Onyx Storm Chapters 3–6 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapters 3–6

Chapter 3

Violet participates in the Senarium (a delegation of nobles from each province) peace negotiations. After listening to her pitch, the Senarium assigns Violet to a task force to find and hopefully recruit Andarna’s breed. She has a list of demands from Andarna, but the Senarium is unwilling to meet all of them. The task force will be led by Captain Grady—the Rider’s Survival Course instructor at Basgiath—and Violet is angry that she will not be allowed to select her own team or organize the mission, which were two of Andarna’s demands. After the meeting is over, Duke Lewellen (the representative of Tyrrendor) tells Violet that he will work on getting the Senarium to agree to her demands. Before he leaves, he hands her a missive from Viscount Tecarus, who tells her that she has three days to uphold her end of a bargain.

The next morning, Violet wakes and starts to get ready when Xaden comes up behind her and initiates a sexual encounter. The two are about to have sex when Xaden pulls back and tells Violet to step away from him. He explains that he initiated sex because he woke up and briefly forgot that he was venin; he has been careful to avoid any situation where he might lose control. Violet begins to say that their momentary slip is a good thing, because now they know that Xaden can handle brief relinquishes of control, but Xaden interrupts to show her two faded thumbprints on their headboard. Violet realizes that Xaden accidentally started to channel.

Chapter 4

Violet tries to reassure Xaden that he barely did anything, but Xaden insists they refrain from any activity that could cause him to lose control because he does not want to accidentally drain Violet. He remarks that Violet was able to share one of her memories while they were about to have sex, and they wonder if this new ability has something to do with their bonded dragons. The two get ready in a quiet moment of domesticity, and Violet asks Xaden if he wants to rule Aretia; it used to be his right until the Treaty of Aretia transferred the dukedom from the House of Riorson to the House of Lewellen. Xaden tells her that he is happy with his current role.

The couple is interrupted by Brennan, Lewellen, Garrick, Imogen, and Bodhi banging on their bedroom door to tell Xaden he needs to leave for patrol. Violet internally guesses that Imogen, Garrick, and Bodhi are also here to check if Violet is alive after spending another night with Xaden; they’re aware he turned venin, and they have doubts about his self-control. Brennan, Xaden, Lewellen, and Garrick leave momentarily and Mira arrives, giving Violet a new conduit and showing her a runed disk that Violet believes will save the peace negotiations, though how this will be achieved is not yet clear to the reader. Brennan returns; according to him, the peace negotiations are not going well because the leaders from Poromiel and Navarre cannot agree to each other's terms. Brennan mentions that Violet will be leaving soon for the mission to find Andarna’s kind, and Mira is furious that Brennan is willing to gamble their sister's life on what is likely a fool's errand. She estimates that they have six months left until they are overpowered by venin and insists that finding Andarna’s species could take decades. She then roughly gives Brennan the rune and departs.

Chapter 5

Violet and her friends wait for Brennan and Mira to return with updates on the peace negotiations. They watch a group of students whisper to each other and begin to leave the room, and Violet realizes that something is going on. Following the commotion, they find Aura Beinhaven, a third-year rider who chose to remain at Basgiath when Violet, Xaden, and Dain encouraged students to join the revolution in Aretia, holding a terrified first-year gryphon flier at knifepoint. Aura, along with other riders who remained at Basgiath, still hold plenty of ill will against the Poromish fliers long thought to be their enemies, and Violet realizes that any blood spilled will destroy the peace negotiations. Cat, a second-year flier, attempts to challenge the pair, but Violet stops her because Basgiath’s wards prevent fliers from using their signets, and Cat will be at a disadvantage. Aura says that she will fight the strongest of the “rebels” (that is, riders who left for Aretia in the previous book), and Dain accepts. Violet realizes that Aura’s signet (fire) will overpower Dain’s signet (reading memories) in a fight, and decides that she is the best option. She throws a dagger at Aura and informs her that they prefer the term “revolutionary” over “rebel.”

Chapter 6

Violet wields lightning. She then tells Aura, and any student that agrees with Aura, that they were only able to survive the venin attack on Basgiath because she and the other revolutionaries— including the fliers—fought for information that the Navarre rulers kept from their people for hundreds of years. As the skirmish dies down, Brennan returns and says that Prince Halden Tauri, heir to Navarre’s throne, will join Violet on her mission. Violet is outraged. He also tells her that the Senarium will pardon everyone who flew to Aretia to join the revolution, and that Andarna will not have to submit for an examination. Lewellen then says that the alliance between Navarre and Poromiel failed and Violet is distressed because, without it, her deal with Tecarus will terminate. Violet decides that she will have to turn to treason to get what she wants.

Xaden finds Violet and tells her that he has to leave for a mission but, before he leaves, he makes Violet promise that she will sound the alarm if he ever “goes too far,” if he ever loses himself so completely that she, and everyone else, are no longer safe. He then tells her that Lewellen was sanctioned for hiding Aretia from the rest of Navarre, and his rank was changed from a duke to an earl; Xaden is now the Duke of Tyrrendor. However, he’s not exactly happy to get his father’s title back, because he knows that his father would not have wanted a venin to rule his beloved homeland.

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