Violet wakes from a nightmare in which the dead Sage chokes her, tempts her to submit, and threatens her with the emerald-hilted sword of Tyrrendor. Though she reassures herself the Sage is gone, she recognizes that the Maven lightning wielder Theophanie is a very real and immediate threat—one with decades of experience that Violet, barely a year into her powers, cannot yet match. Sensing Xaden's sleeping presence through the bond, she whispers that she loves him and resolves to reach out, then notices the Deverelli silk nightgown he had made for her, a gift that tightens her chest with emotion.

During the day's flight-field training, Professor Kaori and Xaden introduce a new combat maneuver—running landings followed by wielding against a projection, then a rapid "battle-mount" back onto one's dragon. Bodhi executes the drill flawlessly. Violet's squad watches as cadets sustain broken bones and bloody noses. Andarna refuses to participate and rebuffs Violet's attempts to engage, still adjusting to her limitations. Violet exchanges banter with Xaden, who admits he sleeps poorly without her and that brooding is a full-time occupation.

When Violet's turn comes, she and Tairn use an unorthodox approach: Tairn dives steeply, catches Violet in his talons after she leaps from his back, drops her near the target, and she strikes the projection with a lightning bolt channeled through her conduit. Tairn then scoops her up, throws her back onto his spine mid-air, and she buckles in. Kaori calls it unorthodox; Xaden calls it magnificent. Aaric distinguishes himself by hurling an axe past Kaori at the projection instead of rushing it. Sloane completes the drill gracefully but does not wield.

After training, Violet gives Xaden a birthday gift: an onyx wrist cuff set with a fragment of the turret from Riorson House, made by Brennan. She tells him it represents the future she envisions—the two of them sitting together on the turret when the war is over. Xaden kisses her, then warns her again that he will only get worse and she should run. Violet refuses. He reveals it has been forty-seven days since he last channeled from the alloy, longer than the month he previously managed, and hints he has a target number for stability in mind but won't share it.

Felix arrives unexpectedly from Aretia, bringing provincial missives for Xaden and alarming news: two wyvern penetrated the wards the day before, flying about an hour before crashing—ten minutes farther than the previous week. The wards are failing, not merely weakening. Felix tells Violet that since she refuses to train under Carr, they need to resume her lessons immediately, and he couldn't afford to wait the month until her Aretia rotation. The chapter closes with a recovered letter from Violet to Xaden, imagining a peaceful future together in Aretia once the war ends.