Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
Violet is alive after being stabbed by a Venin because her brother, Brennan, is alive. Brennan is alive! He heads off to a meeting as a lieutenant colonel and Violet, not ever one to be left alone or do what she's told, follows. Imogen and Bodhi are outside the meeting room and they all listen in. They learn that if Aretia doesn't get a new luminary, they will be overtaken in their war against the Venin in less than a year. A war that Violet didn't even know was a thing. They also learn that most people don't trust her because of who her mother is, but she has two dragons who vouch for her and Xaden, too. Can she trust him though? He lied about knowing her brother was alive. Her dragon Tairn chimes in that she wouldn't have been able to do anything with that knowledge and yeah, that's true, but she's still upset, but that's per usual with Xaden. Violet reaches for Andarna and can feel her connection, but can't communicate with her. She's probably exhausted after stopping time again in the final battle in book one. (For full details, go back and listen to that episode or read the summary.)
Brennan and Violet discuss the revolution and how them being overtaken by Venin will take closer to six months than a year like everyone thinks. They have a wardstone but it doesn't work and they don't have a luminary that can create weapons to fight the Venin, so they're pretty much screwed if we're being perfectly frank. Violet refuses to believe that the wardstone can't be restored to work again but the only place that would have that information is with the scribes in Basgiath, but there's no way they can go back there... Or is there?
Brennan can't discuss any other details of the battles or their plans because Violet can't shield her mind against Dain. Fucking Dain. She leaves to visit her dragons and is shocked to see that Andarna is twice the size that she was just a couple of days ago, which is fucking insane. Her golden scales have turned to shimmery, iridescenty black, and it seems that she was forced to grow after using her powers. She is an adolescent now, meaning she's a crazy, moody teenager. Xaden arrives soon and promises to work hard every day to regain Violet's trust. Violet tells Xaden and their friends that they have to go back because if they don't, the marked ones, like Xaden and the rest of the children of the rebellion, who were left behind in Basgiath will be killed. They plan to leave immediately to make it back in time for graduation.
After arriving in Basgiath and formulating a plan to tell everyone how they're still alive without outing anyone who tried to kill them or reveal that they are part of the revolution, Violet corners Xaden and confronts him about keeping things secret from her. He tells her that he will tell her anything about himself that she wants to know, but that's not what she wants. She wants to know everything all the time and frankly, that's just not going to work. In order to lead a revolution, Xaden might have to keep secrets. Violet wants to issue an ultimatum, but graduation interrupts them. They line up with the other cadets and when the death roll is read and Xaden's name is called, he steps out and announces that he's still alive.
Xaden and Violet step up and explain to Colonel Aetos and Violet's mother, General Sorrengail, the story they concocted about how they're still alive. They said they were sent by Aetos to an outpost but were attacked by gryphon fliers and that Violet was stabbed with a poisoned blade and that several of their friends died. Aetos calls them deserters and says that no dragons could have been killed by gryphons, and they quietly say to him that if he would like to explain to everyone what is capable of killing dragons to please do, but he obviously refuses, telling them they won't get away with this.
Violet's mother is pleased that her daughter is still alive and Violet believes that her mother had no idea of Aetos's plans to send them off to be killed by Venin. They go back to their places in line and Dain tries to rush up and grab Violet, happy to see she's alive. She makes a big scene about him touching her and that if he ever does again, she'll cut his arms off. Xaden confirms and tells Dain he's lost, even though there was nothing going on between Violet and Dain to begin with. He had better not touch her again. Xaden graduates and promises to see Violet before he is sent off for his new duty. She goes off to a party.
At the party, Violet's friends ask her what it was like fighting actual gryphons and she struggles with lying to them. They didn't fight against gryphons, they fought alongside them to take down mythical creatures from bedtime stories. Imogen, who has never really stood up for or complimented Violet before, says they all would have died without Violet and Xaden, not just their friend Liam. They drink to Liam's honor.
Before Xaden leaves, they learn from Aetos that they will only be given leave to see each other on alternating fortnights, meaning that they will only see each other every seven days. Their dragons cannot be apart for more than three, so we'll see how this goes. He also introduces them to Varrish, a new commander at the academy who seems maybe even more horrible than Aetos, though Aetos does make sure to threaten Xaden and Violet and Violet's sister Mira, too, before they leave. Violet struggles with Xaden leaving because obviously she loves him but also doesn't want anything to do with him since he can't tell her the truth all the time about everything, but we'll see how that goes too.
Everyone is assigned new stations and new wing leaders and squad leaders and no one is shocked that Dain is Fourth Wing's new Wing Leader since Xaden graduated, but Rhiannon is the new squad leader, so that's good. Orientation for a new second year class begins with a new teacher telling them that they will learn about survival if they are captured which will include random abductions, interrogations and torture. Great. Violet really needs to learn to shield her mind completely since she's got an entire rebellion to protect. She decides to take matters into her own hands to help the rebellion by going to see her friend Jesinia, the scribe, to see if there are any old texts about why Basgiath was built where it was, which is really a sneaky way to see if there is old information about the wards. Jesinia brings her some scrolls, which is a good sign.
