# CHAPTER 16: Two Dragons, One Rider, and a Target on Her Back
Hello everyone, it's me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 16 of *Fourth Wing* — and let me tell you, this is the chapter where everything changes. Violet Sorrengail has just survived Threshing, but the aftermath is far from peaceful. She's wounded, she's bonded to *two* dragons, and half the quadrant is either terrified of her or ready to slit her throat for a chance at what she has. Buckle up, because this chapter is a wild ride from start to finish.
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The pain was blinding. Violet's ankle had swollen to nearly twice its size, the joint throbbing with every beat of her heart as Professor Kaori carefully bound it in a splint. She gritted her teeth, refusing to cry out — because all around her, the field was littered with the wounded and the grieving. A girl from Second Wing sobbed seven tables back as field medics tried to set her broken leg. But Violet was one of the lucky ones. She was alive.
"You'll need to focus on strengthening your bonds and riding in the next few months," Kaori said, his brow furrowing as he tied off the straps. "As long as you don't have trouble mounting or dismounting — which, after what I saw today, I don't think you will — this sprain should heal before your next round of challenges."
He offered to call Nolon, the mender, but Violet shook her head firmly. "No. I'll heal."
"If you're sure?" His doubt was plain.
Violet looked out at the chaos of the field — the injured cadets, the circling dragons, the generals arguing on the dais. "Every eye in this valley is on me and my dragon — *dragons*," she corrected herself. "I can't afford to appear weak."
He frowned but nodded, and then came the question she was dreading. "Do you know who made it out of my squad?"
Her throat tightened. She thought of Rhiannon, Trina, Ridoc, Sawyer. All of them. "I haven't seen Trina or Tynan," Kaori answered slowly, like he was trying to soften a blow. But it didn't soften anything.
"Tynan won't be coming," Violet whispered, guilt gnawing at her insides like a living thing.
*"That is not your kill to take credit for,"* Tairn's voice rumbled in her head.
Her guilt was interrupted by a familiar, bellowing voice. "What the hell do you mean you think it needs surgery?" It was Jack Barlowe, his arm in a sling, his face twisted with rage as an instructor explained the damage to his shoulder.
Violet looked Jack straight in those evil eyes — and smiled. She was done being scared of him. He *ran* back in that meadow. He was a coward, and now the whole world knew it.
Rage mottled Jack's cheeks. He swung his feet off his table and charged toward her. "You!"
"I what?" Violet slipped off the end of her table, her hands loose by the sheaths at her thighs.
Professor Kaori's eyebrows jumped as he glanced between them. "You?"
"Me," Violet answered, her focus locked on Jack.
But Kaori stepped between them, throwing his palm out. "I wouldn't get any closer to her."
"Hiding behind our instructors now, Sorrengail?" Jack's uninjured fist curled.
"I didn't hide out there, and I'm not hiding here." Violet raised her chin. "I'm not the one who ran."
"She doesn't need to hide behind me," Kaori warned Jack, "when she's bonded to the most powerful dragon of your year. Your orange is a good choice, Barlowe. Baide, right? He's had four other riders before you." Jack nodded stiffly. Kaori tilted his head, glancing toward the line of dragons. "As aggressive as Baide might be, from the way Tairn's looking at you, he'll have no problem scorching your bones into the earth if you take another step toward his rider."
Jack stared at Violet in disbelief. "You?"
"Me." The throbbing in her ankle had faded to a manageable, dull ache.
He shook his head, and his expression transformed — shock, then envy, then something that looked almost like fear. "I don't know what she told you about what happened out there—"
"Nothing." Kaori folded his arms. "Is there something I need to know?"
Jack paled, white as a sheet in the mage light. Another injured first-year hobbled past, blood streaming from his thigh and torso.
"Everyone who needs to know already knows," Violet said, locking eyes with Jack. "Guess we're done for the night," Kaori said as a line of dragons flew in, silhouetted against the darkness. "The senior riders are back. You two should return to your dragons."
Jack huffed and marched off across the field.
Violet glanced at the generals still locked in heated discussion on the dais. "Professor Kaori, has anyone ever bonded two dragons?"
