Onyx Storm Reactions

Summary

Fantasy Fangirls Podcast Episode Summary Episode: Onyx Storm Reactions | Release Date: January 24, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this special episode of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast, sisters Nicole and Lexi delve into their initial reactions and comprehensive discussions of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros. Released just a week prior, this episode serves as a bridge between finishing the book and the upcoming deep dive series scheduled to begin on February 3rd. The hosts emphasize the adult themes present in the book, preparing listeners for explicit content while sharing their excitement and insights.

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Spoiler-Free Reactions

Nicole and Lexi begin the episode by expressing their gratitude towards the vibrant Onyx Storm fandom and recounting their exhilarating experience at the midnight release party hosted by Barnes and Noble in Glendale, Colorado.

Nicole (01:45):
"We are also adults who say adult things about an adult book. In other words, friends, this podcast is rated R."

They commend the community’s enthusiasm and the joy of experiencing the book's release together, highlighting how such events rekindle their love for fantasy literature.

Lexi (05:49):
"It's time to gush over this book that we have waited over a year for."

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Spoiler-Filled Discussions

After the spoiler warning at [16:17], Nicole and Lexi dive deep into the plot intricacies and character developments of Onyx Storm.

Key Plot Points and Character Arcs

• Seventh Dragon Den Reveal:
  Both hosts express surprise and intrigue over the sudden revelation that the Seventh Dragon Den is not as secretive as anticipated, noting how multiple characters were aware of its existence.

  Nicole (17:13):
  "With how much of a secret it seemed to be... leadership and all the Scenarium knew about it."

• Zayden’s Struggle with Venin:
  The sisters discuss Zayden's internal battle with becoming Venin, drawing parallels to addiction.

  Lexi (19:40):
  "Rebecca has compared being a Venin to an addiction."

• Introduction of Riddick:
  Riddick's character development is highlighted as one of the most engaging aspects of the book, showcasing his intelligence and humor.

  Nicole (73:43):
  "He is really one of my favorite characters, and not just because of all of his laughs and jokes, but because he is who he is."

• Political Intrigue and World-Building:
  Discussions around the political maneuvers within Navarre and the involvement of characters like General Melgren and Panchak underscore the book's rich lore and complex relationships.

  Lexi (26:03):
  "This felt like a completely different book from Iron Flame... the plots were twisting, the characters kept developing."

Thematic Insights and Foreshadowing

• Feather Tales as Weapons:
  The concept of Feather Tales being used as weapons against the Venin introduces a compelling magical element that promises significant developments in future installments.

  Nicole (34:56):
  "the second Crovlin uprising was the key to this whole pursuit. I am just so happy."

• Violet’s Leadership Evolution:
  Violet's transformation into a formidable leader is praised, emphasizing her growth and the challenges she faces.

  Lexi (65:04):
  "She just owns this book. She steps into her own as a leader."

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Key Insights and Theories

Nicole and Lexi propose several theories about unresolved plotlines and character motivations that set the stage for the upcoming deep dive.

• Papa Sorra Gail’s Research:
  They speculate on the significance of Papa Sorra Gail’s research and its connection to the second Crovlin uprising, pondering how it ties into the overarching conflict.

  Nicole (35:08):
  "I think his research about it that sent him to the aisles was indeed a cover up."

• Zayden’s Mourning and Power Surge:
  The sudden surge in Zayden’s power following critical events raises questions about the nature of his abilities and possible vulnerabilities.

  Lexi (109:55):
  "I think he's gonna be king, because having a king with precognition is brilliant."

• Theophany as a Villain:
  The introduction of Theophany is met with fascination as she evolves into one of the series’ most formidable antagonists, blending divine elements with dark magic.

  Nicole (97:30):
  "She desiccated and died... we're not just setting a whole bunch of expectations on it."

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Cliffhangers and Future Directions

The episode concludes with the dramatic cliffhanger of Zayden’s perspective, leaving listeners eager for the next installment. The unresolved tensions, particularly around character fates and magical lore, promise an enthralling continuation in the deep dive series.

Lexi (141:18):
"We have to go into this new sibling that the Venin now have to use against Zayden. This is bad."

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Conclusion and Forward Look

Nicole and Lexi wrap up the episode by announcing their live Q&A session scheduled for January 27th and the commencement of their Onyx Storm deep dive on February 3rd. They also encourage listeners to join their Fantasy Fan Club for exclusive content and community engagement.

Nicole (139:54):
"Thank you so much for supporting us as we've turned this podcast into our livelihood."

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Notable Quotes

• Nicole (01:45):
  "We are also adults who say adult things about an adult book. In other words, friends, this podcast is rated R."

• Lexi (05:49):
  "It's time to gush over this book that we have waited over a year for."

• Nicole (17:13):
  "With how much of a secret it seemed to be... leadership and all the Scenarium knew about it."

• Lexi (19:40):
  "Rebecca has compared being a Venin to an addiction."

• Nicole (73:43):
  "He is really one of my favorite characters, and not just because of all of his laughs and jokes, but because he is who he is."

• Lexi (26:03):
  "This felt like a completely different book from Iron Flame... the plots were twisting, the characters kept developing."

• Nicole (34:56):
  "the second Crovlin uprising was the key to this whole pursuit. I am just so happy."

• Lexi (65:04):
  "She just owns this book. She steps into her own as a leader."

• Lexi (109:55):
  "I think he's gonna be king, because having a king with precognition is brilliant."

• Nicole (97:30):
  "She desiccated and died... we're not just setting a whole bunch of expectations on it."

• Lexi (141:18):
  "We have to go into this new sibling that the Venin now have to use against Zayden. This is bad."

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Additional Notes

• Live Q&A Session:
  Scheduled for January 27th at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, the live Q&A will be spoiler-heavy, encouraging only those who have completed Onyx Storm to participate.

• Deep Dive Series:
  Beginning on February 3rd, the sisters will embark on an in-depth analysis of Onyx Storm, dissecting chapters from the prologue through chapter six, with ongoing discussions tied to the entire book.

• Membership Tiers:
  Fantasy Fan Club offers three membership levels—Cadets, Dragon Riders, and Elite Iron Squad—each providing unique benefits such as exclusive interviews, discounts, and behind-the-scenes content.

• Community Engagement:
  The hosts extend heartfelt thanks to their extensive list of new Iron Squad members, fostering a sense of community and shared passion among listeners.

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Join Nicole and Lexi on their journey through Onyx Storm and beyond by tuning into their weekly episodes every Monday! For more information and to connect with the Fantasy Fangirls community, visit fantasyfangirls.com.

Transcript

[Lexi]

What's the best time of day to get a deal? All day with Jack in the box's all day big deal meal. You get to choose from four entrees like the supreme croissant and five tasty sides, plus a drink starting at $5. So hurry in or take your time. You've got all day at Jack. Every bite's a big welcome welcome welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls podcast where two sisters dive deep into beloved fantasy lore.

[Nicole]

Character, theme, series and more.

[Lexi]

I'm Lexi and I'm Nicole and today.

[Nicole]

Is a very special episode where we are sharing our initial raw reactions, thoughts and reviews of Onyx Storm. Right on the heel of us finishing the book after it released earlier this week, let's immediately address how this episode's spoiler warnings work. Please please listen closely here. The first part of this episode is going to be a plot spoiler free conversation where we'll share general sentiments and observations, but nothing that gives away the story itself. Then we will give a big spoiler warning before jumping into the whole book, including the ending where everything from Onyx Storm is on the table.

[Lexi]

So if you don't know why we needed to listen to chapter 50 to the end like 45 times before recording this, we only listened to it once. We needed to listen to it about 45 times. Then you are free. Free to listen to the first 10 minutes if you have not finished the book. But then when we switch over during our very clear spoiler warning, leave. Dear God, leave and go. Read slash listen to the rest of the book. We will be here when you're done.

[Nicole]

We are also adults who say adult things about an adult book. In other words, friends, this podcast is.

[Lexi]

Rated R. We will be talking about our sex bet. But honestly, let's be real. Most of this will just be us screaming explicitives into the microphone for the next like two hours. So please be mindful of those little listening ears.

[Nicole]

Additionally, this is only the beginning of lots of Fantasy Fangirls Onyx Storm coverage. This Monday, January 27th at 7:00pm Eastern Time, we are hosting an Onyx Storm Live Q and A for the public. It will be spoiler central for the entire book. So if you finished Onyx Storm and need to talk about it with your fellow readers, ask questions and come together as a fandom. We got you. The YouTube live stream link to join is available in the show notes on our website and social media profiles. Don't worry, it will also be recorded and available to you if you're not able to join live or if you haven't finished the book in time. We also can't wait to be at Rebecca Yarris Denver Tour event on February 2nd and then on Monday, February 3rd what you all have been waiting for Our Deep Dive of Onyx Storm begins with episode one where we're covering the prologue through chapter six. Last thing before we jump into this reactions episode. If you love Fantasy Fan Girls and want more Empyrean themed events, more content, more community and so much more, please check out Fantasy Fan Club.

[Lexi]

We have three membership tiers that you can join. Number one, the Cadets which includes access to our Boppin Discord where we have all been freaking out about this book. It also includes monthly live Q&As from Lexi and I, a book club, exclusive author interviews, trivia, community events, promo codes for live events plus 20% off all merch that is $6 a month. Or you can join the Dragon Riders which includes everything from the cadet level plus early access to ad free episodes. This includes our Onyx Storm Episode one yes, our full episode outlines and special voting privileges like archive topics throughout our Deep Dive of onyx storm. That is for $10 a month. And then we have our Elite Iron Squad. This includes everything from the previous two tiers plus more behind the scenes content, a welcome gift giveaways, private Discord Channel your name shouted out on the podcast that is for $25 a month.

[Nicole]

Join the party at fantasy fangirls.com fan club. The link is also in the show notes. And really and truly, thank you so much for supporting us as we've turned this podcast into our livelihood.

[Lexi]

It's of you and now it is time to gush over this book that we have waited over a year for.

[Nicole]

So first Nicole, can we talk about how these last few days have been absolutely insane reading this book to bring our listeners this episode. And honestly, the thing that saved us was those easy protein shakes that we whipped up real quick so we could get back to reading. I've personally tried a bunch of different protein products over the years and I've never been a fan of how chalky they tasted until I found Organ Organ.

[Lexi]

Is famous for their Organ Plant protein powder. It packs 21 grams of complete protein with all nine essential amino acids. All or game products are made with USDA certified organic ingredients so we know we're getting the nutrition we need without things we try to avoid like soy ingredients, artificial sweeteners or flavors or even preservatives. Plus their products are handcrafted with high quality ingredients that make it taste like vanilla or chocolate. I've even had a strawberry one. I have I've been not quiet about Orgain being a podcast sponsor because I have been using Organ non sponsored for seven years of my life. I love this product. It's the only protein powder I love and I I will use it probably for the rest of my life.

[Nicole]

Remember there are no quick fixes when it comes to your health. If you want more protein, give Organ Organic Plant Protein Powder a try. Head to orain.com fantasy fangirl and use code fantasy fangirl for 30% off your order. That's the best offer you'll find. And remember to use our Code Fantasy Fangirl for 30% off one last time for 30% off orgain.com fantasy fangirl and use our Code Fantasy Fangirl before we.

[Lexi]

Kick it off with our spoiler free thoughts of this book, we wanted to take a moment and just really appreciate the fandom's excitement for this release that we have been waiting so long for.

[Nicole]

It is so much fun to come together as a community and celebrate these stories together. Whether that's in person at midnight release parties or cozy readings with friends, or virtually with this bookish community and listening to us even. I would always go to the midnight release parties for a Harry Potter as a teenager and now being able to experience it again as an adult is so special. This fandom is incredible as we feel comfortable letting our inner fantasy nerds shine. And to be honest, it can be really hard to find a hobby to be passionate about as we get older. At least I've experienced that for myself. These books help us come alive in ways we may never have expected and it's something for us that we can cherish beyond parenting or adulting or school or any of those other work. All of those things. And on these release days it's exciting to be in this together all across the globe as we fall back into this world we all love so much.

[Lexi]

We were extremely lucky to partner with Barnes and Noble in Glendale, Colorado and have that midnight release be the most wonderful time. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out for the release. So many of you traveled from all over the country. You braved the like negative degree cold. We appreciate you all so much. Thank you for being so patient. Thank you for being so kind and wonderful. It was just absolutely surreal for us after this past year.

[Nicole]

Absolutely. Monday night truly was a core memory for us where we got to see so many readers and fans. And again, thank you so much for coming out to celebrate Alongside us. Okay, now back to Onyx Storm, starting with a simple spoiler free question. Did you like this book?

[Lexi]

This book was everything I wanted and yet nothing like I expected. It was the perfect expansion of the world. The magic. It answered a few questions and some bets that we had and then it left us with a thousand more questions and things to parse through. Like this is a Deep Diver's dream book. It was fast paced. It was funny. Like so much more funny than I was expecting. I loved getting to spend so much time with beloved characters and getting more experience with them that made them really 3. Like they were already 3D but more 3D in a way that I was not expecting. The first 2/3 of the book were just fun. It was like an unbelievable joy to read. And you and I kept on saying over and over again we could just tell Rebecca had a blast writing this book.

[Nicole]

Absolutely.

[Lexi]

And then the last third was a flipping roller coaster. We could not put it down and simultaneously had no idea what the fuck was going on. I need to reread this book about a million times before we deep dive it. I'm so glad we're starting the deep dive on February 3rd because I need need that time to like get this book under my belt. And this is my favorite book of the series. It's my favorite ending we've had yet. That is all I will say until we get to the spoiler part. But my favorite non spoilery thing about this book, Violet. This was my favorite Violet book. This skyrocketed her into my favorite number one FMC spot. She was everything. She was unexpected, she was brilliant. She was incredible. She was just an inspiration to behold. I cannot wait to be in her head for the next 11 weeks.

[Nicole]

Me too. Me too. And I'm right there with you on all fronts. Yes, I absolutely loved this book and I genuinely can't wait to deep dive it. Like you were saying, just a little peek behind the scenes. It's always a little scary right before we're about to deep dive a newly released book because we don't know how it's going to be and we're already committed to deep diving it. And it was such a joy and yes, a little bit of a relief as well to be like oh my gosh, I can't wait to deep dive this. Right. Onyx Storm has the perfect balance of answering some questions from the other two books while introducing a hundred more, confirming some theories while we can laugh at ourselves about others. World expansion with kind of two through line plots that work Together versus competing against each other and characters making you cheer for them and then of course your heart still gets ripped out. It's saying to my lore loving heart with politics, dragons, culture, magic, system and religion. It is so exciting to explore this world and learn more about it. The plots were twisting, the characters kept developing where we saw new sides to them that still felt very true to their nature and the pacing was really great. Like you mentioned, we could tell Rebecca had fun writing this book. It really shines through the pages as she takes you on an adventure.

[Lexi]

Again, no spoilers. But now that we've read Onyx Storm, what is your rating of Onyx Storm and what is your ranking of the books so far? Because remember friends, we are only on book three out of five.

[Nicole]

No surprise whatsoever. This is hands down a five star book for me. In fact, some series are just five stars for me because of the overall vibes, characters and world and Empyrean is definitely one of them. I think this is my favorite book so far of the series. I can confidently say I love it more than Iron Flame. Nothing against Iron Flame, but it was more of a transition book where Violet's world got turned upside down and she really had to grapple with it. She truly came into her own in this book and I felt so proud of her and I was so excited to be on that journey with her. The world expansion, like I was saying, it was positively delicious and I ate up all the lore. Overall, this felt like a completely different book from Iron Flame. I remember we were about halfway through it and we were saying that to each other where it's like this is completely different in the best way. I will say though, Fourth Wing is a very close second in my rankings. It is a fantastic book one and it holds a special place in my heart. As we're introduced to Violet and begin her hero's journey, seeing what she's capable of, we fall in love with Zayden, experience the brutality of this guy's culture, and are right there with them as the true purpose of the series unfold holds. It's kind of like how Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will always be one of my favorites simply because of the nostalgia and the introduction to the series that really sticks the landing. So my official ranking is Onyx Storm, closely followed by Fourth Wing but for completely different reasons. And then Iron Flame. It's like Iron Flame walked so Onyx Storm could run.

