Onyx Storm: Chapter 42

[penwalla]

“She is not a horror!” I march forward as Andarna’s scales turn black, unable to listen to one more second of this bullshit.

“No, you are.” The male cranes his head in my direction. “She is but what you made her.”

This is like the third time the irids have made it clear that they're mad at Violet and Violet does not seem to have processed that. Like, great that you wanna defend Andarna, but no one is even mad at her!

“Do you not care that people will die?” Andarna curls her tail high above her back.

“Perhaps they should.” The tallest male blinks. “Perhaps the corrupted ones should devour the land in its entirety. Only when they’re faced with starvation will they confront the evil they’ve become. Either they’ll die off and the land will regenerate, or they’ll confront the abominations they’ve become and change.”

The irids seem extremely confident that the venin won't come find them and kill them.

So yeah, Andarna pleads with the irids to help them, and they refuse because it's not their problem and they're fine if the venin genocide an entire continent.

Side note: I'm curious to see if the book will address what a narrow view of peace the irids have. They're living on an island where no one knows they exist and therefore have no reason to have to fight. The dragons who live on Navarre live on the continent where the venin who are trying to kill them and all of humankind for *checks notes* reasons also live, and don't have the option of just opting out of the combat unless they also leave. If your idea of 'peace' is 'I personally do not have to do any fighting' you're not really for peace--you're just for not putting yourself in any danger. The irids apparently don't think life has any inherent value, or at least the lives of everyone who isn't them don't have any inherent value, which makes me wonder why they oppose violence at all.

This isn't a critique of the book yet, I'm just curious if Yarros will actually point out any of this later on.

Andarna asks how the venin can be cured, and the irids tell her it's impossible--once they become venin, they will inevitably lose their souls piece by piece.

The irids tell Andarna they won't accept her as one of them and start to leave, but at this point the rest of the crew shows up, and...

“Abomination.” The female hurls the insult, her eyes narrowing.

On Xaden.

My head snaps in Xaden’s direction, and I gasp. The rims of his irises shine bright red.

“Your kind is beyond redemption.” The female glares at Sgaeyl, then disappears.

How is it that everyone here can see Xaden's irises that clearly? How close are they standing?

Well, it must be pretty close, because now Ridoc can see his eyes and is pissed.

“Not a single word from you, dark wielder,” Ridoc grits out, his eyes locked on mine. “Vi, you’ve got one chance to come clean and tell me what the actual fuck is going on.”

Welp.

I don't know why they split these chapters into three. They could have easily been one long chapter, which would have been fine. I mean, each chapter ends mid-conversation. Just keep going!