Iron Flame Chapters 49–51 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapters 49–51

Chapter 49

Violet’s squad has been formally merged with Cat’s drift because their groups are the two strongest. Neither group is pleased. Violet’s squad hands out patches to the fliers, as they are officially part of their squadron. Violet is not thrilled but she has been able to regulate her emotions around Cat thanks to Xaden’s dagger. The dagger, along with her faith in Xaden’s feelings for her, gives Violet the confidence to fight back the next time Cat hurls an insult her way, much to the amusement of her friends.

The squad heads to the library to work through the texts that Tecarus gave them during the last weapons run. However, the texts are in Krovlish, a language she does not know, and she enlists Dain’s help. The two begin to work together, but their relationship remains strained. Violet tells Dain she started to resent him last year because he would not let her grow, and she asks if Dain read her memories every time he touched her face last year. Dain swears that he did not, and apologizes for betraying her during War Games. He says he trusted his dad when he should have trusted her judgment, and acknowledges that nothing he can say can bring Liam and Soleil back. Violet requests they not talk about Liam until she has more time to heal and Dain agrees. He also agrees to help Violet work through the Krovlish texts for thirty minutes a day.

Chapter 50

Violet is still training with Felix so that she can learn to control and aim her lightning strikes. He holds the glass conduit a few inches from Violet’s hands and tells her to strike it. Violet worries that she will kill Felix by accident but he is adamant, claiming she should be able to cut off the energy herself. Violet manages to send small strands of lighting into the conduit, and Felix slowly moves the conduit farther and farther away while instructing Violet to hold the connection.

Violet is successful, for a while—eventually, however, it becomes too much, and she has to redirect the stream to a nearby mountain so that she does not hurt Felix. He maintains that this is important work, comparing her usual, uncontrolled bursts of lighting to a battle-axe and the precise strands of lighting to a dagger. She, of all people, should know that a smaller weapon can be more deadly when it is used the right way. He tells her to keep practicing and that she should be able to feed a strand of lightning into the conduit from fifteen feet away by next Monday. Later, Violet returns from her lesson and learns from Garrick and Bodhi that the venin have taken Pavis. They are getting closer.

Chapter 51

Violet uses her bond with Xaden to track him down. She finds him on the roof, where he used to sit as a boy and wait for his father to come home, and offers him the chocolate cake she found in the kitchen to make him feel better. Xaden is touched and says that he is not used to having people take care of him—Violet tells him to get used to it. She asks if Xaden was in Pavis when it fell, to which he says yes. He explains that he was still fighting when Mira ordered him to retreat; she did not want to risk his death because it could kill Violet, since they are tethered by their mated dragons. He apologizes, saying that he finally understands what it must have felt like for Violet last year when all of the marked ones looked at her like she was just a vulnerable extension of him.

A week later, Violet and Dain meet in the library to work through the Krovlish books. Dain eventually goes to bed and Violet has a breakthrough and realizes that they have been mistranslating the word “blood”—the word is actually “breath.” She realizes they did not need the blood of the six strongest riders but the breath—that is, the fire—of six dragons, one from each den. Violet realizes she knows how to raise the wards, but she is now unsure if they should.

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