All the spoilers ahead. Saffron Killoran is six years old. She lives with her father, Joran, and her mother, Mellora, in a house that has been charmed many times by her father. He has cast enchantments so the stairway turns into a slide when Saffron approaches it, bookshelves never run out of stories, the door changes color depending on who knocks on it. When her parents hear a knock on the door and turns to see that it’s turned completely black, they hide Saffron in the pantry - which has been enchanted to hide the sight and sound of any Killoran closed inside except to other Killorans. They beg Saffron to stay inside, and her father leaves a sealed envelope in the desk drawer. When the door bursts open, they see Bloodmoons standing in the entryway dressed all in black except for the gold moons seen on their lapels. They have come looking for a necromancer, but when Joran says there a no necromancers in the house, both Bloodmoons look at Mellora expectantly. Joran had no idea. The Bloodmoons kill Joran, knowing that Mellora will prove them right by bringing him back. Mellora, whose magic was drained by working all day at the hospital, turns to her husband. Their entire house is designed to be pleasing which regenerates their magic. But she needs some fast. She bites her tongue, the pain giving her a small boost of magic like adrenaline. Pleasure and pain: pleasure increasing the quantity of magic, pain increasing the quality. Mellora tries desperately to bring her husband back, but nothing happens. When she sees the handle of the pantry start to turn, she realizes she must save her daughter instead. Mellora stands to face the Bloodmoons, who kill her with a spell, burn their crescent moon marking into both victim’s cheeks, and leave. Saffron stays in the pantry, she doesn’t know how long. When she finally does come out, two detectives in silver cloaks are investigating. One blocks her parents’ bodies from view and tells Saffron that she’s safe. Twenty years later, Saffron is in the academy to become a Silvercloak - the best of the best for detectives. With her there are five other candidates, her competition that have also become close friends. Their final trial is that night so to blow off steam as they wait, they play cards in the brewing lab so the Brewers among them can replenish their stores of tinctures. Altogether there is Nissa, half-Eqoran Wielder of all elements with impressive command over fire in particular (totally the reason she smokes all the time) who recently broke off her clandestine affair with Saffron to “focus”; Tiernan, the very nervous, awkward, talented Healer with a notoriously cruel father in the King’s Cabinet and who is in love with Auria, though he won’t tell her; Sebran, the incredibly brave and moderately talented Brewer who came from a military background; Auria, who’s incredibly talented in enchanting, brewing, and healing, but lacks in creativity, and who strives to follow the rules and become a Grand Arbiter - and who feels the same about Tiernan though she is convinced he doesn’t feel the same; and Gaian, the respectable Enchanter with amazing intellect and the ability to sniff out a lie but who still can’t tell when Saffron is bluffing. And then there’s Saffron, the stubborn, quiet, single-minded Enchanter (or so the Academy thinks) who has been lying for years about her ability. Gaian hasn’t caught that either. The cadets go to their trial designed to show how off their skills and how they work as a team. They draw straws to see who will have a disadvantage during the trial and who will not - to mimic real life as much as possible. Saffron has no disadvantages, but she can tell that Tiernan does. No doubt his father will find a way to punish him for drawing the wrong card, so Saffron convinces him to quietly trade with her, so their moderator does not notice. In the trial, her leg will be frozen at some point while Sebran will lose his wand and Nissa will get different information from the others. The others have no disadvantages. That is all the group knows going into the trial. At the end of this, five of them will become Silvercloaks and one will be cut loose. Five openings for six candidates: one a glorified border guard Carduban that nobody wants, one the coveted spot as an undercover operative in Pons Aelii, and three as detectives as Atherin. That is where Saffron plans to be placed. Atherin is where the Bloodmoons operate from. Atherin is where she needs to be to track them down, eliminate them, and avenge her parents. The enter the trial room to find a mock Augurest temple. Augurest temples are designed to look like an eye with a winding hallway in the center, meaning that if attacked, it easily turns anyone in the center of the spiral into a hostage. The candidates are told that there are twelve hostages held by an unknown number of Bloodmoons. Saffron’s blood boils seeing the two Bloodmoons at the door even though she knows they are just acting. They are to save the hostages with as few casualties as possible, hostages and Bloodmoons alike. They are told what spell to use to mimic death, which turns the victim to stone. Sebran’s wand is taken and Nissa is given information, but while Saffron’s leg is supposed to be frozen, magic doesn’t work on her - a fact no one else knows. So, she pretends her leg is