# CHAPTER 14: The Black Dragon Chooses
Hello everyone, it's me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 14 of "Fourth Wing"—a chapter that takes us deep into the chaos of Threshing, where loyalty is tested, blood is spilled, and the most terrifying dragon in Navarre makes a choice no one saw coming. So settle in, because this is where everything changes.
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The clearing was supposed to be a place of survival, but for Violet Sorrengail, it had become a killing field. She stood there, wounded, exhausted, and cornered by three fellow cadets who had decided that squadmate bonds meant nothing on this day. Tynan, Oren, and Jack Barlowe had finally come for her—not for honor, not for dragon bonding, but for the simple pleasure of ending her life. And Violet, with her broken ankle and her arsenal of blades, was determined to make them pay for every inch of ground.
Tynan sneered at her, his lips twisting into a sinister smile. "Squads don't mean shit today," he seethed.
Violet, ever defiant, glanced over at the golden dragon—the tiny, seemingly defenseless creature she had been protecting through this entire nightmare. It had no claws, only paws. A dragon without claws. The universe had a sick sense of humor. But it had teeth, and right now, that might be enough.
"Great. Well, if you can back me up with those claws—" she paused, glancing down at its soft paws, "—I'd really appreciate it. Oh, fucking hell. You don't have any claws?"
The golden dragon only chuffed, as if to say, *I'm doing my best here.*
There was no time to argue. Jack Barlowe roared, a primal battle cry tearing from his throat as he sprinted toward her. Violet didn't hesitate. Her dagger flew through the air, spinning with deadly precision, and sank deep into the shoulder of his sword arm. His blade clattered to the ground as he hit his knees, howling in pain. Good. That was for every moment of torment he had put her through.
But Oren and Tynan had already charged. Violet flung her second dagger, catching Tynan in the thigh, but it only slowed him. Oren's sword came at her neck, and she ducked, slicing her own blade along his ribs—just like she had during their challenge. Her ankle screamed in protest, refusing to let her kick or land a proper punch, but her blades didn't need a working leg. They only needed her hands.
Oren recovered too quickly. He pivoted and swung, the sword catching her across the stomach with a clean, brutal slice that should have eviscerated her. But Mira's armor held. The blade skimmed across the scales and slid off. Oren's eyes went wide with shock. "What the hell?"
Jack, staggering to his feet, clutching his destroyed shoulder, cried out, "She's destroyed my shoulder! I can't move it!"
Violet grinned, palming another blade. "That's the thing about having weak joints," she said, her voice dripping with cold satisfaction. "You know exactly where to strike."
Jack stared at her, his face pale, his eyes flickering with fear. Then, with a coward's instinct, he turned and ran, disappearing into the tree line. Fucking coward. Good riddance.
The fight was far from over. Tynan lunged with his sword, and Violet spun away—white-hot pain stealing her sight for a heartbeat as the blade grazed her arm. She swiped backward, plunging her dagger into his side, then pivoted and slammed her elbow into Oren's chin, rattling his skull. "You fucking bitch!" Tynan screamed, pressing his hand against his oozing wound.
"Such an original"—Violet took advantage of Oren's dazed expression and sliced open his hip—"insult!"
But the move cost her. Tynan's sword cut into her upper right arm, slicing along the bone. The armor kept it from penetrating her ribs, but the blood flowed freely, and as she wrenched herself away, a scream tore from her throat. She was bleeding. She was hurting. And she was running out of time.
"Behind you!" Xaden shouted.
Violet pivoted. Oren's sword was held high, ready to separate her head from her shoulders. But before the blade could fall, the golden dragon snapped its jaws, and Oren stumbled back, terror flooding his eyes as he realized the little beast had teeth. Violet took her chance. She sidestepped and knocked the handle of her blade against the base of his skull. He crumpled, unconscious. One less enemy to face.
She turned back to Tynan, who had his bloodied sword ready, still circling her like they were on the mat. "You can't interfere!" Tynan shouted at Xaden.
"No, but I can narrate," Xaden retorted, his voice maddeningly calm.
Violet risked a glance. Sgaeyl looked absolutely furious, her golden eyes narrowed on Tynan, her head undulating in that serpentine motion of agitation. Xaden was on her side—or perhaps only protecting the golden dragon. But if he wanted her dead, why was he still here?
Tynan hissed, "Your arm is shot, Sorrengail."
