payment page
Summary
Chapters 26-29
Chapter 26
The cadets fly to a forward outpost in Montserrat for a week-long tour after winning the Squad Battle. Although she’s (somewhat) used to being flung around on Tairn’s back for combat practice, Violet is aching and miserable after six straight hours of travel flying. When the squad arrives at Montserrat, Rhiannon pulls Violet aside and whispers that her village is nearby. Violet promises to help her visit, despite the cadets being forbidden from leaving. As they rejoin the group, Violet is swept off the ground in a bear hug by Mira, who is unexpectedly stationed at this outpost. The sisters burst into tears. Two days later, Violet and Rhiannon attempt to sneak away to visit Rhiannon’s village but are intercepted by Mira. Mira is disapproving but ultimately joins them, and they visit Rhiannon’s sister’s house. As Rhiannon chats with her sister and nephew, Mira asks Violet about Dain, and warns her to stay away from Xaden. As they leave to return to the outpost, Xaden appears unexpectedly. He’s come to join them because Sgaeyl needs to be with Tairn. The longest they can be separated, he tells Violet, is three days.
Chapter 27
Xaden’s arrival is making all of the other cadets uncomfortable, but he can’t stay away because Sgaeyl and Tairn can’t be apart. Violet’s squad splits their time between observing the area and continuing their training in battle history; Violet notes with concern that Xaden’s generation of marked third-year cadets will be the first riders to fly with the Navarrian troops. Mira informs the group about an emergency that has pulled all the senior riders to the front lines, leaving third-years at outposts for guard duty. She also mentions an upcoming training exercise called War Games, and warns them they will need to understand battle strategy to survive it. Violet realizes she can hear Xaden’s voice in her head, thanks to their dragon-linked bond; he flirts with her telepathically. Violet reminds everyone that Xaden can use shadows, and his signet could help them in battle. Suddenly, Xaden and Violet’s dragons alert them to an approaching gryphon attack. Having just heard that Violet struggles to keep her seat on Tairn’s back, Mira orders Xaden to remove Violet from danger. Despite her protests, Xaden distracts her with a kiss until Tairn arrives to scoop her up in his claws.
Chapter 28
Two days later, Violet is safely back on library duty at Basgiath. Xaden finds her and admits to her that he can’t stop thinking about doing more than just kissing her. His feelings for her have shifted over time. She reveals that she’s figured out how to talk back to him telepathically. Later, during a mat training session, she begins to telepathically interrogate him on topics from his favorite cake to how he got the many scars on his back. As the Basgiath College War Games commence, Violet’s Fourth Wing must capture an egg while defending a flag against the First Wing. Equipped with a special saddle to secure her on Tairn, Violet faces Jack Barlowe, who seems to be hell-bent on doing her damage. At one point Jack jumps from his dragon to Liam’s to attack him with a sword. Liam almost dies, but Violet channels Andarna’s time-stopping power to save him. She then turns back to seek revenge on Jack, full of fury. She and Tairn fly to the tower where Jack has fled, and Violet summons a massive lightning bolt to kill him. She has the lightning wielder signet.
Chapter 29
Fourth Wing wins the War Games, but Violet is sickened and horrified at having taken a life, even if it was the life of an enemy. Everyone congratulates her but she can’t enjoy the victory. Xaden tries to comfort her by telling her she did what she had to, and he snaps at Dain when he says she doesn’t have to use her lightning powers. Alone in her room, she grapples with her identity as a rider; far from being a peaceful Scribe, she is now a dangerous weapon. Xaden comes in to speak to her and Violet is distraught and angry enough not to care that she shouldn’t be getting physical with him. He tells her to do whatever she needs to in order to vent her frustration and sadness. She chooses to kiss him.
Analysis
At this point Xaden and Violet’s relationship really begins to take center stage in Fourth Wing. Violet's struggle with her growing feelings for Xaden hits a breaking point as she learns more about his past and sees his nobility of spirit. Violet and Xaden’s relationship evolves when their psychic bond turns into a physical one, and they both push against the roles that others have assigned them, refusing to simply accept what fate seems to dictate.
When Violet travels with the cadets to Montserrat for a tour of the Aethbyne outpost, she’s unexpectedly reunited with her sister Mira. It’s the first time Violet has experienced Mira as a military leader in action, and there’s some chafing between the siblings as both adjust to the change. Violet is also self-conscious about how intense her feelings for Xaden are growing, and doesn’t want to admit them to Mira. There’s still no love lost between Mira and Xaden’s family, especially as to her, he represents the Rebellion incited by his father, which led to the heartbreaking loss of her brother, as well as other Navarre deaths. When Violet is with Mira it's harder for her to remember that she’s become a stronger and more independent person, as Mira represents an anchor to Violet’s past. Although it’s soothing for Violet to step back under her older sibling’s protection, it’s also an abrupt shift away from the extreme independence and self-reliance she’s had to develop as a rider-in-training.
