The Dangerous Gift

The Dangerous Gift

Cover artist	Joy Ang
Published	March 2, 2021
Page count	336
ISBN	9781338214543 (hardcover) 9781338883329 (paperback)
Preceded by	The Poison Jungle
Followed by	The Flames of Hope
Chapter Index
Prologue • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • Epilogue

The Dangerous Gift is the fourteenth novel in the Wings of Fire novel series and is the fourth book in arc three. It features Snowfall as the main protagonist.

Blurb

The #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling Wings of Fire series brings all ten dragon tribes together at last -- but one queen is certain that her kingdom will only be safe on their own, behind a wall of ice.

Snowfall didn't expect to be queen of the IceWings at such a young age, but now that she is, she's going to be the best queen ever. All she has to do is keep her tribe within IceWing territory, where it's safe -- while keeping every other tribe out, where they belong.

It's a perfect and simple plan, backed up by all the IceWing magic Snowfall can find. That is, until a storm of unidentified dragons arrives on her shore, looking for asylum.

The foreigners are completely strange and, Snowfall is certain, utterly untrustworthy. But as she escorts the miserable new tribes out of her kingdom, Snowfall is forced to reconsider her plan. Maybe she can only keep her tribe safe . . . if she's willing to risk everything.

Plot

Prologue

The prologue takes place days after the LeafWings and some SilkWings escaped Pantala. Swordtail awoke, recalling the previous day’s chaos: two armies at the river had set the Poison Jungle ablaze, and while under the othermind’s control, he searched for Cricket but couldn’t find her. Seeing Blue asleep, Swordtail moved to wake him, but the othermind seized his mind again, deliberately blocking their reunion. Though it couldn’t read his thoughts, Swordtail clung to hope that Cricket and Sundew had reached the Distant Kingdoms, found Luna, and would return to save him and Blue.

Blizzards and Buried Magic

A few days after the LeafWings and some SilkWings fled Pantala, Queen Snowfall received a report of unknown dragons approaching her kingdom. She questioned the scout, ensuring no NightWings were among them, and considered possibilities like Darkstalker’s return or a RainWing invasion. Dismissing the scout to recheck, Snowfall was interrupted by Tundra, who reminded her to rearrange the names on the gift of order. Snowfall, reflecting on her burdensome queenship and the losses she endured, resented the gift of order, seeing it as twisted revenge rather than a benefit. She put on her crown, adjusted names like Hailstorm and Permafrost, and, when Tundra questioned her minimal changes, sharply dismissed her to focus on the mysterious dragons. Recalling Tundra and Narwhal’s past roles under Queen Glacier, Snowfall noted Tundra’s resentment at serving her niece. A noise in the courtyard alerted her to a watcher.

Snowfall demanded the intruder reveal themselves, readying her frostbreath. Lynx emerged from the tree of light, jokingly admitting to spying out of concern. She noted Snowfall’s isolation, surrounded only by “old, bossy, mean” dragons. Snowfall boasted about her lifelong preparation for queenship, but Lynx countered that no one expected her to rule so soon. A flashback revealed Glacier on her deathbed, stricken by Darkstalker's plague, urging Snowfall, Crystal, and Mink to avoid a succession war like the SandWings’. Glacier named Snowfall queen, and Crystal left the next morning, fueling Snowfall’s suspicions of a plot. Lynx suggested a break, but Snowfall, paranoid about Crystal, the mysterious dragons, and potential conspiracies involving queens Coral and Glory, rejected the idea. When Snowfall mentioned the dragons came from the western ocean, Lynx proposed they might be from the lost continent and suggested flying to the coast to investigate. Snowfall agreed, deciding to visit the Forbidden Treasury for animus gifts.

