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Summary
Chapters 22-25
Chapter 22
November passes without any mention of the Sumerton attack in classes, convincing Violet that the report she and Liam found was classified. Liam’s protection seems to be working in Violet’s favor, as she hasn’t been attacked in private since he began shadowing her. When Xaden and Violet are in the sparring hall together, Xaden angrily notices that Violet is not wearing the dragonscale armor Mira gave her. Violet is too preoccupied with watching Xaden spar to be angry herself, as she’s suddenly consumed with desire for him after seeing him sweaty and shirtless. Xaden upbraids Violet for not wearing the armor, and she taunts him that he shouldn’t care as he wants to kill her anyway. Frustrated, Xaden reminds her that he can’t kill her because of the dragon bond.
In her room afterward Violet ferociously brushes her hair and thinks about how much she needs to dispel her growing sexual frustration. Then, a wave of incredible power passes through her; she’s channeling Tairn for the first time. After the wave diminishes, some of the heat doesn’t dissipate. She realizes too late that Tairn and Sgaeyl must be having sex and that she’s telepathically feeling their emotions. She runs outside and bumps into Xaden, who is smoking an herb called churam to distance himself from the intense sexual urges. He teaches her a mind-palace visualization technique to free herself from the worst of the telepathic transference. Tension between them escalates, and they both give into it and start kissing. Xaden pulls away, refusing to continue because he believes Violet can’t consent when Tairn and Sgaeyl are interfering with their emotions.
Chapter 23
Violet tells Rhiannon about her night with Xaden and learns that Rhiannon’s signet has revealed itself: she can summon objects to her. Violet then confronts Dain over his controlling behavior, demanding that he stop trying to convince her to quit Basgiath and telling him that she’s committed to being a rider for life. Dain warns her that there’s more to Xaden than meets the eye, assuring Violet that he knows more than she does because of his signet. Violet insists that her and Xaden’s mutually assured destruction will protect her–Xaden can’t harm her without harming himself. Dain cups her cheek and accepts her decision, though the moment feels awkward. Back in class, Professor Carr reminds Violet that her siblings had powerful signets: Mira can summon protective wards, and Brennan was a Mender like Nolan. Professor Carr’s expectations for her are just as high, and Violet feels intense pressure to live up to the standard her siblings set.
Violet spends the next month training and narrowly avoiding danger, but she is having trouble channeling her signet because she struggles to distinguish between her dragons’ influences in her mind. When Jack finally challenges Violet in a mat fight, he illegally uses his own signet power of magical torture against her. It looks as though he’s about to kill her, but at the last moment she whips out a phial of orange juice and smashes in into his mouth, triggering a serious allergic reaction. She passes out and wakes up in the hospital ward with Xaden at her bedside.
Chapter 24
Xaden and Violet finally discuss their kiss, but Xaden cuts the conversation off abruptly by telling Violet that since they’ll have to spend their lives together working with their mated dragons, there’s no point even discussing pursuing a romantic relationship. Violet is confused and irritated but accepts what he says. The next day, he brings a Tyrrish dagger he had made for her to the sparring room and insists on practicing with her. He spars with her, cheating briefly by using his shadow-wielding abilities against her to demonstrate how she might need to improvise in future battles. The class is training for their upcoming Squad Battle, and the days are packed with activity. After a brief scuffle about Violet balancing her time between physical training and practicing wielding magic, Xaden informs her that because their dragons can’t be separated for more than a day or two at a time, she’ll have to join him on the front lines next year. As she re-enters the War College from the outside, Violet stumbles into an awkward encounter with her mother General Sorrengail, Commandant Panchek, and Colonel Aetos, Dain’s father. Violet deflects a question about Andarna’s abilities and skirts another about whether Panchek might be allowed to study her. Xaden then insists that she accompany him and their dragons to practice better in-flight coordination.
