Fourth Wing

The frailest Sorrengail is ordered into the deadliest quadrant

Violet Sorrengail has spent twenty years preparing for the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College, where her late father once worked among the archives.

The frailest Sorrengail is ordered into the deadliest quadrant

Violet Sorrengail has spent twenty years preparing for the Scribe Quadrant at Basgiath War College, where her late father once worked among the archives. Her body conspires against her—bones that snap easily, joints that dislocate, muscles that betray at the worst moments. But General Lilith Sorrengail, commanding general of the college and Violet's mother, decrees that no child of hers will enter the scribes. Violet's older sister Mira, a decorated rider, flies in to argue and fails. In the hour before conscription, Mira strips Violet's pack of books, laces her into a vest sewn with her own dragon's shed scales, and arms her with daggers. The only advice that matters: use your brain, because your body will not save you.

A rain-slick bridge, a killer behind, Xaden at the end

The parapet is an eighteen-inch-wide stone bridge suspended two hundred feet above a ravine, and the rain turns it into a death trap. Violet trades a boot with Rhiannon Matthias—a fellow candidate—giving her better traction, then recites geography to keep her mind from seizing. She watches a candidate slip and fall to his death. Behind her, Jack Barlowe throws another candidate from the bridge and charges. Violet outruns him and holds a dagger to his groin at the citadel side, citing the quadrant's rulebook to prevent retaliation. But the encounter that brands deepest happens at the turret beforehand: Xaden Riorson, whose father killed Violet's brother and whose father Violet's mother executed, recognizes her last name. His rebellion relic snakes from wrist to jawline, and his hatred is absolute.

Xaden places Violet directly under his lethal command

Violet reconnects with Dain Aetos, her childhood best friend and a second-year squad leader, who places her and Rhiannon in his squad. Dain immediately tries to smuggle her into the Scribe Quadrant, but Violet refuses—her mother would haul her right back. At the first formation, dragons land on the courtyard walls and incinerate three cadets who try to flee. Then Xaden orchestrates a squad swap, moving Violet's entire unit into Fourth Wing—his wing. The motive is transparent: as her wingleader, he controls her punishments, assignments, and survival. Every marked cadet in the quadrant—children whose parents Violet's mother helped execute—now has a direct line to her through their chain of command. She is entirely at his mercy.