He turned with her to face the arguing leadership. "You would be the first. Not sure why they're fighting about it, though. The decision won't be up to them."
"It won't?"
"Nothing about who dragons choose is up to humans," Kaori assured her. "We only like to maintain the illusion that we're in control. Something tells me they've just been waiting for the others to make it back before they meet."
"The leadership?"
Kaori shook his head. "The dragons."
The dragons were going to meet. Violet's stomach knotted. She thanked Kaori and limped across the dimly lit field to where Tairn and Andarna waited, feeling the weight of every stare in the valley settle on her shoulders. She stopped and stood between the two dragons.
"You two are causing a ruckus, you know." She looked at Andarna, then up at Tairn, before turning to face the field like the other first-years. "They're not going to let us do this." *Oh shit, what if they make me choose?* Her stomach plummeted.
*"It's up to the Empyrean to decide,"* Tairn said, but there was a trace of tension in his tone. *"Don't leave the field. This might take a while."*
"What might—" Her question died on her tongue as the biggest dragon she'd ever seen — even larger than Tairn — stalked toward them from the opening to the valley. Each dragon it passed walked into the center of the field and followed after, gathering dozens as it moved.
"Is that...?"
*"Codagh,"* Tairn answered. General Melgren's dragon.
Violet made out the patchy holes in his battle-scarred wings as he came closer, his golden gaze focused on Tairn in a way that made her nauseous. He growled, low in his throat, turning sinister eyes on her. Tairn rumbled his own growl, stepping forward so Violet was between his massive claws.
There was zero doubt she was the subject of both disgruntled snarls.
*"Yep! We're talking about you!"* Andarna said brightly as the line passed by, and she joined the procession.
*"Stay close to the wingleader until we return,"* Tairn ordered.
Surely he meant to say *squad leader*. *"You heard what I said."*
Or not. Violet glanced around and spotted Xaden standing across the field, arms crossed and legs spread, staring at Tairn.
The riders were eerily silent as the dragons emptied the meadow, taking flight near the end and landing halfway up the southernmost peak in a shadowy grouping barely visible in the moonlight.
The second the last dragon flew off, chaos erupted. First-years swarmed the center of the field, shouting and searching for their friends. Violet's eyes scanned the crowd—
"Rhi!" She spotted Rhiannon and limped toward her.
"Violet!" Rhiannon crushed her into a hug, pulling away when Violet winced at the fresh pain in her arm.
"Tynan's sword," Violet barely managed.
Before she could say more, she was snatched off her feet by Ridoc, who spun her around, her feet flying out in front of her. "Look who rode in on the baddest motherfucker around!"
"Put her down!" Rhiannon chided. "She's bleeding!"
"Oh shit, sorry." Ridoc set her down.
"It's fine." There was fresh blood on the bandage, but the painkillers were doing their job. "Are you all right? Who did you guys bond?"
"The Green Daggertail!" Rhiannon grinned. "Feirge. And it was just... easy. I saw her and just knew."
"Aotrom," Ridoc said with pride. "Brown Swordtail."
"Sliseag!" Sawyer threw his arms around Rhiannon's and Ridoc's shoulders. "Red Swordtail!"
They all cheered, and Violet was swept into his hug next. Out of all of them, she was happiest for him — for everything he'd endured just to get here. But then she asked the question that silenced them all. "Trina?"
One by one, they shook their heads. An impossible heaviness settled in Violet's heart. "I mean... there's a possibility she's just unbonded, right?"
Sawyer shook his head, sorrow slackening his shoulders. "I saw her fall from the back of an Orange Clubtail."
Violet's heart sank into her stomach.
"Tynan?" Ridoc asked.
"Tairn killed him," Violet said softly. "In his defense, Tynan had already run me through once." She gestured to the wound on her arm. "And he was trying to—"
"He tried *what*?"
She was spun around by the shoulders and yanked against a chest. *Dain.* Her arms wound around his back and held fast as she breathed deeply.
"Damn it, Violet. Just... damn." He squeezed her tight, then pushed her to arm's length. "You're hurt."
"I'm fine," she assured him, but that didn't quell the worry in his eyes. "But we're all that's left of our squad's first-years."