Time comes for the new first years to cross the parapet, and it's nearly as bad watching it as it was crossing it. Violet collects the names of those who come to cross and is shocked when she sees an old friend of hers, Cam, but he gives her a different name, Aaric. Dain sees this arrival and is also shocked. They're surprised because this is the son of the King and if the king found out that his third son was trying his hand at becoming a dragon rider, he'd be pissed. Violet gets another shock when she sees Sloane Mairi, little sister of Liam, who absolutely hates Violet and blames her for her brother's death. Violet promised Liam she would take care of Sloane and she might die trying.
After everyone crosses the parapet, about a third of them dying in the process, one being violently thrown off by a massive meathead, all the new students gather with the second and third years as dragons land nearby. The same thing happens every year to weed out the weak and, as per usual, some newcomers run in terror and get torched. This time is different though. Varrish's dragon, Solas, aims his flaming breath right at Violet. She throws herself over Sloane and gets burned, badly, but at least she doesn't die like several others, newcomers and older students alike. Well that can't be good at all. It gets worse when the dragon prepares for a second fire breath, again, aimed right at Violet. Luckily Tairn lands and snaps at Solas, threatening to devour him whole and let him rot inside his belly. If Varrish didn't hate Violet before, he certainly does now.
Violet begins the next day with a run, wanting to be prepared should a Venin attack and draw all the life out of the ground and Imogen joins her. Soon classes start and the first one is Battle Brief where the professors and scribes tell everyone lies about attacks supposedly done by gryphons. Were they attacking or was it Venin? If they did attack, was it in search of weapons to destroy the Venin and wyverns? Probably, but none of the teachers would ever say that. Violet can't trust anyone or anything she's learning anymore, which makes her seek out Bodhi after class, offering to help more with the rebellion, but of course, none of the marked ones will let her help because Xaden told them all not to let her. Well, there is one thing she can do better than all of them... Study. She digs back into her research about the wards.
It's time for the first year students to have their ranking battles but everyone is there to watch. The massive meathead guy stomps across the floor looking for Violet and one of her friends, Nadine, with purple hair, says she's Violet, just joking, and Massive Meathead snaps her neck. Violet whips a couple of her daggers at him but he comes at her nonstop and strangles her. She eventually kills him by stabbing him repeatedly in the kidneys while staring into his bulging red eyes. She insists on staying for the rest of the rankings even though she should definitely go to the healers, but she definitely knows that Dain’s father is responsible for this lunatic trying to kill her because he said secrets die with the people that keep them. Speaking of healers, Violet's favorite healer, Nolon, has been run ragged lately according to Rhiannon, and they all think it's because Varrish is torturing people and having Nolon heal them just so he can torture them more.
Violet is still feeling shitty after her strangulation, but her spirits lift when she gets back to her room and senses Xaden inside. They are flirty, but Violet is still adamant that she can't be with Xaden because of their trust issues. They sexily reminisce about destroying armoires like they used to, but no, no trust. Before Xaden leaves, he tells Violet where she can find him where he's stationed in Samara and gives her a letter he wrote in an attempt to let her know everything about him and his life. As much as Violet loves the letter, it's still not enough.
After her next run with Imogen, Violet spots Jesinia anxiously waiting for her. She brought a book on the first six dragon riders, one of the earliest books they have access to that can leave the archives. She also asks for Violet’s help translating another old book, one in a dead language, which she helps with quickly. Jesinia is nervous asking for help because she's not supposed to, but she tells Violet that the scribes are translating everything out of dead languages for “ease of reading.” Is that true or are they just destroying more old information to protect the secret of the Venin? Jesinia gets even more nervous when they turn and see a cadet being dragged away, presumably for some sort of punishment. Jesinia says she gave him a book to read and it seems like she probably shouldn't have.
On their way to flight training later, Rhiannon delivers mail to her friends, which is a second year treat. Violet was hoping for a letter from Xaden and seems crestfallen to get a letter from her sister, Mira, instead. She is also feeling bad about not telling Rhiannon, her best friend, anything going on in her life, but it's to keep her safe, or so she tells herself. She decides to let Rhiannon know about her relationship with Xaden, or lack thereof. As they chat, Violet looks through Mira's letter and finds that it's been redacted. So … who is reading her mail? Aetos? Varrish?
When they arrive at the field, Varrish approaches Violet and Tairn and forces her to have Andarna present at the next flight training, or else. Andarna isn't the little golden dragon she used to be and that Varrish is expecting. She's a black dragon now, and she's supposed to be in the dreamless sleep that all dragons go through to safely age. Varrish mentions Violet's late father writing about feathertail dragons, or babies essentially, and now, how strange it is that Violet has bonded to one. She asks Tairn about this, but he doesn't know anything, or claims not to, and then he threatens to eat Varrish again, which we all hope he will do eventually.
