Colonel Aetos arrests Violet for treason in Battle Brief, publicly disowning Dain when Dain reacts. Violet maintains composure and demands to speak to the Senarium, noting Aetos’s promotion to general as she is escorted to the great hall where negotiations are set to resume.

In the hall, the Senarium is assembled, including Xaden seated in rider black as Duke of Tyrrendor. Xaden and Violet exchange barbed, intimate remarks, and Aetos presents Violet’s cut lightning-wielder patch as evidence. The Duke of Calldyr asserts Aetos has no authority in the chamber, and Aetos withdraws with the riders, leaving Violet before the Senarium.

Violet openly confesses she orchestrated altering the wardstone to allow Poromish fliers to wield while preserving protections for dark wielders. Xaden confirms the wards are intact—Poromiel’s forces have not swarmed and Jack Barlowe remains contained—then points out that the king and Senarium signed pardons that retroactively absolve all involved actions up to that morning. The Senarium begrudgingly concedes they cannot punish Violet.

Queen Maraya arrives, praises the feat, and privately questions Violet’s motives. Violet affirms she acted to keep the fliers and to secure access to records that might reveal how venin were defeated and possibly cured. The queen offers the extensive royal library at her summer home, promising a catalog though warning no such records have yet been found.

Violet exits before the king arrives and reunites with Rhiannon and Ridoc. General Aetos confronts them, but Brennan steps in, revealing himself to Aetos. Violet denounces Aetos’s past actions and asserts her increased leverage due to her dragons and signet, declaring he cannot afford to kill her.

Aetos counters that he can control Violet by targeting those under his command. He announces he has been appointed Commanding General of Basgiath and orders Rhiannon’s entire second-year squad to two days of duty at the Samara outpost starting the next morning. He emphasizes the distance and intensity of the fighting, effectively weaponizing deployment to punish Violet through her friends.