Dain glanced at the others and nodded. "Four out of nine. That's—" his jaw ticked once—"to be expected. The dragons are currently holding a meeting of the Empyrean—their leadership. Stay here until they return," he told the others, then looked down at Violet. "You come with me."
Violet assumed it was her mother, beckoning through him. Surely Lilith would want to see her after everything. But when she glanced across the field, it wasn't Mom watching her — it was Xaden, his expression unreadable.
When Dain took her hand and tugged, she turned away from Xaden and followed Dain to the shadowed edge of the field.
"Guess it's not about Mom."
"What the actual fuck happened out there?" Dain demanded. "Because I've got Cath telling me that not only did Tairn choose you but so did the small one — Adarn?" His fingers laced with hers, panic swirling in his brown eyes.
"Andarna," Violet corrected, a smile playing on her lips at the thought of her small golden dragon.
"They're going to make you choose." His expression hardened with such certainty that Violet recoiled.
"I'm not choosing." She shook her head, disengaging their hands. "No human has ever *chosen*, and I'm not about to be the first."
"You are." He ripped his hand over his hair, his composure slipping. "You have to trust me. You do trust me, right?"
"Of course I do—"
"Then you have to choose Andarna." He nodded as if his decree equaled a decision made. "The gold one is the safest choice of the two."
*Why, because Tairn is... Tairn? Does Dain think I'm too weak for a dragon as strong as Tairn?* Her mouth opened, then shut like a fish out of water. There was no way in hell she was rejecting Tairn. But her heart wouldn't let her reject Andarna either.
She reached out to her dragons — and felt nothing. Where there had been an extension in her mind, a stretching of her mental boundaries since Tairn first spoke to her, there was now emptiness. She was cut off. *Don't panic.*
"I'm not choosing," she repeated, softer this time.
"You are. And it has to be Andarna." Dain gripped her shoulders. "I know she's too small to bear a rider—"
"That hasn't been tested," Violet said defensively, even though she knew the physics didn't match up.
"And it doesn't matter. It will mean that you won't be able to ride with a wing, but they'll probably make you a permanent instructor here like Kaori."
"That's because his signet power makes him indispensable as a teacher, not because his dragon can't fly," Violet argued. "And even he had the requisite four years with a combat wing before he was put behind a desk."
Dain looked away, his mind clearly calculating something. "Even if you take Andarna into combat, there's only a *chance* you'll be killed. You take Tairn, and Xaden will get you killed. You think Melgren is terrifying? I've been here a year longer than you, Vi. At least you know what you're getting with Melgren. Xaden isn't only twice as ruthless, but he's dangerously unpredictable."
Violet blinked. "Wait. What are you saying?"
"They're a mated pair, Tairn and Sgaeyl. The strongest bonded pair in centuries."
Violet's mind whirred. Mated pairs couldn't be separated for long or their health diminished, so they were always stationed together. *Always.* Which meant—
"Just... tell me how it happened." Dain's voice softened.
So she did. She told him about Jack and his murderous band hunting Andarna. About falling, and the field, and Xaden watching — Xaden, shockingly, *protecting* her with a warning when Oren was at her back. He'd had the perfect opportunity to end her without tipping the scales, and he chose to help.
"Xaden was there," Dain said quietly, but the gentleness leached from his voice.
"Yes. But he left after Tairn showed up."
"Xaden was there when you defended Andarna, and then Tairn just... showed up?" he asked slowly.
"Yes. That's what I just said. What are you getting at?"
"Don't you see what happened? What Xaden's done?"
"Please, do tell me what it is you think I've done." A shape emerged from the shadows, and Violet's pulse quickened as Xaden stepped into the moonlight, darkness falling off him like a discarded veil. Heat rushed through every vein. She hated the reaction of her body to the sight of him, but she couldn't deny it. His appeal was so fucking inconvenient.
"You manipulated Threshing." Dain's hands dropped from Violet's shoulders, and he turned to face their wingleader, his shoulders rigid as he put himself between them.