As with many sibling relationships, when Violet is with Mira their time together is a mixture of loving, comforting safety and unwelcome reminders of past versions of herself. When Mira and Violet break the rules of Basgiath and go with Rhiannon to visit her family, Violet has to hold her tongue during their fireside chat to avoid revealing too much. She’s surprised Mira would be flexible enough to break the rules and allow them to visit Rhiannon’s sister, but Mira quickly shows that her vision for Violet is still limited by their military upbringing.
Mira advises Violet that she’ll never be able to channel Tairn effectively if she can’t separate her signet’s power from their mother’s influence. Although Mira is trying to be encouraging, this is a reminder of just how strong a hold Lilith has over Mira and Violet. Even given that Mira and Violet have a far better relationship than Violet and Lilith do, Mira still represents another link in the Sorrengail family legacy, with all its weight and expectations. Mira urges Violet to reject the notion that accessing her magic has anything to do with how Lilith feels about her or their family lineage; Violet has it inside herself, and she must believe that to access it. Ironically, however, by reminding her that she can’t rely on their mother to be a helpful influence and telling her that she must learn how to stand on her own as a rider and channeler, Mira is just reinforcing how Violet already feels about Lilith’s “support.”
Mira's disapproval of Xaden also reinforces this theme—Mira wants Violet to stick with what feels safe and predictable, which means that she thinks Dain is the best option for Violet’s romantic future. She wants to protect Violet, as is apparent when the sisters discuss the dragon-scale armored vest Mira gave Violet when she started at Basgiath, and when Mira tells her she’s brought her copy of Fables of the Barren to the outpost. However, she also wants to keep Violet in line. There are some things that, despite their closeness, the siblings struggle to communicate.
Strained communication with her sister is juxtaposed with overcommunication on other fronts. Violet is never alone in her head after she bonds with Tairn and Andarna, but in this section Xaden reveals that he’s also able to speak to Violet telepathically. Violet knows that her dragons can read her thoughts, but now learns that she, Andarna, Tairn, Sgaeyl, and Xaden are all now sharing a sort of common mental ecosystem. It’s both freeing and highly invasive, as she feels her privacy is being encroached on. Xaden’s refusal to discuss pursing a relationship with her that goes beyond being cordial colleagues—despite all the kissing and steamy flirtation that’s constantly humming in the background of their bond—is infuriating to her. However, when Xaden gives in and kisses her to distract her from her fury at being removed from Aethbyne during the gryphon attack, something shifts. Because they can now silently communicate in the company of others, Violet begins a relentless barrage of telepathic getting-to-know-you attacks against Xaden whenever they’re in the same room. These are also tinged with dangerous spikes of sexual attraction, because the two can sense each other’s emotions (and Violet has very strong reactions to seeing Xaden shirtless, which he is more often than not in this part of the novel). Violet craves intimacy with him and knows he feels the same, but she is frustrated over and over again by his refusal to engage with her emotionally.
The fact that Xaden keeps showing how much he thinks about Violet and cares for her safety only intensifies her relentless pull toward him. When it’s time for the Fourth Wing to participate in the Basgiath War Games in Chapter 28, Xaden equips her with a specially designed saddle that keeps her secure on Tairn. The fact that Xaden is willing to collaborate with Violet’s dragon—especially bearing in mind that Tairn is an ancient and highly proud creature, and that riders do not typically use saddles, so this is a large concession on his part— shows his tacit understanding of her struggle and his commitment to her success. Unlike Dain, Xaden doesn’t try to control Violet by holding her back from dangerous situations or encouraging her to give up.
Dangerous situations abound, however. When Jack attacks Liam and his dragon Deigh during the War Games, Violet channels Andarna’s time-stopping power to try to save her friend. Her retaliation after Liam dies—successfully summoning a lightning bolt that kills Jack—is, finally, the manifestation of Tairn’s signet power. Violet’s signets are a reflection of the two sides of herself. As a Scribe, Violet was tasked with recording and studying the history of Navarre; Andarna’s power quite literally allows her to control time, giving her more opportunities to analyse and act rationally. Tairn’s power is purely physical, a huge well of energy that threatens to burn Violet out, as it did with Tairn’s previous rider. It’s unexpectedly, cataclysmically strong.
This duality is part of why Violet struggles with her identity after the War Games. She feels conflicted over having killed Jack, and she feels torn between her desire to survive, her triumph at winning the Games, her grief over Liam’s death, and the realization of how far she has come from the person she used to be. She’s also unsure about how to feel regarding her signet powers. Unlike Mira, whose power is to cast huge shields over her squadron, or Brennan, who was a Mender, Violet’s new signet is a force of natural destruction. Even though Mira assured her that she didn’t have to be like their mother in order to have a powerful signet, Violet turns out to be similar to Lilith Sorrengail in terms of her magic. Lilith holds the signet of storm-wielder, meaning she’s able to call up hugely destructive weather patterns to bombard Navarre’s enemies. Violet’s power takes this grandiose ability and refines it, summoning the destructive power of lighting to incinerate her targets. Rather than being gratified by this, however, Violet wishes for a power that might allow her to heal rather than harm. Killing Jack brings home the inescapable fact that Violet is a soldier who will sometimes be required to take lives in order to protect her country and her friends.
