?The first year is when some of us lose our lives. The second year is when the
rest of us lose our humanity.? ?Xaden Riorson Everyone expected Violet
Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College, Violet
included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the
weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky. Now the real training begins, and
Violet?s already wondering how she?ll get through. It?s not just that it?s
grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it?s designed to stretch the
riders? capacity for pain beyond endurance. It?s the new vice commandant, who?s
made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is?unless
she betrays the man she loves. Although Violet?s body might be weaker and
frailer than everyone else?s, she still has her wits?and a will of iron. And
leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught Dragon
riders make their own rules. But a determination to survive won?t be enough this
year. Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War
College, and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the
end.