*Oh shit, that's a huge allegation.*
"Dain, that's..." *Paranoid.* Violet sidestepped Dain's back. If Xaden wanted her dead, he'd had every possible opportunity. Yet here she was — bonded to *his* dragon's mate. Xaden wasn't going to kill her. The realization made her chest tighten, made her reexamine everything that happened in that field, made her sense of gravity shift beneath her feet.
"Is that an official accusation?" Xaden looked at Dain like a hindrance, an annoyance.
"Did you step in?" Dain demanded.
"Did I what?" Xaden arched a dark brow. "Did I see her outnumbered and already wounded? Did I think her bravery was as admirable as it was fucking *reckless*?" He turned that stare on Violet, and she felt the impact all the way to her toes.
"And I would do it again." She raised her chin.
"Well-the-fuck-aware," Xaden roared, losing his temper for the first time since she'd met him on Parapet.
Violet pulled in a quick breath, and Xaden did the same, as if he was just as shocked by his outburst as she was.
"Did I see her fight off *three* bigger cadets?" His glare pivoted to Dain. "Because the answer to all of those is yes. But you're asking the wrong question, Aetos. What you should be asking is if *Sgaeyl* saw it, too."
Dain swallowed and looked away, obviously rethinking his position.
"His mate told him," Violet whispered. Sgaeyl called for Tairn.
"She's never been a fan of bullies," Xaden said to her. "But don't mistake it as an act of kindness toward you. She's fond of the little dragon. Unfortunately, Tairn chose you all on his own."
"Fuck," Dain muttered.
"My thought exactly." Xaden shook his head at Dain. "Sorrengail is the last person on the Continent I'd ever want to be chained to me. I didn't do this."
*Ouch.* It took all the willpower in Violet's body not to reach for her chest. Which made absolutely zero sense, since she felt the same way about him. He was the son of the Great Betrayer. His father was directly responsible for Brennan's death.
"And even if I had," Xaden moved toward Dain, towering over him, "would you really level that accusation knowing it would have been what saved the woman you call your best friend?"
Violet's gaze flew to Dain. A silent, damning moment passed. It was a simple question, and yet she found herself holding her breath. What did she really mean to him?
"There are... rules." Dain tilted his chin to look Xaden in the eyes.
"And out of curiosity, would you have, let's say, *bent* those rules to save your precious little Violet in that field?" Xaden's voice iced over as he studied Dain's expression with rapt fascination.
*Xaden had taken a step.* Right before Tairn landed, he'd moved... toward her.
Dain's jaw flexed, and Violet saw the war in his eyes.
"That's unfair to ask him." She moved to Dain's side as the sound of whipping wings interrupted the night. The dragons were flying back. They'd made their decision.
"I'm ordering you to answer, *squad leader*." Xaden didn't even spare Violet a glance.
Dain swallowed, his eyes slamming shut. "No. I wouldn't have."
Violet's heart hit the ground. She'd always known deep down that Dain valued rules and order more than relationships, more than her — but to have it so cruelly displayed cut deeper than Tynan's sword.
Xaden scoffed.
Dain immediately jerked his head toward Violet. "It would have killed me to watch something happen to you, Vi, but the rules—"
"It's all right," she forced out, touching his shoulder. But it wasn't.
"The dragons are returning," Xaden said as the first of them landed on the illuminated field. "Get back to formation, squad leader."
Dain ripped his gaze from hers and walked away, blending into the crowd.
"Why would you do that to him?" Violet hurled at Xaden, then shook her head. "Forget it." She turned and marched off toward where Tairn had told her to wait.
"Because you put too much faith in him," Xaden answered anyway, catching up without even lengthening his stride. "And knowing who to trust is the only thing that will keep you alive — keep *us* alive — not only in the quadrant but after graduation."
"There is no *us*," Violet said, dodging a rider as she raced past.
"Oh, I think you'll find that's no longer the case." Xaden gripped her elbow, yanking her out of the path of another rider. Yesterday, he would have let her run headfirst into him. Hell, he might have even pushed her.