frozen. They’re told that one group of candidates in the past was able to rescue the hostages with zero casualties (so it can be done) and they’re left to decide how to proceed. The others bicker back and forth about how to proceed but Saffron asks what the Bloodmoons would be after. Auria believes this is a recreation of the Temple of Auger Amuilly, and there may be relic wands from the era of the Five Augers stored in underground vaults. Followers of the temples believe these wands used by the right people could show visions of the future. Saffron wonders if they could find a way to extract the relic and lure the Bloodmoons away for the temple itself, but Nissa is tired of waiting. She turns the two Bloodmoons at the door to stone and storms the temple, followed by everyone but Auria and Saffron - who decide to follow their own plan. They levitate to the roof (Auria uses a potion but since magic doesn’t work on Saffron, she takes the potion given to her by Auria and pretends it was faulty, then she enchants a broomstick instead) and make tiny holes in the roof to look through. By that time, everybody but Sebran has been turned to stone, including five hostages and four Bloodmoons, not counting any others in the hallway. Auria whispers that it’s a bloodbath, forgetting that her voice has been amplified for the spectators. A Bloodmoon hears her and shoots the stone spell at her, turning her to stone and shattering the pane of tempered glass she sat on. Auria’s stone body falls to the ground and crumbles to pieces. Saffron has to move quickly to not be hit by the stone spells that the Bloodmoons cast, Sebran takes another Bloodmoon out before getting hit himself. Saffron has hidden the fact that she is a talented illusionist from the academy, she was taught that and other things by her parents - her father in particular. She casts an illusion now to discombobulate one of the remaining three Bloodmoons as the glass below her is hit and shatters. She manages to grab her levitating stick and lowers herself to the ground, conjuring a temporary shield as she descends. As she gets closer to the ground and tries to find a way out of this mess, her shield lowers and she is hit by a stone spell. Of course, it doesn’t work and she hopes everyone thinks the spell missed her. She pushes one of the Bloodmoons back and casts a spell on her boots that allows her to bounce over the other two Bloodmoons, but she goes too hard and hits the wall. The two Bloodmoons converge on her and in a moment of desperation she remembers a spell her mother told her that stops time just for a moment - Mellora used it in the hospital occasionally. Saffron says the words, but nothing happens except the Bloodmoons look at her disgusted. Saffron changes the prefix. She had been using “ans” to indicate that she had honorable intentions, but there is also “don” for elemental work and “et” for casual everyday magic. She goes with “sen” which represents ill intent. Everything around her goes still when she says the words. She takes the three Bloodmoons’ wands and throws them into the far corner, tying up the Bloodmoons’ hands. Then she goes toward the hostages, but she has to know if she was right about what the Bloodmoons wanted. She finds a trapdoor under a rug and opens it to find an empty pillow. She spots another wand in a Bloodmoon’s belt. When she grabs the wand, she sees a vision. Her and a man, both in Bloodmoon cloaks, kissing when she pokes the man in the stomach with her wand and kills him. Wtf? When time starts again, Saffron expects applause from the spectators, but she is met with stony silence instead. Saffron and Tiernan sit next to Auria’s hospital bed as the Healers try to put Auria’s tiny stone pieces back together like a puzzle. It’s slow going. Finally, a detective shows up, Tenebo Jabat, and he commands the stone pieces into position like soldiers. Auria’s body comes back together except for her left ear, which the Healers run off to find. While they wait, Saffron tells Tiernan everything that happened during the trial, including the vision but excluding the fact that magic doesn’t work on her. That will (hopefully) remain her secret. Tiernan doesn’t know what to make of what Saffron saw either. Did Saffron really have a prophetic vision? Foreseers are rare. The Healers come back in and announce that they cannot find Auria’s left ear, they’re going to have to reanimate her without it. Before her friend turns back into flesh and blood, Saffron is called away. Captain Aspar wants to speak to her alone. Captain Aspar is a Wielder and a devout Augerest who believes that the prophecies uttered by the five Augers are the absolute truth. She asks Saffron if she is also a believer as she passes Saffron some tea. Saffron says she was raised a Patron, who believes that a court of saints came together to create the world and all the forms of magic, although her family was never devout. Aspar asks if Saffron believes that the prophecies told by the Augers are the truth. Saffron is walking in thin ice here. The first prophecy by Auger Amuilly said that a new magic would be born, the Timeweavers, and that the crown would delight in the ability to go back in time and change decisions. The second prophecy by Nos claimed that the world would wear thin and break with all the changing of time and