Chapter 25
It’s finally time for the Squad Battle. Violet and Tairn come last in the Gauntlet Race, the first event. They do much better in the final mat challenges for the Squad Battle, where Violet’s squad ranks seventh overall. Commandant Panchek then announces the last Squad Battle mission, which everyone was expecting to come the next day. Each squad, without their regular leaders, must secure a valuable asset that would benefit their enemies and without which they cannot win. Violet makes everyone on her team list their signets, and then decides that they should steal a war map from her mother’s office, one with current details of troops and their movements. They successfully infiltrate Lilith Sorrengail’s office, utilizing their signets to avoid the guards and get away scot-free, and they present the map at the ceremony the next day. It’s by far the best offering from any squad, and it’s met with thunderous applause.
Analysis
This section of the novel is heavily preoccupied with Xaden and Violet’s burgeoning relationship and the intense sexual tension between them. This has been building since the beginning of the novel, but it really takes flight when their dragons Tairn and Sgaeyl reunite to mate. Because Violet is psychically connected to Tairn and Xaden to Sgaeyl, when the dragons have strong emotions, the riders also feel it. Violet at first thinks she has a fever, then realizes that she’s finally channeling Tairn, then concludes with horror that not only is she channeling him, but she’s also feeling incredibly intense referred lust from Tairn and Sgaeyl’s tryst. She runs outside into the snow to try and cool off. Coincidentally, Xaden is waiting outside, smoking churam (the Navarrian equivalent of marijuana) and trying to perform mental magical exercises to distract himself from Sgaeyl’s arousal. He’s also strongly affected by the dragon sex, but he’s able to control it with magical discipline. He tries to teach Violet to do the same by shutting off the “door” to Tairn in her mind. The mental landscapes that each of them picks to visualize as the imaginary sources of their magic are very telling; Violet chooses the Archives, and Xaden a hillside near his destroyed home city of Aretia. Both choose to return to places they cannot ever call home again.
In order to control and channel their magic, riders have to be able to “ground” themselves mentally using calming tactics like these. Xaden explains that while Violet will never be able to fully block Tairn out, sealing him away temporarily can help at inconvenient times like this. Despite meaning well, however, this training does not work as either of them intend it to. Sharing this intimate moment in the snow tips the couple over the edge, and they stop struggling to hold back their physical need for each other. When Violet and Xaden finally kiss, it’s almost too intense to bear. Xaden cuts it off sharply before they can take it any farther, telling Violet that he doesn’t think she’s able to consent under the circumstances of their psychic predicament. Far from providing relief, Xander’s proclamation only heightens Violet’s desire and frustration. Like many things involving the physical body at Basgiath, it has to get a lot worse before it gets better.
There’s another incident of physical sensation made overly intense by magical means later in this section, although it’s not nearly as pleasant for Violet. When she finally enters the ring to spar against Jack Barlowe, fear and fury are in the air. Jack loathes Violet and has publicly stated that he intends to kill her during their fight. Violet knows he means it, but she also knows he’s a coward. Just in case, she packs a tiny vial of orange pulp and keeps it on her person, knowing that Jack is allergic to oranges and this weapon could come in handy as a last resort. During their fight, Jack reveals his signet; he illegally unleashes his power to inflict extreme pain against Violet. Despite Jack's use of his power, Violet manages to outsmart him by smashing the vial of orange juice into his mouth. She’s improved her physical fighting skills immensely, but there’s a certain poetic justice in the fact that she defeats Jack and escapes from their fight alive using her head, not her fists. This scene also demonstrates Violet’s refusal to be overpowered or to give in to looking weak, even when faced with opponents who are more than twice her size and weight. It’s a mark of how intensely the Riders Quadrant has changed and strengthened Violet that she can stand her ground against Jack.
There are still some people, however, in front of whom Violet quails. When Colonel Aetos, Commandant Panchek, and her terrifying mother Lilith interrogate Violet about Andarna, Violet internally squirms at how childish their tone and questions make her feel. She goes from being uncomfortable to actively offended when Panchek asks her if she can take Andarna to study her. Violet realizes that the only reason these important people are now paying attention to her isn’t her at all: they are interested in Andarna, Tairn, and gaining the approval of Violet’s mother. Almost everyone, it seems, is absolutely desperate to stay on the right side of Lilith Sorrengail. Violet’s painful relationship with her mother warps her ability to see herself clearly; it’s also one reason why it took her such a long time to channel Tairn. While her mother’s influence is so strongly overshadowing her, she can’t isolate and channel her abilities to wield the black dragon’s magic.
