CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Violet poisons her weekly combat opponents to gain advantages in their challenges, successfully defeating five cadets in a row. After learning about dragons' declining willingness to bond and hearing about her brother Brennan's death, she faces her most dangerous match yet when Xaden volunteers to challenge her on the mat.

Violet begins her day with breakfast duty, where she secretly sprinkles powdered fonilee berries into Oren Seifert's eggs to give herself an advantage in their scheduled combat challenge. In Professor Kaori's dragon theory class, she learns that only 100 dragons will bond this year—37 fewer than last year—and that the declining number concerns the leadership given increased border attacks. The professor reveals that Xaden's dragon Sgaeyl is the rarest and most powerful blue dragon, and discusses an unbonded black dragon whose previous rider, Naolin, died attempting to resurrect Violet's brother Brennan. Professor Kaori privately tells Violet she is smarter and more compassionate than both her siblings. At combat practice, Jack Barlowe threatens Violet, and she responds by throwing daggers at him, embedding them near his head and groin. When Oren challenges her, the poison makes him sluggish and nauseated, allowing Violet to easily force his yield and claim his dagger. Over the following weeks, Violet systematically poisons her opponents with various herbs and roots—leighorrel mushrooms, zihna root, tarsilla leaves, carmine tree bark, and walwyn fruit peels—winning five consecutive challenges without killing anyone. By early September, when her scheduled opponent Rayma Corrie is incapacitated by walwyn fruit poisoning, Xaden volunteers to take her place on the mat.