[Lexi]

That's a great way of putting it. I'll throw out this. This was my easiest five star Ranking since Acomaf, which given how few answers we got in this book and how many questions were opened up for him, I. I'm not surprised, but it's almost unexpected. I genuinely mean this. I cannot wait to deep dive this book.

[Nicole]

Like, as I was doing the outline.

[Lexi]

For this, I just kept on thinking like, this is a deep diver's dream. Like, not only was this book packed with so much information that leaves a lot of us confused. Like, there's so much in this. I was going back and like skimming the book on, on my reread and I just kept on being like, oh my, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Like all of these moments, right?

[Nicole]

I kept having to stop myself, be like, whoop, pull myself out.

[Lexi]

I know, right? I'm right.

[Nicole]

Now we are going to be deep diving. This is just high level here. This is just initial reactions.

[Lexi]

I had. I had the book on last night, like as I was winding down, which was a total mistake that this is not a book you wind down to. And I kept on. I had my notes app open just like I had finished the outline. I'd spent seven hours in one position yesterday just like pounding out this outline. And I was still writing more after. Like it was so exciting. And this is mainly because I still feel like there's so much that we don't understand. And I'm so excited to grasp onto more of it. I am so excited to reread this book with the ending in mind, seeing all of the seeds that were planted and I'm so excited to analyze the epigraphs and the character decisions, knowing where their ending goes and just like seeing where their epigraphs are on their timeline. I'm so excited. My ranking is Onyx Storm number one. Not to say that the other two books aren't good, it's just that this book was so packed and I'm so excited and. And I'd say I'm actually gonna go Iron Flame second.

[Nicole]

Oh really?

[Lexi]

Closely followed by Fourth Wing. This is not to say I did not like Fourth Wing. There are two moments that stand out to me in Iron Flame that launched that book into that second place. Verisin in the torture chamber that I remember reading that and just having a full out of body experience and all of that ending of part one and then the last battle. I remember being very confused after reading Iron Flame and being like, what the fuck just happened in the last third. I feel very similarly with Onyx Storm, but after deep diving it, I was like, this is brilliant. I love this so much. So that's. That is my ranking as of right now. We have the right to change our minds because we have not deep dive this book yet. We always have to say that. I. I will say this without having done the deep dive yet, but I do think that this is going to be my favorite deep dive we've ever done. Like, we obviously have not deep dove in the book yet, but just from going back and skimming, there's so many of those little Easter eggs that I. I genuinely cannot wait for the next 11 weeks. But before we get into our spoilery discussion, let's talk about some furniture. Like some armoires. You say the holidays are officially over, but every time out my holiday decorations, I always feel like it leaves my house just like a little less warm, a little less inviting. But that's nothing a little TLC can't fix. Whether you're tidying up, clearing out, or just wanting some new looks for the new year, Wayfair's got everything you need, all within your budget.

[Nicole]

I am pretty sure half of my house is from Wayfair. In fact, we just ordered a beautiful three panel mountain scene because we have a lot of empty space in our living room. I've also been eyeing this beautiful green velvet chair to create like a little wreath feeding nook in my office. My desk is from Wayfair. Our bedroom furniture is from Wayfair. We love Wayfair. We are a Wayfair family.

[Lexi]

There's something for every style and every home. No matter your space or budget. Wayfair makes it easy to tackle your New Year's home goals with endless inspiration for every space and budget, whether you need a light refresh or an organization overhaul. Plus, Wayfair provides free and easy delivery, even on the big stuff. And they'll even help you set it up.

[Nicole]

Give your home the refresh it needs with wayfair. Head to wayfair.com right now. That's that's W A Y-F A I R.com wayfair every style, every home all right, friends, that ends our spoiler free part of this episode. So if you have not finished Onyx Storm, we are lovingly but firmly telling you to leave right now. We promise we'll still be here for you to come back to when you finish the book. Okay? Three, two, one.

[Lexi]

Last chance. Are you gone?

[Nicole]

Okay, so if you don't know that we finally got Papa Asher Sorgale's research, then I'm so sorry, that's on you.

[Lexi]

If you are still Listening. That means you have finished this marvelous book. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

Let's fucking talk about it. Wow. So much happens in this book. And my jaw was on the floor so many times. I'm literally getting chills right now. I was fist pumping the air. I laughed, I cried. What a roller coaster. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I do just want to give you a friendly reminder that today's episode is barely scraping the surface, as Nicole and I simply share our initial reactions of key plots, plot twists, and characters from Onyx Storm. The real work begins on February 3rd with the deep Dive.

[Lexi]

Okay, shall we begin with our general shock of how many people immediately knew about the seventh Dragon Den? We were like, this is going to be a sneaky secret. Violet's gonna have to keep secrets again. And General Melgren is like, that little dragon of yours. And we're like, what the fuck?

[Nicole]

So, yeah, exactly. With how much of a secret it seemed to be. At the end of Iron Flame, I was really surprised that not only Violet and her close circle knew, but also leadership and all the Scenarium, which, by the way, I love how we get the Scenarium and learn a little bit about them and how we get confirmation that Llewellyn and Lyn Lindell were indeed loyal to Arisha the whole time. Remember how Lindell fostered Zaden and Liam and ensured they were trained for the writers quadrant? And it turns out that Llewellyn and Lindell are not the same person as most of us thought, but rather, Lindell's house serves under Llewellyn, who became the head of Tyrndor. Don't worry, we will talk all about this in the archives of episode one. Back to characters knowing stuff right off the bat. At first, I was also surprised how several people close to Xaden knew about him being Venon. But then after I thought about it for a second, I was like, like, yep, that actually makes sense for the story's progression. And I really like that his close circle knew and were supporting him and Violet however they could.

[Lexi]

Me too, because it also reflected the massive character development that Violet went through in Iron Flame. She had the whole I'm gonna keep everything to myself story arc, and she learned that that doesn't work for her. Did she tell her squad right away? No. And I absolutely get why it wasn't her story to share. And it also, you know, given how Mira reacted, it kind of makes sense that. That she didn't. But Xaden's closest confidants definitely deserve to know and as a result, keep him safe.

[Nicole]

It's like Zaden knows it's not in his or Violet's best interest to keep this big secret and make her go through all of that by herself, especially when staying in control is so important and he's theoretically dangerous.

[Lexi]

What did surprise me is Zayn pulled from the source in chapter four, like, and then again just a few chapters later. And that was. Was so much faster than I thought. That whole scene where he's, you know, fingering Violet and then suddenly he's, like, fisting the headboard and not in a good way. Oh, my God, dude, this was so scary. I, like, with all the. I'm gonna call it Jacqueline Hydness. This was throughout the book where he was, you know, totally under control. But then he'd have these moments where he'd be on the brink and Violet literally didn't recognize him when she looked him in the eyes.

[Nicole]

Exactly. I loved the ice metaphor. That really became a code for them.

[Lexi]

Yeah. We knew being venom would be like, an addiction, but, wow, Rebecca Yarros portrayed that struggle. And I know this is jumping to the end a little bit, but that's, like, counting down the 73 days. Like, that was. Everything about that was so well done. I really felt like she did her research on how to portray that so beautifully. We'll get to Zayden's ending choices a little later because we are definitely not there yet.

[Nicole]

But I do agree with you. Rebecca has compared being a Venin to an addiction. And the descriptions of Zaden feeling the pull toward power and how he was really having to grapple with gaining that control back and how Violet was, like, his anchor toward, you know, not doing that. It really illustrated his internal struggles so much, and we really saw that so clearly even when we weren't in his pov.

[Lexi]

While we are on vet and who pulled from the source, let's talk about Jack fucking Barlow. Because, God, I loved every scene with him. Something that you and I would, like, look at each other in the hotel when he was talking about being able to sense the initiates and the asms. And I love this quote, but the great hall could be filled with sages and mavens, and I'd never know.

[Nicole]

Neither would you.

[Lexi]

We freaked the fuck out.

[Nicole]

Okay. Yeah. Does this mean they can hide their telltale signs from everyone? Like, the higher rankings can use magic to glamour themselves? Because, remember, we have been going off of the knowledge that the sages and the mavens have, you know, like, the red veins and, like, they are Very easily recognizable as Venin, and now here we're hearing that's not the case. So it's like, oh, my gosh, who's a Venin? You know, it's just everything. Exactly. Also, just real quickly, while we're talking about Jack Barlow, he did not die in this book.

[Lexi]

No, you lost that. That big sis.

[Nicole]

I. I didn't think he actually would, but I was hoping for. So I placed my bet on that, and he's still alive.

[Lexi]

Is Jack still at best guy, though? Because it's unclear.

[Nicole]

Garrick was going to get him, and then he came back with the chest. But I don't know if we know any further that. I don't know. I was trying to figure it out at literally 1:00 in the morning, and I was like, you know what? We will figure that out with the Deep Dive. So, Jack, all I know is he's still alive as far as we are concerned, and he better die very, very clearly on the page or I'm not trusting anything, so.

[Lexi]

Well, speaking of not trusting, I trust no one. No one. Now, Varys, I guarantee you he was, I guess, a sage level, because he would have been able to hit his hide.

[Nicole]

His eyes.

[Lexi]

I guess then I'm also a little bit more on the Daddy at Venom train now. Especially after this book. God, I cannot wait to parse him in this freaking Deep Dive. Like the whole Samara Visit in Chapter 10, Daddy, Atos and Theophany were coordinating getting Violet captured. Yes.

[Nicole]

Hold on. I thought that it was Panchak because he was the sellout. I'm definitely keeping an eye on every single one of his actions in our reread. But he was the one who was selling out Violet's location at the end.

[Lexi]

We don't know if he's been doing it throughout the entire book.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I thought that was what Zaden had come to realize. There's a whole line where he's like, all this time. There wasn't that exactly.

[Lexi]

But no, it was like the traitor, but he was. I thought he was talking about the traitor with the six crates and with the. The village of poor Emil.

[Nicole]

While I agree with you, I think we're supposed to believe it's just Panchak and it's kind of like, okay, like that explains how they knew all of that. I do think there is more to it, but I do think that Panchak was the primary one who was orchestrating all of that all that time.

[Lexi]

We will watch for it in the Deep Dive. That's all I will Say, because I am not convinced that it's been pan checked this entire time. Only I think Daddy Atos is in league.

[Nicole]

I agree that Daddy Atos is still on my Venon watch list. Whether he is a Venin, which now I am definitely thinking he might be Venom.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Or that he is in league with them. But I think that Panchak definitely was the primary person who we can explain with all of that other stuff. But there's always that extra layer there. Which by the way, if Daddy Atos is Venin, then that could make sense with him seeking out the Venom first year assassin who tried to kill Violet. Also, if the Sages and Mavens can sense initiates, that means they've been able to sense Xaden too.

[Lexi]

Yep. Bad this is. This this is bad is what this is. This is something that I. I'm pretty sure is going to drive me absolutely mad during the deep dive. Like, I will not be trusting anyone. I will be second guessing all motives. Like, for instance, my guy, Grady. RIP Because I am am pretty sure he was either instructed or in charge of putting together the most useless quest squad ever. And because I don't think they wanted them to find the seventh dragon dead. I think they were just trying to stall time and for Violet to get captured, I guess. I don't think he's Venin, but I think maybe I don't know who is.

[Nicole]

I just love how before Iron Flame, you were so gung ho on Professor Car, and then in Iron Flame, you were so excited about Professor Grady and now you're. You're 0 for 2 with these professors. Nicole.

[Lexi]

It really makes me second guess all the professors that I've loved in my entire life who have like, really impacted my life. I'm like, oh dear. Like, I need to. Need to relook at some choices real quick.

[Nicole]

I do just need to point out how much I love how Aura died. I know that might sound really mean, but she had to go. And getting skewered by a wyvern feels like a fitting end for her.

[Lexi]

I will never forget you and I looking at each other in the hotel and it's like the claw that goes through her spine and we were like, oh my God, like, people were just dying left and right. It was. It was pretty satisfying, I'm not gonna lie.

[Nicole]

Oh, man. But yeah, that whole squad he put together and Grady's inability to lead was an interesting choice. Could it be because he turned out to be way in over his head and useless? I guess. But I am convinced there's more to it, we really didn't get as much of the Venon or within this gaieth as much as I thought we would in this book. Instead, we got lots of breadcrumbs, for instance, like what we learned from Jack or Panchak's involvement. So I actually love how the story is continuing to build that up for a later book reveal. And I could see this really random squad and Grady's uselessness coming back into play with it.

[Lexi]

Yeah. The reason I also realized I don't think him or the people on, or at least the majority of the people on the. The. The original Quest Squad, the useless Quest Squad, were Venom, is because a aura got stabbed by a wyvern and it did kill her. And also she got stabbed by a wyvern. If you were Venom, that probably wouldn't happen.

[Nicole]

Well, hold on. It does if you're an initiate.

[Lexi]

You are correct. But he did die by fire. But also. So I'm assuming he's not in that way unless he's an initiate. And that's something that can happen. I don't. I don't know anything anymore is how I feel. Anyway. I loved how much in this first. Because remember, we're only on this first stretch. I loved how much we got this political download stuff. The scenario, Zaden becoming duke. The God damn it. Dane's dad getting promoted was woof, woof. But not too surprising.

[Nicole]

No, I did love how it was the king who appointed him to be the commanding general of Bisgaeth because no one else would and everyone else is just over Atos. All those years of cozying up to King Tari really paid off. And he finally got his position of power. And we were also, you know, speculating, like, would he become the commanding general? And we were like, if anybody appointed him, it would be the king, because no one else else would let him do that. Daddy Atos reminds me of Cornelius Fudge, to be honest. His overall demeanor of, like, you know, the redness and the eyes bulging. And his stupidity feels very on point with Fudge. But yes, Zaden becoming duke. I kind of have some questions why that was given back to him, like, most of the scenario, but I'm gonna save that for the deep dive. I also love how he was getting marriage proposals left and right from the other provinces. And Violet's like, like, so much marriage foreshadowing in this book for that ending.

[Lexi]

Oh, my God. Yes. Getting Halden. Oh, my God, Halden was delicious. I loved this. I have no idea why we never considered him. And Alec being twins. Because then the age difference that we were like, this is the reason they're not together. It's no different than her and Zaden then. Because of this, though, I am surprised that Halden wasn't a bigger part of reunification day in at best guy fourth way. Because he. He would have been a third year in the infantry. I'm just kind of surprised. But other than that, everything else, it makes complete sense.

[Nicole]

That is a really good point. Why wouldn't Holden have been around his dad and leadership as a third year about to graduate? I mean, I get it for, you know, plot reasons. And that would have been way too early for an introduction, but just pointing that out there. Halden being Violet's ex was one of those theories where we loved it, but we didn't think it was true. Only because, like you said, the potential age difference difference, and mainly for me, that it doesn't seem like the Royals were conscripted. We had plenty of reasons why. But hey, I'm happy to say that I was wrong. Because, yes, this was so satisfying and everyone convinced that they were exes, which were a lot of you. Gold star for you.

[Lexi]

I loved, loved, loved him as a character for being the utter ultimate douche canoe that he was. Like we have all known or dated a Halden. I know we both guilty. It's like their ego is just in the stratosphere. It's so stupidly satisfying seeing him in.

[Nicole]

A stupid basket like that was so basket.

[Lexi]

And him walking in on Violet doing this super powerful maneuver was just such a good you to him. Oh, I loved it. I loved it.

[Nicole]

And of course jealous then. And Zaden lived up to expectations. So many of us, us were just wanting a jealous Zaden. And especially jealous men and Zaden. And it was so amazing, so delicious. I'm personally proud he did not kill Holden. I didn't expect him to, but I was very proud of him. And also Violet being like I was 18 and he was handsome. Okay, I've been there too, girl. Been there.

[Lexi]

All of us have. Yep, yep, yep. I felt that. I felt that there's. There's that line from Fourth Wing where it's like you are not attracted to. To toxic men. Oh, what a full circle moment that was.