"I'm used to functioning in pain, asshole. Are you?" Violet raised her dagger in her right hand, blood running down her arm and dripping from the blade. She let her gaze drop meaningfully to his side. "I know exactly where I sliced into you. If you don't get to a healer soon, you'll bleed out internally."
Rage contorted his features. He moved to strike.
Violet tried to flick her knife at him, but it slipped from her blood-soaked hand and landed with a dull thud in the grass several feet away. Her blade was gone. Her arm was shot. Her leg was shot. But at least she had made Jack Barlowe run away before she died. As a last thought, that wasn't a bad one.
Tynan reached up, two-handing his sword, preparing the killing blow. And then, out of the corner of her eye, Violet caught movement. It was Xaden. Rules be damned, he stepped forward as though he intended to stop Tynan from killing her.
For one heartbeat, she registered the shock that Xaden Riorson would ever save her, for any reason. And then a gust of wind slammed into her back, so powerful it flung her forward onto her destroyed ankle. She stumbled, screaming in pain, flinging out her arms to keep her balance.
Tynan staggered backward, his mouth hanging open. His head tilted so far back it was nearly perpendicular to his torso. Shade enveloped them both as he continued to retreat, his eyes wide with pure, animal terror.
Chest heaving, lungs desperate for air, Violet looked over her shoulder to see what had turned a murderer into a coward.
Her heart lurched into her throat. Standing there, with the golden dragon tucked under an enormous scarred black wing, was the biggest dragon she had ever seen in her life—the unbonded black dragon Professor Kaori had shown them in class. She didn't even come close to reaching its ankle. A growl resonated through its chest, vibrating the very ground beneath her feet as it lowered its gigantic head, baring dripping teeth. Fear rippled through every cell in her body as its hot breath washed over her.
"Step aside, Silver One," a deep, gruff, definitely male voice ordered.
Violet blinked. Wait. What? Did he just speak to her?
"Yes. You. Move."
There was zero room for argument. She limped aside, nearly stumbling over Oren's unconscious body, as Tynan broke into a screaming run, fleeing for the trees.
The black dragon's eyes narrowed. It opened its mouth wide, and a second before Violet could even breathe, fire erupted across the field, blasting heat against the side of her face. The flames incinerated everything in their path—including Tynan. He didn't even have time to scream.
Flames crackled at the edges of the blackened path. Violet turned slowly to face the dragon, wondering if she was about to be next. The giant golden eyes studied her, but she held her ground, tilting her chin upward. She would not die on her knees.
"You should end the enemy at your feet."
Her eyebrows jerked upward. His mouth hadn't moved. The words had simply... appeared in her head. Oh shit. He was in her mind. "I can't kill an unconscious man." She shook her head, more out of confusion than protest.
"He would kill you if given the same chance."
Violet glanced down at Oren, still unconscious in the grass beside her feet. It wasn't like she could argue with that assessment. "Well, that's a statement on his character. Not mine."
The dragon only blinked in response. Whether that was a good thing or not, she couldn't tell.
A flash of blue caught the corner of her eye. Xaden and Sgaeyl took off into the sky, leaving her alone with the giant black dragon and the little golden one. So much for Xaden's concern for her life.
The dragon's nostrils flared. "You're bleeding. Stop it."
"It's not that simple when you've been run through with a—" Violet shook her head again. Was she seriously arguing with a dragon? "You know what? That's a great idea." She managed to tear off the remains of her right shirtsleeve and wrapped it around the wound, using her teeth to tie it tight. "There. Better?"
"It will do." He tilted his head. "Your hands are bound, too. Do you bleed often?"
"I try not to."
He scoffed. "Let's go, Violet Sorrengail."
"How do you know my name?" she gawked up at him.
"And to think, I'd almost forgotten just how loquacious humans are." He sighed, the gust of his breath rattling the trees. "Get on my back."
Oh. Shit. He was choosing... her. "Get on your back?" she repeated like a damned parrot. "Have you seen you? Do you have any idea how huge you are? I'd need a ladder!"
The look he gave her could only be described as pure annoyance. "One does not live a century without being well aware of the space one takes up. Now get on."
The golden one peeked out from under the black dragon's wing, then bent its legs and launched into the sky, its golden wings catching the sun as it skimmed over the treetops. So it could fly. That would have been nice to know twenty minutes ago.
"Get. On." The black dragon's growl shook the ground.
"You don't want me. I'm—"
"I'm not going to tell you again."
Point taken.