eventually, opposing sides would change one moment so many times that that moment and those mages would simply stop existing. The third by Vaurient said that so many would become intrigued by time weaving magic and what it could do for them that only a few would stay faithful to the Augers, but those few would eradicate the Timeweavers for the greater good. Emalin said in the fourth prophecy that the Augerests would be triumphant, but some lines of Timekeepers would be missed, and they would need to stay vigilant for centuries to ensure that the Timekeepers were completely destroyed. The fifth prophecy, voiced by Sarcane, has been lost to time. No one knows what it said. The first three prophecies have already come to pass - the third is the one that Saffron takes issue with. Systematic execution of mages based on their magic is not something she’s okay with. When asked if she thinks Augerests should not be allowed to be Silvercloaks, Saffron says that she believes in religious freedom. Aspar wants to know what Saffron saw when she touched the wand. Saffron claims she saw nothing; saying she believed the wand was only a replica. Aspar asks where Saffron got the spell to stop time, it’s maligned - meaning people are not allowed to use it. Saffron claims she saw it in a magazine once. Funny that Saffron wasn’t affected by the spell, it should have stopped time for Saffron too. Maybe she miscast it. But then, Auria’s potion didn’t work on her either, Saffron’s foot stopped being frozen when it was her against the Bloodmoons all alone, and Aspar could have sworn that Saffron got hit by the stone spell. Saffron makes up an excuse for each of those instances. In truth, she doesn’t know why magic doesn’t affect her. Her father had said he would tell her, but he died before he could. Aspar reveals a secret. One of Saffron’s fellow cadets is a Compeller with false accreditation to conceal that information. They’d been commanded to compel the other candidates in specific ways, but their compulsion never worked on Saffron. And neither did the truth serum that Aspar slipped into Saffron’s tea - and there’s a lot in there. Saffron knows it’s time to come clean. She graduated from mage school at eighteen with a general mage certificate but had not had the talent for any specialties. She hadn’t been worried about it at the time, but while she was attending university, the criteria to join the academy for Silvercloaks was changed and she would not be able to apply without a specialization. So, Saffron doctored her certificate and gave up a small portion of her magic to make the illusion permanent. A portion she will never get back. She explains to Aspar that she made it through enchanting in mage school by her use of illusions since she would have failed if she couldn’t enchant herself. She doesn’t know why magic does not work on her, and she has tried hard to find answers, but magic from any source does not have any effect on her. Saffron also tells Aspar about her vision, minus the kissing part. Aspar thinks that Saffron could be useful. There were only five positions made available to the cadets but there were really six positions open, one is deep undercover. Like, cut all ties undercover. Be made into a spectacle and have all of her lies thrown into public knowledge and then thrown in Duncarzus jail undercover. That way Saffron could come out with a vendetta against the Silvercloaks, gamble away all of her money, and have nowhere left to turn but the Bloodmoons undercover. But to be initiated into the Bloodmoons, you must survive torture, truth serum, and a brand over your heart that will magically kill you if you betray another Bloodmoon. That last one is the reason that Silvercloaks have never been able to infiltrate the Bloodmoons before. All things that Saffron can survive and circumvent thanks to her ability. Saffron would keep her name and would be a Silvercloak in truth, but only she and Aspar would know that. It’s a difficult choice but Saffron says yes. Her future has already been decided, anyway. (Gaian got the other undercover position by the way). One year later, Saffron gets out of Duncarzus and walks through the city. She meets Aspar quickly and gets instructions. She’s to go to a gambling den and spend everything she has (Aspar passes her some money) then go to a loan shark and borrow another thousand ascens. Ascens, currency, is also a magical amplifier. But unlike other amplifiers that are short lived, ascens continue to amplify you until they are removed. The Bloodmoons are obsessed with stockpiling ascens. After gambling away everything she borrows, Saffron needs to plead for a while then sell herself to the Bloodmoons. She’s given ways to contact Aspar though she should not do it often. She can speak through her wand using a specific spell, but she should first say “dragontail”. If Aspar responds “rising”, it’s safe to talk. “Falling” and it is not. If they must speak in person, Aspar will be at a certain bathhouse every Oparling evening. She cuts Saffron loose and Saffron begins to walk to the gambling den, but she is stopped when Nissa steps out of the shadows. Saffron had always heard that those who have mastered fire can manipulate the shadows that fire casts as well but had never seen it done until now. Nissa heard everything and she knows what