[Nicole]

You know what? I think I know what would have been the perfect gesture for Violet to give to jealous Zaden. Matching underwear. Me undies is the perfect gift for our loved ones on Valentine's Day, which is coming up so fast. Or in this case, when they're worried you might. You know, go back to your ex or need to prove that you're way better than him. They've got so many awesome Valentine's Day prints and styles. Plus you can match with your partner, friends, or even your pets and meet undies iconic matching styles. You and them matching undies name a better Valentine's Day.

[Lexi]

I was so in love with their dream scene underwear that I got me a few more pairs. I am so obsessed with it. They don't. And I also. I also got myself another pair of narwhal underwear.

[Nicole]

I'm some narwhal underwear too.

[Lexi]

Gosh. Okay, maybe that's my Valentine's Day giving him some narwhal Narwhal underwear.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

This Valentine's Day, give the gift that will have them always thinking of you and score huge site wide Savings at Meund undies.com FFG Enter promo code FFG that's me undies.com FFG Code FFG for store wide savings, meet undies. Comfort from the outside in and cut for every butt. Lexi, I cannot believe you've gone this long without discussing this. Because I have never seen you happier than I did at the hotel. Take the mic. Let's do this.

[Nicole]

It is time to talk about my. My favorite subject ever. Papa Sora, Gail's research, and the second Crawlin uprising. You all the moment that the second Crovan uprising came up in connection to an Isle kingdom, no less. I sat up so straight, and by the time Jindia signed that, she could only think of one scribe who might have an answer about it. I'm like, literally having chills just talking about it right now. I was literally jumping up and down for joy validation pulsing through my veins. The puzzle pieces were right there. I've been saying it for a year. I think I've said it in every single one of our live shows. I bring it up every single possible chance I have, and boom, there it is. I'm so happy. And I just love how it took us on an epic journey to the Isle kingdoms with a plot. Never in our wildest theories could we have imagined. I probably would have Told you. That's a fun theory. If you mentioned this to me. And I also love how it directly ties into the Isle Kingdoms for Nicole's sake.

[Lexi]

Well, I. So one of the things that I was like salivating on as I was re skimming the book for this outline is when we are at Norell in Devarelli, we get that moment where she's, you know, she's just spilling the tea, but then she actually spills like helpful tea for us. And Dane, it connects the dots where it's like, oh, well, your dad was researching how the Crovans were looking for tail feathers. And it's like, oh wait, no, that's switched. It's feather tails. We then learn a good amount of chapters later. All seventh dragons have feather tails. He wasn't researching baby dragons. I think he was researching the seventh Dragon Den in that way.

[Nicole]

So maybe he encountered them in his research. Yes, yes. We don't have confirmation that he is referring to the seventh Dragon Den since Umbriel says they want dragon eggs and all dragons have feather tails at first. However, no one is supposed to know that, so maybe it is more likely he's referring to the seventh dragon. Although then the Crovlin soldiers were trying to hunt down Feather Tales, so. Well, anyway, we have to take into account what he says in his letter to Violet. Quote, you'll find the connection between the uprising and the pursuit of Feather Tales to be both alarming and enlightening. But if time has indeed run out and you seek the weapon to defeat those you've only learned about through Lore, AKA Venon, then abandon your robes and rise for Corden. This raises so many questions I'm not even ready to begin sorting through yet. Like, how would Papa Sorren Gail know that Feather Tales, AKA the seventh Den are the weapons to defeat the Venin? At least we know he would be able to talk to them though. And rereading that part, they only confirmed there is no cure. They never confirm or deny that they helped defeat the Venin. And I think somehow they activated the Red and Xaden's eyes because then it immediately faded needs. Oh dear. I'm falling down a rabbit hole. I need to pull myself out. All I know right now is the second Crovlin uprising was the key to this whole pursuit. And I am just so happy. I don't know how many more times I can say that. I think his research about it that sent him to the aisles was indeed a cover up. And I'm still processing all of my thoughts though, so Stay tuned for the Deep Dive.

[Lexi]

While we were at the hotel, you were, like, you know, standing up, pacing around. You were so excited. Oh, I can't remember exactly what you said. It was something. Something along the lines of, like, this is my intensic. This is my intrinsic. And I was like, I'm so proud of you.

[Nicole]

So many of you have already reached out to me about it because you've known my obsession with this mysterious importance of the second Crovan Uprising and feather tales. And I just have to say, it means so much.

[Lexi]

I cannot wait. And I think I speak for many people when I say this. I cannot wait for the Papa Sorrengale Crovlin research part of the archives when we do that in the Deep dive. Like, my God, I cannot wait. Wait.

[Nicole]

Okay. Also, his research was in his study.

[Lexi]

Yes. You won that bet. Good job, Lexi.

[Nicole]

It seemed like it was about to be a big deal with Dane retrieving the research from his father's quarters. And then I will say it wasn't Daddy. Atos was eerily quiet for most of the book. Yes, he did play a small role in certain parts and all, but I'm still not convinced he's out of the picture with the research. Like, that felt too easy, if you know what I mean. Maybe it was just necessary to move the plot along. But there's more to that whole sequence there, I think. And, yes, I was definitely worried there was something more to Dane with that whole you have to trust me setup. But, no, he's still just Dain.

[Lexi]

I can't wait to talk about Dain. Like, Dain was low key, one of my favorite characters in this book, and he did mostly nothing at the whole point. He was useless.

[Nicole]

I loved it.

[Lexi]

I loved it so much.

[Nicole]

The most use he had was at the very end with Sloane helping with the power, which, by the way, she had a line where she's like, something like, you shouldn't have this much power, which makes me seriously wonder, and I have more things to say about that later.

[Lexi]

Also, all the foreshadowing of him and Sloan set up that was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, my God. I did not have this on my shipping bingo card. Like, that's insane. Anyway, we're getting way ahead of ourselves. Back to Papa sortingale. I loved getting his name before. First of all, Asher. That was just like, oh, my God. And then getting Daxton. So Violet is a descendant of Colonel Daxon, AKA Colonel Daxton's guide to Excelling in the Scribe Quadrant. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

Yes. A lot of us thought we've been seeing Papa Sorrengail in an epigraph previously, but it must have been Violet's grandparents or something, which again, I love so much that it wasn't Papa Sorrengale, but still one of his relatives. I wonder if we'll learn more about this Colonel Daxton from her grandmother in a later book, because Mira visited their father's mother and I feel like we have not seen the last of her.

[Lexi]

Also, I love that mystery Grandmama was in the book, but just in a completely different way.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I'm going to be getting to that later. Oh my God.

[Lexi]

I am still processing all of this info because it feels like it's almost split into multiple parts. There's a second Krevlin uprising and feather tales and all that kind of stuff. And then there's all of his Isles research, which, based on the name change, we can infer that him and Lilith married during his research of all of the Isle Kingdoms, because some of the Isle Kingdoms are by Asher Daxton, and then some of the Isle Kingdoms research is by Asher Sorrengale. Then there's Dune, which led him to wanting to dedicate Violet, which I. That is one of the reasons I feel like I need to reread this book so many times. It's all of the Dune that we will get to in the deep dive. Some other rapid, like, favorite parts from this first section of the book. Professor Zaddy. Oh my God. That was everything. I am foaming at the mouth to talk about how incredible of a teacher he was. First of all, it's not all me just being feral for this man. I loved the fight scenes. It was some of of my favorite fight scenes I've read in this series. I could visualize him sparring so clearly, and then his godlike power flexes of him simultaneously teaching. Hot. So hot. I love it. I fell more and more in love with that man throughout this book. And then we got to the last third, which we will get to that later.

[Nicole]

I know. I love the Professor Zaddy. I will say part of me logically was like, does this make sense for the story? Maybe not. But did it make us go feral for Professor Zaddy? Hell yes.

[Lexi]

Absolutely.

[Nicole]

So I don't even care whether it logically made sense for the story.

[Lexi]

I think it really did because we have to have him being close to Taran, you know, with Sigail and then also with how legendary of a fighter he is. I don't know. I kind of get it now with Colonel Atos. Being in charge of the school, that is one where I'm like, he could have probably vetoed this, but I don't even care. I don't even care one bit.

[Nicole]

Well, hold on here, because I thought that he was having to go to an eastern outpost because there's a lot of stuff going on out there and he's been killing all these venoms. So that's where it's like, I think that he might be a little bit more useful on the front lines. But maybe let's say that there is a sage or someone who knew that he was a Venin and actually wanted him at the school.

[Lexi]

I. I'm gonna go with that. We're gonna go with that. I can't wait to deep dive that part. Oh, my God. Garrick's second signet, chapter 10 through 12, was. Oh, my. I couldn't believe it was chapter 10 that all of that happening. The reveal of the second signets of the marked ones was delicious. That is a most minor way I can say that it was amazing. I cannot wait now to reread the previous two books with all of that in mind now. Especially because we were like, how do they get back and forth between erasures so quickly? Here we go. We have the answer.

[Nicole]

When I first read Wind Wielder, I was like, oh, that's a little anticlimactic. But then it was like, wait, wait, wait. And then the reveal was so amazing. We thought Garrick's signet had to do with direction, but we were so hung up on him not being one of the most powerful or how. Zayden said there hadn't been a distance wielder in a century. So that is why Nicole and I wrote off distance Wielder. I know a lot of you did think that was his signet. Gold star for you. In typical Rebecca Yara's fashion, she added the extra element that some of them do have second signets because they're dragons, sought them out to gain more power against the Venin. Like, ah, it wasn't their rebellion relics. It was the dragons purposefully seeking them out.

[Lexi]

We have this epigraph towards the very beginning of the book that says, quote, the rarest of signets, those that rise once in a generation or century, have manifested concurrently with an equal twice in our records, both critical times in our history. But only once have the six most powerful walked the continent simultaneously. This is by major Dalton Cisneros. I 100 feel like this is foreshadowing. We are going to figure out what the six most powerful Signets are coming together all at once. I guarantee you distance wielding is one of them. Shadows Lightning. I think we do have pretty confirmed that those are the other two. But the other ones, I'm like, is it. Who else couldn't precognition? Imogen's an earthbender, for lack of a better term. Like what? What are the other way. I'm assuming summoning. So then that's our already six.

[Nicole]

I don't know if summoning is going to be considered one of the biggest ones. It's a great.

[Lexi]

Remember, Remember when Violet was like, they're like, in a century. Like when, when, when hers manifested, she mentioned something about how it hadn't been seen in a century.

[Nicole]

I agree with you. However, there's a difference between rare signets that have been seen in a century or a generation and only once have the six most powerful walk together simultaneously.

[Lexi]

So I think the only ones we can say with full certainty are distance wielding, lightning and shadows. I would throw precognition in there, but who knows? Well, technically, Melgren has it too, even though he has it with a huge major asterisk to it. Because it's only battles.

[Nicole]

Exactly. That is what makes it so big, because. And I'll be talking about this later with Melgren's signet was game changing for them. Like, that was the craziest thing they had ever seen. And now, now ARIC has actual precognition, which is like battle is just chump change compared to that.

[Lexi]

Okay, that's a good point. Okay, so I, I, I feel pretty confident in those four. I feel pretty confident in those four. The other two. I can't wait. Oh, my God. Also, Liam wielded ice. Oh, my God. For how little I feel like I got right in this book. And honestly, I don't even care in the slightest. This confirmation animation felt so good. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

It's like, oh, thank God we weren't crazy. We know a lot of people have been like, no, it was an editing error. And Nicole and I stayed so firm in our belief that it was not. Because every single edition of the book has that. And if there is that big of an editing error, it's gonna get taken out at some point. And nope, it stayed in. And we were absolutely convinced that it meant something. And we just feel so validated and. And he was indeed a direct descendant. We thought so. But there's, of course, again, that added twist that these dragons are specifically choosing these marked ones to purposefully gain more power in the fight against the Venin. I just love how the dragons are taking matters into their own hands. Or Claus. Also, it makes me wonder if that's why fewer and fewer dragons are willing to bond every year. Maybe they're waiting for more marked ones, since there's supposed to be about 15 or so more years of them coming into the quadrant.

[Lexi]

Yes. Oh, my God. I just cannot wait for the other marked one signet. Like, we have Imogens being a earthbender, stone wielder, whatever the name is. I need to parse through the book. I want to know Sloane's, because I feel like she absolutely has one, given what she knows from Thor about second signets.

[Nicole]

I do wonder if Liam said it in his letter to her. That would be quite the thing to say in a letter, though.

[Lexi]

Yeah. Right. So it's like, I. I think she has one. Maybe it hasn't manifested yet. Because, remember, it's only five months from the end of Iron Flame to the end of Onyx Storm, so maybe she hasn't manifested it yet. That would be a long time, though, without her manifesting that second one.

[Nicole]

We know that Sloane has been choosing not to use her siphoning power because of what happened at the Battle of Bisgaev, and people are like, yeah, she's not using her power. What if she has been using her second power?

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is it? I don't know. No idea yet.

[Nicole]

I am also so curious how the marked ones are able to cover all of this up. Zayden mentions quote often enough to be sure Kaori can't possibly have accurate records, but not too completely that anyone questions why I only present with one. Did the marked ones do something with Kaori's records to tweak them, for lack of a better word? If so, how? I have so many questions. Okay. Also, does this mean that me spiraling over Zaden's family tree this past year is actually just fudged records? And there's no mystery, Grandmama.

[Lexi]

There is. It's just. Niara.

[Nicole]

It's not the same.

[Lexi]

I'm so sorry.

[Nicole]

RIP to my family tree Wetboard night.

[Lexi]

Oh, the sleep we lose over things that don't mean a fucking thing in this book. I love it. There's. There are so many things that happen in the first section in this book at best, Gaieth. And we are going to get to all of it in the deep dive, but for time's sake, we have to move on to the next big section of the book, which is aisle hopping is what I'm going to call it. We Knew we were going to be going to the aisle Kingdoms, or at least we highly, highly, highly suspected. But having each aisle have a theme was not on my bingo card.

[Nicole]

How most of them are devoted to a specific God, at least as I understand it. After my first read. It's so interesting. We talked with Gabriel and Kya about exploring new cultures if we go to the Isle Kingdoms, and even how the forehead tattoo may be part of one of those cultures. I just loved the little glimpses we got into these islands and their cultures and their ways of life.

[Lexi]

What was though on our. I shouldn't say our. My bingo card was Zayden's mom. I am so relieved that I at least won that bet, because if I did, I didn't. I would have been taking a malort shot in my smoothie for three days straight. That was cruel, Lexi. That entire island of Helion was a trip back to the back to back poisonings. It was like. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, everybody.

[Nicole]

I brought leftover birthday cake from my husband's birthday to our hotel, and we literally had it out to eat at this part. And we did not end up eating it because it just didn't feel right.

[Lexi]

All right, let's go through each aisle and just kind of our high level reactions, thoughts and all that kind of stuff. Let's start with Devarelli. Narelle was the bookshop grandmama, so we get another grandmama. First off, she is the tea sipper of this world. I loved her character and how here she was for, like, the love story drama. It was amazing.

[Nicole]

Exactly. See, it's moments like this and then with Halden and such that make me think Rebecca would having just such a great time writing this book. I am so curious about Papa Sorrengail's connection to this woman and his secrets. And there are so many history, lore, nuggets in all of this. Ah, I can't wait to soak it all up in the deep dive. Like how Crovlin soldiers crossed into Navarre to obtain feather tales because they needed the feather tales to deliver on their side of the deal. Which means they all knew feather tales are baby dragons. I think that the Crovlins did, though.

[Lexi]

I don't.

[Nicole]

Okay, pause. Because we haven't mentioned this yet. We still don't know why Papa Sorrengal stopped trusting Daddy Atos about his research on Crovlin and the feather tales.

[Lexi]

So Violet, in her brilliant fucking woman moment, says, quote, I think Devarelli brokered a deal with Krovla and an unnamed isle that The Isle would provide the army, and Krovla would provide the dragons. When they were unable to do so, the deal fell apart, the midnight massacre happened, and Krovla remained part of Formul. I think the unnamed isle is the isle where the seventh dragons are.

[Nicole]

So you think this army was the Irids?

