After nearly 18 months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves --- her dragons, her family, her home and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find --- the truth. But a storm is coming...and not everyone can survive its wrath.

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College, including Violet herself. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and Violet already is wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who has made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is --- unless she betrays the man she loves.