Chapter Forty-Five

Violet trains with Felix to learn control over her lightning-wielding signet, discovering she has been taught only raw power without precision or understanding of her actual abilities. After receiving a conduit device to help manage her uncontrolled strikes, she secretly flies to Cordyn with Mira and Brennan to negotiate with Viscount Tecarus for a luminary weapon, only to discover Xaden has arrived ahead of them, furious at her deception.

Violet meets Felix on a mountainside to train her lightning wielding. Felix reveals that Carr never taught her fundamental control—she can wield only destructive, uncontrolled strikes without understanding that she is the conduit channeling Tairn's power. Her ability to wield from a clear sky confused her because she never learned the mechanics. Felix gives her a glass conduit orb woven with runes to help control her power and demands she practice small, precise strikes over the coming week, warning that without mastery she endangers everyone around her. He notes her lack of control stems from Carr's strategy to make her a weapon rather than a skilled wielder, and that she may be as much a danger to Aretia as Basgiath without training.

Later, Violet convinces Mira and Brennan to fly with her to Cordyn in Poromiel to meet Viscount Tecarus. She believes negotiating directly for a luminary weapon is the only way to stop gryphon attacks on Navarrian outposts, and she reasons that Tecarus only wants to see her wield, not necessarily keep her. Brennan worries about the risks, but they depart under cover of darkness, leaving Rhiannon to cover their absence. After a grueling flight over unfamiliar territory, they reach Cordyn's stunning palace on the coast. They are met by gryphon-mounted fliers who block their path and demand honest statements of intent. Violet declares she will wield lightning in exchange for the viscount's help, Brennan negotiates for weaponry in return for a luminary, and Mira bluntly threatens violence against anyone who harms Violet. The fliers allow them to proceed, but as they move forward, Xaden emerges from behind the gryphon formation, visibly furious that Violet has gone behind his back to Cordyn.