#multiple posts

"Violet!" Brennan shouts, racing down the steps of Riorson House and into the moonlit courtyard. —So it’s nighttime, taking note of the entire scene— Sounds of celebration stream through the open doors. —reminds me of after Andarna— I groggily rise to my feet —so she was knocked out— beside Imogen, and a shape moves in the shadows to the right. —I know it’s meant to be Andarna, but this also sounds like Cadens powers, or someone else hiding, or Imogen appearing too suddenly— "I will not let them burn you," —why would they burn her? Who is they? And why burn of all things?.. are we about to hold witch trials? Does andarna realize she’s walking into a conversation Violet has 0 clue one suddenly? …Intinnsic powers better not have brainwashed her into agreeing or something… but also they wouldn’t cause they asked… so ugh what was it so bad that she wanted to forget; was it for safety or out of desperation?!— Andarna vows. "What?" My head whips her way. "Why would my brother burn me?" And why in Dunne's name would I be sitting on gravel in the courtyard? My thoughts are...slow. Something's off. Something's wrong. —AGREED!— "Are you all right?" I ask Brennan as he reaches us. "Am I all right?" His eyes bulge, and he looks me over for injury. "It's three o'clock in the morning! Where have you been?" —Again Molly Weasley would be proud— His voice rises, and a group of riders I don't recognize comes through the gate at our left. —Suddenlg more reappear?— "Weilsen?" Brennan asks, and the taller one walks our way. "Report." He glances over his shoulder. "Quietly." My mouth opens, then shuts. Where have I been? "We've—" The officer's gaze darts over me. "It's fine," Brennan assures him. "Official numbers are four riders, their dragons, —four dead?! BY WHO? ARE MY BABIES ALL SAFE?!— and three elders murdered —which elders? Was it the betrayers?— in the valley in what we're estimating is the last few hours," Weilsen says. "And we still have five riders missing— four now," he adds, looking at me. —WHO ARE THE OTHERS? We have Imogen… I’m guessing Bodhi is unaccounted for since he was a bit rogue, Dain was in trouble so maybe or maybe he went for Sloane, and Aaric off on their mission, and of course Garrick who I’m positive is the other new Venin— His mouth tenses. "But after that display, we all know Riorson did this. I bet the other three are already dead." —did he want them to know it was him? Or was it the other shadow wielder was that the brother?!. SEE THIS IS WHY THE SECRETS THING DOESN’T WORK VIORSON this time IM THE ONE ANNOYED… also why would Xaden give that away he knows it would endanger Violet so was it an accident; but he saved everyone… didn’t he?— My stomach lurches, and Imogen tenses so hard she might as well be stone. —Imogen?!!! What. Do. You. Know?!— Wait. Is this a dream? —I wish— I clench my right fist and prick my palm with my fingernails just enough to feel pain, but I don't wake. "The wards are holding in Draithus as of the last report, but who knows how many of those desiccations during the battle were actually him," —okay but aren’t desiccations what happen to killed Venin… isn’t that good then?— Weilsen continues. "And so far, the tally is at six missing eggs from the hatching ground, but they're double-checking." Missing eggs? —I am almost positive Xaden did this as that deal with the one Queen… the only question would be how to get there that fast; but if he has Garrick then there’s the answer— I reach for Tairn, but the bond feels foggy, like he's asleep. "He needs a cycle of rest to recover," Andarna clarifies. "Recover from what?" —AGREED?! FROM WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED… this feels like Andarna last time and AGH!— He was fine when I saw him last, which was about five minutes ago, in the woods at the edge of the field—Where I killed Theophanie.

Xaden. The wall of shadows... My heart sinks. What the fuck is happening? How did I get here? Why is my head so hazy? Am I concussed? "You're dismissed," Brennan tells the rider. "Keep this classified until we have a full report." "Just because she's your sister doesn't mean she's not the fastest way—" —HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST KILLING VIOLET… or even using her to get to him… maybe he just meant to get info BUT STILL— "Dismissed!" Brennan snaps, and the rider backs away. —Thank you Brennan for being the responsible sane adult here— "Do you know where he is?" Brennan asks me softly once the other rider is fully out of earshot." —he knows something was bad— "Riorson? You heard what Weilsen said. We have dead dragons and riders —hopefully it’s just traitorous Panchek— and missing eggs, and if you've seen Riorson, I need to know, Violet." "I…" Words fail me. Why can't I think? "I don't know." I raise my hands to my mouth, and a piece of parchment in my front pocket catches on my arm, then falls. Brennan catches it. "Cardulo?" He lifts his eyes to Imogen. "I haven't seen him since yesterday," she says, her voice low, almost monotone. "Lieutenant Tavis?" —DAMMIT ITS GARRICK… wait but Imogen doesn’t know?— "Among the missing," Brennan answers gently, then glances my way and does a double take. "Holy shit, Violet." —they really took secret wedding to a new level… it was a secret even to the bride!— "What?" I lower my arms. Garrick is missing, too? Who else makes up the four riders Weilsen mentioned? —THATS WHAT I WANNA KNOW— "Your finger," Imogen says, then stares at the ground. —Imogen doesn’t even have to look, she already knows. And she can’t look her in the eye (and I doubt it’s cause she’s Amber/red venin eyed) or just grieving…— My finger? The snap. Right. "I think I broke my arm." I glance down and stare. My left arm is splinted, —not mended but cared for— and a beautiful gold ring with an emerald the size of my thumbnail sits an my hand. Oh gods, I know that stone. It matches the others from the Blade of Aretia upstairs on Xaden's nightstand. Is it the missing one? —he was planning the proposal that long… he’d had that ring for a while… brb cry time!— "What is happening right now?" I ask slowly. —if I had a nickel for everytime my fav ship gets surprised married off screen right before a tragedy with a reveal mid-way through… I’d have like 3 nickels but still—