"Tairn's bonds are so powerful, both to mate and rider, because *he's* so powerful. Losing his last rider nearly killed him, which, in turn, nearly killed Sgaeyl. Mated pairs' lives are—"
"Interdependent, I know that." They moved until they were dead center in the line of riders. If she wasn't so aggravated by Xaden's callous attitude toward Dain, she would have admired the spectacular sight of hundreds of dragons landing all around them.
"Each time a dragon chooses a rider, that bond is stronger than the last, which means that if you die, Violence, it sets off a chain of events that *potentially* ends with *me* dying, too." His expression was immovable marble, but the anger in his eyes left her breathless. It was pure... rage. "So yeah, unfortunately for everyone involved, there's now an *us* if the Empyrean lets Tairn's choice stand."
Oh. Gods. She was tethered to Xaden Riorson.
"And now that Tairn is in play, the other cadets know he's willing to bond..." He sighed, annoyance rippling over his features.
"That's why Tairn told me to stay with you," Violet whispered as the consequences settled in her churning stomach. "Because of the unbonded." There were at least three dozen of them standing on the opposite side of the field, watching her with avarice in their eyes — including Oren Seifert.
"The unbonded are going to try to kill you in hopes they'll get Tairn to bond *them*." Xaden shook his head at Garrick as he approached, and the section leader glanced between them before retreating. "Tairn is one of the strongest dragons on the Continent, and the vast power he channels is about to be yours. The next few months, the unbonded will try to kill a newly paired rider while the bond is weak, while they still have a chance of that dragon changing its mind. And for Tairn? They'll do *just about anything*." He sighed again like it was his new full-time job. "There are forty-one unbonded riders for which you are now target number one." He held up a single finger.
"And Tairn thinks you'll play bodyguard." Violet snorted. "Little does he know just how much you dislike me."
"He knows exactly how much I value my *own* life." Xaden glanced down her body. "You're freakishly calm for someone who just heard she's about to be hunted."
"It's a typical Wednesday for me." Violet shrugged. "And honestly, being hunted by forty-one people is a lot less intimidating than constantly watching dark corners for *you*."
A breeze hit her back as Andarna landed behind her, followed by a gust of wind and shuddering ground as Tairn landed too. Without another word, Xaden ripped his gaze from hers and walked away, cutting a diagonal path to where Sgaeyl overshadowed the other wingleaders' dragons.
*"Tell me it's going to be all right,"* Violet murmured toward her dragons.
*"It is how it should be,"* Tairn answered, his voice gruff.
*"You didn't answer before."* Fine, it sounded a little accusatory.
*"Humans can't know what's said within the Empyrean,"* Andarna answered. *"It's a rule."*
So every rider was blocked, not just her. The thought was oddly comforting. What had the Empyrean decided?
General Melgren moved toward the front of the dais, his uniform dripping with medals. His enormous nightmare of a dragon took up the entire space beside the dais. A hush fell over the crowd as Melgren gestured.
"Códagh has relayed that the dragons have spoken regarding the Sorrengail girl." Lesser magic amplified his voice across the field. "*Woman*," Violet mentally corrected.
"While tradition has shown us that there is one rider for every dragon, there has never been a case of two dragons selecting the same rider, and therefore there is no dragon law against it." Melgren declared it plainly. "While we riders may not feel as though this is... equitable" — his tone implied he was one of them — "dragons make their own laws. Both Tairn and..." He looked over his shoulder, and his aide rushed forward to whisper in his ear. "Andarna have chosen Violet Sorrengail, and so their choice stands."
The crowd murmured, but Violet's shoulders sagged in acute relief. She didn't have to make an impossible choice.
*"As it should be,"* Tairn rumbled. *"Humans have no say in the laws of dragons."*
Her mother stepped forward and spoke, closing out the formal portion of the Threshing ceremony, promising the unbonded riders another chance next year. *If they don't manage to kill one of us while our bonds are weak and try to bond our dragons themselves.* Violet belonged to Tairn and Andarna... and, in some really fucked-up way... Xaden.
Her scalp prickled. She glanced across the field at him. As if sensing her gaze, he looked over and held up a single finger. *Target number one.*
"Welcome to a family that knows no boundaries, no limits, and no end," her mother finished, and a cheer resounded around the field. "Riders, step forward."
Violet looked left and right in confusion — but so did every other rider.
