Chapter 25 Summary and Analysis: 22. Briar

Spoiler Notice: This page contains full spoilers for Chapter 25 of Bulletproof (Standard Edition) by K. M. Moronova. Read ahead only if you’ve finished the chapter or don’t mind knowing key events in advance.

Summary

Roman takes Briar on a nighttime motorcycle ride to a secluded mountain peak overlooking a lake. Along the way, they share a rare moment of levity when Sia’s “Chandelier” plays through their helmet speakers, earning Roman’s embarrassed admission that he likes pop music. At the summit, Roman leads Briar to an old picnic table where he asks a piercing question: “Would you change your scars if you could?” He reveals his forearm, a mural of self-inflicted scars and intentional designs, and explains that altering scars alters a person’s story. Briar asks what her scars say. Roman pulls her into his lap, kisses the scar from Callum’s knife, and whispers that it screams with horror—but he can rewrite it. He carves ivy vines into his own medical incision scar using a blade and red powder, calling it changing his story. Moved, Briar offers her arm. Despite the pain, Roman etches matching ivy vines around her knife scar, declaring her story now says she is “bulletproof”—unable to be overcome. Briar almost confesses her real name isn’t Briar but loses her nerve. Their intimacy deepens when Roman admits she terrifies him because she makes him feel again. The conversation pivots to strategy: Roman already knew about the flash drive at her farm and agrees to retrieve it, despite the danger, as part of their mission to infiltrate Sub-Rosa’s gate. Briar teases that she’ll resign if her code name is “Squirt,” and they plan a stop at the grocery store before heading to the farm.

Key Events

Roman takes Briar on a high-speed ride to a scenic mountain peak, playing “Chandelier” through the helmets.
Roman asks Briar whether she would change her scars, then shows her the scarified mural on his own forearm.
He performs a scarification ritual on himself, carving an ivy vine that wraps around an old incision scar, using red powder as a coagulant.
Roman gently lifts Briar’s shirt and kisses her Callum-inflicted scar, telling her its current story is filled with screams and horror but that he can rewrite it.
Briar consents; Roman carves matching ivy vines around her knife scar and tells her the new story: she is bulletproof, cannot be overcome.
Roman admits Briar scares him because he had lost his humanity and she makes him feel again.
Briar almost reveals her true name but stops herself.
Roman discloses he already knew about the flash drive and agrees to visit her farm to retrieve it, despite the risk.
The chapter ends with Briar joking about her code name and asking to stop at the grocery store first.

Character Development

Briar

This chapter marks a profound turning point for Briar. She willingly submits to physical pain—something she explicitly states she hates—in order to reframe a trauma-inflicted scar. The act signals a shift from passive survival to active reclamation of her narrative. Her admission that she is “so fucking tired” of anger reveals emotional exhaustion but also a deliberate choice to seek meaning over rage. Yet her failure to confess her true name even in this vulnerable moment indicates lingering secrets and an incomplete self-reclamation.

Roman

Roman sheds his usual emotional armor in stages. He begins by teasing Briar about pop music, then shows her his scarred body without deflection. He articulates his self-loathing: he lost his humanity, viewing people as objects, and became the kind of man he hates. Admitting Briar scares him “more than anything” is his most direct emotional admission. The scarification ritual is revealed as his coping mechanism—a way to author his own story when he cannot control his past. The chapter also clarifies his military backstory: he led his squad to their deaths deliberately because they were killing civilians, an act he doesn’t regret but carries guilt over.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Scars as Narratives: Scars are explicitly framed as stories the body tells. Roman’s central question—whether Briar would change her scars—recasts bodily damage not as immutable evidence of victimhood but as a text that can be edited, rewritten, or reclaimed. The ivy vine carved over both their scars symbolizes growth entwined with pain, transformation without erasure.
Bulletproof as a State of Being: Roman redefines “bulletproof” from a physical property to a psychological one. His observation that bulletproof glass isn’t called “knife-proof” underscores the metaphor: being bulletproof means being unable to be overcome by any weapon, literal or emotional. Briar’s new scar is meant to tell that exact story.
Isolation and Peace: The mountain peak is described as “bone-chillingly silent” and a place where death stalks—yet for Briar, it offers a deep peace unlike the earlier discomfort of arriving in town. This contrast positions isolation not only as danger but also as sanctuary, particularly when shared with someone trustworthy.
Masks and Names: The chapter opens with helmets that hide smiles and closes with Briar nearly confessing her real name. Roman’s code name in the Icarus group chat (“VI”) and Briar’s assigned “Squirt” underline the theme of identity concealment within the underground world, even as true connection peels those layers back.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the emotional fulcrum of Briar and Roman’s relationship. Until now, their dynamic has been barbed and guarded; here, Roman initiates a ritual of mutual vulnerability that permanently alters how both characters see themselves and each other. The scarification scene literalizes a core theme of the novel—that trauma can be rewritten, not by erasing it but by layering new meaning over it. Roman’s backstory confession also reframes his earlier callousness: he is not merely hardened but guilt-ridden and self-punishing. Strategically, the chapter reintroduces the flash drive and the Sub-Rosa gate mission, tying personal healing directly to plot momentum. Briar’s near-confession about her name plants a narrative time bomb, ensuring the intimacy achieved here remains fraught.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does Roman choose ivy as the design to carve over his and Briar’s scars? Ivy is a plant that wraps around and grows over existing structures, symbolically transforming what it covers without destroying it. By carving ivy vines, Roman enacts the very philosophy he articulates: scars can be changed, not erased. The design suggests that pain can be entwined with new growth, turning a wound into something intentional and even beautiful.
What does Roman mean when he says he lost his humanity and how does Briar challenge that view? Roman explains that after his military betrayal and his time in the underground, he began seeing people as objects or obstacles rather than beings with empathy. He followed orders over his own moral compass. Briar challenges this self-assessment by calmly responding that it’s “a terribly miserable way to view the world,” and her very presence—her tenderness, her exhaustion with anger—forces Roman to feel something he thought he’d lost: fear of caring about someone.
Why is it significant that Briar fails to tell Roman her real name during such an intimate moment? The near-confession highlights the gap between physical vulnerability and full emotional honesty. Briar allows Roman to cut into her skin and reshape her scar’s story, yet she still withholds her identity. This suggests that while she is beginning to reclaim her narrative, she isn’t ready to shed all protective layers—and that the trust between them remains incomplete, setting up future conflict.

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