We really hope he will when later Bodhi walks Violet to meet Tairn so they can go see Xaden. He tells her that he was attacked in the shower and Imogen was attacked as well, and then they are approached by Varrish and two cronies who search Violet's bag before she takes off. Varrish tells her he's working on her punishment for dereliction of duty since he hasn't seen Andarna.
When Violet arrives at Samara, she finds Xaden in a fight club and she realizes that he's still deliciously sexy and she still wants him and is still in love with him. They fiercely make out because she just can't stop herself, and Xaden tells her he wants her but he wants her to love him more, so they don't go any farther than kissing intensely. They have a discussion about wards and the weapons that can kill Venin and how they essentially have to be recharged. Violet asks Tairn about wards later, but, although he is crotchety, he wasn't around 600 years ago when they were made.
Unfortunately, upon return, they are summoned by Varrish and Carr for Violet's punishment. Varrish forces Violet to wield her lightning signet until she nearly dies of burnout. Carr seems concerned and angry with Varrish, but it's probably just because Violet's signet is so powerful. Tairn flies her away and dunks her into a river below and summons her friends who help her get back to her room.
Later, watching Sloane fail miserably at sparring, Violet makes a plan to poison her opponent at her next match just like she used to do for herself. That might not happen though, because on her way to her next class, a bag is thrown over Violet's head and she passes out. When she wakes up, she and her friends and several others are in a wooded area that they are not familiar with and are made to drink “water” but it's actually a potion that makes them lose their connections with their dragons and their signets, which seems wildly unnecessary. They are made to work together to find their extraction point on a map, but they didn't know they were given two different maps. It's clear that everyone needs to learn how to communicate because they basically fail this lesson.
Violet talks to Jesinia and she knows that Violet is up to something and promises to keep her secret safe. She didn't report last year when Violet asked for the book of fairytales, aka the book about Venin, that Violet's father had, so Violet knows she can trust her scribe friend. They discuss whether the archives just don't contain the information or whether they're hiding it, or even changing it. Violet asks for information about the wards and Jesinia promises to deliver one of the oldest books they have, but she asks to read Violet's fairytale book in exchange.
Violet goes to see Xaden but is escorted by Varrish, who threatens her again for not producing Andarna, who is still in the dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, Xaden is forced to be on duty the entire time they're supposed to be together, which he does note in a letter that he believes to have been done on purpose to keep them apart. It's obvious Varrish is punishing everyone involved with the incident that Aetos set up trying to kill them all at the end of book one but Violet and Xaden the most.
Violet talks to Imogen about Xaden and, finally, FINALLY Imogen maybe talks some sense into her about not trusting Xaden. She explains that they all have to keep things classified sometimes because they're in a literal war and that if Violet wanted to be with someone that would tell her everything all the time, she'd be with Dain, which makes them shudder. She chose Xaden, who is a powerful rebellion leader, and she chose him for a reason. Imogen goes on to say that she wishes Violet would confide in her best friend Rhiannon again, because she, Violet, is not Xaden and is not good at icing people out. It's clear that Violet needs to depend on her friends, and that her friends need her, too.
Rhiannon got a letter from her parents with a notice that they shouldn't let strangers into their homes, and one of the professors takes it and shares it with the class, making it all seem like propaganda and that anyone from outside the borders of their warded cities can't be trusted, like when they say that there are Venin out there, they are definitely lying. It's clear to Violet that she can't trust any of her professors anymore because they're all covering up what's really happening outside of Basgiath, and they've all been doing it for a very long time. But it's also clear that Venin attacks are getting much much worse. Violet runs away and explodes with lightning after the session is over, then goes to the archives, her old place of safety, to calm down. She trades books with Jesinia again, but she is upset that Violet came during lessons and not when the archives were empty. It probably looks suspicious.
Xaden visits and they argue about all the books Violet has and that she's researching the wards and not telling him about it and also that she trusts Jesinia to help, so he wants to meet her. There's a lot of back and forth about not telling each other things and blind trust and how one expects it all the time and the other never gets it at all.
Varrish punishes Violet with more signet training and is about to punish her again during flight maneuvers when Tairn steps in. He communicates to Solas and to all the dragons that Varrish has no right to summon a dragon. Varrish threatens Violet again because he believes he has every right to punish and torture her, but then Tairn nearly snaps Solas’s neck, biting harder until Varrish apologizes. That's not going to be good.
Later, Rhiannon walks with Violet as she's about to leave to go to Samara. They argue about Violet not opening up anymore and just as Violet is about to tell Rhiannon what she's really upset about, what she's really keeping from her friends, the Venin, Varrish approaches to search her bag again before departure like he always does. It's interesting that they never search Tairn, because he's the one transporting weapons and other important rebellion items. Violet apologizes to Rhiannon and leaves.
