Atreus kills dragonlord Leon Stormscourge and promises to care for his son Leo, then sends the boy to an orphanage.

Lee and Annie both test highly and are each chosen by Aurelian dragons at the Choosing Ceremony.

Annie receives a Ministry of Propaganda letter telling her to throw her quarterfinal match, which she defiantly ignores.

During a patrol drill, an unrecognized enemy fleet appears and Annie orders the retreat when Lee freezes in shock.

After Dragontongue Poetry class, Tyndale offers Lee a connection to New Pythos contacts; Lee firmly refuses.

Lee secretly meets his cousin Julia in Cheapside and learns she has become Firstrider of the New Pythos fleet.

Annie defeats Power in the Firstrider semifinals by drawing his dragon into ash burnout and striking above the clouds.

Pythians attack Starved Rock during the Lycean Ball, killing seven and leaving Julia Stormscourge's threatening message for Lee.

In the Firstrider Tournament final, Pallor unexpectedly sparks and fires on Annie, knocking her unconscious; Lee is declared Firstrider.

Annie wakes to Lee at her bedside, accepts the Alternus role, and reveals she has already reported Tyndale.

Pythians strike the Callipolan trade fleet over the Medean, destroying most textile exports and threatening Callipolis with famine.

Atreus orders dragonriders to collect resources from citizens by threat of dragonfire, reviving the old regime's oppressive methods.

Power finds Julia's letter in Lee's office and confronts Lee and Annie; Annie summons Aela to overpower them.

Lee confesses his true identity and Pythian correspondence to Atreus, who confines Lee and names Annie acting Firstrider.

Lee returns to Pytho's Keep with Julia's body, renounces his birthright, and insists the Firstrider title belongs to Annie.

The story begins with revolutionary leader Atreus killing dragonlord Leon Stormscourge and sending his son Leo into hiding at an orphanage under a new name. Years later, Lee and Annie earn places in the Firstrider Tournament, a competition that will name the commander of Callipolis's dragon fleet. As the tournament unfolds, the threat from New Pythos intensifies — Lee's cousin Julia is revealed to be leading the enemy fleet, and Pythian attacks escalate from isolated raids to a devastating strike on the nation's trade fleet. Lee wins the Firstrider title, but the victory is overtaken by political crisis, forced resource collections, and the exposure of Lee's secret identity as a dragonlord's son. After proving his loyalty through an impossible mission against his own kin, Lee renounces his birthright and ensures the Firstrider title goes to Annie, the person he believes has always deserved it most.

The headline events of the Firstrider Tournament and the Pythian war.

On Palace Day at the orphanage, Lee watches his father's dragon Aletheia executed as Annie reveals the dragon killed her family.

Lee plans to escape to New Pythos without Annie but changes his mind when he finds her crying outside.

Annie defeats her opponent Darius in under two minutes using superior flying maneuvers, stunning observers who doubted her.

Lee and Annie argue privately after the New Pythos sighting; Lee assures her he has no intention of defecting.

Duck and Crissa return from New Pythos carrying a message that the triarchs plan to reclaim Callipolis soon.

Minister Miranda Hane meets with Annie, admits to underestimating her skill, and assigns her a morale visit to Holbin Hill.

Annie delivers a morale speech in Holbin Hill but is spat upon by villagers who say her father would be ashamed.

Lee meets Julia secretly at Wayfarer's Arch and learns her dragon Erinys has sparked, signaling a growing Pythian threat.

At Midsummer, Duck implies romantic feelings for Annie; she kindly rejects him at the Sutter family celebration.

Lee and Crissa share a heated kiss on the Outer Wall of the palace during the Lycean Ball.

At the Lycean Ball, Dora Mithrides dismisses Power's claim to dragonriding status and reveals he is merely adopted into his patrician family.

Annie accepts Power's offer to train separately from Lee and begins learning spillovers, a technique Lee refuses to attempt.

Tyndale announces to class that The Aurelian Cycle poetry tome has been fully banned by the Censorship Committee.

Lee and Annie fly to Holbin Hill, where Annie describes her family's execution in detail and Lee shares his family's murders.

Against direct orders, Annie gathers peers, General Holmes, Miranda Hane, and Dora Mithrides to witness Lee's return at Pytho's Keep.

In the orphanage years, Lee and Annie formed a bond rooted in shared grief — Lee nearly left Annie behind to join his surviving family in New Pythos but chose to stay at the last moment. In the present, Annie fights to prove herself through the quarterfinals while diplomatic efforts fail and New Pythos signals that war is coming. Personal relationships grow complicated as Duck quietly loves Annie, Lee drifts toward Crissa, and Power's true background is unexpectedly exposed at the Lycean Ball. Annie's morale visit to her devastated hometown becomes a painful public test of her character and composure, while her separate training with Power transforms her confidence and fighting ability. By the novel's final chapters, Annie has grown enough to openly defy orders from Atreus himself, rallying allies to ensure Lee receives a fair witness and a chance to prove his loyalty.

The relationships, revelations, and crises surrounding the main story.

Lee defends young Annie from bullies at Albans Orphanage by threatening them with a kitchen knife.

Lee is shocked to recognize his former court tutor Richard Tyndale as the new Dragontongue Poetry instructor.

Annie lies to Atreus and Holmes, crediting Lee for ordering the retreat to conceal his hesitation at the New Pythos sighting.

In class with Atreus, Lee openly acknowledges the unjust cruelties and unchecked moral wrongs of the old dragonlord regime.

After hearing gory Palace Day stories at a dinner party, Lee resolves to accept Julia's Midsummer meeting invitation.

During Lee's Cheapside morale visit, a woman recognizes his features as his father's and kisses his hand reverentially, unsettling Annie.

Annie discovers Lee and Crissa embracing in an alcove and realizes she has deeper feelings for Lee than she knew.

Power forces Annie to eavesdrop on Tyndale pressuring Lee to rejoin New Pythos; Annie decides to report Tyndale but spare Lee.

Atreus reveals in class that his former ally Arcturus's personal kindness to him could not excuse the wrongs Arcturus committed as ruler.

Annie reads detailed accounts of the Stormscourge family massacre before Palace Day and feels sickened by the celebratory parade.

At the rations meeting, Lee and Annie realize the Gold-class elite are allocating themselves full rations at the expense of Iron-class survival.

Lee finds Annie's mother's necklace glinting in a tree at Holbin Hill and places it around her neck.

Annie reveals Lee's secret identity to their peers after his confinement; Power begins spreading gossip that undermines her authority.

A flashback reveals Atreus originally ordered a soldier to execute Lee, not rescue him; the soldier defied the order.

Annie receives a tea invitation from Dora Mithrides, who warns that Lee threatens Atreus's vision and expresses interest in their futures.

From their earliest days together at the orphanage, Lee and Annie's relationship has been built on unspoken truths and suppressed grief, beginning when Lee first defended Annie from bullies. As the Firstrider competition unfolds, a series of quiet decisions accumulate — Annie covers for Lee's dangerous hesitation, while Lee's recognition of Tyndale pulls him back toward the temptations of his old life and hidden identity. Turning points arrive through overheard conversations, morale visits, and stolen moments that force both characters to confront what they truly believe and who they are willing to protect. Palace Day forces Annie to reckon with the human cost of the revolution she serves, while the rations meeting exposes that the new regime is already repeating the old regime's cruelest injustices. By the novel's end, a buried truth about Atreus's original order to have Lee killed casts a long shadow over the regime's future, and a powerful political figure begins quietly positioning herself as a new force in Annie and Lee's lives.