penwalla

ch. 31
xylon comes in as violet is cleaning up the remains of the furniture she and xylon destroyed mid-coitus
apparently last night violet set two trees on fire.
they talk for a bit. they're both honest and vulnerable with each other. reading this, you can see that yarros is a romance writer. it feels a little strange in this book, because the relationship development has been pretty uneven--you could tell xylon was into her really early on, but violet was so antagonist/lusty, it didn't feel natural. but these last three chapters have totally made me understood why this book is blowing up.
violet is cleaning up and she finds a letter from her deceased father telling her that folklore is too important to allow to be erased, and that she'll make the right choice when the time comes. it's addressed to her as if she was in the scribe quadrant, since her father died prior to the decision to send her to the riders.
the book is the book of fables that mira promised to send violet back at the outpost, but i don't think that's actually specified in this scene, which makes it a bit confusing. the book stops again to explain to us the exact plot of these fables, for the third or fourth time.
violet is confused about why her father would have left her this. again, this book insists that violet is so smart, but every time she has to apply her brain the author just gives up. violet, we've already learned that this book isn't in the scribe archives, meaning it's either very rare or classified in some way, and that your father's research is missing and your mom is looking for it. what if you could put this information together.
violet makes a joke about the top general of the army being a venin. i'm calling it. this is probably true.
so it turns out xylon's father also talked about these fables like they were real. HMMM. i wonder if the rebellion and all this are related somehow!
violet and xylon agree that they should not hook up anymore, because they might fall for each other. well, violet admits that she'll fall for xylon if that happens and when he does his "i'm too DARK and BROODY to be LOVED" routine and insists he will never fall for her, she challenges him on it. and then they start flirting with each other and riling each other up.
and then violet stops him and tells him that he can't tell her how to feel, and since she doesn't want to end up in unrequited love with him, she's not ready to have sex with him again. xylon is clearly pissed with this response, but it's genuinely the most emotionally mature thing violet has said so far, and this is the first time in the book i have had the sense that she is an adult woman, so i'll take it.
scene change. they're at lunch. some time has passed, as while the cadets banter violet and xylon telepathically flirt, recalling how close they came to fucking on the sparring mats last night. violet is hungry because she's been doing magic practice, and while she can summon lightning she still has bad aim.
violet and xylon are arguing telepathically then. you can tell the substance of the argument is meaningless--they're both just pissed because they want to be together but can't get emotionally on the same page.
scene change: they're now ten days out from graduation. violet's in battle brief, worrying about where xylon will be assigned, since she thinks that with his power it'll probably be far out.
it's the 6th anniversary of brennan's death. we haven't mentioned brennan in a while, i assume we're going to find out he's alive soon. we learn that brennan's death triggered her dad's first attack and a second one killed him.
violet asks xylon to fuck her, because she wants a distraction. xylon refuses. she's pushing him and not paying attention to the class, getting jealous of imogen, while xylon clearly gets annoyed.
a professor reminds them that there's one exercise of the War Games left, plus today is reunification day and they're all expected for the fireworks in their dress uniforms.
maybe xylon is pissed because it's the anniversary of his parents' death, violet.
scene change. all of these scenes are very short.
violet and rhiannon are getting dressed. apparently they have options for the dress uniforms, and violet is wearing--get this--a floor length gown with a slit in the thigh. see, in the next couple paragraphs we find out that there's a big ballroom with healers, scribes, infantry, and riders there, and this is a big party. which makes the gown make sense. but it does not make sense that that would be a dress uniform.
as violet arrives with liam, she realizes that reunification day is celebrating the end of the rebellion, which means for all the rebellion kids, it's the celebration of their parents' deaths. which is probably why xylon was in a bad mood earlier.
i clocked this already, violet, why haven't you
so apparently a bunch of the rebel kids, including xylon, aren't here. but liam is--and violet assumes that it's to protect her. ugghhh that's a horrible thing to do.
violet's mom, the general above her, and the king of the nation come over to talk. they're all assholes, obviously, talking shit about xylon and liam and complimenting violet on her immense power. violet defends xylon, to her credit, and makes a big speech in her head about how much xylon has done for her. i'm glad she's finally acknowledging it and that we're done pretending this is enemies to lovers.
the king explicitly asked all the rebel kids to be at the party. god what a DICK
violet is mad at xylon for making liam come, and liam tells her he came of his own volition, for her sake. oh he's nice.
dain comes over and cups violet's cheek. he offers to distract so they can sneak out. every time dain touches violet, i now assume he's reading her mind, by the way.
violet then tells liam to go and goes to the parapet, where xylon is.
ch. end.
ok side note: i'm going to have more on this later, i think, once i'm done with the book. but i think one of its central problems is that it's trying to do too much and therefore failing to competently execute any part of it.
ch. 32
violet is walking barefoot across the parapet to xylon, thinking about how her heart hurts for him and how she wants to support him. she feels bad because she had her family when her brother died, but xylon had no one. she admits to herself she's in love with him.
he realizes she's out there and panics, then goes over to her so he can grab onto her before she falls to her death.
violet tells him how she feels and then confronts him, insisting that she knows he returns her feelings, and that he shouldn't be afraid that she'll change her mind if she gets to know him better. xylon bends. he also admits he's wanted her since they first met, which...truly such intense ali hazelwood vibes here. she asks him to come back with her, and he tells her he's not in a place to come back with her, but she tells him to trust him and come on.
the narrow parapet, the exposed hearts...this is a good scene. i think it's a little heavy-handed--violet's monologue feels like it's directed at the readers as much as it is at xylon. but overall solid.
they go back to xylon's room. violet glances over it, noting all xylon's daggers, and then sits him down on the bed so she can take car eof him. she takes off his boots, his clothes, and puts him to bed. she explicitly tells him she's in love with him, and he's so overcome by lust that that old faithful, "if you don't leave now i won't be able to stop myself" comes back.
they have sex. violet destroys some more shit with lightning. and then, of course, one of the other riders interrupts them to tell them the whole garrison's been called to formation, because they're under attack.
ch. end.