# CHAPTER 9: The Wingleader’s Lesson
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review CHAPTER 9 of *Fourth Wing* — a chapter that crackles with tension, jealousy, and the terrifying thrill of a predator who refuses to kill his prey. Because let me tell you, when Xaden Riorson steps onto that mat with Violet, the entire world holds its breath.
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The challenge bell has barely stopped ringing when Dain opens his mouth — and Xaden shuts him down with a single, icy command. "No one asked you to think, *squad leader*."
And just like that, the wingleader of the most dangerous quadrant in Basgiath begins to strip. Knife after knife. Blade after blade. A whole arsenal clatters into Imogen's waiting arms, and Violet feels something sour and irrational twist in her chest. Jealousy? Over Imogen? There's no time to examine that madness. Because Xaden is coming for her.
"You don't think you'll need those?" she asks, palming her own blades, trying not to stare at the sheer wall of muscle that is his chest.
"Nope. Not when you brought enough for the both of us."
Then he curls his fingers in a mocking come-hither, and Violet's heart hammers like a hummingbird's wings. This is no ordinary sparring match. Xaden isn't in her squad. He can kill her and walk away without punishment.
She throws a dagger straight at his disgustingly perfect chest.
He **catches it**.
"Already seen that move."
Every instinct screams at Violet to be faster. She charges with the swipe-and-kick combo Rhiannon drilled into her — but Xaden dodges, captures her leg, and slams her onto her back so hard the air leaves her lungs. Yet he doesn't strike. He kicks her dagger off the mat. Then, when she lunges for his thigh, he blocks, disarms her, and leans down close enough for her to see the wicked glint in his eyes.
"Going for blood today, are we, *Violence*?"
"My name is Violet," she seethes.
"I think my version fits you better."
He offers her a hand — and the second she takes it, he twists her arm behind her back and yanks her against his chest, pinning her before she can find her balance. A dagger she didn't even feel him take presses against her throat. He is an immovable statue, and the lesson he hisses is meant for her ears alone.
"Don't trust a single person who faces you on this mat."
Even someone who owes her a favor? "I'm the one who decides when to grant that favor," he reminds her, and kicks the disarmed blades back toward Dain, whose eyes are murderous.
Violet whirls and punches for Xaden's throat. He knocks the blow aside with an approving smile. "Going for the throat is your best option, as long as it's exposed."
She keeps fighting. Keeps losing. He strips her of dagger after dagger, not to use against her, but simply to prove he can. By the time she has only two blades left and her indignation has outweighed her fear, he's got her on the mat again — knee in her ribs, arm cranked behind her back, and another weapon pressed to her jaw.
"You're not going to get any better if you aren't testing yourself out here."
Then the whisper that makes her blood run cold: "You can't poison every enemy you come across. You're not going to have time to offer tea to some gryphon rider when they come at you."
He **knows**. The poisoner's trick she's been hiding — he's seen right through it. Violet's stomach turns with a nausea that has nothing to do with the pain in her arm. And yet, instead of exposing her, Xaden lets her go, standing and offering no hand this time.
"You're not going to disarm me?" she challenges, once she's back on her feet.
"Nope. Defenseless women have never been my type. We're done for today."
But before he walks away, she pulls the final trick she has left — she goes low and kicks out the backs of his knees. The wingleader drops like a felled tree, and Violet pounces, catching his throat in the crook of her elbow. For one glorious second, she has him.
Then he rolls, and of course he ends up on top.
His hips pin hers. His forearm rests across her throat. The whole world dissolves until there's only the arrogant glint in his onyx eyes, the scar across his face, the gold flecks she can't stop noticing. Her body betrays her — warming in all the wrong places. *You are not attracted to toxic men*, she tells herself. It doesn't work.
And then Xaden does the strangest thing. He take her hand, wraps it around the last dagger she has, and guides it — not to his throat, not to his chest, but down his side. To his ribs. Around his back, to his kidneys. To his waist.
"Those were easy places you could have struck before your opponent could stop you," he says, his voice low and intimate. He is teaching her how to kill him.
"Do you hear me?"
She nods.
"Good. Because you can't poison every enemy you come across."
Dain's bark cuts through the moment. "I think she's been taught enough for the day."
After Xaden finally rolls off her and walks away, Violet staggers to her feet and retrieves her daggers, trembling. He has every reason to kill her and every chance — twice now — and he's let her live. What kind of game is he playing?
Even Dain is shaken. Later that night, with Violet lying on his bed while his thumbs work the knots in her aching shoulders, he admits he went to Colonel Markham. He told him that Riorson wants Violet dead. That Barlowe shoved her. That Seifert is threatening her. That someone left mutilated violets on her bed.
And then the hammer drops.
Dain asked Markham to transfer her to the Scribe Quadrant — a safe way out. And Markham said yes. She could be a scribe. She could live.
"You went behind my back," Violet whispers, and the hurt in her voice is deeper than any physical wound. "Because you think I'm not cutting it."
Dain's eyes plead with her. He holds her face between his hands and tells her the real terror of Threshing: every first-year is thrown into the training grounds while the older cadets watch — but are forbidden to intervene. First-years are free to settle vendettas, to eliminate "liabilities" to the wing. Violet would be a liability. Barlowe and Seifert would hunt her. And Dain would have to *watch* her die.
"I can't lose you, Violet," he whispers, forehead pressed to hers. "Just promise me you'll think about it. We still have four weeks until Threshing."
"…I'll think about it."
But even as the words leave her lips, something deep inside her refuses to give up. She's made it this far. She survived the parapet. She survived her first challenges. And tomorrow, she will face the Gauntlet — a brutal obstacle course carved into the face of a cliff, five switchbacks of spinning posts and death-defying trails that test everything a rider must have.
As Violet and Rhiannon stare up at the monstrous course, Aurelie practically vibrates with joy. Her brother told her all about it. The posts spin. You can be crushed between them. It looks less like adrenaline and more like a death trap.
But Violet has spent her whole life being underestimated. And the higher the climb, the harder she intends to fight.
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## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
Well, *wow*. This chapter is a masterclass in tension. Watching Xaden systematically disarm Violet — not to hurt her, but to teach her — is both infuriating and weirdly romantic in the most dangerous way possible. The jealousy Violet feels over Imogen, the heat between her and Xaden whenever they're on the mat, and the revelation that he knows about her poison trick? I was gripping the edge of my seat.
And then Dain's desperate plea was a gut-punch. You can feel his love and his fear, but also his complete lack of faith in Violet. Meanwhile, she's survived the parapet, she's won challenges, and she refuses to be packed off to the Scribe Quadrant like a broken toy. Her fire is unstoppable.
The only thing I wanted more of was the actual Gauntlet — but the chapter sets it up so perfectly that I'm already screaming for the next one. Absolutely incredible storytelling, with Xaden Riorson being the biggest, most frustrating, most magnetic mystery.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction
The Gauntlet is coming, and this is where Violet gets to prove — to herself, to Dain, and to Xaden — that she's far more than anyone believes. But I have a feeling Xaden will be watching her from the sidelines, studying every move she makes. And with the threat of Barlowe and Seifert hanging over the first-years, the Gauntlet might turn into more than just a test of balance and agility — it could become a fight for survival before Threshing ever begins. Will Violet make it to the top? And if she does, will Xaden be waiting for her with another riddle, or with something far more dangerous?
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