En route to the vault, Mink gave Snowfall a small ice-carved mink and nervously asked to sleep in her chambers, as she had with their mother. Snowfall permitted it, emphasizing secrecy to the guards, and revealed a hidden vault beneath her bed. Inside, she took a tiara (the gift of strength), ignored the gift of compromise, and wore an opal ring (the gift of vision), mistakenly thinking it would enhance her eyesight. She also selected pale silver wristbands with diamonds, their inscription promising a surprise for invaders.

At dawn, Snowfall, Lynx, and five guards flew to the coast. Lynx asked if Snowfall slept; she lied, claiming treasury duties and Mink’s presence kept her awake, omitting that the gift of vision wasn’t working as expected. Showing Lynx some animus-touched items, she hid others, wary of betrayal. Lynx mentioned her estate near Among-The-Evergreens, and a guard spotted the approaching dragons. Panicking, Snowfall feared they’d kill her, but Lynx calmed her. From a cliff, they watched the dragons land. Recalling the Battle of Jade Mountain, where an empathy spell revealed her tribe’s doubts and the NightWings’ dismissal of her as a threat, Snowfall felt humiliated. Approaching the exhausted refugees, Queen Hazel introduced her LeafWing and SilkWing tribes, pleading for aid. Snowfall refused, ordering them to leave. Snowfall hears a scream, which is from Bumblebee and Cricket’s mention of HiveWings descending from Clearsight enraged Snowfall. She activated her wristbands’ gift of stealth, revealing her hidden army.

Intimidated, Hazel agreed to leave. Tsunami insulted Snowfall and led the refugees toward the SandWing kingdom, where Moonwatcher and Luna were. Lynx warned Hazel about the Great Ice Cliff, and Snowfall, with ten guards, escorted them south. Leaving Ivory in charge, Snowfall found escorting the refugees a relief from the gift of order. She and Hazel discussed queenship, and when Hazel mentioned the breath of evil, Snowfall mistook it for Darkstalker until Hazel clarified it was a plant. Snowfall advised Hazel to trust no one. At Jerboa’s hut, Sundew reunited with Luna, sharing news of Pantala. Moonwatcher, introducing herself, annoyed Snowfall by saying her vision showed only a beginning. Jerboa offered temporary shelter, and Qibli suggested Sanctuary for safety. Relieved to avoid the gift of order longer, Snowfall joined them. That night, she couldn’t remove the opal ring and assumed palm oil would help.

In a dream, Snowfall experienced being Atala but kept it secret. After interrogating Lappet about SilkWings and LeafWings, she realized the ring caused her visions. Trying to remove it by striking a rock, she only bruised her talon. Lynx confronted her, and Snowfall admitted the ring’s effects. Lynx warned that her paranoia and mistrust could lead to her downfall, then stormed off, convincing Snowfall to hide her struggles. Luna’s flamesilk failed to remove the ring, only causing pain.

At Sanctuary, Snowfall spotted an IceWing fleeing. Using the gift of stealth, she caught her sister Crystal, long suspected of plotting against her.

Sanctuary and Scavengers

Snowfall questioned Crystal about her presence in Sanctuary, but Gharial, mistaking Snowfall’s intentions, attacked her to protect Crystal. Using the gift of strength, Snowfall gravely injured Gharial. Crystal clarified the misunderstanding, convincing Snowfall that she wasn’t plotting against her. Tsunami then invited all tribe queens to a meeting in Sanctuary. As Queen Thorn arrived with Qibli, Snowfall slipped into a vision, seeing herself as Blue on Pantala under Queen Wasp’s rule. In the vision, Blue was tasked with rounding up SilkWings in Cicada Hive for containment until a new batch of the breath of evil was ready, while Wasp, furious about disappearing SilkWings, stationed soldiers, including Blue, to catch the culprit. After the vision, Snowfall and Thorn took a long flight, returning to find Tsunami and Sundew arguing in the town square. As more queens arrived, Snowfall fell into another vision and ordered Winter and Qibli to take her away to avoid being seen.

