Violet suffered a vivid nightmare in which the Sage choked her with an invisible force, taunted her to submit, and threatened her with the sword of Tyrrendor as blue fire consumed civilians near Draithus. She forced herself awake amid a thunderstorm, reassured herself it was a dream, and worried about Theophanie’s ability to infiltrate Basgiath and threaten her friends and Xaden. She noted a recent gift from Xaden (a Deverelli silk nightgown and robe) and reached out to him through the bond, then prepared to act to break his brooding.

At morning training on the flight field, Kaori and Professor Xaden introduced a new ground tactic: a running landing to engage an unknown-signet opponent followed by a rapid “battle-mount” remount. The section practiced with a projection target while dragons cycled through approaches. Violet struggled with Andarna’s distance and relied on Tairn for instruction. Bodhi demonstrated a near-perfect sequence, while several cadets failed and suffered injuries.

Rhiannon executed the maneuver smoothly, Ridoc performed showily and succeeded, and Sloane completed the exercise without wielding. Aaric landed easily and disabled the projection with a thrown axe before remounting, effectively “winning” the scenario. Violet and Tairn then attempted their turn using a nonstandard plan: Tairn dove straight at the target, plucked Violet from free fall with his talons just above the ground to soften her landing, Violet struck the projection with lightning, and Tairn seized and threw her upward to facilitate her return to the saddle. The risky sequence worked, earning Kaori’s wary acknowledgment and Xaden’s open admiration.

After the lesson, Violet gave Xaden a birthday gift: an onyx wrist cuff set with a piece of the damaged Riorson House turret, symbolizing their shared hope of a future together. They exchanged I love yous, but Xaden warned he is “only going to get worse,” pushing Violet to run. Violet refused, and Xaden revealed it had been forty-seven days since he last channeled from the alloy in Deverelli, hinting at a personal stability target he would not share.

Felix arrived unexpectedly from Aretia with a pack and a bundle of missives for “Your Grace,” addressed to Xaden, and reported that two wyvern had breached the wards the previous day, advancing about an hour’s flight into Aretia—roughly ten minutes farther than the week before. Xaden and Felix confirmed the wards are failing, explaining Xaden’s lack of sleep. Felix pressed Violet to resume training since she refuses Carr’s instruction, warning that waiting for the Aretia rotation could be too late.

The chapter closed with a recovered piece of Violet’s correspondence envisioning a future with Xaden in Aretia after the war, underscoring the stakes and their personal hopes against the accelerating collapse of the wards.