[Lexi]

I think Krovla wanted the army to be the Irids. I think. Here's what I think. I think Krovla was. Knew about the Irids in some way and wanted them to come fight. But because the Irids are such a peaceful species, they didn't follow through on their side of the deal. So then Krovla suffered the consequences. But then that begs the question, does Crovlin know where this Irid's Isle is? Or, skipping ahead a little, does and Darna officially know? Because we don't know if her and Leofin actually made it there and back when Andarna and co came back at the end of the book.

[Nicole]

I am definitely not under that impression, because they had their soldiers go into Navarre trying to find feather tails, and then when they were captured, and then they weren't able to provide it. That is then when the midnight massacre happened. So I think this unnamed aisle was one of the other aisles that we might have gone to.

[Lexi]

I think that was a last resort. After they couldn't get the. The Irides, they were like, okay, we'll try to get these dragons.

[Nicole]

I think that's a fun theory, and we can discuss that more in the Deep Dive. Wow. Okay.

[Lexi]

I. I'm still on the questions we have from Devarelli. So Halden and other royals I'm assuming were brokering deals with Devarelli for services, surrendered, and in exchange, they gave them goods that Halden guard became kitty cat food trying to steal back. What services has Navarre's royals been brokering with Devarelli in the last century?

[Nicole]

What? Because King Tari has been in communication over the past century or his reign or whatever, with the Isles, and Halden accuses the Isles king of taking advantage of their desperation. But then Violet says Halden's been playing a starring role in not acting. I'm very confused about that part. We were confused when we read it. We reread it. We were still a little bit confused. And now I'm just gonna be like, yeah, maybe we'll figure it out on the Deep Dive. What I'm not confused about, though, is Halden's temper tantrum. Like, wow. Also from this part, Tara's line about Violet not getting killed by the house cat. I Laughed out loud. I can't wait to talk about those cats and poor Anna's head. And then Darna messing with them. And just all of it.

[Lexi]

I loved it so much. Another thing that is keeping me up from these Isle kingdoms. How can Violet and her dragons communicate and no one else can?

[Nicole]

Is it something to do with her connection to the goddess of Dune? That's what I'm leaning more toward. Because Violet was able to wield, although she didn't think she was, but I'm convinced she did on the same island where the silver haired people were and slash. Or is it because Andarna is an Irid and so their mental connection is different? That's definitely possible too, because there is magic on the smaller isles. Which, by the way, what's the deal with the magic and the geography? No magic on the aisles except a trickle here and there. And then the magic is back on the smaller isles. And then Xaden was able to pull from the source and it wasn't like. Like, if I remember correctly, it wasn't like he was draining people. He was draining the magic from the land.

[Lexi]

No, he drained like an alloy coin.

[Nicole]

You're correct. Thank you very much. Yeah. I feel like this magic in the geography is somehow tied to the Irids. Maybe since where they dwell is magic, or at least where they venture to has magic, we didn't actually go to their den. Or maybe the people of these isles figure out how to rid the magic somehow.

[Lexi]

See, I'm leaning towards it being either it's an Adarna thing because she's an Irid and it's. That's the reason that she can connect. But also, why would Violet be able to talk to Taryn in that way is like. And also the Zaden and Sigil connection is completely closed off. So I'm also wondering, is this an extra. We're going to talk about obviously, her second signet in a lot in a little bit. But I'm wondering if this is one of those extra, deeper elements of her second signature that I can't even begin guessing on right now. But I. I wonder if there's some other kind of magic at play. But she. She wouldn't be able to wield. So it might be twofold. It might be both Andarna, because she would be able to wield from Indarna if Indar still has magic, and then she'd be able to use that signet with Taryn. I have no idea. I am lost.

[Nicole]

I think Dune somehow comes into it. Her being partially dedicated or incompletely dedicated to Dune with her being able to talk to Taryn as well. If it is because Andarna isn't irrit. Because if she was able to just talk to Andarna, I would not question it whatsoever. Is it because there's such an interconnectedness between her and Darna and Taryn? Again, there is magic at play here with her being bonded to two dragons that no one could have ever fathomed. So maybe Tarin is grandfathered into this bond that they have. You know, that's not the right word, but you all know what I mean. They're all intertwined. So much so that that is why she can talk to Taryn. Because remember, she's got two dragon relics on her back too.

[Lexi]

Yeah, that's true. Maybe. I don't know. Because then where I'm confused is where does Zaden come into this and his connection?

[Nicole]

Yes, Lexi, I don't know. But going back to the interconnectedness between her, Taryn and Andarna's bond, that could also explain why she is able to use her second signet later on when.

[Lexi]

After Andara breaks the bond.

[Nicole]

Yes. Where it's not like she's channeling through Taryn. That's not what I'm like. No, that's not what I mean. Yeah, but because there's always going to be that trace of their bond.

[Lexi]

Ooh. Okay. That at least makes it make enough sense for me to go into this deep dive with my feet slightly on the ground. With a little pinky toe on the ground. Lexi, this book raised all of our stress levels. It was just going up and up and up and then the last third, it just spiked. And there are so many reasons why our stress level levels fluctuate in life, but there's a proven way to set yourself up for success with your stress every single day. Start your morning off with Rituals Stress Relief. This product uses first of its kind technologies to support your body's natural cortisol response so you can take on the daily juggle.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

Let's go to the aisle that probably holds the most amount of secrets and confusion for most of us. Umbriel, the Isle of Dune. This is where the trial by combat was. This is also more importantly where the silver hair people are everywhere, including the half silver hair girl who looks like Violet's hair twin. I couldn't help but think of like you know that moment in Friends where Joey's like I found my hand twin. Like I feel like this is Violet's like I found my hair twin because.

[Nicole]

We'Re seeing these silver haired people. Which in and of itself is like oh my God. And up until now we've always associated the silver hair with Venin because of theophany between the Cosmopolitan excerpt with the silver haired Venin and Violet's mom being sick and all of us convinced it was connected to Venin. Now we learn it's actually tied to the gods and it's definitely still a little confusing, but I think that's the point. We got a few answers and are left with more questions.

[Lexi]

So I reread chapter 54 and here's how I understand it. We have Grandmama Niara, who was taking care of Brennan and Mira while Asher took Violet to, we can assume the Isle of Umbriel to get her dedicated to Dune in the hopes of assuming they can cure her chronic illness by doing a full dedication to Dune because the dedication ritual has been outlawed on the continent since the early 200s. So I'm guessing they all do fake dedications on the continent and dye their hair like the high priestess of the Dune Temple was saying in the second to last battle.

[Nicole]

Yeah, it's like a symbolic thing. Yeah, yeah.

[Lexi]

But Violet's ritual on the Isle of Umbriel, again we assume was not completed because they only accept children whose futures are certain. And Violet still had paths to choose that could lead her to being Venon. Although we learned it's actually Zaden having turned and her choice to be with him that is what was the uncertain part.

[Nicole]

I also have to wonder how does Indara knowing that this girl with the silver hair was going to be hers. That is still a mystery. So I wonder how if it intertwines with this I.

[Lexi]

Your guess is as good as mine. We also assume that it was only Asher who took Violet to the Isle of Umbriel because Lilith had that one epigraph where she was livid at Asher. So we can assume this is why. But then where was Lilith during all of this? This is why when Grandmama Niara also basically stopped talking to Lilith. And as her. So I'm assume. I'm assuming she's pissed off at Asher for what he tried to do, so she stops talking to both of them. But where was Lilith?

[Nicole]

All we know is that she was not on an aisle because as Violet notices, dragons were very new for all of them and they clearly had not seen. I'm ser. So again, something else for the deep dive.

[Lexi]

The amount of times we looked at each other during the. During the read in our hotel and we just looked at each other with utter confusion. And we're like, we need a fantasy fangirls podcast for us to cover the fantasy fangirls podcast. And then we looked at each other in horror being like, shit, that's us.

[Nicole]

Plus And I know we haven't talked about her a whole lot yet. We'll. We'll get to her soon. This is why Theophany's hair is silver. She was a high priestess on this Isle, which I'm very curious about. This line from their Final Battle quote. Do you know the pain of never being allowed to return? Of knowing that it was sever? The very thing that's kept me untouchable all these years. Is this somehow tied to the supposed no magic of the land?

[Lexi]

How I understood this is she's not able to return to any Temple of Dune. And that's actually how Violet killed her. Because the dagger that was stone was made from the Temple of Dune. And she's saying it's kept me untouchable. So she literally would not be able to return to these temples where she devoted her life to. We assumed. Assume. Before she became Venon, because she would die the way that she does at Violet's hand.

[Nicole]

Okay. Because essentially Dune curses her for what she did.

[Lexi]

That's my assumption.

[Nicole]

And that is why Violet was not able to be fully dedicated.

[Lexi]

Bingo.

[Nicole]

Because, ah. It's all together. Okay. I did not foresee the reveal that Violet was fighting the Isles Queen. I respect her for that. You respect expect that my Tywin Lannister voice on. Even if they didn't end up helping because they don't get dragons. I just thought it was.

[Lexi]

Oh, my God. Yes. Keep going.

[Nicole]

Okay. At least six dragon eggs are missing by the end of the book. And Garrick is missing, and he's a distance wielder. What if he has taken the eggs to barter with the isles? I don't know how that works with him using the signet on the isles with the magic, but I wonder if that is the reason for the missing eggs and not Xaden taking the eggs to, you know, the Venin or other bad guy things. This is also overlooking the dead dragons and writers. But missing eggs? The Isles want eggs and he is a distance wielder.

[Lexi]

I love your brain. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

What if it was Zayden who had him take the eggs to the isles? So he's like, okay, I know I'm. I can't help anymore, so you all should make sure that they can get the art. Hermes.

[Lexi]

Yes. Okay. Yeah. Oh, my God, that's brilliant. Oh, my goodness. Let's go to Hedotis, the Isle of Hedion, AKA the Eye, the God of wisdom. This aisle was a trip, that's for sure. First off, Zane's mom.

[Nicole]

What?

[Lexi]

Okay, I had on my bingo card. I had on the bets list that she's in the Isle kingdoms. What I did not expect is that she'd be a.

[Nicole]

We wondered if we were going to meet Zaden's mom, but dang, I did not expect that encounter. Do you think she's going to come back into play in the rest of the series?

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I think so too, because besides their encounter on the Isle, it didn't feel like it served a bigger purpose moving the story along. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but it was kind of like. And then that plot line is closed, and then we just keep going. So I wonder if it was more of a setup for what'll happen with her later.

[Lexi]

I. I'm leaning towards the latter. If it was just a one and done, I'm glad that Zayden honestly got that closure, especially as he's.

[Nicole]

I guess I'll call that closure.

[Lexi]

I'll call. I'm gonna call it closure. He's like, ah, you're. You're an evil. I don't like you. I really don't like you. And then he went off and just did his things. But I don't think so because I see all of the aisles coming back in as allies. Maybe not all of them, but I'm gonna say the five bigger ones for sure. I can only give Zayden's mom this. Talia, what the Oscar performance of the century you deserve. My God. She knew for weeks that Zaden and co were coming because she was hoarding chocolate to give him his favorite cake. And when she first saw him, you never would have guessed that. Like, wow, we get so much insight to her character and way of thinking. More specifically. Specifically from her culture with the, like, whole. Well, you'd only be married to Cat for three years, and then you can do whatever.

[Nicole]

Like, also, you have to produce an heir as well. So it's like, yeah. To have sex with her, like, a few times.

[Lexi]

And Violet's like, no, no, no. And. And Zaden's like, you can write up the marriage contract. It's S O R R E N. Like, I loved that. This also, we can assume, is how her and Fen's contract was made for their marriage. It was so sans emotion, and it just, like. It kind of broke my heart a little bit.

[Nicole]

It. I still have a lot of questions about how this all worked out with the head of Tian Door. Like, my whole argument for her being loyal to Navarre, it's like, wait, how did this happen? Because basically, we're learning the Isles are not as cut off from Navarre as we've been led to believe. As we learned with Halden as well. I mean, I guess that definitely tracks with Navarre.

[Lexi]

What?

[Nicole]

Navar's been keeping secrets from us.

[Lexi]

What?

[Nicole]

No way. Now, she did not know that her son was going. Going to be poisoned. That was a shocker to her.

[Lexi]

Yes, true. But she'd been hoarding cake so she could give him chocolate cake.

[Nicole]

And Satan's got two little brothers.

[Lexi]

I know. So all the brother and sibling for the shadowing maybe was not with Bode. We'll get to that later. It was more so with him and his little half brothers. Oh, that. Like the moment where he was like, yeah, she stayed here and built an entire fucking family. That was heartbreaking. Oh, my God. Let's get to the poisoning party. Because we had to read this part. Like, I remember you and I stopped in the hotel. We went back a chapter in the audiobook and. And reread this because we were like, whoa, what just happened? Because of all the back and forth and back and forth. One thing we loved about this book is that while we're in Violet's head, we see the beginning of an idea take hold, and then we, as readers are shut out from the other 90 of that idea until we watch it play out. And that's exactly what happened with the dried Aaron mint. I loved that scene. Oh, my God, it was so good.

[Nicole]

Me too. It's like we get a little glimpse into knowing that something is up, but then we get to experience it in real time. And I know we've already said this, but I just love seeing Violet really take ownership. We haven't talked a whole lot about that except in our spoiler free section here, but she just owns this book. She steps into her own as a leader. We like, for instance, with aura and the challenges against the flyers. And then, of course, end Devarelli and here, of course, as well. And just all throughout the book, she is that reluctant leader. And of course, then we get to the end where she is certainly a leader in a totally different way, which we'll talk about later. Like you're saying, I love when we get that glimpse for an fmc. I have read a few books, one series in particular that I'm not going to share here, because that would be spoilery, where we have no idea what the main character is thinking. And then all of it's kind of like, laid out at the end. And it's like, what I would have liked to at least have some kind of idea that you were up to something here. Like, it's kind of like.

[Lexi]

Wait, wait, what?

[Nicole]

Like the carpet's ripped out from under you.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicole]

And this. It's like the breadcrumbs are there where you. It makes you lean in versus have no idea what's coming.

[Lexi]

Well, and I feel like you're trying to figure it out along the page. And it's just. It's delicious storytelling. And that was just all over this book. And I. I'll even say it's a little bit in fourth way, because, like, she. She has that moment where she's like a fool with fondly berries. Like, and she starts her poisoning tactics. And like, we do get to see that. And then Ironflame, it really did take a back seat because her whole world flipped upside down. It's not a. It's not a diss on her character. It's. If she was in that kind of I'm in control, confident state that we see here in this book, it would have been weird storytelling. So having that bridge book into now, seeing her not only with the confidence, but the badassery and the intelligence that she has, it was fucking amazing seeing that play out.

[Nicole]

We also saw it a lot at the beginning of this book, too, where there were little breadcrumbs about how she was going to be a traitor and how Mira was off on a totally different mission. And we figured it all out. You know, it all came together somewhat quickly, but there were several chapters where it's like, I don't entirely know what's going on.

[Lexi]

Like, Kara's letter. You have three days. Exactly.

[Nicole]

And we were just, like, thrown right in into the story. And Rebecca trusted us to figure it out, and we trusted her to share it with us very soon.

[Lexi]

All right, let's go to my personal favorite aisle, the Hall Nia. This was perfection. I do not remember laughing so hard in a book in this. Like, this was so funny. Everyone's gift was outstanding, with the exception of1. I 1000%, though, believe that violence, its quote unquote, broken compass, is going to come back into play at some point. There is no way the God of luck, Zinal, a gift from him, would not come back into play when our character needs some luck. Do I know how? No, because I'm assuming it's still in the box of nothingness, which is now holding a sword at Xaden's bedside table. But it's not confirmed that it's still in there, so we didn't really see it for the rest of the book. I have a feeling, I think that.

[Nicole]

They were just joking about it, so it'll be interesting to see if it actually came back.

[Lexi]

I think it's going to. I have a few ideas, but I'm gonna save that for the deep dive as to how it might come back into the story. I loved. Side note, Drake getting broccoli was one of the best things. Dane getting slapped, though.

[Nicole]

We have to pause. Yes. Okay, first of all, we have not mentioned this yet, but Drake and Mira.

