lewellen after the Treaty was signed.

Xaden heard everything that Cat said to her, including that she is just someone for him to fuck until he gets bored. Violet says Cat wants him for his name and Xaden says he loves Violet because she loves him despite of it and that is why he will always choose her.

He places her on his throne and then undresses her and goes down on her, then tells her he thinks about this when he's away from her.

She holds her conduit during so that it can help deal with the power that surges whenever they are together.

At points she gets glimpses into Xaden's mind and can hear exactly what he is thinking - how much he wants her and what he wants to do to her.

He wants to fuck her but won't, as he says this is just about her this time and for her to know that he doesn't just want her for sex.

He admits he thought she was going to kill Cat and she says she was close to it. He says Cat is a necessary ally, but all he would have cared about was that Violet would regret it afterwards.

She questions how he could ever love someone like Cat but Xaden says he never did and that Violet is the only person he has ever loved. He and Cat were betrothed as part of the alliance and it kicked in when she turned 20 so they tried for 9 months but it didn't work. He ended their engagement when he realises Tecarus had never planned to let them take the luminary.

Xaden insists on them talking everything out because he loves her and won't lose her again.

Violet says Cat pointed out he is royalty and that Cat was right when she said he is a better match for him. Xaden realises even Violet thinks he believes she is inferior to Cat but he points out she saw into his head and knows exactly how he thinks of her and that he believes Violet is perfect.

Xaden warns her not to take off her daggers because one has a rune on it that protects her from Cat's powers.

Chapter 49: Opening note: Riders will keep their wings, sections and sqauds but will absorb one drift each and the drift leader will get to be executive officer.

Cat's drift is made to join Violet's squad, as they are both the strongest.

Violet asks Dain to help translate Warrick's journal as it is in a language he is much better with. Also wants his help imbuing the wardstone.

He asks if he loves Xaden and she says she does and so he says he will trust Xaden if she does. They agree to meet everyday to translate the journal.

Chapter 50: Opening note: Riders never really master their signet power or reach the limit of it.

Violet is practicing with Felix.

Xaden returns. A local area, Pavis, has fallen to the venin. Many of his squad was injured and Myra, a wingleader, was killed. They believe the venin plan to take Driathus next.

Chapter 51: Violet goes to find Xaden to ask about what happened. He believes they are stretched too thin to be able to fight the venin.

Mira ordered his team to leave when she saw Xaden almost get killed. He believes it is because of his link to Violet - Mira doesn't want him to die because it would kill her. Xaden realises that is how so many have been treating Violet in regards to him.

Violet has realised her original translation was wronf - it wasn't iron rain. It was actually iron flame and where she thought it was saying blood, it was saying breath. She realises she was wrong - they didn't need riders, they needed dragons.

She goes to see Rhiannon to tell her she's figured out how to get the wards up but she's unsure if they should or not.

Chapter 52: They have got their squad together, including the fliers. Tells them they can get the wards up but that would leave the fliers unable to wield. She's giving them a chance to decide to stay or go.

Violet dreams of the Sage again - tells her she'll end up destroying all the wards herself for love because if she doesn't then her and Xaden will both die.

They have another training mission - 30 runes have been hidden over 20 miles and they need to go and find them all.

Xaden returns and she quickly tells him they will need dragons to raise the wards.

Chapter 53: Opening note: Siphon is the only signet power where imbuing comes easily.

They are hiking down to a cave as a group and Andarna is with them.

Sloane tells Violet is wasn't far for Liam to ask her to keep an eye on Sloane.

They look through the cave until they find the chest they are looking for. Then they run into Solas, the dragon. It attacks, killing Visia.

Chapter 54: Andarna wraps her wings around them to protect them from Solas breathing fire. Violet can't use her powers in the cave without hurting the others so will need to fight another way.

She throws a dagger in his other eye - making him move and giving enough space for the others to leave. She dropped and broke her conduit but is planning to use the jagged pieces of it to stab Solas and then wield her power into it.

She gets thrown back by his tail, but Sloane and Cat stayed to help her. Andarna continues to fight Solas.

Sloane accidentally started to drain from Cat and Violet and begins to panic. Tairn explains she is a siphon.

