Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengale was preparing to become a scribe and live a quiet life among books and dusty documents. But her mother is a renowned general, and she will not tolerate weakness of any kind. So Violet is forced to join hundreds of young people striving to become Navarre's elite—dragon riders.

However, there are only two exits from the Basgiat Military Academy: graduate or die.
Death stalks every cadet, because dragons do not choose weaklings. They burn them. The cadets themselves will also kill to increase their chances of success. Some are willing to kill Violet simply because she is her mother's daughter, such as Xaiden Riorson, a powerful and ruthless wing commander in the Horseman Quadrant.

Meanwhile, Navarre's war is becoming increasingly difficult, and soon Violet will have to join the fight.