"Do not take more than you can channel," Tairn warns as he lunges forward. His teeth snap closed a few feet behind the wyvern's tail. They're too fucking fast. The wyvern dives, curving along the ridgeline to the right, and Tairn follows. A roar of unfettered agony fills my head, so loud it vibrates my bones and shrill enough to pop my ears. "Sgaeyl!" Tairn bellows, his wings losing their rhythm, and my heart skips a series of beats. Oh Malek, no. I hurl myself at the bond, but the wall of ice doesn't just stand firm; it repels me with brute force. —has he begun channeling yet? Ugh why can’t everyone just listen to Tairn!—

Andarna. —the fact Andarna is still top of this list… I have feelings… it’s no surprise of course I just have feelings— Xaden. Sgaeyl. —Sgaeyl on the list too… I’m fine… it’s fine. But what if that’s what Xaden left in her care *crying*— Mira. Brennan. My friends. They slip through my mind in a whirl of pictures I can't grasp on to, flickering too fast to fully feel. All I can do is ease off the pommels, lean right to spare the inevitable impact to my abdomen as the thick rope of the net digs into my back. "You have been the gift of my life," —those last same words! OW!— I tell Tairn. "It is not over!" he shouts. We hit with a jarring impact, bone crunching against rock, and my left arm snaps —in that time she sees a mender, her arm did break, and Brennan did not fix it as I doubt Imogen wiped his memory too— and the dagger falls. A scream forces its way through my lips as we slide down the mountain…..just like the first time we encountered Theophanie. —and Garrick showed up then too… he’s the Venin I just know it for a sick reason—

Holy shit, we just might survive the fall. "Of course we'll survive!" Tairn growls. "Are you hurt?" I ask Tairn as we come to a stop at what appears to be the edge of the forest. "Nothing that won't heal after we free ourselves and separate her sinew from bone." —Why is Tairn asleep at the end of this book?!— The scent of sulfur fills the air —everyone keeps mentioning that… are we sure it’s flame and not runes or something else? I mean it tracks for dragon warfare but I also pay intention to the repeats— as Tairn breathes fire through the net. Wood crackles and net thwangs. Then he surges forward and the net slips just enough for me to sit up through the opening that's clearly designed to hold dragons, not riders.

"Sgaeyl can handle herself," Tairn grits out, but bowstring-tight tension and worry radiate down the bond as fire streams again and he fights to get us loose. "And the dark wielder descends ahead." —some part of me thought he meant sensing Xaden fully turning— Sure enough, Theophanie's wyvern glides down toward the field like they have all the time in the world, like we're pinned exactly where she wants us. Gods, she's relentless. It doesn't matter that my arm throbs with excruciating intensity—we have to get out of here right fucking now.

For when you lose yours. Strike in the dark, Violet. — hellllooooo book cover quotes—

What the fuck? The fall has broken the wax seal, and the parchment unrolls as I loosen my grip, dropping a carved piece of gray marble in my lap—a ceremonial-looking dagger with familiar flame-shaped —what do they mean? Maybe more runes? Violets bad at them so she probably wouldn’t know (not a dis, just a note)— etchings along the hilt. I glance at the accompanying note from the high priestess of Dunne's temple in Aretia, but the letters blur as the pain in my arm flares and Tairn thrashes to free us. A gift from one servant of Dunne to another. I must warn you-only those touched by the gods should wield their wrath. I will pray to Her that she need not use it to avoid reacquainting herself with the other who curries her favor. Her path is still not set. —THAT QUOTE— My stomach pitches. How would Aaric know l'd lose my dagger, let alone think that some piece of rock could replace—"Ahead of us!" Tairn snaps, and I jerk my attention forward and sheathe the marble dagger out of instinct.