When Violet arrives in Samara, she learns that Mira is stationed there now. She almost tells her about the Venin and even hints that the stories their dad used to tell them are real, but Mira dismisses it. That night, Violet and Xaden talk and seem to reconnect more, though she still comments that she can't trust him, blah blah blah. He tells her that it's okay if she keeps stuff from him, too, like that she was researching the wards, but he's kinda still mad that she didn't tell him that Varrish tried to push her to burnout.
Back at Basgiath, all the teachers rush off leaving a few behind to continue lessons. Apparently there was a battle somewhere nearby but one of the remaining professors says they will learn about it in battle brief the next day. Uh huh, sure. The teacher asks the second year students about what happened after the wards were created when their nation was created by absorbing others. Some students act like nothing bad happened at all, but others say that they lost their history, heritage and folklore. Violet knows this to be true because she knows about the translations of books in the archives.
Dain tries to talk to Violet during sparring lessons and fails miserably, so he challenges her to a fight. She threatens to kill him if he touches her face and uses his memory stealing powers on her. The fight is all about Dain pleading Violet to still be his friend or more and she reminds him of everyone who died because he stole her memory about Athebyne and told his father. He seems like he has no idea what she means by everyone dying then and what they saw. Does he not know about the Venin? He holds her pinned to the floor, but Violet keeps her dagger at his throat, and just before he taps out of the fight, he tells her that her mother was the one who put the 107 scars on Xaden's back to denote all the marked ones.
Rhiannon stops Violet next and starts piecing things together. She knows Dain really hurt her, took something important from her, and she also knows that Violet and the others who were at Athebyne have been being targeted and sometimes killed. She knows they all saw something they shouldn't have on that mission and asks what it was that killed Liam's dragon. When Violet can't answer, Rhiannon gets mad, but Violet can't put her best friend at risk like the rest of them. Luckily Aaric approaches then and needs an escort to the healer. Violet volunteers to take Cam, oops, Aaric, and as they walk, he reveals that he knows about the Venin, which is why he ran away from his father, the king, to come to the war college and train to be a dragon rider.
When Xaden visits next, he and Violet go to check out the forge, but she is taken for her interrogation training instead, along with Rhiannon, Ridoc and Sawyer. They know better than to drink anything when they're locked away since the last time they were taken and drank, they lost their connections with their dragons and signets. After lots of beatings, mostly of Violet, still none of her team breaks, so Varrish brings in Dain. Luckily Dain refuses to use his signet on Violet, so that's good, but then Varrish punches Violet's shoulder out of socket and she passes out. Nolon comes to mend her and suggests that they should be able to escape, and they do. One of the locks on one of the doors opens in response to one of the daggers gifted to Violet by Xaden, a Venin-killing dagger, and she realizes it, but her friends have no idea.
Back in class, leaflets are distributed alerting them to an attack near their borders, but the professor, Markham, who used to be Violet's scribe instructor, tells them all that it's propaganda, even though it's definitely not. He distracts the class then by inviting a student in. Jack Fucking Barlowe, who tried to kill Violet repeatedly in book one and she subsequently crushed with a mountain, has been healed, or brought back to life somehow? The professor celebrates healer Nolon’s skills while Jack stares menacingly at Violet. Another professor tells them then that there was an outpost attack and it happened where Xaden and Mira are and suggests with a subtle motion to Violet that Xaden has been hurt. Violet leaves immediately, which will surely mean punishment when she returns.
Violet lands in Samara, crazed with Tairn’s desire to see his mate Sgaeyl. She rushes in and is met by Mira, who is shocked that she is there, but tells her that Xaden is in the sparring gym. He seems … perfectly fine? Violet tells him that she left without permission because she couldn't stand not knowing if he was okay but also she couldn't control Tairn's desire. Xaden is amazed that she feels that way about him since they've constantly been fighting, but takes her into the showers to try to snap the connection with Tairn. It works, but the passion between them finally builds and breaks. Though Xaden has been trying to get Violet to admit she loves him, right now, she wants him and needs him and that has to be enough. It is. They finally have sex again in the shower, lightning and shadows whipping around all over the place.
Afterward, they go to deliver illicit weapons to a drift of gryphon fliers, one of which, Cat, seems intimately familiar with Xaden. Xaden tells the drift that if they attack any of their outposts again looking for weapons, he will stop helping them and let them die. They try to guilt trip him, but nah dog, he's doing a lot for them while trying to keep his own people alive too. They argue about a luminary and insinuate that Violet is involved, or needed, by their Viscount but Xaden insists they leave her out of their discussion. Xaden explains later that the Viscount offered to let the rebellion borrow his luminary if he could see Violet wield her lightning, but Xaden doesn't believe it would stop there and he's not willing to give Violet up. Before she leaves, Xaden gives her another one of the daggers to keep her safe, just in case.