Saffron is about to do. She asks for specifics and her nails turn into talons, giving credence to the rumor that Nissa has dragon ancestry. But Saffron assures her that this is what she wants and Nissa leaves. As Saffron approaches the gambling den, she hears a huge crash behind her. Three bodies have fallen into the street. Whitewings, a rival gang gaining traction and the Bloodmoons are not pleased about it. These three were mercilessly tortured before being cast into the street. This is what Saffron will face if she’s caught. Two Silvercloaks come to investigate the Whitewings: Tiernan and Auria. Saffron can tell from the way they interact that they’ve finally admitted their feelings for one another. She misses them, but she doesn’t change course. The Silvercloaks are her family, and she will find her way back to them eventually. And now that Nissa knows the truth, she will have someone in her corner should anything happen to Aspar. Saffron goes into the gambling den but heads to the bar first. She gets two drinks that make her feel giddy, almost as if they are enhancing her magic. But that doesn’t work on her, of course. She goes to the card tables first and cleans up, then heads to the roulette table where she nearly loses everything. When she’s alone at the table and about to lay her last bet, the dealer begs her to leave. He had a daughter that got in too deep in the gambling den. He’s sure Saffron can feel the itch already, it will never be enough anymore. He’s not wrong. His daughter refused to pay her debts by dancing and so he is here working instead, and his roulette ball is his daughter’s eye - the only thing left of her. Saffron leaves the table and goes to the balcony to smoke and to think. She ultimately decides to go back in since she’s sure she’ll be offered a spot as a Bloodmoon to pay her debts, her vision said as much, but she hears a scream of agony first. She follows the sound to the alleyway where she sees two Bloodmoons torturing a Brewer. One Bloodmoon holds him down while the other cuts off his hand, then reattaches it, then cuts it off again as he demand information about Nalezen Zares. The Bloodmoon must be a skilled (if cruel) Healer. The Brewer claims not to know anything about Zares and is eventually killed. That’s when the Healer turns around and Saffron recognizes him from her vision. And he knows that he’s being watched. He storms toward Saffron and confronts her. He tells the other Bloodmoon to kill her and get rid of both bodies, but Saffron tries to stop him (blocking killing spells). When the other Bloodmoon, Segal, looks at her, she recognizes him as one of the men who killed her parents. But she can’t let that affect her right now. She tells the Healer that she used to be a Silvercloak and she can get him information on Nalezen Zares. She has to keep blocking spells as she persuades him. Even though they won’t kill her, the spells would alert the Bloodmoons to her ability and then they could just kill her the old-fashioned way. They are not interested in Saffron whatsoever, or what she has to offer them, until she offers to take the brand. No one has done that in years. The Healer makes it clear that if this is some sort of ruse, he will track down everyone she’s ever loved and kill them over the span of years so that she has to experience that pain time and time again. Then he asks for her wand. Before they can continue though, Segal asks if he should take the other body to the incinerator. He uses the Healer’s name. Levan Celadon - son of the top Bloodmoon Lyrian Celadon. Levan and Segal take Saffron to the Bloodmoon headquarters, which is heavily warded. She sees the opulence inside as they take her to see Lyrian. Lyrian is a fan of illusions and makes two illusion dragons fight each other as they arrive. Levan explains why they’ve come, and they give Saffron a truth serum, but Lyrian knows everything already. That Saffron was kicked out of the Silvercloaks. That she was sleeping with Nissa. That Auria and Tiernan are together. Saffron is superfluous, they can make Auria help them by threatening her grandfather, the gelatier. Why would they need a Filthcloak like her. This is not going at all the way Saffron had hoped. Lyrian tortures Saffron with magic, which she pretends works. She did this during torture training at the academy too. When she refuses to beg him to stop, Lyrian explains that fear is so much more appealing to him than pain. Then he mentions how good it was of Mal and Merin, the cloakiers, to take Saffron in after her parents died. Her uncles, who wrote to Saffron while in prison and who she is purposely avoiding right now - she told them she didn’t get out for another six months. Lyrian claims that his most prized gift is his memory - he knows everything. And he wants to know why Saffron would want to become one of them when the Bloodmoons killed her parents. Not that it matters. If she becomes a Bloodmoon and betrays them, she will die and so will those she cares about. If she backs out, she dies and the Bloodmoons approach Auria on their own. Saffron knew, in her head she knew, that her people would get mixed up in this eventually. That she would have to do terrible things to go so deep undercover. She just didn’t realize it would be so soon. And knowing something logically and having it happen