This chapter picks up from the previous cliffhanger. Everyone in the room, besides Violet, is frozen in time. Even her clock stopped ticking. Andarna urges her to hurry and get to safety. When time continues, Xaden is in the doorway. He uses his shadows to kill everyone in the room besides Oren. Oren tries to surrender and convince Xaden that killing Violet is fixing a mistake. Xaden retorts that dragons don’t make mistakes, and slashes his throat. Oren bleeds out and dies. Garrick and Bodhi enter the room, and Violet realizes they are all fully dressed, which makes her wonder if they were already awake. As the adrenaline subsides, Violet feels the agony of the painful attack. Xaden pulls her away from the crime scene and examines Violet for any broken bones. They have a moment of tension, when he undoes her armored corset. They keep making eye contact, and his touch is electric as he examines her ribs, which turn out to be unbroken.
Xaden seems angry, and wants to speak with the dragons. He takes her into a secret passage in the academic wing that inevitably leads to a tunnel that takes them to the flight field. They meet the dragons (Tairn, Sgaeyl, Andarna) and Violet asks Xaden why he was awake already. He brushes off the question and Xaden asks Tairn what kind of powers he’s channeling to her. Violet realizes that Xaden can speak with Tairn telepathically, and this theory is solidified when Sgaeyl speaks to Violet telepathically. Because of their bonds, all four of them can speak to each other. Since Andarna isn’t mated to Tairn or Sgaeyl, she can only speak with Violet. Andarna admits she was the one who channeled the time stopping ability to Violet. They explain that feathertails shouldn’t bond, since their bonds and signets are so unpredictable. Technically, they can accidentally gift their powers to humans to drain themselves until burnout. Xaden and Violet learn that feathertails are actually baby dragons. In fact, Andarna is only two years old. In about two more years she’ll grow out of a feathertail into a more mature stage of growth. This is groundbreaking, because no one has ever seen a baby dragon. Everyone is under the impression that Andarna is just a different breed of dragon. This knowledge is top secret. If people find out that they can steal power from feathertails, they’ll be hunted. Xaden asks if Andarna is Tairn and Sgaeyl’s baby, but they assure him that she isn’t theirs. Andarna’s parents died, and Tairn and Sgaeyl adopted her as their own.
Violet learns this time stopping ability is probably temporary, and if she’s not careful, she can kill Andarna by draining too much of it and burning out. The chapter ends with Xaden asking Violet who let the unbonded cadets into her room to lead the attack.
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