The pair? The scream. "They have Sgaeyl, too." Tairn's rage washes over me like acid. I put myself in front of Tairn —both Xaden and Violet protecting their dragons, dragon riders till the end *crying*— and open the floodgates to his power, welcoming the scorch of heat and flame in my blistered veins. "Silver One," Tairn growls in warning to the accompaniment of the sound of shredding rope. "If I burn out, so be it, but she won't touch you," I say aloud just so Theophanie will know I'm not fucking around. —okay sweet but also if you die he dies so… speaking of; why would they kill Sgaeyl? It would kill Violet who they seem to want alive… so— "Have you made your choice, then?" Theophanie asks, coming closer by the step. "I have." I flick my right hand skyward and let the energy snap through me, yanking it down with the tip of my finger. Theophanie races ten yards to the right, moving faster than I've ever seen. "You'll have to be—" I wield again before she can finish and strike the very place she's standing, earning an immediate clap of thunder. But she's already twenty feet to my left. "Faster," she finishes, and I strike again, only for the pattern to repeat. Again and again and again. My lungs scream as I breathe the very thing l've become, heat and power and rage, but she's still too fast for me to catch and moving closer to Tairn with every failed strike.

"Tell me, do you miss Unbriel?" Her eyes flare, and she startles. Victory. I gather more and more power, spooling it like molten thread. "Do you not yearn for temple?" I use the words the high priestess had on me. Her face twists with an emotion that almost looks like longing, but it's quickly masked with anger. "Do you?" she counters. "Or are you immune, having only been touched, but not dedicated?" —WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!— She charges forward. "Do you know the pain of never being allowed to return, of knowing that it would sever the very thing that's kept me untouchable all these years?" I let a fraction of my power release, striking the ground in front of her, and she skids to a halt. Touched. Shit, the priestess in Unbriel had said that, too. So had the note wrapped around Aaric's gift. "As a high priestess, you would have had immeasurable power on the isle. How was it still not enough?" "Why serve a god when you can be one?" Theophanie snarls. Putrid fear consumes the bond, followed by another roar that nearly buckles my knees. Sgaeyl. My head jerks upward, my heart lurching against the cage of my ribs as Tairn lurching against the cage of my ribs as Tairn snarls, his talons furrowing in the forest floor. "Don't!" —she knows right then… like Tairn said she would— Terror clogs my throat as I shout for Xaden, but he can't hear me. Draithus is enveloped in darkness, and the shrieking cries of wyvern soon follow, racing across the field and echoing off the rock above. "What—" Theophanie pivots toward the noise.

Shadow spreads like a ripple on a lake, devouring the field in the fury of an onyx storm —not the title quote we wanted— and sweeping toward us at a speed that squeezes the hope from my chest, then outright shatters my heart. The pain hits like a physical blow to the center of my chest. He's terrifyingly powerful with Sgaeyl, but not like this. This is the kind of force that ends worlds. And it's almost here. "I love you," I whisper down the bond, and the ice cracks, but it's not enough to halt the approaching wave of darkness. Shadow throws Theophanie to the ground a second before it rushes over me, whisper soft against my cheeks, tossing us into pitch-black night. "Strike!" Tairn snaps, and I hear the net give way. Exhaustion grabs hold and refuses to be ignored. I'm too tired. Too close to burning alive. What's the point if I can't catch her? "Use the darkness!" Tairn orders. My heart stutters. Use the very thing that's taking Xaden from me? —that line hurt— I never dreamed that taking every possible path to cure him would lead to his choice. The fire devouring me from the inside out threatens to consume my very bones, and for a second, I debate letting it. I couldn't stop my mother, and I can't stop Xaden. I can't save him. Wait. Strike in the darkness. That's what Aaric's note said... —also the book cover— Like he knew this would happen. I gasp as all the pieces click in one overwhelming heartbeat. The reinforcements. Telling me to guard Dunne's temple. Yanking Lynx out of the way before the doors even opened to the great hall. He knew. He's been manifesting this entire time. "He's a fucking precog," I whisper in awe. —I KNEW IT— A real one-not like Melgren, who can only foresee battles —ps if it is Garrick they may be able to stay invisible thanks to relics—. If Aaric wields true precognition, he saw this, and he gave me a weapon made of the fractured temple—a temple Theophanie can't step inside. I don't believe in oracles, but I do believe in signets. I unsheathe the marble dagger with my right hand, then mix my pain into the searing power that scorches what's left of my beating heart, lift my broken arm, and release the agonizing burn of energy skyward. And hold it. The continuous strike lights up our surroundings and branches out through the shadow, revealing Theophanie's back. She stumbles to her feet and whirls toward me, her eyes flaring wide, and she dives left, smacking into an invisible wall and falling backward. A wall that snarls. Scales shimmer to the same silver-blue as my strike, and a small dragon stalks toward Theophanie, her head low, teeth bared. And just like that, my stammering heartbeat stabilizes. Andarna. —how long was she there, why was the bb there? I’m glad! I missed bb dragon… just have questions—