[Lexi]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Nicole]

I love how they're, like, already like an old married couple, and Reddick is like, all the parents, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Lexi]

Yeah, I love, love it.

[Nicole]

And yeah, Dane getting slapped was the best thing ever. And we've had several of our listeners reach out and be like, the moment that he got a hand, they're like, all I could think was with two hands. And I was like, oh, my God. I didn't even think about either.

[Lexi]

Oh, my God, like, the full circle that he used his hand to cut Violet's face this entire first book. And the fact that he gets slapped in the face is so delicious. I loved Dane this book. Like, I absolutely adored him. And his character Garrick getting a rusted bucket was amazing. And then Trager, he gets an arrow to the chest and the heart, which was an immediate mood killer.

[Nicole]

Yeah, that's sober deception. Oh, geez. We're still laughing.

[Lexi]

Somber, somber, somber. My heart broke for Kat. She was finally giving. Getting over the. I'm not going to say getting over Xaden. It was really getting over the. I love lost this metaphorical crown, and she was finding a partner who really cared for her. And then he died. That was so heartbreaking. At least they, you know, got like 40,000 soldiers out of it, which I. I have a feeling the majority of these soldiers are going to die. Like, there's no way they're going to be okay.

[Nicole]

Yeah, that just sounds like Venin food to me.

[Lexi]

Oh, man. But then they're sad. Let's go to an abandoned isle. And then. Oops. A pr. Guys, we got the Irids. Going into this book, Lexi had a passing theory that Andarna would make it to wherever the seventh Dragon Den is, and then she would find them all dead, and Andarna would truly be left all alone. And she would realize she is truly the last of her kind. And somehow, somehow this was almost worse. Meeting them and then them rejecting her. Un freaking real sad. And Darna is something I do not know of if I could do. Like, that was heartbreaking. They left Andarna behind as a criterion, which, by the way, I had to look up that word because I didn't know what it meant. It means a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided. And according to them, her bond with Violet resulted in the failure of that judgment. And yet, even with how devastating this was, this is actually one of the chapters I am most looking forward to for the Deep Dive for so many reasons, one of which is in the slidey noise. I am absolutely getting a slide whistle for that part of the Deep Dive. The battle brief is basically going to be a musical number. I'm so excited. But the Irides being this peaceful species that was not on my bingo card.

[Nicole]

And how they're all feather tales. I've always wondered about the origin of their weapon tales and we why they're all weapons. And I'm thinking they manifested during the Great War for the first six because it was of such a necessity. Still very curious about them being the weapon that defeated the Venin, because I am absolutely convinced of that. At first we were like, oh, no, they. They did deny that. But then I went back through and I reread that part. No, they said that there is no cure for the Venin. Whenever they were asked about being the weapon or something along those lines. They did not confirm or deny it. They would kind of sidestep that question. And. And they don't want to help them.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah. No, I think you're dead set onto something. Yes. And I can't help but think about the first book. We got such a death war, murder. It's all regularities. Right. And then book two was the Griffin flyers coming in and opening up that scope of vision for our main characters that this is not the only way. It has to be like, you guys are the death factory. And now we get the full other side of that spectrum. But with this group of dragons that is so set on so, so much. They're so set on peace, so much so that they're like, let the venom take over the world or take over the continent. Let them drain it fully. Let them die out on their own. And then we get to restart. I couldn't help but think of, like, Noah's Ark. I'm like, oh, my God. This is. This is like the restart of the world, basically, is what they're. They're suggesting, at least for Navarre.

[Nicole]

Yep. And I love Andarna's line where she says, says quote, you preach peace while only having known its privilege. It holds so much meaning to it. And it makes me wonder how things are going to unfold with the Irids and if that privilege will be taken away. That truly sends them into action. Yes. They did go and light the flame for Orisha with their wards, which does make sense for them because they're like, this is a small thing that we can do to help ensure the peace. But for them to be that weapon. Or do they consider themselves that weapon? Because I don't think so. So I'm so curious. And again, there is some kind of connection. Not connection, but they are able to make Zaden's eyes go red. I was like, did he drain? But it immediately faded, so that must mean he did not drain, because that would not have faded away. And it was like their connection with him, the bond with those slidey whistle that was like it ignited the venom part of him. And I'm sure that has something to do with all of it.

[Lexi]

I don't even know.

[Nicole]

My hand motions right now are crazy.

[Lexi]

No, I love that we don't know. And I'm so excited to figure out maybe 10% of it, because I don't think we'll get much further than that. It does make me wonder if, at the end of the series, will all dragons choose to have feather tales, no matter their den. It's basically after conquering the Venon, because that has to happen, right? It's like all dragons decide to incorporate this element of peace, but also still bond writers. So it's almost like the. It's the best of both worlds. Before we move into the third chunk of this book, we have to highlight Riddick's character development in this. Specifically in the second part. It was not on my bingo card to have so much Riddick in Onyx Storm. His 3D character development was one of my favorite parts of this book. I mean, he could literally freeze something from. He did. He froze a wyvern from inside out in Reese POV chapter. Like, he was one of my favorite additions to Quest Squad and getting the whole, like, quote. Just because I like to crack jokes doesn't mean I'm not serious about reading the same shit you do. We really get to see Riddick as this highly intelligent individual and also being really fucking funny. I loved it. And him and Violet it are so similar. I enjoyed them so much.

[Nicole]

That's so interesting. I saw it more as he puts his all into what he does. Yes, he is smart. I don't think in the Violet kind of way.

[Lexi]

No, no, no, no. It's more like he enjoys learning. I think you said it perfectly. He. He puts all of what he is into what he does.

[Nicole]

Yes, yes. And he may be laughing as he does it, but that doesn't correlate to his effort or his genuine care hair. And I think that's a good lesson for a lot of us. I've always kind of joked about how my husband is really similar to ridic, and I'm pretty sure he has said something along these same lines as well. And in fact, when I got home from our little staycation, I was like, honey, Riddick had such a good book. I love him even more.

[Lexi]

That's really cute.

[Nicole]

You know, Riddick may have a common signet, but he leverages it to his advantage in a unique and badass way. Again, he takes what he's given and he elevates it so much so because he cares and he puts that much effort into it. He knows knowledge is power, so he reads to learn more and prepare himself. He may be the jokester of the series, but he has so much depth and dimension, and I loved seeing that in Onyx Storm. He is really one of my favorite characters, and not just because of all of his laughs and jokes, but because he is is who he is. I just. I just love him so Much.

[Lexi]

Well, and like, there's that moment where he's like, him and Iotram are doing their like back and forth and Iotram basically sprays him with a bunch of water. And Violet's like, you guys are weird. And he's like, maybe we're not. Maybe you all are the weird ones for not playing games with your 23 or 20 year old dragon or whatever. Which I love. With his 22 year old dragon. I love that Iotram is in his early twenties. That just makes makes so much sense to me.

[Nicole]

I want their pov. I don't mean to get greedy, but please. You know, we were at first a little worried and suspicious of Riddick back when he was in Bisgaeus and he was insisting on going on this quest squad to the point where it's like, okay, like we're on ven and watch with everybody, like, what is going on with Riddick here? And then he explained himself where it's like, no, like you need someone to protect you, like you need someone to be with you, like we need to stick together. It's like, Riddick, I love you so much. Let's round out this episode as we finish the book back at Bisgaeth and then we go to Arisha with our segment three here.

[Lexi]

Some rapid fire word vomit, I'm gonna call it from Buzgaev at Savinia, which is where the queen of poor meal, Quinn Mariah, was sadly killed. There were four Riders and six crates of alloy that were just sent delivered from Navarre to help poor Emile in this fight. And the Venin switched straight to the armory where all those six crates of weapons were and just took them all immediately. They were not even given the time to be distributed. Now it is kind of sus that General Melgren is the one who sent the missive to Queen Mariah letting her know that they sent four riders and six crates. Which side note, these six crates is much more than the standard two that they have at an normal outpost. And then basically the Venom goes straight there like they're doing a weapons run. What it feels like to me is that the Venom were told, hey, the weapons have been delivered, so go and get the weapons. They went to the weapons armory first. They took all six crates of weapons and then they just demolished the entire city as well. Now Zaden says that Panchak is the traitor in this last chapter. Now Panchak says, quote, this is not what we agreed to. To what did they agree to? Panchak says to Berwin that he is the only one who can give him access to your son. Assuming it's Jack Barlow. Not a real son. And Berwin said, quote, did you not ask for the power I have provided? So Pancheck is a Venin newly turned long term Venin initiate. I don't know. I'm so confused.

[Nicole]

I'm wondering the same thing. I know we're jumping ahead here a little bit, but stick with this. I assume Panchak is not a sage from the way that Berwyn talks down to him, but the way he's threatened with alloy hilter daggers. I mean, any dagger is threatening in and of itself, but that seemed kind of pointed. And then Berwyn kills a green dragon. Which Pantech does have a green dragon. So does Bode, but we'll talk about that later. And it seems Berwin's point in killing a dragon is to force the writer to have to draw a lot of power in order to stay alive. So I don't think we learn what ends up happening to Pancheck because then that's when Zaden channels. And from what I can initially gather, Panchik is not mentioned again. There are multiple dark wielders who are killed. The wyvern are killed. Berwin's unconscious. Something happens to his brother. I think he's like pushed to the side or something like that. So Panchec is not mentioned. Does that mean he does die from his dragon dying since he did not have the opportunity to channel? Or does Zaden kill him and he's just not important enough to be mentioned on the page? I don't know if he's a Ven. And I feel like he would be.

[Lexi]

I think he would. I think he would be like an initiate based off of how Berwin is talking. He's like, did you. Yes. Did I not give you the power? So from what it sounds like, it sounds like Berwin, for lack of a better term, taught Panchak. Hey, here's how you draw from the source. Here's how you become. And it also makes so much sense because going all the way back to Fourth Wing chapter, like three, Tara mentioned to Re and Violet that Panchak sees the role of commandant as just a stepping stone for him. He eventually wants Meld's job. He's a power hungry dude.

[Nicole]

If he was mad that Atos got the job instead of, you know, commanding biz guy, even though I know that's not Melgren's job, but bear with me here. And that is what spurred him to.

[Lexi]

Do it, I could totally see that. Oh, that's good. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

If anything as we talk about. Is Daddy Ho's a Venin? Is Panchak a Venin? I don't feel like they're working together, at least.

[Lexi]

Rapid Fire thought. Why did it take the sign flyers so long to get to bisgaeus? I am 1000% in the camp that signe cygnisan. All them sus. Super sus. They are top of my list of you could be Venon. Yes, yes, you can be. Because I cannot get Zayden's POV bonus chapter 27 at fourth wing out of my head. The wards fell just in time for Signe Flyers to swoop in. So I think that there's a lot more Navarre and traders working within Navarre to take down the ward extensions. For instance, in Montserrat giving signifiers who, yes, I also believe are working with the Venom because it's super sauce. How they relate to msg. Ample access to the outpost, which, if that is true, then they may have just let in a whole slew of Signe Venin flyers into Best Gaieth. And now there's a huge hive mind of Venin working within Best Guy. The enemies are in the walls.

[Nicole]

Bad. Bad.

[Lexi]

This bad.

[Nicole]

Retweet. Let's go to Orisha, because we have way too much to talk about for these last 16 chapters.

[Lexi]

All right, it is time to discuss it. Violet's second signet. We had a list. We had lists on lists. We had an entire episode of lists on lists for possibilities. And dreamwalking was less than 150 words of that outline.

[Nicole]

I mean, are any of us surprised?

[Lexi]

Yes, I am surprised. I am surprised. I'm genuinely shocked.

[Nicole]

For those of you who stuck to your prediction that she's a dreamwalker, you get gold star. We even first drew this as a possibility for Violet second signet during our Iron Flame deep dive. But it always seemed to be her dream because sometimes Taryn and Andarna would be in it, and it always seemed to point to it being her dream. Like we had evidence. I can't wait to go back through and reread and compare, because again, I thought we used evidence to scratch this one off the list.

[Lexi]

Yeah, same. But I. I did not see this coming in the slightest. And I'm not gonna lie, I had a little bit of denial for a second. Not, like in a bad way. Like in a. Just a. Oh, my God. I have to wrap my mind around this. But after sitting on it, I have 40 million fucking questions still, which I'm not Gonna lie. I did not think I would still have questions about Violet's second signet and how it works after this book. We have been in so much pain talk trying to figure this out and now after a year we have a little bit more information and then we now have to wait a lot longer for book four.

[Nicole]

Can we also just say it's not until chapter 50 that we get this, like we are reading this book and it's like, okay, where's the second signet? Like, the only reason we knew it was coming in this book was. Well, first of all, I'm pretty sure that Rebecca has teased it. Yeah, but, but because we were aware, we did not see it, but we were aware that the ending of Onyx Storm and Violet second signet was spoiled on TikTok and we were like, nobody go there. So it's like, okay, it's gotta come up at some point.

[Lexi]

Like it was one of those where it was like, wait, what? Like, because it was, it was figured out rather quickly and I, I, I do think that we have just seen the tip of the iceberg with this dream walking second signet. Because one of the Irids says, quote, and you, our very hope, have handed this human something far more dangerous to wield, haven't you? And yes, Xaden says she's extremely dangerous because she's able to basically stroll into anyone's dreams and you know, because when they sleep, their shields are down. Which, speaking of which, it makes a lot of sense that this is finally how her second signet begins to exercise itself because when she's a sleep, her shields are also down. When she's awake, her shields are up, basically blocking any mind sign that she has. But I, I start to think about like, okay, wow, how can the signet be trained to live up to what this Irid is saying being something so dangerous for her to wield? First up, I think she'll be able to awaken Lee, walk into and stroll in and out of anyone's dreams and interfere like Zaden was saying. I also can't help but think about the SpongeBob SquarePants episode where he goes into everyone's dreams of Bikini Bottom, including Gary's, and just messes with them. And I'm like, so Violet is SpongeBob SquarePants?

[Nicole]

I didn't think about that. But yes, yes. Oh my goodness, I'm in the same boat because I can see how valuable it is for her to be able to go in while people's shields are down and all of that and how that really is a whole new level of catching people when their guards down. I do wonder because with her going into these other dreams, she still needs information and she still needs to kind of like know what's going on. And Nicole, you and I, we both have dreams. We still have our waitress nightmares, right? And I guess that could be informative for her because it's like, oh, hey, now I have her resume kind of thing. And I know what keeps her up at night apparently. But besides that dreams are not a direct correlation to exactly what is going on in someone's mind. So I wonder if there is that added element to it. And of course she can also interfere. I think that was a little glossed over when that is going to be very pointed. And then there's also the added level of the Venin when he was in Zaden's dream. We can assume it was Aiden's dream that she was walking into. And she even makes note of like, wow, this is a really up to date dream here kind of thing where there is more. More to it. And I was even wondering like, maybe there's some kind of precognition associated with it. You know, Marin's family, they did end up getting burned after she saw this dream of her family's portrait going up in flames. So I think there is definitely more to it than her simply walking into other people's dreams. Maybe that is hopeful thinking for us. But again, if that means that she is that dangerous, then there is some kind of manipulation, some kind of awareness of being able to tap into their innermost fears, their innermost wants, all of that kind of stuff. Exactly.

[Lexi]

So Marin even says, like, that used to be my worst nightmare. And we can strongly assume that Xaden is actually. No, I think he even says it in Iron Flame that this is his worst nightmare. So maybe it's not even so much as just going into dream dreams. She can actively go into someone's worst nightmare, which then I could see that being an added character struggle for her to overcome. Because is that similar to Verish in that way? That would just be so fudge with her head. And I. Then I also can't help but think about like, what about daydreams? Now people's shields would need to be down, so there is that extra element. I have to wonder if that was what the throne scene was. Was it Zaddy's daydream that she strolled into? But I. I don't think so because it was all in italics. And when she's in his dreams at night, it's not all in italics, but I need the throne scene to make sense. I need it. I need it.

[Nicole]

I was gonna say I love the idea of daydreams, but I do think that the throne scene was what he was actually experiencing in the moment. So nice try trying to tie this back to the throne scene.