Violet encounters Varrish on her way back to her room. Professor Kaori, one of Violet's favorite teachers, follows behind Violet, and stands up for her when Varrish insists that she give him her clothes and bag to search. Rhiannon peeks out of her room and Violet, panicking, glances at the dagger she has sheathed, then back at Rhiannon. Kaori calls Varrish out for being wildly inappropriate and misusing his power which he obviously is and tells him that he's had a discussion with leadership about Violet suddenly leaving, claiming it's because of her very powerful dragon, and that she will not be punished for her actions. Varrish leaves in a huff and then Violet reaches for the dagger, but it's gone.
Don't worry. Rhiannon has it. She used her signet power of teleporting objects to keep it safe from Varrish. Violet decides it's time to tell Rhiannon, Sawyer and Ridoc the truth. They take it surprisingly well and immediately offer help. With four people researching the wards, work will go much faster. A lot of time passes with them researching, going out on punishment missions from Varrish, the dropped-in-the-middle-of-the-woods missions, and another assassination attempt on Violet's life that ends with the death of another person who was with her with the Venin and being rescued by none other than Jack Fucking Barlowe. The friends discover that there are hidden vaults below the archives that might contain primary source documents about the wards, but Jesinia says they'll need someone from the King's bloodline to get past the wards. Good thing they have someone who can help.
Though it is harrowing and very dangerous, they make it into the hidden vaults and escape with two journals. Unfortunately, after everyone has dispersed from their archive burgling, Violet is walking alone and approached by Nolon who offers her some lemonade. Stupidly, she drinks it and Varrish arrives just as she passes out. They believe she took something from the royal vaults, but they don't actually know that she did. Varrish tortures her but she won't break, though she does hallucinate that Liam is with her since he kept her so safe in book one. Varrish wants to know where they are trying to ward, because he knows about the Venin of course. She refuses to speak. Varrish lets her know that he's just using her as a trap to get to Xaden.
Unfortunately, they bring Dain in to search Violet's memory, telling him that she's trying to break the wards, which is not true. She chooses to show Dain the Venin killing their friends, but he decides to tell Varrish that they've been stealing weapons to give to the enemy. He asks to see one of Violet's daggers to compare it to her memory, but then uses it to stab Varrish and cut Violet free. Xaden arrives just as they make it out of the cell. And oh yeah, Violet kills Varrish with Dain and Xaden's help.
It turns out, since Xaden realized Violet had been captured, he's basically been fucking shit up. He and some others killed several wyverns and dropped their corpses in strategic locations to cause an uproar. All the professors were alerted and flew off, and Violet's mother was as well. She arrived back to see her daughter being carried out of the cell and they have a touching moment wherein she tells Violet that she made her go into riders’ quadrant because she’s known about the wyvern and Venin and knew that the scribes would make her change history to cover it up and she wouldn't go along with it and would be killed. Aww. But then she says that because Xaden owed her for letting the marked ones live, she made him promise to keep Violet alive. Uh… uh oh. That's weird. Is that why Xaden loves her? Surely not. But back to more important things: Dain calls all the cadets and they decide to tell them all the truth. It doesn't go super great until the dragons get involved, and then many decide to join the cause. They all fly off together to Riorson House in Aretia, about 100 cadets and 200 dragons.
Violet wakes in Xaden's bed from a horrible dream she sometimes has with the Venin Sage threatening her, maybe even actually speaking to her, but that leaves her mind as soon as she sees Xaden. They have loud, loud sex because he wants everyone to hear that she is his and then they go to meet with the council leaders. They're all mad because Violet is there, the General's daughter, but Brennan, her son, is also there and has been for years. They complain about having children there and having to care for them, but really, they're all learning to become fierce dragon riders, or they were before they all came here. Xaden suggests they begin teaching them again. Four professors and some scribes came, so they could, but the leaders don't like the scribes. Violet mentions that without the help of a scribe, they wouldn't have the journal about the wards. Brennan talks about the journal then, saying he doesn't know the language it's written in well enough to translate it, but Violet knows more than he does and begins to work diligently on translations.
Before they can talk more about that, Andarna wakes from her dreamless sleep that has lasted much, much longer than it should have. She's much bigger now, and black, but it looks like she's shiny and iridescent, probably because she's still so young. She stretches and stands, but her wings don't fully extend. Tairn explains that because her dreamless sleep was interrupted and because of her quickened rate of growth after the battle with the Venin, her muscles didn't grow right. She will, given enough training, be able to fly, but she won't be able to carry a rider.
A few days pass and classes begin again with the cadets being given all the information they weren't getting at Basgiath. They know that there are Venin very near their borders so it's imperative they get the wards up as soon as they can. During class, Tairn alerts Violet to an incoming group of riders led by Mira, so she rushes out, prepared to fight her own sister if she's there to hurt them. She's not. Their mother went to her just after Violet and the others left the college to tell them the truth, but they had already seen a wyvern corpse delivered by Xaden. Apparently the General has been going to each outpost and telling them the truth, letting them leave to help the rebellion if they want to. Mira wanted to. Brennan arrives then and, instead of hugging her long lost brother, Mira punches him in the face.