are two different things. She tells them if her reasoning doesn’t matter then just give her the brand already. But she needs to prove herself first. They bring in the roulette dealer that warned her away from the table. She must kill him. The man, Neatras, tells her he’s dead anyway so just do it but her spell doesn’t work. She’s forced to slit his throat with her knife, knowing she will never go back to who she once was. She’s never willingly killed before. They restrain her and Lyrian holds the brand over her heart for so long that she passes out. Saffron wakes up in an unfamiliar room and Levan soon arrives with salve for her burn and a fallowwolf next to him named Rasso. The salve helps a little bit since it is medicinal and not magical. Fallowwolves were once companions to Timeweavers before Timeweavers were eradicated and now the wolves have nothing better to do than attack randomly. She’s surprised to see this one seemingly domesticated. Levan also brought Saffron food, but she can’t stomach any of it and requests hot chocolate instead to replenish with her magical well. He transmutes what was already in the cup and Saffron is begrudgingly impressed, it is one of the most challenging types of magic known. He tells her the eye of Neadras’ daughter was returned to the game house after being forced to watch her father die but does not reveal where the rest of her body is. Saffron asks why Levan killed the Brewer in the alley since it seemed like the Brewer didn’t know anything. Levan knew that the Brewer was not the mage they were looking for soon after interrogating him but could not let the mage go and leave a trail that lead back to him. She asks him if he also has a brand and he gives her a non-answer. Instead, he tells her to get ready to pay Auria a visit. She cleans up quickly and dresses in her new red cloak. They head to The Gilded Saint, where Nissa had told Saffron that she would be meeting Auria and Tiernan. Saffron and Levan make a tense deal that Saffron will go in alone without her red cloak, to set her friends at ease. Levan makes it clear again that the Bloodmoons know how to hurt her should she do anything that she shouldn’t. When she enters the tavern, she sees Nissa sitting with Auria and Tiernan and approaches their table. It’s awkward. Tiernan immediately leaves, apologizing to Saffron but his dad would kill him if he was seen with Saffron. Auria is not much better, going to the bar after speaking coldly to Saffron. When they’re alone at the table, Nissa asks Saffron if she’s a Bloodmoon now and Saffron confirms it, which makes Nissa wonder what she’s doing at the tavern. Saffron gets upset and approaches Auria at the bar instead of answering. She apologizes for faking her certificate (Auria didn’t even come to Saffron’s sentencing) and explains that she really wanted to become a Silvercloak for her parents. This softens Auria, but not for long. She refuses to look into anyone for Saffron, regardless of the reasons Saffron gives, and when Saffron asks if there’s any way to change her mind Auria storms out after Tiernan - assuming that Saffron was trying to bribe her. Job well done Saff. She returns to the table with Nissa. Nissa, in her detached Nissa way, is worried about Saffron. When she asks what Saffron needs from Auria, Saffron responds that she doesn’t want Nissa involved - but Nissa points out that she’s already involved. Saffron realizes that Nissa doesn’t even know how involved she already is. Lyrian knows about their affair and Saffron let it slip earlier which of her cohort in the academy did not pass the torture session on the first try, Nissa was one of them. Now Levan knows who breaks easier. She and Nissa “replenish their magical wells” in the easiest way to evoke pleasure… then she tells Nissa who she’s looking for. Nalezen Zares. Nissa agrees to find out what she can about Zares and tells Saffron to meet at the tavern again the same time next week. Saffron leaves and gives Levan a nod to let him know they’re good to go. He quizzes her on the way back to the Bloodmoon fortress. Is Nissa really part dragon? When Saffron says she doesn’t know, he says that he’s read Dragonborn can’t speak about it or their blood will freeze in their veins, so Nissa’s closed lips lend credence to the notion. He recommends Saffron get rid of any persistent feelings about Nissa, no good can come of it. He asks about the others in the cohort, and she tells a little about Gaian and Sebran. She says that one is a Compeller, likely Gaian but she doesn’t know for sure. She figures if Levan can find out, it will be easier to avoid that person, but the way Levan responds makes her uneasy. Like Levan has been saying this whole time, she’s not as clever as she thinks. She needs to start playing smarter. As they walk, they’re jumped by three Whitewings. Levan kills one, and Rasso another, before Saffron even realizes what’s happening. When Levan grabs the third, the Whitewing screams that the Bloodmoons killed his uncles. Levan responds that his uncles tried to rob them - it was nothing personal. The Whitewing yells that it’s always personal and Levan should know that. Levan kills him too and walks away, Rasso happily follows. Saffron asks what that was about and Levan explains that three Whitewings tried to rob the game house. Those would be the