[Lexi]

I, I But then I also can't help but think about, like, her on in the Isle Kingdoms when she is able to tap into her power. But then also she has a dream with or she's in Zaden's dream, I should say when Indarna broke the bond, which we'll get to in a second. Like, there's so many added things where.

[Nicole]

I'm like, this can't be all of it.

[Lexi]

Like, and I don't think it's book three. Of course it's not. But I'm a little bit like, I have to wait again in order to figure out more about this. Like, I'm halfway happy to do so. I love this book series. And yet I'm still like, I was like, I say, I am so excited to see where this goes. I feel like this being a, and I quote, form of intrinsic means that I should get half points. What do you think, listeners? Please let us know.

[Nicole]

No, no, no. We even had an agreement that I've sat on it. We would be loose with the titles if we both honored it. And I'm sorry, this does not count.

[Lexi]

We'll see if book four tweaks it a little. Because I'm, I'm still not convinced. I'm still not, not even, not that I'm not convinced that she's a dream walker, but more just not convinced that that's, that's the whole pie. Like, there's, there's more to it that I'm really excited. This is something that I will for sure still be digesting dusting for quite some time. And more and more that I sit with it, I'm like, oh, my God, this is really cool. For instance, and I think you brought this up in the hotel, seeing Zaden's dreams from far away and like, that being the connecting factor to her. And I even, I think I actually wrote this later. But what if that's how she gets the marriage scene, is she sees his dreams and that's how she finally is able to put that together. That, oh my God, this is what happened in those 12 hours that are dismissing.

[Nicole]

Well, I'll get to how I think that she'll learn about it later. But yes, I think that her being able to See, Zaden's dreams as he's a Venin is going to really come into play here. I'll admit right now, the second signet of being a dreamwalker, it's like, okay, I mean, just like Rebecca said, it's a tiny bit underwhelming. But I wholeheartedly trust there is going to be a clip clear reason why this second signet. There is so much buildup around it both in the story and for Violet and for Andarna and for all of us readers. We're not just like setting a whole bunch of expectations on it because Rebecca's not going to make this big signet, something underwhelming and then just move on. It is going to play a key part in the story moving forward. And I'm so excited to see how that all unfolds and for Violet to figure it all out too.

[Lexi]

In that same vein, we need a place for the signet to grow to. If it just suddenly was this epic show stopping signet, it wouldn't have any of the elements. Like for instance in Iron Flame, when we learned that she wields pure power, not just lightning, it's pure power that takes the form of lightning. She's able to create it in her hands. We see that very often in Onyx Storm. We need that same kind of growth and development of this next signet and it's going to come up in ways that we can't even fathom as a fandom. So I'm so excited.

[Nicole]

We can't forget. I kind of mentioned this earlier, but we can't forget how vividly accurate these dreams are. I don't want to say it's precognition, but I could see these dreams being more than just dreams. I'm still muddling over exactly what that could entail.

[Lexi]

It's story dreams where. Because when you read a dream in a novel, in a fantasy book and whatever, it's not just a dream, it is some kind of foreshadowing. So yes, she's walking into people's dreams, but because we are in this world that we are in, it is going to have some kind of foreshadowing effect.

[Nicole]

I think it's more to that because of the Venin communicating with them in the dreams. Oh. I think that we also know that Venin have signets. Right. Which is a whole other topic that we're. I don't even think we're going to be touching here today. We are under the impression that these signets develop for the higher up Venin. The Longer and longer that they are alive. Remember, these Venin are essentially immortal, as we're told, and they are able to hone this power into substance. Right. So we have the Storm wielder. We have essentially distance wielding between them as well. And they can have multiple signets. Apparently, again, we're a little iffy on exactly how that all works. So what if they are or some of them them are dreamwalkers as well. And that is how Violet is going to be able to literally communicate with them inside of the dreams.

[Lexi]

Oh my God. That's good.

[Nicole]

She's able to manipulate and essentially be separate in the dream.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, oh, that's good. Because we know from theophany at the very end that she is the dark wielder equivalent of Lilith Loren Gale. And so there is most likely a dream Dream Walker Venin equivalent of Violet.

[Nicole]

Yes.

[Lexi]

Oh my God, you're brilliant. I love this.

[Nicole]

Would that technically be Berwin then?

[Lexi]

Maybe. Maybe that's. That's a. I'm gonna look out for that on the deep dive.

[Nicole]

All right, sounds good.

[Lexi]

Let's talk about and Darna breaking the bond. I had Segale at the top of my list. I don't even think Aunt Darna was at the bottom. She wasn't on this list at all. I did not cry at the end of the book. Book. I wept like a baby during this part. And then Violet dealing with it was just the twisting of the knife. I love how Taryn took care of her. He was always keeping her mental pathway open with her, letting her have full access to him at all times. Like he didn't want her to feel alone. And that was just, oh my God. And I was fully in the camp that, oh my God, we're not going to see Andarna until book four. In fact, I was so convinced that when Violet Dream walked again after Indarna broke the bond, I was like freaking how Again, it goes back to. I feel like there's more to the signet than we can even comprehend and truly just add that to the list of shit that's going to keep me up at night until we get book four.

[Nicole]

The only thing I can think of is how the Irids are magic in such a different way than the other dragons. The same rules don't apply. But what else does this mean? I have so many questions. And again, I do wonder too. This bond is so intertwined with Tar and that because she is still bonded to Taryn, there is still like that little piece of the bond with Andarna. Almost like a shadow of it that still keeps that pathway open. But again, I don't know. And that's kind of the point, is that their magic works so differently. You're not supposed to be able to bond two dragons, but she was able to because she is Irid, because she is magic in a totally different way.

[Lexi]

But then Andarna comes. Comes back at the very end, and that was just the best surprise. I was so happy.

[Nicole]

I was not expecting that. Like, I even had to do a double take with, like, wait, did I just read Andarna's name? She came out of nowhere, and we had literally no further explanation. Yeah, literally out of nowhere. She would have barely had time to travel to the Irid Den, especially needing help with such long flights, because I think it was, what, about a week or so? Don't quote me on that. But it was not that long of a time at 10 days. So I bet she was on her way to the aisles, and she knew that she couldn't leave Violet, or she felt something between them when Violet used her signet and knew their bond was stronger than being able to be broken like that. And she ultimately chose Violet instead of the Irids, like, it was a surface level broken, but their bond is too deep to actually be broken. And when it dawned on her, she's like, violet is the most important thing for me. I can't do this to her.

[Lexi]

But in Darna came back with Irids, because at the very, very end in Violet's POV, this is the. After 12 hours later, it says, quote, a shape moves in the shadows to my right. And then Indar immediately says, I will not let them burn you. So she came back with others. Like, what did she do to convince.

[Nicole]

Them to come back?

[Lexi]

Yeah, this was one of the things on my reread that I was like, wait, holy.

[Nicole]

What? I thought Andarna was referring to, like, the other dragons, because Violet is in a little bit of a predicament of a situation because Zadin is being accused of being responsible for killing dragons, riders, and stealing eggs. And she's kind of associated with that, so I thought it was that. No, but you think it's actually referring to the Irids being there and. And Darna not letting them burn Violet for her associating with Zay, because she.

[Lexi]

Says, I will not let them burn you. And it's right after the shape moves in the shadows to my right. And because the Irids are Chameleons, for lack of a better term. Yeah, like, I 100 take that as like, a shape. Like, whether it's Leofin or someone else, like, moves in the shadows and she's like, don't worry, I won't let them burn you. It's almost like. And Darna went off, took control, and then not in, like, a bad way, but like, she was like, we will rise up to go help Navarre. And then they all came back. I don't think it was that easy by any means. But I. I don't think it's also them not burning her because of her association with Zaden. I think it's them not burning her because they blame Violet for Indar failing her quote, unquote test because Violet turned, quote again, quote, unquote, turned and darn it into a weapon. So she. And Darn is almost like, you are under my protection. Let's move on to Theophany and Berwin because I am honestly shocked. Shocked. We have touched on them a little bit, but, boy, do they deserve some page time on here because Theophany quickly skyrocketed into one of my favorite villains. Definitely my favorite villain in the series, Loki. Sad. She desiccated and died. But I love the extra twist that it was a stone dagger made of the temple of Dune that she can't go in. Which, again, why Auric Signet is outstanding because he knew the temple needed to be saved. Saved in order to eventually kill Theophany. I mean, oh, my God, I can't wait to deep dive this series. I'm sorry. This book. I'm so excited. While we were reading, this name was so unique. So we looked it up and Religion Watch is back. I guess because her name is a visible manifest, it's spelled a little bit differently, but it's a visible manifestation of a deity or an encounter with a God in a tangible form. For a high priestess, this makes a lot of sense. Sense. Now I can already feel the theories are coming that are like, she's a physical, sentient manifestation of Dune. And I don't think I'm going to completely take that off the table yet, but I'm leaning away from it. I'm still not fully on the. She's the. The gods are sentient beings in this because I really do think she is a high priestess who went widely wrong. And then because she was devoted to Dune, Dune basically cut her off from any and all things religion. And hence why she was not able to go into the temple until the temple killed her and the temple went into her is what happened.

[Nicole]

Yes. Because once when you're dedicated to the deity, in this case, Dune. It does involve some kind of magic. I love this new introduction to a different kind of magic. We, like you said, we're on the record of saying we thought that the deities were just a cultural thing, part of world building. And I'm so curious to see how this really opens up and how they play a bigger role in the magic system. For instance, when they are dedicated and there's some kind of magic involved that turns their hair silver. A lot of people on the aisle had silver hair. It's a regular practice there to dedicate to the gods. Is that their kind of magic? Because there's not supposed to be magic on these aisles. So, yes, it's not directly related to being that a descendant and an incomplete dedication means partially silver hair. And Theophany was a high priestess who wanted more power. She says something along the lines of, why serve a God when you can be one? Yes.

[Lexi]

Oh, my God, I can't wait to talk about her more. She's amazing. And she also was a Maven, so that. That somehow just. Even though it said multiple times, it just was completely over my head on the first read. And then finally, it's time for Sage. Not a Sage, but actually, actually confirmed. Sage Berwin. Did he lie and say, I'm not a Sage, I'm a general? Was he just, like, a little bitter?

[Nicole]

I don't know. Yes, because in Iron Flame, he specifically said he is a general, when, you know, he was, like, laughing, ha. A Sage. No, I'm a general. And Mavens are the Venom's generals. So he never specified that he is a Maven, but he did say he's a general. General. And we deduced from what we knew that generals equal Mavens. So I'm genuinely confused how he is being referred to a Sage in Onyx Storm when it's clear that he is not a Maven. He is a Sage.

[Lexi]

This is one of those where it's like, Rebecca, I. I need you to settle a debate for us. Like, can you just please answer this question?

[Nicole]

Maybe when he got thrown in. Into the ravine, he got demoted.

[Lexi]

Oh, well, no, that really quick side note is, as I was doing my reread this morning, Theophany says to Violet, she's like, I can't wait to take you to him. It's something like that. I'm paraphrasing slightly. So while we did not see General Darrymore on the page, in Onyx Storm, he is still in play. He is absolutely still in play, even though he is not berwin yes, exactly.

[Nicole]

So he is not Burwin like we had initially thought, but he is the guy pulling way more streets, we think, at least.

[Lexi]

I think he's back in the huddle and he's just. He's the queen bee. He's the queen bee back in the huddle. He lets the minions go out and then bring stuff back to him.

[Nicole]

Yes, there was some line, and I can't remember exactly where it was or how it was, how it was in the story, but Theophany says something like, there are so few of us who can do this or something to that effect and. Or there are very few faster than.

[Lexi]

Or something like that.

[Nicole]

Yeah, yeah. Where? And she, like, kind of laughs about Berwin, like, oh, yeah, he's. He's just a sage. Like, he's nothing. And I think that, yes, there are very few. Those are like General Daremore. Yeah.

[Lexi]

So I also love that we learn in this book that if you. A sage and another sage, are you a maven and another sage or something? Like, anyone who's in a position of. I have pupils under me, if they have. Have their eyes set on the same pupil, then the pupil basically gets to choose between, like, this is the voice. Like, I swear to God, this is the Venom voice, and I love it. We know when Zaden says, quote, my sage, and this the mystery new Venom brother, who we'll get to in a moment. They are on Berwyn's voice team, and Theophany was trying to get Violet on her voice team, but she died.

[Nicole]

All right, a few more rapid thoughts here before we get into the big cliffhanger.

[Lexi]

I was shocked. We did not get a major, major death in this book. Now in Los Angeles for Rebecca's book tour, Booktok for Booktok, got a video of Rebecca saying that, quote, someone you love won't make it regarding book four. So that's gonna be on my mind throughout this entire deep dive. And I already have a list, and I think I know who's on the top of my list of. Of who. I think that's going to be because there's a lot of foreshadowing for their death in this book. We will link this video in the show notes. By the way.

[Nicole]

You know, we probably didn't get a major character death in this book because it's going to be that much worse next book. So she's, like, giving us a little break before really just.

[Lexi]

Yeah, Like, I'll just say it's going to be worse than Mira. That's. That's who I'M thinking it's gonna be way worse than Mira is who I.

[Nicole]

Think I'm worried for Riddick still.

[Lexi]

I'm worried for Taryn now. We did get quite twins death, which was so heartbreaking because we got it in Imogen's point of view, which just was the extra knife twist that Rebecca's so good at giving us.

[Nicole]

It felt so fitting that we got her death from a character's POV where we were right there with her and she was Imogen's absolute best friend and her death wouldn't have been nearly as impactful if it was from Violet's pov. I always loved Quinn and she had the coolest signet, so she had such an honorable send off thanks to it being from Imogen's pov.

[Lexi]

Let's actually take a second to talk about the extra POVs, because at the very beginning of the audiobook we flipped out because there were two extra names dropped at the beginning in addition to Rebecca Solaire and Teddy Hamilton. And we were like, oh my God, are we going to get dragon POVs? Like, we were. We were freaking out.

[Nicole]

I thought for sure we were going to get an Andarna pov. After she left, I thought it was.

[Lexi]

Going to be her making it to the Irids dragon aisle and it was going to be her realizing, like, they weren't what she thought. Or it was. It's like something where she was like starting to realize, oh my God, I've made a huge mistake. And Re and Imogen were really not on our. I don't even think they were touching our list at that point. No, but in such a chaotic battle, it was so cool to see the extra context and how much is really and truly happening on the page. I. I will say I did keep waiting for something really bad to happen during Rhys and nothing really did. And we instead just got to see her be a total badass. And Fierce being one of the coolest dragons ever.

[Nicole]

I loved getting to see Riis POV as a squad leader in battle and how she deals with the responsibility of leadership.

[Lexi]

I loved getting to see how much Fierce trusts Ri. Like, Fierce was constantly asking, like, what are your orders? What do you want to do? And you can really feel Fierce pushing Ri to be the best leader she can be.

[Nicole]

And I love that.

[Lexi]

Yes, yes.

[Nicole]

It was really cool to see the different angles of this chaotic battle, like you were saying, and have more comprehensive insight into all of what was going on. We're always so limited to only what was happening for Violet or maybe a little Bit from Xaden, too. And it was really cool to see what else was going on when it was so sporadic and so spread out there at the same time. I won't lie, Rhys POV otherwise was a little lackluster. Yeah, I kept waiting for something super eventful to happen. And once when it ended, it was like, okay, that was cool. And then I kind of kept moving on with my life.

[Lexi]

Yeah, it was one of those where we were in the middle of just this, like, intense moment with Violet where sometimes taking a breather is really nice, where it's like, okay, get my heart rate set down. And I think that maybe. Maybe that was the intention of it. I think. I think for me, as a reader, on the first read, I was like, wait, no. Like, I. I need to know what's happening. Like, oh, my God. Like, my heartbeat's going a thousand miles a minute. Seeing Riddick freeze a wyvern from the inside out was pretty awesome, though. That was really. Yes, I loved it. Yeah. So I have kind of mixed feelings about that one. But then when we got into Imogen's pov, I was very naive because I was like, okay, like, we're in another pov. It's just gonna be kind of like another little side quest, if you will. And we were. It was awesome to see her badassery. We get confirmation of her second signet, which was amazing, especially given the foreshadowing at the beginning of the book that someone was going to be an earthbender, for lack of a better term.

