Violet decides to walk out to the middle of the parapet to be with Xaden because….???? He seems fine out there. Just moping. Sitting there, chillin. Some of his friends are at the end of the bridge keeping an eye on him and they don’t seem concerned. It’s the anniversary of when his parents died; let him be dramatic!

But, Violet decides to pick now to realize she’s in love with him and wants to have her own dramatics, I guess. When Xaden notices her, he scolds her for doing something dangerous, and she returns the scold to him. Except Xaden can wield shadows so that would…stop him from falling?

‘Shadows’ in this book seems to be a stand in for telekinesis in this book. Among a grab bag of other things. Pretty much whatever the author wants can be ‘shadows’. Really takes the tension out of things.

They leave the Death Bridge and get back on solid footing, where Violet decides she wants to have The Relationship Talk. Girl, read the room. Let the boy be sad on his anniversary!

But he goes for it, and there’s much back and forth before the confession of feelings and then they run off to have more sex. Once again, I’m not going to cover that part. It’s cheesy but serviceable. Which means today’s post is going to be terribly short, because the relationship talk and the sex is basically the whole chapter. And other than Violet’s atrocious timing, I don’t really have a problem with any of it.

Fortunately, their post coital snuggling is interrupted with the news that they are under attack! Yay!

Everyone in the school hurriedly rushes outside for emergency formation and then stands around and waits to be told what to do. Very accurate. Violet’s friends give her grief for wearing Xaden’s jacket, making it very clear where she was when the call went out. I guess they’re not too worried about whatever this attack is.

Which is fair because it turns out they are not under attack, that was a trick to get them all turned out for their last field exercise called War Games. Sidenote, why is everything a game?

They get told their scenario, which is a multi-pronged ‘attack,’ and everyone gets their own space to defend. Fourth Wing is going to be headquartered at Athebyne. The only new information we need is that it’s beyond the actual, real, not-an-exercise wards of the kingdom. Then they all split up to pack as fast as they can get on the move.

As they are loading up to leave, Xaden comes over to steal some people from Dain’s squad for his headquarters personnel, including Violet. Dain is pissed off about this, as he ever is. First because Athebyne is beyond the wards, and then after that because he finally realizes Violet and Xaden are an item. But by this point, that’s just Dain, can’t let him have a good moment. Not sure why, since this love triangle was dead from the start.