*"Five steps or so,"* Tairn said. She took them.
"Dragons, it is our honor as always," Mom called out. "Now we celebrate!"
Heat blasted Violet's back, and she hissed in pain as riders on both sides cried out. Her back felt like it was on fire. But the pain faded to a dull ache, and she glanced over her shoulder. There was a solid black... *something* peeking out from the vest.
*"You'll like it,"* Tairn promised. *"It's unique."*
*"I'll like what?"*
"Violet!" Dain reached her, his smile wide as he cupped her face. "You kept *both* of them!"
"I guess I did." It was surreal, all too much for one day.
Dain circled her, tugging at the raised neckline of the back of her vest. "Holy shit. You have to see this."
*"Tell the boy to move,"* Tairn ordered.
"Tairn says you should move." Dain stepped out of the way.
Suddenly, Violet's vision wasn't her own. She was looking at her own back through... Andarna's eyes. A back that had a glistening black relic of a dragon midflight stretching from shoulder to shoulder and, in the center, the silhouette of a shimmering golden one.
"It's beautiful," she whispered. She was marked by their magic now — as a rider, as *their* rider.
*"We know,"* Andarna answered.
Her vision returned, and Dain's hands laced up her vest quickly, then cupped her face. "You have to know that I would do anything to save you, Violet, to keep you safe," he blurted, panic in his eyes. "What Riorson said..." He shook his head.
"I know," she said reassuringly, nodding even as something cracked in her heart. *He'd do anything. Except break the rules.*
"You have to know how I feel about you." His thumb stroked over her cheek, his eyes searching for something... and then his mouth was on hers.
His lips were soft, but the kiss was firm. Delight raced up her spine. After years, Dain was *finally* kissing her.
But the thrill was gone in less than a heartbeat. There was no heat. No energy. No sharp slice of lust. Disappointment soured the moment — but not for Dain, who was all smiles as he pulled away.
It was over in an instant. It was everything she'd ever wanted... except... *shit.* She didn't want it anymore.
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Later, in the quiet of the first-year dormitory, Violet closed her door behind her and limped into the hallway. After sleeping in the crowded barracks for two months, it was weird — and oddly decadent — to have her own room. She'd never take privacy for granted again.
Rhiannon's door opened, and Sawyer's tall, lean frame came out. He ran his fingers through his hair, and when he saw her, his eyebrows rose and he froze — his cheeks almost as red as his freckles.
"Good morning." Violet grinned.
"Violet." He forced an awkward smile and walked off.
A couple from Second Wing held hands as they emerged from the room next to Rhiannon's. Violet leaned against her door and tested her ankle by rolling it. Sore, just like every time she sprained it, but the brace and boot held it in place well enough to keep her weight on it.
If she were anywhere else, she'd call for crutches. But that would just put another target on her back — and according to Xaden, she already had a big enough one as it was.
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## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
Oh my goodness. This chapter was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. Watching Violet step into her power — facing down Jack with a smile, standing between two dragons, refusing to choose between Tairn and Andarna — was incredibly satisfying. But the emotional gut-punches were just as powerful: Trina's death, Dain's damning confession that he wouldn't break the rules even to save her, and that absolutely devastating kiss that made Violet realize she didn't want Dain anymore, not really. And then there's Xaden — *Xaden* — the revelation that their lives are now tethered together, whether they like it or not. The tension between them crackles off the page. And those bonding marks on Violet's back? *Chef's kiss.* This chapter is a masterpiece of payoff and new complications.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.9 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction
Violet is now faced with forty-one unbonded riders who want her dead to claim Tairn — and she's more vulnerable than ever as her bonds with her dragons are still strengthening. With Xaden forced to play bodyguard and Violet's heart in total confusion over Dain, I predict the next chapter will show the immediate fallout of her new status. Someone is going to make an attempt on her life — possibly Oren Seifert, who already showed his murderous intentions in the meadow — and Violet will have to rely on Xaden in ways she never imagined. Also, that new "relic" on her back is bound to draw attention, and I suspect her mother might finally approach her about Brennan... and the dangerous game the Sorrengail family is playing.
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