[Nicole]

Images second signet is so fitting for her. She's down to earth. She's unmovable. She's such a badass. Also, I love her and her dragon. All I could think of was Legless and Gimli from Lord of the Rings. That only counts as one.

[Lexi]

That's exactly what I was thinking. And then we get to Quinn's death, and it was just gut punching. Oh, my God. And her telling Imogen, like, go tell Garrick how. How you really feel. Like, go find your own happiness. Like, oh, my God. And now Garrick's missing, and it's like, oh, my God. I was convinced that when Garrett came into the the picture, we were finally going to get them kiss, or she was going to confess because they could die at any second, and I loved that. While it's not Violet, Violet is waxing poetic when it comes to Xaden.

[Nicole]

Right.

[Lexi]

It's this side of Imogen that we don't really normally get to see, where she was checking out Garrick she was. She's in love with him. And I. I want them to be happy and be okay. Some other rapid fires before we get into the last two chapters. Rx Signet. Holy shit. It makes so much sense. At the idea. We were like, at the hotel, we were spouting off at ideas like, how can this be used going forward? And it's like. I think it was actually you. Lexi mentioned this, like, seeing Halden's death or like, foreseeing Halden's death or even his father is basically seeing himself on.

[Nicole]

The throne and just to twist the knife a little bit and purposefully not trying to stop it for the good of the continent and world, as we all know, what Halden did in the Isle Kingdoms. Although, of course, Aric is really struggling with this sense of leadership. Like, he doesn't want it, but it keeps coming up for him. And so that would have to be a decision where it's like. Like, I have to take this leadership role, really step into it for the good of literally the world.

[Lexi]

I could even see him foreseeing something that Halden does that would. That would ruin the continent where he. Yeah, he's like, I have to step in and do something. And so he takes fate into his own hands and kills him. There's so much potential here. I love it. This only locks in that he is going to be king, because having a king with precognition is brilliant. Brilliant. Oh, Rebecca, you're so smart.

[Nicole]

We thought for sure he was going to be the distance wielder. We are definitely on the record multiple times thinking that. But since we didn't have Garrick having a second signet on our bingo card, we were like, yep, we're so happy. Let's fucking go. Like, I was so excited about how at first, when Garrick has a distance wielding, it's like, oh, what's arc signet now going?

[Lexi]

Well, I remember it was. There's this one moment. It was. It was after he pulls Lynx out of the way to get the door. And maybe it was like the Dune Temple or something. There was a moment in between that where you and I looked at each other and we were like, holy shit, he's a precognition. That was so satisfying. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

I also find it so interesting how Arik seems to have kept his signet a secret. He's been pretending he hasn't manifested it yet because he doesn't want his signet known. I'm really excited to keep an eye on his actions throughout the book as we do Our deep dive to see if there are any hints when he may have actually manifested. Like, was it on the aisle with some magic on it, Possibly in Iron Flame?

[Lexi]

I almost want to go back and read Iron Flame and be like, oh, my God, did it manifest? And we just didn't even notice?

[Nicole]

Yeah, that's interesting.

[Lexi]

It is interesting. That is one of those where I'm like, after I get this book under my belt, that's one of the first things I'm gonna do.

[Nicole]

All right. I think that he's not telling anyone because he does not want this powerful of a signet. He shies away from leadership unless absolutely necessary. Like, he knew he had to be the one to go to the aisles to not have his brother fuck everything up. And this just guaranteed him to be one of the most powerful writers. He wanted to be a writer. He wanted to be powerful. He. In that sense, as a writer, but this is a whole other level. Remember how big of a deal it was that Melgren manifested battle precognition? This wipes the floor with him. There's been so much foreshadowing for the signet, to which I know a lot of people thought it would be violets, but I just love that it's arcs. And he has to grapple with this responsibility and power and inherent leadership that comes with this signet.

[Lexi]

All right, we have to finally get into the cliffhanger of these last two chapters. Let's kick it off with Zayden's POV chapter because. Wow. Wow. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

I don't even know where to begin. I'm still mentally staring at a wall after that ending.

[Lexi]

Well, let's just go kind of like super high level moment by moment from this. He was summoned. He was summoned by his Sage, which is bad. He was forced to walk away from the battle, the mission, his friends, and it was all to trap Sigail. He had no power in denying it, as he admits. And it's just like, oh, my God. Now, what confuses me is that as Sigail is bleeding under this trap, Zayden is being flooded with power as a result, which is, like, why.

[Nicole]

Why I was under the impression it's his angry power flooding. Like, because he is being triggered by her being hurt. And so his power is rushing. Like, how violent. When she gets really emotional, her power comes to the surface.

[Lexi]

See, I read it almost as. As if her power was being drained out of her and drained into Zaden as a result, and put into Xaden as a result. That's how I Read it.

[Nicole]

Because Berwyn was planning to capture these dragons and kill them because. And make Zaden have to turn.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Even more so. Yeah.

[Lexi]

Yeah. Well.

[Nicole]

And that is why he wanted to Gail. But I think that her being injured, I think that was just him being so injured, angry that this was happening to her, that it's making his power inside of him feel uncontrollable. Just like how we see with Violet when she's angry. Yeah.

[Lexi]

I might want to reread that section because I think we interpreted it differently. And that's okay. Hal Berwin kills this dragon with a knife. With a knife? How? How? Now, it's an alloy hilted knife, but, like, what?

[Nicole]

That's the key. It's an alloy hilted dagger. So that means that these alloy hilted daggers can kill dragons. If it's one of the only things that can kill Venin, it absolutely makes sense that it can also kill dragons. No one would have ever dared try to do that before.

[Lexi]

No.

[Nicole]

And so now we know how else to kill dragons.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nicole]

It's very concerning.

[Lexi]

It's extremely concerning. And I don't think we're done seeing that yet. And I don't like that. All right, let's go into this new sibling, this new brother that the Venin now have to use against Zayden. Zayden, I reread your POV multiple times, and I have a note for you. Pronouns are great. We love pronouns. Nouns are awesome. Names are great. It would have been awesome to know a name.

[Nicole]

I think he's almost, like, in such shock that he can't even speak it out loud. Besides the fact that Rebecca is just, like.

[Lexi]

Now we know it's someone who knows what he's been through for the past five months. So it's either Bodhi or Garrick. I've been seeing a few people being like, what if it's Riddick? He's missing towards the end of Dane. I've seen that. But this is someone who knows what he's been through for the last five months. So I think that right there is confirmation that it is either Bode or Garrick. But we'll parse through that more on the deep dive. We. I think both are in the camp that this is absolutely Bodhi for first. Bode was the decoy brother to bring them when they all knew they wanted Jack. And they're like, let's just bring Bodhi instead. And be like, you misinterpreted it wrong. And then theophany was like, quote and yet you didn't bring the brother we wanted. Berwin will be disappointed. All of the brother mentions of how closely they look, they could be siblings. It's all foreshadowing for this version of brother. It's just brilliant. Oh, my God. And then the epigraph in Iron Fox Flame quote after Liam Bodhi was and still is the closest thing that I have to a brother. Perpetually tagging along a step behind. Also, also, Bodhi and Zaden were fighting about Bodhi wanting to drop out of school and be at Zayden's side in Oracia. And Zaden was like, no. There is so much foreshadowing that puts Bodhi in this will always follow in Zaden's steps role.

[Nicole]

And also, a lot of people were already wondering if Bodies was going to be a betrayer because of the song that represents him that Rebecca said. And the lyrics are like, oh, this is a little concerning.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Also, when Bodhi was trying to counter the Venin's signet, he couldn't. And it turns out that he could not counter Venin's signets. Like he. It only works with other humans, other writers. So it's almost like he fell short of this super powerful signet that he had. So what if he turned so that he can now technically counter Venan signets as well?

[Lexi]

Okay. Going completely differently. What if now that he's turned, what if he does go full bad guy? Venin? That means the Venin now have a signet counterer on their side. That's bad. Like he can use that on Violet.

[Nicole]

Yeah.

[Lexi]

Okay, well, let's talk about the other option. And that is Garrick, because he is missing from the last chapter. So a lot of people are wondering if this could have been Garrick. I'm more in the camp that I was actually in the camp that maybe Garrick went to go look after him. But then you said that about the eggs, and I'm like, that's it.

[Nicole]

That's.

[Lexi]

That is my headcanon. That is where he is. He could be anywhere. He's a distance wielder. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

Right now he was pretty much almost burnt out, like when he was with Imogen, he was not going to be able to do much more distance wielding. So we don't know exactly how that works or what. Obviously after a little bit of time he would be able to do it again, especially in that 12 hour window there. But yes, very concerning.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

I really want to reread Imogen's chapter ending because that's the last time we see Garrick and Bod on the page. At least I think so. Again, I need to do a reread here. And when Zaden draws from the source and does his crazy shadow magic magic, he sees Imogen. So I want to map out where everyone is when, because I'm convinced that the answer is there.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah, I think you're right.

[Nicole]

And I am like 99.9% sure it is Bode who turned. Although I will say that would be kind of an obvious answer. And Rebecca likes to be like, okay, so this is what you think, but. But I'm going to make it this instead.

[Lexi]

We then have to move into the next part, which is to save Sigail. Zaden pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls and sends everything into darkness, killing a lot. And it's just bad. We know that he killed a lot of Wyvern because that's what he sees. But I wonder if it is just Wyvern. We know that multiple riders are dead along with their dragons. Now that would be a really tough look for our morally gray turning, very dark gray guy. And there are also six dragon eggs that are missing. That is what concerns me the most. But I'm again, from what you said earlier, this is feather tales because they're baby dragons. When they hatch, feather tales can give their gift away. So what if the Venin have feather tales in their possession? If that is where they are? Like, I'm terrified.

[Nicole]

I'm still holding out hope that Garrick took the eggs to the aisles because Zaden told him to do that to give them a chance to fight against.

[Lexi]

The venom no matter what. I don't think Zaden would have married Violet, like, given her Tyrandor. That is a very sane decision, which I will get to this in a second. That is a very sane decision. And then immediately be like, well, let's steal some dragon eggs now. Let's go unhinged. So there is this epigraph in chapter 26 that says, quote, in the first 24 hours of removal from source magic, the subject and Asam presented as even temper tempered. Garak is missing within the first. And this and the dragon eggs are missing within the first 12 hours of Xaden. This would be Zaden 12 hours into being mildly even tempered, if that's what we can call him. So if that is the case, then I don't think he would have stolen people eggs, killed people. So I definitely think he told Garrick to go do something with it. I think you're absolutely right. Now we get this polling. And this is not the I reach we get from Iron Flame. This is paragraphs and paragraphs and of him pulling and pulling and pulling and losing every ounce of his soul that he has left. Almost every ounce, I should say. I loved this storytelling. He turned to save Violet in Iron Flame, but he fully turned to save the other most important woman in his life, and that is Sigail. Oh.

[Nicole]

Which as terrifying and horrible as the whole sequence is and just mesmerizing, it's like.

[Lexi]

Oh, it is really sweet. Now. Now back to this epigraph, chapter 26, because I want to go back to this 24 hours being even tempered. Because what else did Zaden do in these 24 hours? He did a wedding. He had a wedding with Violet, which. What? He did so. With someone who owed him a favor. I couldn't figure this out. But you piece this together really quickly.

[Nicole]

Yes. The priestess from the temple that they saved, Zaden, told Violet in chapter 55 that she, the priestess from the Dune temple, is in his debt and owes him whatever favor he sees fit.

[Lexi]

Continuing with this epigraph, though, from chapter 26, quote. But the withdrawal quickly revealed the subject's true nature, requiring the subject's immediate transfer to stage two of the study. Her results can be found with group 33B under category death by fire, and then subsequently group 46C under the category death by poison.

[Nicole]

This. This is extremely concerning. I am going to go on the record and say I do not think Zaden was killed.

[Lexi]

No, no, no, no.

[Nicole]

Because that is certainly seems like it could be, whether by fire like Sigail, or poisoned by, like, Violet. Maybe Violet was supposed to kill him by poison, like after they got married. And he was like, this is what needs to happen. But she couldn't do it. So he left and she ensured she couldn't remember.

[Lexi]

Yeah, I'm gonna go with that one. I'll get more of that in a second. Because the last line of Satan's POV chapter is, quote, we're airborne in less than a minute. The last line, including less than a minute. Cruel, Rebecca Yarrows cruel. And then 1212 hours later, we are back in Violet's POV and Da Da da da, da, da da da. She's married. Married Maui. My mind has been spiraling for a day and a half, thinking how this went. Like, were they happy? I highly doubt it. Was she heartbroken at the altar? Were they. What was the emotions? Who was there? She did. She knows Aiden would immediately leave, I'm assuming. Yes. And she was so heartbroken that she had Imogen wipe her memory.

[Nicole]

When Riddick was talking to Violet about, what is your line? And she said, my line is, when he hurts me. I don't think Zaden would be like that, because when he's with Sigail, like, he's trying to. To do this for. For the good, and he knows that marrying her, like, he knows that he's gone. I don't think we got to do this.

[Lexi]

Like, I think it's an emotional hurt, like, he's leaving. Oh, yeah.

[Nicole]

No, I think it's like.

[Lexi]

Like, that is my line. When he hurts me. And him leaving and breaking up with her in death, like, is. That's the line. And so she's like, wipe this from my memory. I cannot live with this.

[Nicole]

So. So you mentioned. How are we going to get that memory? Dane. What if Dane can retrieve it? Sloane even mentions how he's so powerful, so I wonder if he can counter Imogen's signet again. Magic likes all things in balance. But Violet also seems to have made the choice not to remember. So will she. I'll say, want to remember it?

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Or will she get it back and then be like, shit, yes. I was not supposed to remember that. I wish I did not remember that. And then she's gonna have to rip. Really live with that. But I think that Dane is the key here.

[Lexi]

Maybe I'm smelling what you're stepping in. I can be convinced. I definitely think she's going to get the memory back somehow, whether it's through Zayden dreams, like we were talking about earlier. Now, what will be interesting with the Zaden dreams if that does happen? How to decipher what's real and not real? How will she be able to do that? How will she manipulate it if she does? Like, will she. I. I don't know. I genuinely don't know. But, like, I do not see a world where we do not get this wedding memory, at least in bits and pieces.

[Nicole]

Somebody from our discord. And I'm so sorry, I can't remember who it was mentioned. I need all the fanfics of this marriage, and it's like, oh, my God. The fanfics that are going to come out of this.

[Lexi]

Oh, my God. But that's the thing is, like, it's going to be heartbreakingly sad because yes knows what he's doing, and.

[Nicole]

Yes.

[Lexi]

Oh, I don't know if I'm ready for. I. I'm. This next book's gonna wreck us. Oh, my God.

[Nicole]

Where are we at in that W of yours, Nicole.

[Lexi]

Oh, we're in the boom down downward spiral.

[Nicole]

But I mean, technically, Arisha is saved.

[Lexi]

Yeah, technically. Technically, it is. You know what's not saved? My heart, Lex.

[Nicole]

My heart's not saved.

[Lexi]

We also have a chapter header about Xaden walking away. He says, says quote, you might be angry when you realize I didn't wake you to say goodbye. It's only because I no longer fully trust my ability to walk away. Now, this is recovered correspondence From His Grace, Lieutenant Zaden Ryerson, 16th Duke Tinger Door. Yada yada. We don't know when this was written. So what if he saved her letters? Or he gave her letters and he knew she was going to have her memory wiped, so.

[Nicole]

Oh, and he's been writing because he's known that he's going to turn and so he been writing her letters. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Lexi]

Yeah, well, okay, that actually brings us perfectly into this ring, because you pointed out brilliantly that there's a missing stone on the sword of Tyrandor. When did Zaden make this ring for Violet? Because it was. It was made for a while when they were back in Orisha. In part three for runes. In this section, three for rune's rotation, Violet notes how she sees the sword inside his box of nothingness. And quote, it's missing a single stone near the top, but looks no worse for wear. Acting been in Navarian's possession for 600 years. So I'm guessing when he left Bisgaeth and went back to Orisha, that is when he started putting all of these in motion. And he got her a ring. He made it. He probably started writing letters. Ah, yeah.