Violet tells everyone that she's translated the journal and knows how to power the wardstone. She says they'll need the blood of the six most powerful riders and if they bleed on the stone, it will activate in an iron rain, but she is a little confused about that last bit. They gather the six which include Xaden and Violet and bleed on the stone, but nothing happens. Since the wards aren't in place, they move to their next plan of protecting their citizens, obtaining the luminary from the Viscount. Violet is more than willing to show him her lightning power, but Xaden is convinced the Viscount will want to keep her.
Violet begins training her signet with an instructor named Felix and, while she is proud of her ability to cast lightning up to 40 times in an hour without literally dying, her instructor is not. He tells her that Carr, the signet instructor at Basgiath, wasn't teaching her properly and that she can use small amounts of lightning just in her hands and not bring it crashing down from the sky to destroy mountains. He gives her an orb he created to siphon her energy and store it to help keep her under control. They plan to meet again after a few days to check the orb to see if she's been practicing.
A couple days later, Violet, Mira and Brennan fly to visit Viscount Tecaris. They are surprised to see Cordyn is luxurious with swimming pools and fancy dresses and lavish parties. They are even more surprised to see that Xaden is already there, alerted by Sgaeyl that Tairn was on the move. Cat, the Viscount’s niece, is very flirty with Xaden and has an ability to heighten people's emotions, so she begins fucking with Violet immediately, trying to convince her that she and Xaden are still a thing. They're not, but apparently there were marriage negotiations in the works not too long ago. The Viscount takes them to an arena and demands Violet wield her lightning and destroy a chest, or more importantly, what's inside the chest. Violet isn't super worried about not being able to aim because she'll hit the chest eventually, but when they open it and unleash a Venin… well, things get a little more serious after that.
The Venin drains the guards near him and Violet tries to hit him with lightning but misses, then a dagger, but she only gets him in the side because it is raining and she didn't account for the appropriate trajectory. Tairn is on his way to help, but he's not nearby. Mira, seeing a Venin for the first time, is understandably freaked out, but she gets her shit together quickly. Xaden wants to help but Violet insists she can take the Venin down, but he still throws some blades to her. Brennan joins his sisters in the arena which is not good because now Violet has both of them to worry about. The Venin begins to drain the ground of energy which will mean their deaths, but then Mira grabs her siblings and shields them with her signet. When powered enough, Mira’s shield becomes a ward, but she can't sustain that much power and nearly burns out. Luckily Tairn is close enough now. Brennan carries Mira away while Violet uses daggers to pin the Venin’s feet to the rain soaked ground. Tairn lifts her into the air as she strikes the water below, killing the Venin instantly.
When Violet gets out of the arena, she finds Xaden with Tecarus lifted off his feet, strangling him. Violet insists she's okay and that they need to discuss the luminary. That discussion ends with them taking an entire group of gryphon fliers back with them to train alongside dragon riders, plus the borrowed luminary. Unfortunately, the gryphons can't fly as high as the dragons can, so they have to take a very precarious route meant to take down the gryphons, so they have to be extremely careful. In a freak accident, Violet has to save two people from falling but only one survives, a dragon rider instead of the gryphon flier, so lots of people hate her for that. What's new honestly?
Things get much worse after that fall when wyverns attack. They are riderless, so at least that's good, there are no Venin, but the wyverns and the Venin share a consciousness, so they probably know that the dragon riders and gryphon fliers are teaming up. Violet is able to kill the four wyverns by trapping them in a cloud and shocking them all at once with her lightning.
When they finally get back to Riorson House in Aretia, they take classes about weaving runes and imbuing their power into things. Xaden has been trying to teach Violet how to do this because it's something that he's known how do since he was a kid and he even gave her a book about it, but because he didn't explicitly tell her that it's something that you can use to make you powerful and is another way to use magic and it's literally on and in the daggers they use to kill Venin, she gets mad about it. Cat is great at it, but Violet gets better very quickly though.
Violet and Xaden talk a lot about runes back in their room. Xaden has a stone that is always on his bedside that Violet has noticed is marked with runes. Xaden explains that Liam and Sloane's mom made them for all the children of the rebellion. They were marked in such a way as to protect the holder from death by enemy, but only once. When all the rebels were sentenced to death by dragonfire, all of the children were holding their stones. They didn't burn, but they were marked with their rebellion marks. Xaden likes answering Violet's questions and telling her about his life before they met, but she still seems to want him to just tell her absolutely everything and, although she loves the story, she's still annoyed.
