Iron Flame

At Samara, Violet and Xaden suppress their lust. Without full honesty between them, Violet refuses to give Xaden her heart, and he does not want to have sex until he wins it back. Xaden is unwilling to share classified information about the rebellion but does tell Violet that the alloy which kills venin is the same material powering the wards. It is capable of absorbing power which boosts and extends the wards; as the alloy weakens, it must be re-imbued. They train Violet’s mental shields, which she must strengthen to keep people like Dain out of her mind.

Major Varrish punishes Violet for dereliction of duty when Andarna does not show up for the second week of flight maneuvers. He and her signet trainer, Professor Carr, force Violet to wield strikes of lightning until she nearly dies from burnout. Imogen and Violet worry over Sloane’s upcoming sparring match. Sloane still fights poorly and refuses to accept help; Violet internally decides to help Sloane by poisoning her opponent before the match. Violet becomes paranoid when the Athebyne survivors all experience targeted attacks. As Violet heads for physics class alongside Rhiannon, Sawyer, and Ridoc, they are captured.

Violet and her friends begin their first RSC challenge: a joint land navigation exercise where they must work alongside infantry, scribes, and healers to find and secure the location marked on their maps, all while being hunted by another team’s dragons. They are separated from their dragon bonds and signet powers by a water-like substance offered by Professor Grady. Two hours into the challenge, Baide—an orange dragon previously bonded to Violet’s first-year enemy, Jack Barlowe, who died in a lightning strike she created—attacks their unit. Her group loses an infantry cadet and rider to Baide’s fire.

Violet’s team struggles to get along, and poor communication prevents them from realizing they have been given two different maps until two days in. When her friends mention how cruel the exercise is, because “it’s not like other dragons are waiting behind enemy lines to kill” them (145), Violet disagrees but cannot tell them why. Rhiannon confronts Violet about her strange behavior and the distance in their friendship. She assures Violet she will be there for her when she is ready to tell the truth. The next day, they are extracted from the failed challenge and the riders’ dragon bonds and signets are restored. The riders feel uneasy about the new elixir that can sever their bonds, and Violet regrets missing a weekend with Xaden.

Violet meets Jesinia at the Archives. Jesinia admits that the rider from the courtyard was killed over requesting material about border attacks which officially do not exist. Given how closely requests are monitored, Violet wonders why she has never been caught. Jesinia admits to not recording Violet’s requests because she has become suspicious of why the Archives do not include texts on the topics Violet asks about. Jesinia believes the Archives are purposefully incomplete. Violet decides to trust her with locating texts on how the First Six built the wards. Jesinia asks to borrow Violet’s father’s book of folklore, The Fables of the Barren, in return. They plan to meet at the Archives every Saturday while Jesinia is on duty.

Sloane wins her match against another first-year named Dasha because Violet uses her aptitude for poison and herbs to temporarily weaken and disorient her. After the match, Violet makes a deal with Sloane: In return for allowing Imogen to train her, Violet will give Sloane one of the 50 letters Liam wrote to her during his first year each week. Violet digs into the texts Jesinia can find about the First Six, but is unable to find worthy information on the wards. After a routine bag check from Varrish and another threat about Andarna, who still has not made an appearance in flight maneuvers, Violet leaves to visit Xaden.

Violet misses her friends but prefers to maintain her distance for their safety rather than lie to them. In Battle Brief, Violet becomes angry with Markham, now aware that as leader of the scribes, he is well-practiced in covering up the truth. He spends the class explaining away recent venin and wyvern attacks as Poromish unrest.