three Whitewings that Saffron saw fall to the ground earlier. She asks what the Whitewings meant about it always being personal, but she gets no answer. He seems entirely unfazed by the attack and subsequent murders, but Saffron thinks she detects something there. A tightness in his jaw. Saffron wakes up the next day to breakfast at her door with more salve and a note from Levan saying he will be by later, don’t leave her room. But she can’t stop thinking about the eye in the gaming house. She wants to free the girl. She weighs the pros and cons, figuring that the Bloodmoons won’t kill her uncles if she destroys the eye and she’s okay with them experiencing a little pain. They’d want her to destroy the eye, they would understand. She makes her way to the gaming table, now manned by someone named Venda, and demands the eye. In her way back off the floor, Saffron is stopped by Levan - who saw everything. He wonders why this is so important to her, important enough to risk her family, friends, or self being hurt. She tries to break the glass encasing the eye as she explains that the girl’s father is dead, keeping the eye now is just cruel, but the glass does not break. Instead, Levan grabs the eye. He agrees that keeping the eye is cruel and while many would describe him as such, would even consider him a monster, he does have lines he doesn’t cross. He destroys the eye and it disappears into thin air. The rest of the girl’s body was incinerated years ago. The spell Levan uses reminds Saffron of her dad and then Levan speaks in Ancient Sarthi as a farewell to the girl. Saffron is shocked but Levan reveals that he knows languages most people have never even heard of. Saffron can’t let the pride on his face stand and she’s extra mean to upset him. He tells her to tell no one of what happened with the ye and then leaves. Saffron stays in her room for several days, with meals delivered to her, until one morning Levan makes her bathe. When she tries to climb into the water, the heat reminds her of burning of the brand and she screams. Levan rushes in and cools the water for her. She is at her weakest and he doesn’t flinch away. She wonders again if he was branded and thinks it’s likely that he was, and too young. Perhaps unwillingly. When they walk back to her room, she asks how Levan got a fallowwolf and he reveals that he has Rezaran blood. The Rezaran family were Timeweavers who ruled the country for fifty years, this was the family that manipulated time so much that it made people and moments cease to exist - the second prophecy. Levan says he doesn’t have any of the time weaving ability but his mother, who was descended from a bastard son that was not massacred with the other Rezarans, had a very small amount. Rassa had been hers first, and when she died, the wolf started following Levan around. His mother was Lorissa, whose genius had helped the Bloodmoons grow to what they are today. Saffron insults Levan again and makes him move away, but not before she sees the book he carries. A book series that she loves, which partly got her to speak again after her parents died and she was silent for years. She banks this information to use later. Later, they go together to the docks. Levan explains that they put a narcotic in the drinks they serve for free at the gambling house, loxlure. This is what made Saffron feel giddy – narcotics, not magic manipulation. (Saffron accidentally tells him that the Silvercloaks hate the thought of using truth serum, whoops). The Bloodmoons have a supplier that sails the loxlure to a Vallish port and up the river that leads to the Royal Quay, where they have blackmailed customs officers not to search their holds. But this last shipment had a crate go missing so they’re going to ask some questions. Saffron begins to wonder why he is being so open with her, Levan must have unwavering belief in the brand. She begins to wonder if he’s not right, maybe not even her immunity will save her from the brand. They approach the dock where Lyrian waits with Segal and Vogolan, a Brewer. Before they reach the others, Levan gives Saffron a warning. Do not irritate his father, not even with her little quips. Lyrian will not hesitate to kill her. When they first greet the others, Saffron sees the look that Lyrian gives his son. Full of hatred, if only for a second. They all go together to see the dockmaster who refuses to tell them who took the crate, saying he did not know one was missing though Lyrian insists he must know who took it, because the signs of lox addiction is quite apparent. They pin the man down to his own desk and Lyrian tells Saffron to remove the man’s eye with a letter opener. When she’s done, he binds the man’s soul to the eye before killing his body. Segal and Vogolan are to parade the body around for a bit before taking it to the incinerator. But before they leave, Lyrian slaps Vogolan across the face (he was the one who handled these shipments). A grave insult that says you are not even worth the use of magic. Lyrian says he will handle the shipments going forward. After everything she did and saw, Saffron now feels dirtier than ever. A layer of grime that will never wash off. As she and Levan arrive back at the Bloodmoon compound and prepare to go their separate ways, she asks how he can stand to do this. His emotional strings