
Red swordtail · Dain Aetos's dragon · a nasty piece of work when he's worked up
Cath
A violent red bonded to the most rule-bound rider in the quadrant — which is either irony or the entire point. The dragon barely gets a scene of his own; the rider he chose gets the rest.
Dain's red swordtail, and the mount carrying the signet that breaks the series' first big trust — retrocognition, the power that read Violet without asking.
The mismatch · Who chose whom
A violent breed picked the boy who plays it safe.
Cath is a red swordtail — the aggressive, powerful line — bonded to Dain, the most rule-bound rider at Basgiath. The dragon is nothing like the man, and the books never quite say whether that's irony or the whole tell. We've decided it's the tell.
What he channels · Retrocognition
The signet's Dain's. The cost is everyone's.
Through the bond Dain reads recent memory through a touch to the face — quiet, deniable, and the exact power he turned on the girl who trusted him blind. Cath is the engine; the betrayal is the rider's. The dragon just carries the man who couldn't tell protecting from controlling.
His people
The rider he carries, and the trust his rider broke.
Swipe to meet them all
The File
- Breed
- Red swordtail — the violent, powerful line. Sharp when provoked.
- Rider
- Dain Aetos. Violet's oldest friend; squad leader, then wingleader.
- Signet channelled
- Dain's retrocognition — reads recent memory through a touch to the face.
- Notable
- The dragon of the boy who read Violet's mind for his father.
- Status
- Alive. As load-bearing as his rider's worst decision.
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