Andarna manages to kill Solas.

Xaden arrives when she is being healed in their room later. Is mad when he finds out she saved Cat because she is third in line, risking her own life to do it. She says it was for him, as Tecarus would order him to be killed if she died while with them. Xaden insists he would handle that if it happened, all he cares about is Violet living.

Chapter 55: Violet realises Xaden knows that she knows about the original deal he made with her mother. She's mad he hasn't said anything and he points out he told her to ask him whatever she wanted to know and she still hasn't.

They argue for a while then she says she wants to put him to the test that all she has to do is ask. She asks what his second signet is. She knows he has one as Sgaeyl was bonded to his grandfather and direct descendants bonded to the same dragon get a second signet or go mad.

Brennan interrupts them - wyvern are flying towards the cliffs and so they need to try to raise the wards.

Chapter 56: They need a dragon from every den to help raise the wards. So they meet at the wardstone with 6 dragons who then aim their fire at the wardstone. They believe it has worked.

Xaden is stationed with her as they watch for the wyvern. He still hasn't told her his second signet - is worried she will fall out of love with him the minute she knows. Reveals no one else knows what it is.

She figures it out herself - Xaden is an inntinnsic and can read minds. He says he is a type of one, that he can read a person's intent. Tairn reacts poorly to the news to. Xaden thinks she already doesn't love him, but she says he better survive what is coming as she will be asking him everything and that her love isn't so easily lost.

There are 100s of wyvern heading towards them, 17 venin with them, including the Sage she is alwasy dreaming about.

A wyvern flies at them but it quickly drops dead - it entered where the wards start. They end up leaving after that.

Xaden and Violet are called to the Assembly room. Melgren has sent a message, he wants to meet with those in charge of the rebellion as well as Violet and Mira.

Realise the fliers can still wield, which means the wards aren't completely working.

Chapter 57: They go to meet Melgren at Athebyne, Volet's mother is with him.

Melgren tells them that the venin will overrun them at Samara, he has seen it. They will come on solstice and the venin will win.

Melgren says if they fight with them and help them win then the king will give them all their independence and let them stay in wherever they have taken up residence.

Brennan shows up, revealing he is alive to their mother. He says they reject their offer and won't fight with them.

Violet is given Lyra's journal by her mother, but it is in a language she can't translate but Jesinia can. She warns Violet that the wards they built will erode over time and fail, as Warrick was hiding how to get them to work properly.

They take her advice to cut open one of the dead wyvern and find a stone inside with a rune on it.

Chapter 58: Xaden has returned after a week away and has her meet him in the sparring gym.

He comes up with the rule that they can't fight in their bedroom, which is why he has her come to the gym to talk. Gets her to come up with her own rule for them - she says it is complete honesty for them going forward. She doesn't need to ask, he needs to just tell her. He agrees.

She asks about his mother. She left when he was 10 as her marriage contract stated she had to stay until an heir survived that long. She left, didn't take him with her and never came back.

Asks when he got the second signet and he says a month after his first. Had already seen a first year get killed for reading minds so knew not to tell anyone.

They go ot Battle Brief - 500 wyvern and a bunch of venin have been at the border for three days, getting ready to attack Samara. Violet suddenly works something out and leaves, looking for Xaden.

She has realised Melgren hasn't seen the real outcome because they will need to go and he can't see it if more than three of the marked rebel kids are there. She says Samara is the distraction, the venin are waiting for the wards to fall and going after Basgiath and the Vale.

She says they have to go back and help otherwise they are just as bad as Melgren and the others.

Chapter 59: Xaden went to the Assembly to change their minds but they won't, but they all still plan to go.

They ride to Basgiath. Violet's mum finds them and they tell her they believe the fight is coming to them and that the wards will fall but she doesn't believe it.

They go to check and find the two guards dead who should be guarding it. They run towards the wardstone - and unlike the one they got working, this one is on fire, with a black flame coming out the top of it. A dragon, Baide, is there.

Jack is on Baide's back and he tells them they arrived just in time. He then uses his dagger to stab Baide in the neck, having her blood fall over the wardstone and snuffing out the fire. The wardstone falls over and the wards drop.