must be destroyed. He agrees that they’re just scars at this point and points out that the Silvercloaks believe that some people are just evil. Saffron has never believed that. People are not born bad. She brings up the books they both love and asks if the Lost Dragonborn didn’t teach him that already. He’s surprised that she read it and gets excited for a moment but tells her to let such childish notions go if she wants to survive here. He asks if she still misses her parents as if realizing for the first time how strange it is that she decided to join the Bloodmoons, and Saffron says yes. Missing them is always with her and she’s grateful for it because it’s all she has left of them. Levan asks one last question. When she chose the brand, she had a chance to kill his father. Why didn’t she take it? She explains that her well was already depleted when she got the chance. Once she’s alone, she decides to visit the bathhouse and speak to Captain Aspar, but she’s scared that the brand will somehow still work on her. The Bloodmoons seem so confident in it. But she walks to the bathhouse anyway, passing an advertisement for a convention where the author of Lost Dragonborn will be signing books. Saffron sits in the bath next to Aspar’s. Saffron draws a shield around them which Aspar uses to quiet their conversation. Saffron tells about the lox shipments. Bringing in mass amounts of a banned substance and using it in their gaming house is enough to bring the Bloodmoons in if they got raided. But Aspar tells her they need evidence or else they can’t perform a raid. Especially if the Grand Arbiter is corrupt, which Aspar suspects. Aspar orders Saffron to find out when the next shipment is scheduled to come in. Saffron also tells Aspar about Levan’s heritage and Aspar’s eyes light up like a kid at Christmas. She almost praises Saffron and then leaves. As Saffron walks back to the compound, she thinks of a game her father made for her family. Each of them was a raven tasked with delivering a letter to the king, but luck may set you back or grant you a boon. It taught her a valuable lesson about being unable to control everything. Like when she walks back into her room at the compound to find Vogolan. He knows she was at the bathhouse, and he suspects that Aspar was there too. Saffron lies and says that she went to kill Aspar for testifying against Saffron in her trial, but Aspar was gone by the time she arrived. But that’s not all that Vogolan did that evening. He went to see Auria, to “gently” remind her of Nalazen Zares and that Zares should be her priority. Of course, Auria claimed to have never heard the name, even under truth serum, so Vogolan believes that Saffron is a liar. Saffron explains that Auria wasn’t at the bar when Saffron looked for her, so Saffron recruited a different contact instead. This is unfortunate since Vogolan has already visited, and killed, Auria’s grandfather. Saffron feels sick. She liked Auria’s grandfather and she’s sure Auria will discover that she is the cause of his death. Vogolan tells Saffron not to go near Aspar again without permission or her brand will kill her and casually throws a spell at her that should have broken some bones. But Saffron is still unbalanced and doesn’t realize what’s happening right away. She doesn’t throw up an illusion quickly enough to convince Vogolan that her bones have broken. When Vogolan tries the spell again and fails a second time, she claims that she has an invisible shield up that protected her, but Vogolan knows. He guesses that she is immune to magic. She kills him immediately. She turns Vogolan’s body into stone then shatters it into pieces, getting inspiration from Auria. She packs up the small pieces of stone and puts them away, deciding to take a handful every time she enters the city and sprinkle them around. As of right now, the killing spell took a lot of energy and she needs to refill her well, so she takes a handful of Vogolan and heads out to the city. When she passes Levan’s room she hears two men’s voices. The unfamiliar one says that he’s seen a vision, the king’s head on the palace steps. Levan asks if the Bloodmoons are behind it but gets no answer. The man also mentions something about Levan and a lox overdose. When the door opens, the man introduces himself to Saffron as Harrow Claver, the king’s prophet, and he’s clearly been sleeping with Levan, but Harrow clarifies that they aren’t “together.” He could never be tied down, and Levan won’t settle again after what happened last time. Levan pushes him out before Harrow lets any other gossip spill. Then Levan can hear his father call him through his wand. Lyrian says Vogolan is missing and he thinks the Brewer is dead since the tracing charm Lyrian had on Vogolan dropped last night. He blames Levan, asking if he killed Vogolan, and Levan says they can talk about it face to face and in private. Vogolan was one of Lyrian’s staunchest supporters and his death would be a big blow to the kingpin. Saffron jokes for a moment and nearly makes Levan smile before he leaves, without securing his door. Saffron slips in to spy and sees that Levan is incredibly organized with a vast array of interests. She also finds a locked drawer and a ledger that she cannot get into. She decides to leave for town and on the way, thinks about what the