Violet recounts almost everything since Resson to Rhiannon, Sawyer, and Ridoc—venin, wardstones, the daggers, assassination attempts, smuggling supplies, Jesinia’s research, and propaganda—while withholding Aretia’s secret. They process the revelations with shock but stand by Violet, choosing to act. They agree not to expose the truth prematurely and instead focus on learning how to create wards, aiming to find an unedited primary source older than four hundred years.

Ridoc remembers a classified ledger in General Sorrengail’s office that listed Lyra’s and Warrick’s journals in a hidden sublevel vault. Violet doubts such a vault exists, and Jesinia knows nothing of it, but she starts searching while the foursome combs available texts. Weeks pass with exercises that keep Violet from Xaden; Jack Barlowe behaves inexplicably kindly. Sawyer finds a passage confirming multiple wardstones once existed, but they still lack creation lore.

When Threshing arrives for first-years, Aaric bonds a Blue Clubtail and Sloane bonds a Red Daggertail. A coded message from Jesinia summons a meeting for a “requested tome,” and Ridoc goes to rendezvous while Violet takes watch on the academic tower’s burn pit.

On the turret, Violet and Eya are ambushed by four infantry soldiers claiming paid authorization. Violet kills one; Eya slays another but is mortally struck. Violet downs a third before the last drags her toward the edge. She clings to the crenellations as he tries to finish her, but an unseen ally drives a dagger through his spine, saving her as Tairn rushes to help. The attack exposes a deadly infiltration inside Basgiath.