Xaden arrives on Saturday while Violet rushes to read the most recent books from Jesinia before their weekly appointment at the Archives. Xaden warns her that “digging around for information on Navarre’s most classified defense will get [her] killed” (171). When he discovers she has entrusted Jesinia with her research, he becomes even more paranoid about her safety and insists on accompanying her to her appointment. On the way to the Archives, they run into Nolon, who looks exhausted, prompting further concern over what he has been up to behind the closed infirmary doors. At the Archives, Jesinia returns The Fables of the Barren and exchanges the old books with new finds for Violet to peruse. Afterward, Xaden and Violet fight about their lack of mutual trust, and Xaden leaves without saying goodbye.

Andarna still does not show up for flight maneuvers and Varrish intends to punish Violet again. Though Violet must obey his orders, dragons do not. Tairn attacks Varrish’s dragon, Solas, forcing Varrish not only to rescind Violet’s punishment but also to apologize to Violet on his knees. The incident only heightens Varrish’s hatred for Violet. He vows retribution and makes her a personal enemy of Solas as well. Rhiannon accompanies Violet to the flight field the following weekend. Violet finally tells her about Varrish’s punishment a few weeks prior and partially opens up about Athebyne, talking only about the combat experience and losing Liam. Violet grapples with whether to tell Rhiannon the whole truth, but they are interrupted by Major Varrish, who arrives to check Violet’s bags.

Mira is stationed at Samara when Violet arrives. Violet subtly attempts to ask Mira about the wards, given Mira’s signet is the ability to extend them. Mira reveals that they originate in the Vale’s hatching grounds and are boosted along border outposts using the alloy as a power supply. When Violet begins asking questions about information that exceeds her clearance and even Mira’s, Mira shuts down. Violet shifts the subject to the attacks on Poromish cities discussed in Battle Brief. When Mira mentions seeing dragons in the distance over the border while on patrol with her dragon, Teine, Violet is certain Mira saw wyverns instead and seizes the opportunity to tell Mira a sliver of truth. Violet asks Mira if what she saw could be wyverns and hints that there’s “an entire war out there [they] know nothing about” (197). Mira dismisses the question as a wild imagination fueled by the fables their dad used to tell them. Later that night, Violet admits to Xaden her near slip-up with Mira and finally understands why he keeps some secrets from her, slightly easing the strain on their relationship.

Basgiath leadership is called to aid in a major attack in East Navarre. Professor Devera teaches history class in the usual professor’s absence, sparking a risky but thought-provoking discussion on the loss of culture in the original Unification of Navarre. In combat class, Dain organizes a match between him and Violet as a way to speak with her. Violet worries about keeping her mental shields in place should Dain touch her. Dain explains his actions, claiming that the memory he saw last year showed Xaden admitting he had left campus for Athebyne, something second-years are not allowed to do. He reported the infraction to his father, who then decided to send Violet and Xaden’s friends into a trap without Dain’s knowledge. He says that everything he did was to protect Violet from Xaden because her mother is the one who inflicted the 107 scars on Xaden’s back—symbolizing all the surviving children of the Tyrrish rebellion whose lives he took responsibility for after it ended—giving Xaden every reason to hate Violet.

Rhiannon confronts Violet about her strange behavior and severed friendship with Dain. Violet tells Rhiannon that she believes the survivors of the Athebyne attack are being assassinated. Out of the 10 who were there, only six remain alive. She also tells Rhiannon about Dain’s classified signet—his ability to read memories—and how he stole a memory from her. Rhiannon correctly assumes Violet saw something she should not have, but Violet is spared from revealing more when she is called to escort Aaric to the infirmary for a broken wrist. Aaric reveals he knows the same truth that Violet does—about the venin, the wyverns, and the alloy daggers that power the wards—and that that is why he came to Basgiath against the king’s wishes.

Violet dreams of a venin who claims to have “waited centuries for someone with [her] power” (216). Xaden visits Violet and she informs Xaden of leads in her research; she plans to locate a firsthand account from one of the six. Xaden places more trust in Violet by taking her to Basgiath’s forge, where the rebels steal the weapons, but they are intercepted by Major Varrish and Professor Grady. Violet is seized for another RSC challenge: interrogation.