Onyx Storm: Chapter 34
Mar. 23rd, 2025 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penwallaOpening quote is about how the Hedotis people value knowledge but are also fake. Cool.
We cut to Violet receiving a tray of snacks from Talia, Xaden's mom, while he stands behind her and refuses to talk to her. This is extremely funny and I am not mad at it.
Talia really wants to talk to Xaden, and tries to invite him to meet the family for dinner, but Xaden is not down.
Violet does not understand, and I also don't--was it like an arranged marriage situation where Talia left Navarre once the contract was up?--and everyone is mad at Talia, even Sgaeyl and Tairn.
Talia keeps pushing, offering to help Violet meet with the triumvirate if she can see Xaden, and Violet says no, she would burn this place down if Xaden asked. And Xaden risked Aretia for her. I have complained endlessly already about how this insane level of commitment makes both of them seem unhinged since they're the protagonists of a book explicitly about fighting an unjust government, but whatever, I accept that this book is cobbled together from fantasy tropes Yarros barely remembers and romance tropes she is obligated by law to include.
Once Talia leaves, promising to send someone to call them for dinner, Violet is left alone with her fellow riders. They've been put up in beautiful quarters. Violet finds Xaden, who has found her power-blocking serum that she got from Bodhi earlier in the book. He's fine with her having it, considering the risk he poses.
They talk a little bit about Xaden's mom, and about Sgaeyl. I wish there was more about Sgaeyl, honestly, because her relationship with Xaden has supposedly been strained by him being a venin and I would love to see the impact more. Xaden reveals that he didn't know his mother was from Hedotis, and that he thought she was in Poromiel.
Wait, what? I can buy that Xaden wouldn't want to look for her, but he couldn't have like...looked up where his mom was from? That should have been on record somewhere. His dad was the fucking duke of the province. Whatever. We learn that a mineral present on the island makes everyone who lives there have purple eyes.
This is a genuinely sweet conversation between them. Xaden tells her that his mom abandoned him as soon as her contract up, when he was ten, and he's still pissed about it, but willing to go to dinner to accomplish their mission. He then talks to Sgaeyl a bit, and she responds by roaring a lot and then flying off. Honestly, Sgaeyl's only personality trait seems to be a hot temper.
Really? Hedotis has never aligned itself during a war? Even though it's next to an island that worships the goddess of war and has a military presence and an army? I don't buy this, to be honest.
Anyways, we find out Talia has two other children on Hedotis, which upsets Xaden, but also he's losing his emotions because he is a venin and he and Violet both know it. Violet is panicking. She tries to come up with a plan and remembers that Brennan sent them with a med kit, and decides she needs her sister.
She and Mira deliver a vial of dried arinmint to Talia under the guise of making Xaden more comfortable. (This plant is from Aretia, I think?)
Chapter end.
Mostly this was a good chapter. I appreciate getting to sit with Violet and Xaden, and we're actually getting consequences of being a venin that may pay off later.
We cut to Violet receiving a tray of snacks from Talia, Xaden's mom, while he stands behind her and refuses to talk to her. This is extremely funny and I am not mad at it.
Talia uses her considerable height advantage to peer over my head into our bedroom with eyes so full of longing that pity wraps around my rib cage, then constricts. “I was hoping he might want to talk?”
He definitely does not.
Talia really wants to talk to Xaden, and tries to invite him to meet the family for dinner, but Xaden is not down.
"What about dinner? He should meet the rest of the family.”
What an awful idea. He’s been nearly catatonic since this morning, and she wants to throw a party with people he’s never met? “I’ll ask, but that might be a lot for him to—”
“We’ll keep it small, then.” Talia’s face falls with her gaze and she purses her lips, forming little golden-brown lines around her mouth. “I was so young when he was born,” she whispers, staring at the doorframe. “Still young when the contract expired. I never thought I’d get to see him again, and now that he’s here…” Tears fill her eyes as she slowly looks at me. “You understand, right?”
Violet does not understand, and I also don't--was it like an arranged marriage situation where Talia left Navarre once the contract was up?--and everyone is mad at Talia, even Sgaeyl and Tairn.
Talia keeps pushing, offering to help Violet meet with the triumvirate if she can see Xaden, and Violet says no, she would burn this place down if Xaden asked. And Xaden risked Aretia for her. I have complained endlessly already about how this insane level of commitment makes both of them seem unhinged since they're the protagonists of a book explicitly about fighting an unjust government, but whatever, I accept that this book is cobbled together from fantasy tropes Yarros barely remembers and romance tropes she is obligated by law to include.
Once Talia leaves, promising to send someone to call them for dinner, Violet is left alone with her fellow riders. They've been put up in beautiful quarters. Violet finds Xaden, who has found her power-blocking serum that she got from Bodhi earlier in the book. He's fine with her having it, considering the risk he poses.
They talk a little bit about Xaden's mom, and about Sgaeyl. I wish there was more about Sgaeyl, honestly, because her relationship with Xaden has supposedly been strained by him being a venin and I would love to see the impact more. Xaden reveals that he didn't know his mother was from Hedotis, and that he thought she was in Poromiel.
Wait, what? I can buy that Xaden wouldn't want to look for her, but he couldn't have like...looked up where his mom was from? That should have been on record somewhere. His dad was the fucking duke of the province. Whatever. We learn that a mineral present on the island makes everyone who lives there have purple eyes.
“Because my mother just died.”
He stills, and regret instantly washes over his face. “I’m sorry, Violet.”
“You don’t need to be. I’m just saying that I’m not the person to ask if you should spend a night talking to yours, because I would give anything for ten minutes with mine.” I set my hand over my chest like it has a prayer of holding the grief inside where it belongs. “I have so many questions, and I would kill for a single answer. Maybe you should talk to Garrick, because any advice I give you would be poisoned by my own grief. You have to do whatever’s best for you. Whatever you can live with once we leave here. Whatever choice you make will be the right one as far as I’m concerned. You have all my support.”
This is a genuinely sweet conversation between them. Xaden tells her that his mom abandoned him as soon as her contract up, when he was ten, and he's still pissed about it, but willing to go to dinner to accomplish their mission. He then talks to Sgaeyl a bit, and she responds by roaring a lot and then flying off. Honestly, Sgaeyl's only personality trait seems to be a hot temper.
“Same.” He drops his chin to the top of my head. “We can’t just skip an entire isle,” he grumbles, splaying his hands over my back. “We disobeyed direct orders to be here.”
“We can.” I listen to the steady rhythm of his heart and watch the maid fuss over the boys as they walk back toward the house. “The riot hunts, does a pass to make sure Andarna’s kind hasn’t chosen the blandest isle ever to call home, and we go. Hedotis hasn’t entered a war or aligned itself with any kingdom at war in its recorded history. They aren’t going to help us.” I run my hand up and down his spine. “And you know where your mother is now. If you ever feel the need, you can come back. They’re your ten minutes, too.”
Really? Hedotis has never aligned itself during a war? Even though it's next to an island that worships the goddess of war and has a military presence and an army? I don't buy this, to be honest.
Anyways, we find out Talia has two other children on Hedotis, which upsets Xaden, but also he's losing his emotions because he is a venin and he and Violet both know it. Violet is panicking. She tries to come up with a plan and remembers that Brennan sent them with a med kit, and decides she needs her sister.
She and Mira deliver a vial of dried arinmint to Talia under the guise of making Xaden more comfortable. (This plant is from Aretia, I think?)
Chapter end.
Mostly this was a good chapter. I appreciate getting to sit with Violet and Xaden, and we're actually getting consequences of being a venin that may pay off later.