In classes, the professors tell everyone that they are going to intermingle all the students and that the gryphon fliers will become part of their squads. They will also be allowed to challenge and fight each other like back at Basgiath, so immediately everyone connected to Violet is challenged to a fight by Cat and her friends. Most of the dragon riders win, but then it's time for Violet to fight Cat. They were both trained by Xaden. They are not supposed to use their signets or abilities, but of course Cat cheats and manipulates Violet's mind about Xaden about fucking him and becoming his queen. Everyone else finally realizes that Cat is messing with Violet’s mind when Violet nearly strangles her to death. Xaden arrives and carries Violet out while others take Cat away. Cat is angry and wants Violet and her entire family to die.
Xaden carries Violet to what is apparently Tyrrendor’s throne, his throne, where he literally mindfucks her. He wants to show her what he thinks about all the time and that he is hers and she is his and that Cat is nothing. During the mindfuck, Violet briefly sees herself through Xaden and it's intense. Afterward, they have a discussion about Cat's mind powers and that she can only manipulate what is already there, so Violet feeling so much jealousy and inferiority to her is something she already felt. Xaden wants to help her but her world was just flipped upside down and everything she thought she knew, everything she was taught by people she trusted, turned out to be lies. When she gets all that figured out again, she'll be okay because she's smart and strong and everything Xaden wants.
Later, after welcoming Cat's group of fliers in with the dragon riders and having an embarrassingly petty catfight, all embarrassing on Cat’s side, by the way, Violet and her friends go to the library where Sawyer flirts with Jesinia and Violet asks Dain with help translating the wardstone journal. They have a heartfelt conversation about Violet loving Xaden and how Dain might actually, jokingly, be in love with him too after they rescued Violet from Varrish. She wants Dain to know that she still struggles with hating him for stealing her memories and he apologizes for trusting his father instead of his best friend. Things seem… okay after that. He tells her that her translation of iron rain isn't right and that they will need to keep working on the journal. She learns that he has the ability to imbue power into the wardstone, which is something that they learned in their rune classes, so they will start working on that as well.
Violet spends time with Felix learning how to better control her lightning with the conduits, which she has been getting good with. He knows she understands using her lightning, but she has trouble controlling it still. He teaches her better ways to focus and she continues practicing. After her lesson, he tells her she and Xaden will need to meet with the rest of the leaders later that night. Violet reaches out to Xaden and he seems weary. Something isn't right.
Venin attacked a city nearby and nearly killed Xaden. They are so far behind where they should be in this war. Violet vows to herself to figure out the journal and get the wards working. Not shockingly, after another read-through, she realizes not only did she have the word iron rain wrong, it's actually iron FLAME, she also realized that her word for BLOOD that caused her to have the six most powerful riders bleeding on the stone for nothing actually should have been BREATH, meaning she'll need dragons, not their riders.
Unfortunately, Violet also realized that by putting up the wards, the gryphon fliers would lose their ability to channel magic, so Rhiannon calls her entire group together, not just the dragon riders, but the gryphon fliers under her care also, including Cat, to tell them. They all hate the idea, but the majority think that keeping everyone safe from Venin is more important. Now Violet has to tell Xaden, but before she can do that, they have a training exercise, because even though there’s a war going on, they still have to have lessons.
Searching through caves to find hidden relics, Sloane asks Violet if she thinks she’ll get a second signet since she has two dragons, but she hasn’t really thought about it. She remembers something about dragon riders with two signets, they get them when they are bonded to a dragon that used to belong to a direct descendent, then she thinks of Xaden who has his grandfather’s dragon. Riders like that might get two signets (not likely), will have a more powerful signet (pretty likely) or go crazy with madness (most likely). Can’t think about that too much right now, because instead of finding the relics, they find Solas, Varrish’s former dragon, or maybe Solas finds Violet. Andarna is along on this mission, too, and luckily is small enough to be in the caves with them, otherwise, they all would have died by dragonfire immediately. After some channeling of powers, gaining a signet (Sloane is now a Siphon, though she thought she was accidentally becoming a Venin, oops), dagger throwing, and bows and arrows, they kill Solas, Andarna doing most of the work.
When they get back to Riorson House and everyone is checked over and declared to be fine, Xaden and Violet start fighting again because Violet didn't tell Xaden about Solas while it was happening. This leads to the same old fight about trust, but also about her mother, but also about the realization she had about Sgaeyl being Xaden's grandfather's dragon first. That means that Xaden is either mentally unstable or he has two signets. The ask-me-and-I'll-tell-you-the-truth game just got dirty, but for now, they have to leave because they have learned that there are wyvern nearby and they need to put up the wards even though the gryphon fliers will lose their magic.
Luckily Violet was correct with her second round of translations and getting the dragons to breathe fire on the wardstone seems to work. They have to really hope that it does because once a dragon has done it, they can't do it again to any other stone. Everyone splits off to the edges of where their wards should go to check and/or be ready to fight the approaching wyvern.