Fear gripped her throat like a fist as she hobbled over to his leg. There were no handholds, no easy path, just a series of hard-as-stone scales. Her ankle and arm weren't doing her any favors. She raised her left arm, placed her hand on his front leg. The scales were larger and thicker than her hand, surprisingly warm to the touch.
"You are a rider, are you not?"
"That seems up for debate at the moment."
A low, frustrated grumble sounded in his chest. Then, shockingly, he stretched forward, his front leg becoming a ramp. Dragons never supplicated for anyone. And yet here he was, bowing to make it easier for her to climb. She didn't hesitate, crawling up his front leg on her hands and knees, gasping from the strain on her arm by the time she reached his back. She dodged the pointed spikes that rippled down his neck like a mane.
Holy shit. She was on the back of a dragon.
"Sit."
She found the seat—the smooth, scaly divot just in front of his wings—and bent her knees like Professor Kaori had taught them. Then she grabbed hold of the thick ridges of scales where his neck met his shoulders. Everything about him was bigger than any model she'd ever practiced on. There was no way she would stay seated. This was about to be the first and last ride of her life.
"My name is Tairneanach, son of Murtcuideam and Fiaclanfuil, descended from the cunning Dubhmadinn line," he announced. "But I'm not going to assume you'll remember that once we reach the field, so Tairn will do until I inevitably have to remind you."
Before she could process his name, his history, anything—Tairn bent slightly and launched them into the sky.
"Holy shit!" The ground fell away as they soared. Tairn's enormous wings beat the air into submission, pitching upward at an impossible angle. Violet's body lifted off his back. She dug in with her hands, trying to anchor herself, but the wind, the angle—it was all too much. Her grip faltered. Her hands slipped.
"Fuck!" Scrambling for purchase, her hands raked down Tairn's back as she skidded past his wings, rapidly approaching the sharp scales of his morningstar tail. "No, no, NO!"
He banked left. Whatever hope she had of getting a handhold tumbled right off with her. She was in free fall.
Terror clogged her throat and stuttered her heart. Air rushed past her as she plummeted toward the mountainous terrain below. The sun caught the scales of the golden one far beneath her. She was going to die. That was the only possible outcome.
And then—vises clamped around her ribs and over her shoulders, stopping her descent. Her body jerked with whiplash as she was yanked upward again.
"You're making us look bad. Stop it."
Violet was clasped in Tairn's claws. He had actually caught her instead of finding her unworthy and letting her fall to her death. "It's not like it's easy to stay on your back when you're doing acrobatics!" she shouted up.
He glanced down at her, and she swore the ridge above his eye arched. "Simple flight is hardly acrobatics."
"There is absolutely nothing simple about you!"
She wrapped her arms around the knuckles of his claws, noting that his sharp talons were draped harmlessly around the sides of her body. He was huge, but he was careful. He was one of the deadliest dragons in Navarre—Professor Kaori had said so. The only unbonded black dragon hadn't agreed to bond this year. He hadn't even been seen in the last five years. His rider died in the Tyrrish rebellion.
And now he had chosen Violet Sorrengail. The fragile daughter of the General. The woman who was supposed to die at Threshing. Tairn was flying her toward the flight field, his claws gentle around her broken body, and for the first time since this nightmare began, Violet allowed herself to believe that maybe—just maybe—she was going to survive after all.
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### Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
Oh my goodness, what an absolutely incredible chapter! My heart was pounding from the very first blow to the last. The way Violet fights with everything she has, even when her body is falling apart, is so inspiring. And the moment Tairn reveals himself—choosing her—gave me literal chills. The dialogue between them is hilarious and terrifying at the same time, and the way she falls off him and he catches her? It's such a powerful image of trust and destiny. This chapter is full of action, emotion, and a beautiful turning point for Violet. I loved every second of it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.9 / 5 Stars
### Next Chapter Prediction
Now that Tairn has chosen Violet and she's flying toward the flight field, the real test begins. I predict we'll see the reactions of all the cadets and leadership when they realize the unbonded black dragon has finally bonded—and to the "weakest" rider in the quadrant. Xaden's reaction is going to be extremely interesting, especially with everything we've learned about his family and the Tyrrish rebellion. I also expect the golden dragon's identity to be revealed, and Violet will finally have a chance to show everyone that she's not just the General's daughter—she's a rider with a dragon who believes in her. And of course, Jack Barlowe's survival and revenge will come back to haunt her soon.
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