[Nicole]

He's been preparing for this for a while. Again, like we. We knew that because he's always been like, I'm not going to give up. But he's also a realist where he's like, this is not going to turn out well for me. So I am going to enjoy the borrowed time that I have while not giving up either. And this was part of it. But at the same time, we can't forget about him priming Bode either as his heir. So how that relates back with Violet, him knowing that she would be taking over for him if they were married. So knowing that Bode has turned learned now, doing this with Violet is his last only option. Yeah.

[Lexi]

Yeah. Oh, my God. Ah, this hurts. Then we get the real, real hurt. And that is the admission that it was Imogen who wiped her memory of the last 12 hours at the Barnes and Noble book release. In Los Angeles, Rebecca said that the last page is her favorite in this book because she had it in her head when she was writing Fourth Wing, she always knew where that storyline was going. And. And so finally getting to write it was like, yes. And I love it. I love this twist. I'm heartbroken. My mind is spinning. I'm dying to know what those 12 hours were, but, my God, this storytelling was such a good cliffhanger. Brava, Rebecca Yarros. Brava.

[Nicole]

Really and truly. I mean, it was so good.

[Lexi]

Like, I.

[Nicole]

Like, I'm heartbroken by that ending, and yet I can't stop smiling at the same time, because of the storytelling.

[Lexi]

We.

[Nicole]

Even when we were reading it, we looked at each other at one point, and we're like, oh, like, they're definitely gonna be getting married. But we thought it would be book four. Have you seen a running theme here? And for that to happen at the end and the way that it happened, it's like, it was so unexpected. And at the same time, it's not a surprise because it's like, of course that's how it happened.

[Lexi]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Nicole]

And that's where it goes back to. This book was so unexpected, and we saw so much new character development while characters were still being very true to themselves. That was something that Nicole and I struggled a little bit with in the last Acotar book that we deep dove. And this just. It feels so good to be back here. Just like, ah, why did you do that? But at the same time, I understand why you did that.

[Lexi]

Yes, we had a feeling that Zaden was gonna leave and have this. But this.

[Nicole]

Especially after that epigraph.

[Lexi]

Especially after that epigraph, yeah. But this extra twist of married and she doesn't remember how it happened is just. Oh, my God, it's so good. It's so good. Before we wrap up this episode, let's move into the famous bets and the way they turned out because. Oh, God. So first and foremost, who will fall asleep first at the hotel? Lexi gave up first.

[Nicole]

So it was 7:30 in the morning, and I had been sick, and I have children, and I do not get to sleep like you do on a normal night. So, yes, I am proud of myself for lasting until 7:30 in the morning.

[Lexi]

Too bad you still lost, and I got to wake you up in any manner I deemed fit. And I will post that video somewhere on the Internet.

[Nicole]

For the record, Nicole did have my permission to record me sleeping, so. All right, bet number two. How many times will Zayden pull from the source? Nicole Thought three or more times, and I thought, maximum of twice. Yeah, Nicole definitely won that one, like, by a mile. I knew I was toast by chapter.

[Lexi]

Four, which means Lexi's next Christmas theme is spongebob squarepants.

[Nicole]

May I just say, I loved my bet for you on that one. And I'm so sad that you did not lose because you would have not been able to cuss for an entire episode. And every time you cussed, I would have gotten an extra hour of babysitting. That was my favorite one.

[Lexi]

Number three, where is Zayden's mom? Or where is she from? I obviously thought the Isle Kingdoms. Lexi thought she was loyal to Navarre. The amount of people who are like, end of chapter 33, I screamed for Nicole. Thank you. Thank you very much. So Lexi has to take a shot of whatever our Dragon Rider slash Iron Squad choose to deem fit for Lex Maxi's. Nice. Nice pipes.

[Nicole]

I know you all are gonna choose.

[Lexi]

Malord already, and she has to do it on a live Q A. That sounds like a great February live Q A event. I love it.

[Nicole]

Goodness gracious. All right. It's okay, because I came back at you with this one. Where is Papa Sorrengail's research? Or where is it supposed to be? Nicole thought that it was supposed to be in Violet's room, and I assumed that it would be in his study or office space. And I clearly won on that.

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Which means Nicole can't use any heat or styling products on her hair. All she can do for a whole week is wash and brush it.

[Lexi]

If I look like a toe, that's your fault.

[Nicole]

I don't care. That's not my problem.

[Lexi]

I'm just gonna wear it braided back like I'm Katniss Everdeen for a whole week. That's what I'm doing.

[Nicole]

I don't know. That's not included in the washing and brushing.

[Lexi]

I didn't say I couldn't wear a hat. You never said I couldn't wear accessories series. All right, let's talk about the amount of sex scenes for Onyx Storm. Lexi, would you like to clarify what a sex scene is? And you have to do it word for word what we decided in the Throne room in our Discord channel.

[Nicole]

It has to include an orgasm, and it has to be not necessarily multiple pages, but it has to be very explicitly on the page and go on for a little while.

[Lexi]

But it is not only it, like, solely is intercourse. It can be fingering. For example, you're banging counted.

[Nicole]

Yes.

[Lexi]

Finger banging. Counted. And yes, we know that you can have sex without having an orgasm. This is romantasy, though. They always have an orgasm. Give us some credit, especially with Zaden Ryerson.

[Nicole]

I mean, my goodness, he would never leave his girl hanging.

[Lexi]

So I thought it would be more than three sex scenes. Lexi thought it would be less than three sex scenes.

[Nicole]

I almost won that one. I was like, oh, my God, they are real. There's barely anything going on in here. And then that final whole man, the shadows, that was so right next to Nicole was little, like, I don't know.

[Lexi]

Don't look at me. And we decided that if it was three on the dot, then our hair stylist Whitley actually won this bet, and she won it. So, Whitley, you get to choose both of our shades of hair. And I'm actually. I think I gave her permission to choose my accent shade as well. The next time we get our hair dyed.

[Nicole]

All right, number six is Naolin a Venin. Nicole thinks that Naolin is a sage or higher, and I think that Naolin is an ASM level or lower. We did not find out about this whatsoever. So nobody won this bet, which is.

[Lexi]

A bummer, because this was the drive through with the spiciest scene that the Discord could possibly come up with. And I'm a little sad, but we'll save that one for whatever book four is.

[Nicole]

I will say, however, there was a lot of foreshadowing for Naolyn both, I think, with him turning Venin, with the whole scene with Dane and Sloan and Brennan saving Mira and how Sloan was so scared because she didn't want to become a Venin. And I think that's like her not doing what Naolin did do. And then, for instance, like, the first love, the passcode for Papa Sorrengail's research, we were like, oh, my God, what if it's Naolin? Because the six letters fit. It turned out to be I'm sir. However, was it Mira who said, well, Brennan was with a writer who was a few years older than him.

[Lexi]

Well, and also I want to point out that going back to that Dane and Sloan scene for one second there, because I didn't mention this when we were covering this. Oh, yeah, there's that line where Sloan is touching Dane and she's like, I don't want to hurt you. And Dane says, oh, you most definitely, definitely will. I'm like, oh, my God. Like, that to me, was like romance foreshadowing between the two of them.

[Nicole]

I did not catch that at all.

[Lexi]

I was.

[Nicole]

I thought you were Going to be talking about the rune shaped scar.

[Lexi]

I need to.

[Nicole]

Because they're like, where is that? And it's like it's not there. Which means that it was something very specific between Naolin and Brennan.

[Lexi]

Yes, I know. I'm. Oh, my God. Okay, back to the bets. So no one won. That one does. Miradai is bet number seven. Lexi and I both said yes. Flights of fantasy when we were on their show said no. And flights of fantasy. You won that bet. We have to.

[Nicole]

Barely. You barely won that bet. I think we should get a half point.

[Lexi]

No, we don't.

[Nicole]

I know, I know, I know. That was.

[Lexi]

I don't get a half point for intensive. We don't get a half point for that. The losers us have to wear a funny or embarrassing shirt or accessory provided by the winners during the recording of one of our Onyx Storm episodes. All right. Flight of fantasy. Get your.

[Nicole]

Give us your worst.

[Lexi]

Yes. Don't say that. Don't say that.

[Nicole]

Number eight, Daddy Atos was Slash is in love with Lilith. Me and Kaia said no. Nicole and Gabriel said yes. We did not find out. I was actually very surprised we did not learn more about Daddy Atos again. There's so many breadcrumbs for the going ons at this guy. Like, we got like a little piece of it with Panchak, but there is definitely more to it. Yeah.

[Lexi]

So no one won that one is how we're how we took that one. Number nine, Surrey's silver in her hair means something. So because of the way we learned that the silver in the hair works and you dye it or you fully dye it, there's not really a whole lot of partial dyeing. We did go with the answer to that is no, which means Lexi won that bet and that means I have to learn and perform a goofy tick tock dance chose chosen by Lexi.

[Nicole]

So excited. Nicole's also being mean and she's like, oh, it's a good thing I'm the.

[Lexi]

Winner of that one. I got a third of a dance degree. I'm sorry.

[Nicole]

Heard of a dance degree. Oh, dear. This one is hurting. Zaden will be cured in Onyx Storm. I get negative points on that one. I said yes. I was being hopeful. I was like, yeah, okay. I went with the usual like, oh, we think that this will happen in book four, but it'll actually happen in this book.

[Lexi]

You know what else will hurt? The orange theory class that you now have to attend with me because you've lost that bet.

[Nicole]

You know, they finally stopped calling me because I did a millennial thing and I ghosted them because I was not supposed to be on their promotional list when I called them to give you credits for your Christmas.

[Lexi]

Welcome back to the list, baby. All right, number 11, the seventh dragon den has rider. Woof. Lexi said no. I said yes. Yep. Lexi absolutely won this one. So that means she gets to pick out a ridiculous travel day outfit for me to Romanasy bookcon.

[Nicole]

Yes. I'm so excited.

[Lexi]

If you make dragon onesie, I swear to God.

[Nicole]

Oh, that's so cute. You think it would just be a dragon onesie? I will say I have to be the one traveling with you, so I have to be willing to.

[Lexi]

To be next to you. And you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna constantly be like, hi, Lexi. Hi, Lexi. And I'm gonna make sure they know you know me.

[Nicole]

It's funny because our husbands are also traveling with us. And sweet Brett, your golden retriever of a husband, will be like, oh, honey, you don't look that bad. It's good. It's fine.

[Lexi]

Do you want me to wear it instead?

[Nicole]

Lyra turned Venin specifically. Although this wasn't dead necessarily part of the bet. Nicole thought that the silver haired Venin was going to be lira. I said no. Nicole said yes, and we are going with no.

[Lexi]

If it wasn't theophany like I, I, that was who I was. Right. Or dying it to be. So I'm. I think that it is a fair assumption. Yes.

[Nicole]

All right. I was really scared there with the lightning wielding. I was like, oh my God, it is actually lira. But nope, I won that one. Which means Nicole has to record an entire segment of an episode speaking in a ridiculous character voice chosen by me.

[Lexi]

Number 13 is Daddy Atos partnered with the Venin outside in a bar. Lexi said no. I said yes. We did not get full confirmation on whether or not that is true. So we went with a no. 1 for that one. So that is gonna be, I guess, pushed to book four.

[Nicole]

All right, Violet, second signet. I was thinking it would be something along the lines of a knowledge Weaver. And Nicole thought that Violet was an intensive. And Nicole does not get points on this.

[Lexi]

No, I. I'm taking it to you all if I get points. If you. If you think that I still get half points.

[Nicole]

Half points. No, Tell me we already made this decision. No, I sat on it more. You were way too surprised for it to be a dreamwalker. That it's like, nope, sorry. Does not count. Does not count.

[Lexi]

Number 15, Violet rides in Darna yet again, I said yes. Lexi said no. The loser cannot say a common word selected by the fan club during an entire episode. So like Dragon.

[Nicole]

All right, number 16, we will meet Naol in this book. I said no. Nicole said yes. I win. So that means Nicole has to wear an aluminum foil hat for her segment recording an episode of my choosing.

[Lexi]

I'm gonna watch a YouTube video on how to make like a beautiful aluminum foil hat that I'm gonna be a crafty bitch and figure out how to make that happen. Number 17, Sigail will break the bond with Zayden. Lexi said no. I said yes. We actually said no one wins this one because there is extremely unclear by the end of this book. So we are going with question mark push to next book.

[Nicole]

What is also unclear is whether Carr is a venin. I'm like 99 sure he's not. But whatever it was not confirmed or denied so nobody wins that one.

[Lexi]

And last but not least, Jack Barlow finally fudgeing dies. Lexi said yes. I said no.

[Nicole]

Hopefully yes. I didn't actually think so, but I know I lost it.

[Lexi]

Lexi has to wear an egg tattoo on her face for an entire day and we're not going to make it a semi permanent one like the Discord was trying. This is not going to be a one to two week. It is for one day. You get a a little temporary tattoo on your on your face for a day. All right, friends, friendly reminder that this coming Monday we have our public live Q and A. It will be spoiler central. So please only come if you finish the book. I hope you have because you're still listening. That'll be Monday, 7pm Eastern Time. Link for the live will be in.

[Nicole]

The show notes and February 3rd is our episode one deep dive where we are covering the prologue blog through chapter six and again, spoilers for the whole book starting from episode one. We'd also love to give the biggest warm welcome welcome welcome to our newest Iron Squad members and you all. We're absolutely honored and so appreciative for how many of you there are. So buckle up friends.

[Lexi]

Thank you so much for joining Iron Slash Quest Squad. Aaron N. Anna M. Shima Amy S. Alina A. Raquel R And P. Deborah Patrice Dawn L. Brittany C. Jennifer B. Heather Wt Josette C. Yudani D. Linam Nguyen Cami L. Jillian Vince L. Grayson C. Ashley H. Kirsten L. Tessa V. Hope M. Karissa C. Tori W. Kiersey S. Beth L. Brenda O. Kate M.

[Nicole]

Scarlett Angela Alicia Caitlin T. Ashley M. Tara P, Darshani P Emily C. Madison A. Jacqueline L, Ashley A, Michelle Kylie B, Jessie M, Amanda F. Jennifer M. Donnelly S. Nikki B, Samantha H. Dallas W. Rachel P. Caitlin H, Kayla C. Ella Mallory W. Emily A, Victoria T. Joyce N, Sarah KS Jacqueline G, Aaliyah Ol Jackie J, Lauren S. Shay Haley.

[Lexi]

K, Jesse D, Carly L, Alina B and Morgan L. Holy shit. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Oh my God. That's the longest list we've ever had.

[Nicole]

I am just so filled with gratitude. Thank you so much. So, so much. I, like words are failing me right now. Thank you for supporting the show. Thank you so much for being part of this community. And if you're like, hey, I want my name shouted out on the podcast and to be shouted with all the love and support too, please be sure to join our fantasy fan club@Fantasy Fangirls.com Fan Club. The link is of course also in the show notes.

[Lexi]

After our 12 week deep dive, the next book series we will be covering is the Kindred's Curse Saga by Pen Cole, starting with book one, Spark of the Everflame in April 2025. You can get the book with the link in the show notes and be.

[Nicole]

Sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok at fantasy fan Girls Pod. We have so much more content on there. We are very active on Instagram stories and we can't wait to see you there.

[Lexi]

And thank you as always to our content researcher, Brooke and of course our executive producer, AKA our sanity manager, our grounder to the earth right now, Hayden. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for all you do. And last but not least, of course share this episode with your fellow Onyx Storm friends. If you are waiting for the deep dive and you're eager for any morsel of Onyx Storm content and you have that friend who is too, this is the episode to send to them so we can all freak out together.

[Nicole]

All right, friends, we will see you on Monday, January 27th and we will see you on February 3rd for the deep dive. Bye Bye.

[Lexi]

He's still in jail. Does that help? Well, as far as no.

[Nicole]

If he is because they brought the rope, a tussin chest and then Pancheck has a son and I ripostone chest rubitussins of medicine. We are officially on the struggle bus. I have been on the struggle bus for days but Nicole is now on the struggle bus.

[Lexi]

She took me down with her.