While they wait, Xaden and Violet continue their second-signet argument and Xaden wonders how long it takes to fall out of love with someone. Well shit, this can't be good. Instead of outright telling Violet, Xaden makes her figure it out, and, well, it's pretty devastating. Xaden is a type of inntinnsic, a mind-reader, but he can read intentions not direct thoughts. This would still be enough for him to have been killed immediately if anyone knew because at Basgiath, they always kill the mind-readers. Violet still loves him, but for like two seconds, because she questions whether she actually loves him or if he just knew what to say and when to say it because he's been reading her mind. Ugh. To make things worse, Sgaeyl didn't tell this to Tairn either, so they're also in a fight.
Luckily the wyvern approach then and Violet and Xaden watch while simultaneously preparing themselves to die. The wards hold! Several wyvern fall before the Venin Sage, the same one from Violet's dreams, she's sure of it, turns them around in retreat. They get reports from other groups and it seems like the wards are holding everywhere. Hooray!
When everyone gets back to Riorson House, Violet and Mira are alerted that they are needed for a meeting with General Melgren, the commanding general of Navarre, and their mother, the commanding general of Basgiath, plus Xaden and members of his rebellion. Melgren, who can see the outcome of any battle as long as there aren't more than two marked ones involved, says that there's going to be a battle and they're all going to die unless they help. Xaden and the other leaders, including Brennan who showed up, surprising his mother, decide against helping because why on earth would they help Navarre when they have been letting everyone die outside their borders and hiding the Venin from everyone? Nah dog.
Unfortunately, before they depart, General Sorrengail tells Violet and Mira that something is wrong with their wards and to check the runestones inside the wyvern. When they check a stone, the wyvern comes back to life. Violet kills it with lightning, but they have to fix the wards. As they discuss this and the upcoming battle Melgren mentioned, they realize that he was lying and that the Venin are going to attack Basgiath instead and destroy their wardstone, so they head there.
When they arrive at the wardstone, they find Jack Barlowe there, destroying it. He tells them that he's sided with the Venin and it looks like he's well on his way to becoming one, or he already is one, and Nolon, who is also there, has been trying to heal him the entire time, but guess what, it doesn't work. Jack kills his dragon and becomes a full-fledged Venin then breaks the wards. Dain and Xaden attack him and Dain uses his signet to learn that Jack has told all the Venin everything they need to know and that they'll be there within hours. Jack starts draining Dain, but then Xaden knocks him out and Nolon gives him the serum that they created that blocks signets, which should keep him powerless.
Everyone heads to the battle brief room at Basgiath and they make a plan to fight the approaching Venin and wyvern, but it's not a very good plan and everyone is probably going to die. Luckily Brennan arrives with a lot of gryphon fliers, so that will help, hopefully. Violet asks Brennan if, since he's a Mender, if he could mend the wardstone that Jack broke. Getting the wards back up will mean everything in this war.
The wyvern hoard approaches and everyone prepares. Violet tries to send Andarna away, but because she's a bratty teenager, she refuses. She's remarkably good at hiding, though, like, Violet-can't-even-see-her good. The battle begins and, thanks to General Sorrengail’s weather signet, Violet's lightning is boosted. They fly and take down lots of wyvern and some Venin, but it seems like they’ll never stop coming. There are some daring battles and leaping from dragons and Sawyer gets his leg bitten halfway off, but mostly everyone that we know of survives the first round. Tairn relays to Violet that Brennan has mended the wardstone, so she goes to try to get it working again.
On her way to the stone, Jesinia finds Violet and tells her that the journal she's been translating, the second one that they stole in the break-in, mentions the breath of the SEVEN dragons, not six. But wait… there aren't seven types of dragons are there? Black, blue, green, red, brown, orange… nope that's six. While Violet is thinking about this, a Venin approaches and Andarna appears as if from nowhere like she's been doing this entire time to help fight him. Andarna, whose scales are shimmery and iridescent, not exactly black, Andarna, who has brattily said she's the leader of her own den, Andarna, who was able to bond with Violet even though she was too young… Andarna is a different kind of dragon and she chose Violet, a rider with the mind of a scribe, after waiting 650 years in her egg. Well, let's keep that secret for a little bit longer, just in case they can't get the wards up in time.
Violet sees that the wardstone needs to be imbued and decides to burn herself out powering it rather than ask anyone for help. Luckily her mother arrives and has Sloane with her. General Sorrengail makes Sloane, who is a siphon, drain her energy and her dragon's to power the wardstone, sacrificing herself to save Basgiath, but more importantly, her children. They gather enough dragons and fire the stone and wyvern rain down all over the place.
Violet reaches out to Xaden and finds his shields up, so she checks with Tairn who checks with Sgaeyl that he’s okay. He is, but… something is weird. Violet goes to find him and learns that he killed a Sage, but to do it… well… Xaden’s eyes tell the whole story. They are red-ringed, just like a Venin’s. The Sage told him that if Xaden didn’t kill him, then he was going to kill Xaden and then step over his lifeless body and go after Violet. In order to keep Violet safe, Xaden, so close to burnout, pulled power from the earth to kill the Sage. Luckily Violet still loves him, but for how long? And is there a cure?
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