# CHAPTER 23: The Taste of Oranges and the Weight of Secrets
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 23 of *Fourth Wing* — and trust me, this one is a storm from the very first whispered confession to the last gasping breath on the training mat. We’ve got stolen kisses, rare signets, broken friendships, and a duel that could end Violet Sorrengail forever. So grab your daggers, hold your breath, and let’s dive into the fire.
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The morning after the kiss, Violet’s heart is still tangled in a thousand knots. She tells Rhiannon it was just a kiss, but the heat in her cheeks betrays her. Worse, her mind spirals into the future — Xaden graduates soon, wingleaders choose their duty stations, and Tairn and Sgaeyl can’t bear to be apart. What happens next year, and the year after? Who follows whom? How is she supposed to thrive as a rider when her heart and dragon are bound to a man she can barely understand?
Before the conversation can go deeper, Liam bursts in with his usual panic, convinced someone’s trying to kill Violet every second she’s out of his sight. Rhiannon rolls her eyes and shoves him out the door, granting them five more minutes. And that’s when Rhi reveals something extraordinary: she can summon objects to her hand. The textbook on her desk vanishes — and reappears in her grasp. It’s a rare signet, one that could define her entire career. For one brilliant moment, Violet gets to celebrate somebody else’s magic. It feels good.
Later, as they walk to class, Liam gifts Violet a hand-carved Tairn figurine, complete with his signature snarl. It’s a small gesture of loyalty in a world where everything else feels like a battlefield. But all that warmth shatters when Violet catches sight of Xaden through the tower window. He’s standing with the other wingleaders, tense and gorgeous, and her pulse skitters like he’s touched her through the glass. Forget second thoughts. She wants more.
Then Dain appears.
He pulls her aside, his oldest friend finally ready to talk. He’s hurt that Tairn shared the memory with everyone but Violet never let him see it herself. He apologizes — sort of. He admits he didn’t believe her, and that part was on him. But he also warns her about Xaden, about his secrets and resentments and revenge. Violet snaps back with truth that cuts both ways: Dain only wants to keep her safe, but keeping her safe is keeping her small. She refuses to live in a glass cage anymore. She has two badass dragons at her back. She doesn’t need another keeper.
Dain finally backs down, squeezing her shoulder and accepting her terms. For a moment, the air between them is lighter. But there’s no time to breathe before Professor Carr’s class begins. He makes it painfully clear he expects an earthshattering signet from the Sorrengail line. Violet keeps her secrets locked tight — including her strange ability to stop time, guarded on Xaden’s advice.
Weeks pass. January bleeds cold and brutal into training.
Rhiannon’s summoning sharpens. Ridoc learns to wield ice. Sawyer’s metal magic grows. Liam can see single trees miles away. And Violet? She practices lesser magics: opening locks, guarding her mind, separating the channels of Tairn’s power from Andarna’s. She wins challenge after challenge, earning daggers and bruises, but still no signet. She begins to feel like a party trick.
Then the challenge board changes.
Jack Barlowe is finally allowed to face her. Violet sees the name on the board and knows: if she steps onto that mat, he will try to kill her. She tells Liam not to warn Xaden. She makes him promise to let it happen, no matter what. The instructors have sanctioned it, she says. Stopping it would cause an uproar after Amber’s execution.
Liam’s eyes are full of pleading. But Violet is determined.
That morning, the sparring gym is cold and loud. Eighty-one first-years line up. Challenge after challenge is called. Then Emetterio’s voice rings out: *Jack Barlowe versus Violet Sorrengail.*
Jack practically dances onto the mat, grinning like he’s already won. He taunts her about her fragile body, about Xaden not being there to save her. Violet unsheathes her daggers, steadies her breathing, and lets the dance begin.
She draws first blood — a slice across the back of his hand. Then another along his arm. But Jack is relentless. He flips her over his back, pins her down, drives a knife at her chest. It deflects off her armor, but the fight is ugly. He’s using death blows. The crowd shouts. Emetterio bellows. Jack only smiles.
Then he grabs her face.
A violent, vibrating energy rips through Violet — an agonizing force that cleaves muscle from bone, that makes her scream and shake. He’s wielding somehow, forcing his power into her, killing her from the inside out. Her vision fades. Her body screams to collapse. But she refuses to die.
With trembling fingers, she finds the vial hidden in her leathers. She breaks it against Jack’s grinning mouth. A single tooth snaps. She whispers the truth: *Oranges.*
Jack’s eyes go wide. He clutches his throat. He wheezes. His airway closes as his face turns purple. Violet collapses beside him, body still shuddering, as Ridoc shouts for help. She’s survived again.
When she wakes, night has fallen. She’s in the Healer Quadrant infirmary, bandaged and broken — and Xaden is sitting beside her, flipping a dagger in his hand. His hair is tousled, his eyes blazing with fury and relief. He calls her *Violence.* He’s angry she didn’t tell him. He’s angry Jack is still alive, a few beds down. But most of all, he’s angry about the truth she finally blurts out in exhaustion:
*If I didn’t know better, I’d think that kiss scared you.*
She didn’t mean to say it. But now it’s said. And the room is suddenly very, very quiet.
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## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
This chapter is a masterpiece of tension and character depth. We see Violet step into her own strength, not just physically but emotionally, drawing hard lines with Dain and trusting her own instincts. The Rhiannon reveal is pure joy, the Dain confrontation is beautifully painful, and the final fight with Jack is one of the most visceral, heart-pounding scenes in the book. Violet’s resourcefulness is absolutely brilliant — and that final line to Xaden? Chills. This chapter left me breathless, heartbroken, and desperate for more.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.9 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction
With that confession hanging in the air between them, I predict the walls between Violet and Xaden are about to crack wide open. Xaden won’t be able to hide behind his wingleader duties anymore — not after she called him out. But Jack Barlowe survives, and a vindictive man with an allergic reaction and a shattered pride won’t stay quiet for long. Expect a confrontation that’s both dangerously romantic and politically explosive, and maybe — just maybe — the truth about Xaden’s secrets, his connection to her mother, and why he’s been watching her from the very beginning is about to come to light.
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