General Sorrengail orders Violet to join the Rider Quadrant on Conscription Day, overruling her late father's scribe training.

Jack Barlowe throws a fellow cadet from the rain-soaked parapet and then turns his murderous attention toward Violet.

Dain reunites with Violet at the war college and accepts both her and Rhiannon into his squad.

Dain's squad is transferred to the Fourth Wing, placing all its members directly under Xaden Riorson's command.

Imogen breaks Violet's arm during a sparring match, prompting Violet to arrange a trade of history lessons for combat training.

Violet uses poisons gathered at night to defeat several assigned challengers across weeks of formal sparring matches.

Violet completes the Gauntlet using an unconventional alternative route and successfully argues to a wingleader that her method was legal.

During Threshing, Violet steps between Jack's armed group and the small golden feathertail dragon to shield it.

A rare black dragon named Tairn kills one of Violet's attackers during Threshing and chooses to bond with her.

The golden dragon Andarna also names Violet as her rider, making Violet the first dual-bonded rider in history.

Six unbonded cadets break into Violet's dormitory room to kill her; Andarna uses her rare power to freeze time.

Xaden kills the invading cadets and demands to know which senior rider unlocked Violet's door to let them in.

Violet's squad breaks into General Sorrengail's office during the Squad Battle and steals her detailed map of military outposts.

Violet manifests her lightning signet during the War Games and kills Jack Barlowe to stop him from murdering Liam.

Violet's brother Brennan — believed dead for years — arrives and warmly welcomes her to the revolution.

On Conscription Day, Violet Sorrengail is forced into the deadly Rider Quadrant by her mother, setting her on a path she never chose. She survives a murderous parapet crossing, joins her childhood friend Dain's squad, and uses her intellect and poison to outlast stronger opponents through brutal sparring challenges. Her defining moment comes at the Threshing, where she defends a small golden dragon and is chosen by not one but two dragons, becoming the first dual-bonded rider in history. After surviving an assassination attempt in her own dormitory, Violet leads her squad to victory in the Squad Battle by stealing her mother's top-secret military maps. During the climactic War Games, she finally manifests her lightning signet and kills her greatest enemy, Jack Barlowe, only to be sent into a deadly confrontation with the venin beyond the kingdom's borders. She survives the battle and wakes to the earth-shattering discovery that her brother Brennan, long believed dead, is alive and leading a revolution.

Violet's rise from reluctant conscript to legendary dual-bonded dragon rider.

Mira gives Violet a dragon-scale corset for protection and Brennan's journal before she enters Basgaith War College.

Violet and Xaden meet atop the parapet and trade accusations about their families' roles in each other's tragedies.

Dain reveals his memory-reading signet and warns Violet that Xaden personally requested the squad's transfer to get close to her.

Violet eavesdrops on a secret rebel children's gathering; Xaden catches her and trades a future favor for her silence.

Xaden steps in to spar against Violet when her scheduled challenger visits the healers, coaching her to exploit her small size.

During Presentation Day, green dragons approach Violet and investigate her dragon-scale corset after a fellow cadet is incinerated nearby.

General Melgren rules the double dragon bond will stand, and the dragons bestow relic tattoos on their newly bonded riders.

Xaden accuses Wingleader Amber before the entire student body for enabling the assassination attempt; Tairn incinerates her when she is found guilty.

Xaden assigns rebel child Liam Mairi as Violet's personal bodyguard despite her strong and repeated objections.

Tairn's mating emotions flood Violet's mind; Xaden teaches her to shield herself, and the two share their first kiss.

Violet forces an allergen vial into Jack's mouth during their sanctioned sparring match, exploiting his orange allergy to survive.

Violet's squad travels to the front lines as the Squad Battle prize, and Violet reunites with her sister Mira.

Gryphon fliers attack the frontier outpost after the wards fall; Xaden kisses Violet to distract her while Tairn carries her away.

Violet unbuckles from Tairn's saddle mid-flight to fight a venin hand-to-hand and kills it, taking a poisoned stab wound.

Violet regains consciousness in a ruined city far from the college and learns that Liam has died and been put to rest.

Before Violet sets foot in the war college, her sister Mira equips her with protective armor and their dead brother's journal to help her survive. At the college, her childhood friend Dain tries to manage her survival through control, while her enemy Xaden paradoxically becomes her greatest teacher by coaching her in combat and helping her understand her own strengths. The aftermath of Threshing brings a new reluctant ally in Liam, her assigned bodyguard, and new justice as a senior rider's betrayal is exposed and punished before the whole student body. The Squad Battle earns Violet's squad a visit to the front lines, where she reunites with Mira before a gryphon attack forces a chaotic evacuation. In the final battle against the venin, Violet fights with everything she has — including a mid-flight duel — before a poisoned wound brings her down. The pool closes with the survivors regrouping in ruins as Violet processes Liam's death and the full cost of the war she has now irreversibly joined.

The relationships, rivalries, and key moments that shaped Violet's first year as a rider.

Mira warns Violet that all separatists' children bear dragon-given tattoos and are forcibly conscripted into the Rider Quadrant.

Cadets in early training laugh off venin and wyverns as childhood myths, though one cadet has never heard the stories at all.

Violet discovers during Archive duty that a beloved childhood folklore book is mysteriously absent from the college's vast collection.

A newly bonded cadet manifests an outlawed mind-reading signet in the courtyard; Professor Carr immediately executes him.

Tairn and Andarna reveal to Violet and Xaden that Andarna is a juvenile dragon, not a rare breed, and her power must be kept secret.

Violet and Liam realize that information in the official Battle Brief directly contradicts a scroll she glimpsed, suggesting deliberate censorship.

General Sorrengail arrives at the flight field with commanding officers and demands information about Andarna and Violet's father's research notes.

Violet and Xaden have intercourse; he reveals each scar on his back represents a rebel child whose survival he personally guaranteed.

Reunification Day arrives and Violet realizes the celebration marks the very day the rebel children's parents were executed.

Violet crosses the parapet to reach Xaden mourning alone and confesses her love; he concedes his feelings in return.

Gryphon fliers ambush Xaden's group in the forest outside the kingdom's wards; Xaden stops Violet from attacking and greets them as allies.

Xaden tells Violet that the venin are real and that he has been supplying Poromeil fighters with weapons to combat them.

Xaden realizes Dain has been reading Violet's memories without her knowledge; a letter found at the outpost orders the group to survive if they can.

Facing near-certain death, the group chooses to stay and defend the trading post's civilians rather than flee to safety.

Andarna stops time during the final battle, allowing Violet and Tairn to channel enough combined power to destroy the remaining venin.

From her first day, Violet receives hints that Navarre is not the honest kingdom she believed — including warnings about the forced conscription of rebel children and the quiet suppression of folklore about the venin. As the year progresses, she witnesses an executed cadet, discovers censored battle information, and learns that Andarna's secret power must be hidden from the very officers sworn to protect them. The revelation that her government is actively concealing the venin threat fractures everything Violet thought she knew about the war, the enemy, and her own loyalties. Her personal revelations mirror the political ones: she and Xaden finally confess their love and she learns the full weight of the sacrifice he made to save every rebel child, cementing her shift from Navarre's daughter to a revolutionary in her own right. Dain's betrayal — reading her memories without consent and exposing Xaden's secrets to command — becomes the final proof that Navarre's rules serve power, not justice. Violet chooses to stand and fight alongside Xaden's rebels, and Andarna's extraordinary sacrifice in the final battle seals Violet's transformation into someone who can never go back.

The hidden truths and pivotal choices that transformed Violet's understanding of herself and her kingdom.