Violet climbs the rooftop walkway with cake and finds Xaden brooding after a large-scale civilian slaughter he answered by emergency call. He admits they are outmatched and spread too thin, unable to communicate or deploy effectively, fearing the enemy can take the rest of Poromiel at will. Their dragons appear to be blocking the bond, likely fighting, underscoring the strain.

Discussing command, Xaden notes Brennan plans strategy while Suri and Ulices lead the army. He reveals Mira ordered him off the field after he killed one venin and nearly died retrieving his dagger when another channeled behind Sgaeyl. Mira called the engagement a loss because Xaden’s death would risk Violet, treating him as Violet has been treated since Threshing. He recognizes the double standard and apologizes; they reaffirm their tether.

A week passes with Violet and Dain working day and night on Warrick’s journal while Xaden helps imbue the wardstone. Felix’s training pays off: Violet can sustain a thin lightning strand that also imbues. Despite progress—and an earlier correction that “rain” actually meant “flame”—the instructions to raise the wards remain unusably vague.

Near midnight, Dain leaves, praising Xaden’s idea to reorganize combat squads by strengths. Violet resumes translating and realizes a crucial error: the symbol they rendered as “blood” consistently reads better as “breath.” “Blood of life” becomes “breath of life,” and the referenced six are not riders but dragons, aligning with setting the stone ablaze in an iron flame.

Weighing ethics and fearing rigid adherence to rules, Violet chooses not to tell Dain. Instead, she rushes to Rhiannon, who ushers her in. Violet confesses she now knows how to raise the wards but isn’t sure they should, leaving the moral question unresolved.