In this vision, she was Bryony, hiding in Pantala’s caverns. Upon waking, Winter instructed Snowfall to guard the scavenger sanctuary, where the only scavenger, Daffodil (nicknamed Pumpkin by Winter), kept trying to escape. While guarding, Snowfall noticed an odd-colored SkyWing, Sky, talking to bushes, distracting her as Wren freed Daffodil by cutting a hole in the fence. Using the gift of stealth, Snowfall pursued Sky and was shocked when Wren spoke to her in Dragon. During their talk, Snowfall entered another vision as Raven, a Pantalan scavenger, in the abyss. Afterward, she briefly forgot she was a dragon but understood Daffodil’s human speech. Snowfall persuaded Wren to meet Winter and later convinced her to represent humans on Pantala if the queens banned eating them. The queens agreed, and preparations began to send representatives to Pantala: Sky, Tsunami, Bullfrog, Pineapple, Moonwatcher, Qibli, Lynx, Luna, Cricket, Sundew, and Wren.

Walls of Ice

The night before Snowfall’s return to the Ice Kingdom, she experienced no visions. Waking past dawn, she saw Lynx and Crystal, noticing Crystal’s attempt to mask her nervousness with boredom. Snowfall assured Crystal she wouldn’t be harmed upon returning unless she sought the throne, to which Crystal confirmed she had no such ambition. Snowfall then permitted Crystal to marry Gharial. After discussing the queens’ council briefly, Snowfall and her IceWing companions bid farewell and departed for the Ice Kingdom. Flying toward the Great Ice Cliff, Snowfall pondered the threat of the othermind reaching her kingdom and the need for alliances with other tribes. Using the tiara of strength, she smashed a hole in the cliff.

That night, Snowfall used the ring to uncover the fate of animus magic. In her dream, she became Jerboa I, a fugitive from the Kingdom of Sand, witnessing her death, then shifted to Jerboa III, who broke animus magic out of fear of being coerced by other dragons before Luna’s arrival.

Back at the IceWing palace, Snowfall discovered her aunt and uncle had crowned Mink queen in her absence, using a crown enchanted by Diamond to instill hatred for NightWings. Snowfall ordered Ivory to destroy it. Taking Mink to the gift of order, she asked if Mink understood its meaning. Mink replied that those above her were superior, and she was better than those below. Snowfall countered that this hierarchy was flawed, suggesting Mink might excel in math but another dragonet could surpass her in ice sculpting. Shocked, Mink called out affectionately to Polar Bear, the dragonet below her. Snowfall, wondering if she should have explained differently, smashed the gift of order. Tundra, outraged, charged at her but was repelled. Snowfall continued demolishing the wall as Tundra stared in disbelief at the rubble, with Lynx restraining her from further attacks. Tundra then fainted and was taken to her room to recover.

That night, Snowfall dreamed of being in the forbidden treasury with Opal, an animus IceWing. Through a vision as her mother, she realized her mother chose her as queen not merely by default over Crystal or Mink. Waking the next morning, Snowfall found the ring gone. Looking out her window, she thought of the stealth team, with Lynx flying to Jerboa’s beach to join them. She hoped they could defeat Wasp and the breath of evil and that she’d see Wren, Sky, Sundew, Cricket, and the others again.

Epilogue

Raven was observed heading to the abyss to bring food to Vole. It was noted that only she and Mole dared to approach him, as he had previously thrown others into the pit. Vole asked Raven if she could hear the whispers, and she replied that she couldn’t make out their meaning. His demeanor then turned eerie and foreboding, warning that “it” was growing and would soon require a dragon. When Raven pressed for more information, he remained cryptic, instructing her to bring “the dragon” to the pit to save the village, or everyone she knew would perish.

Gallery

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  The exclusive poster that came with the Barnes and Noble version of the book, featuring Jerboa.
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  The Playaway version of the Dangerous Gift
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  A partial version of the Dangerous Gift jacket
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  The Dangerous Gift in French.
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  The Dangerous Gift in Korean.
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  The Dangerous Gift in German.
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  The Dangerous Gift in Russian.