Chapter 60: Jack killed his own dragon. He believes he can survive without it. Xaden realises that Jack is venin - and that Nolon has been trying to mend him the whole time.

She realises he has been venin since before he challenged her. The wards don't block out all power so they can still get some from the ground. They knock him out and Nolon gives him the signet killing potion to help subdue him.

They only have 10 hours before the venin show up. The venin will know where they are as Jack planted lures all over Basgiath.

They sleep as much as they can before the batle. Brennan shows up the next morning, has brought fliers with him.

Violet wants them to work to give Brennan time to try and mend the wardstone.

Chapter 61: Opening note: A note from a study on the venin that says they believe when someone turns venin it heightens one of their senses. They believe the venin that killed King Grethwild had a kenner eyesight because it could see through the darkness it hid within to kill the king. (Shadows like Xaden wields?)

Jesinia came too - is in the Archives comparing Warrick and Lyra's journals to try and figure out what went wrong with the wardstone in Aretia. She might be their only hope at getting the wardstone back up and running properly if Brennan mends it.

The wyvern horde flies at them and Violet starts taking them out with lightning.

A venin jumps onto Tairn to fight Violet but she is stuck in her saddle. Rhiannon jumps on to help.

Chapter 62: Opening note: The best way to kill a dragon is to kill their rider.

Violet uses a crossbow to take out the venin.

It seems most venin stayed back so they can launch a 2nd wave.

Sawyer and his dragon are being attacked - Sawyer's leg is bitten off by the wyvern.

Violet cuts herself out of her saddle and jumps to Ridoc's dragon, gives him the crossbow and then jumps to Sawyer's next. She grabs Sawyer and then falls off, banking on Tairn catching them which he does.

Brennan has mended the stone.

A venin appears and Cat comes to help Violet fight it. She kills it with lightning and then another appears. This one seems to have powers and destroys her conduit.

The venin is about to kill Violet when Andarna suddenly appears.

Chapter 63: Andarna kills the venin by finally breathing fire. Violet was sure she saw her scales change to match the mountain.

Jesinia finds her - the translations vary in one aspect and that is that one says they need 7 dragons for the wardstone to work and the other says 6. But as far as they know there are only 6 dens - red, orange, brown, green, black & blue.

Violet believes she now knows how to get them working.

Xaden says the remaining venin are waiting for him before they launch the final attack.

Chapter 64: Violet tells Xaden she only has the power to raise the wards in one place - Basgiath or Aretia and he has to choose. He picks Basgiath because it is where she currently is and he loves her and can't live without her.

Violet goes to talk to Codagh, to ask the dragon to come to the wardstone but also to confirm a secret she believes she has figured out.

She asks Tairn to stay and protect Xaden.

Andarna isn't a black, she's the 7th den. She can change the colour of her scales. She says she waited 655 years to hatch and when she heard the dragons talking about Violet she knew she was the rider she wanted.

Violet tries to quickly imbue the wardstone but it is killing her. Her mother appears and kicks her away to stop her killing herself to do it.

Instead she convinces Sloane to use her siphone powers on her to do it.

Violet drops her shields to talk to Xaden and realises he is dying.

Violet's mum sacrifices herself to inbue the stone and get it working again.

Chapter 65: Opening note: A letter Violet's mum wrote to their dad saying that if she was to die it would be to protect their children.

She finally goes to find Xaden and he is acting strange. When he turns to look at her she sees his eyes have a red ring around them - he has turned venin.

Chapter 66: Opening note: Nolon's jounral notes that a venin can't be cured, only controlled.

Xaden's POV - He is having a nightmare about what happened during the battle. He was fihgting the Sage and was close to burning out.

The Sage, who reveals he is a general, says he always knew Xaden would turn for love and he is about to.

Xaden can feel down the bond that Violet is slipping away and i about to sacrifice herself to save him.

The Sage taunts him, saying once he has killed Xaden he will hunt Violet down and drain her.

Xaden can't kill the Sage without draining power from the earth so he does it.

He wakes in bed next to Violet and sneaks down to see Jack. He asks him what the cure is but Jack tells him there isn't one and that now all he will do is crave more and more power.