Bloodmoons are doing. Do they have aims on the crown? Saffron spends the next two days trying to get information about the next shipment of lox but has very little luck. She and Levan are about to go meet Nissa again when they are beckoned to Lyrian’s office. In fact, all Bloodmoons are called. While they wait for everyone to assemble, Saffron gives Rasso a little pet and he licks her hand. Levan is surprised by Rasso’s affection. Lyrian tells everyone that Vogolan is missing and his tracer dropped. Someone suggests that Vogolan went through the portari gate, but Lyrian says the gate is always watched. He believes that Vogolan was murdered and Lyrian demands that they each drink truth serum to be questioned - Saffron first. They all pass and are dismissed by Lyrian, but he assures them that it won’t be the last they hear about this. Lyrian will not stop until he finds the truth! Lyrian tells Saffron to stay while everyone else leaves. There is a new spell developed by the Silvercloaks that will trace a spell back to the wand it was cast from. He wants that spell. So what if it’s under lock and key and neither she nor her source can reach it, not to mention that the spell itself is unreliable and seems to have a penchant for elm wands, those are her problems not his. As they leave the room, Levan apologizes to Saffron that she’s been roped into the Bloodmoons. He still believes that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he killed the Brewer in the alley and joined because she had no other options. He believes that she is like him and the understanding that she is not alone will mean something to her. She wonders why he’s saying this to her. And then she realizes that he’s still under the truth serum… and will be for another six hours. On the way to the tavern, she peppers Levan with questions. Why did he hate Vogolan - because Vogolan killed someone he cared about. His mother - no. What is the Bloodmoons plan, why do they amass so much power and wealth. With this one, he fights the truth serum hard and eventually he wins, although it’s not an easy fight. Saffron is impressed; he must be very powerful. She decides not to press the question. They pass a woman overdosing on lox and Saffron stops to help her, convincing Levan to call the Healer who helped him once. They leave before the Healer gets there to make the meeting with Nissa. Her Uncle Mal tries to call Saffron on her wand, but she doesn’t answer. She’s been avoiding him. Levan asks if her uncles raised her and Saffron tells him that they did. He asks what her parents were like. Her mom was a talented Healer who even created a cure for some pox, but who refused to leave the smaller villages for the big city. Her father was a talented Enchanter who spent most of his time delighting his daughter. She tells Levan about their door and shows him her necklace, made from a piece of the door with the gems made from her parents’ incinerated bodies on either side. The necklace no longer changes color, the enchantment died the same night they did, but it would be amazing if it did. It would be like having a piece of her father back. Levan remembers a spell he saw that could potentially recreate it and offers to try for her. She’s touched and she agrees. He does the spell right there while she wears the necklace. It doesn’t go completely right, but Saffron thinks this is even better than the original. While her father’s door picked the most predominant relationship to display, the necklace now shows everything. With Levan it shows enemy, blossoming relationship, someone to trust, and lover either past, present, or future. Levan definitely notices that last one. Saffron goes into the tavern to meet Nissa alone. She looks awful, but when questioned by Saffron, Nissa blames it on her time of the month - which is always hell on her and she refuses to take medication for it because of her addictive personality. She tells Saffron everything she found out about Nalezen Zares. Zares is a Necromancer who seduces people in bars, takes them home, kills them, and then brings them back for “practice”. Worst part, her unsuspecting victims will be thrown into prison for the rest of their unnatural lives if they’re discovered to be risen. The Silvercloaks are trying to make a case against her, but they don’t have enough evidence yet. Zares was last seen in Port Ouran. Saffron remembers that the Bloodmoons were looking for a Necromancer the night her parents were killed. Why would they need a Necromancer for two decades? She asks Nissa about the charm for the wand spell casting and Nissa agrees to do what she can to find it before leaving the tavern. Surprisingly, Tiernan approaches Saffron next and apologizes for his behavior last time. He tells her that she deserved better than that and offers to buy her a drink, but she needs to leave. She tells him his apology means more than he knows. When Saffron meets back up with Levan, he is desperate to know what she’s found out about Zares. Saffron wonders who he wants to bring back. Saffron and Levan leave the next day for Port Ouran on a boat with Segal and a mage she hasn’t met who introduces himself as Miret Tomazin. She hasn’t seen him because he’s usually in the library and he’s only on this trip to satisfy his curiosity - or so he says. He watches Levan with a paternal gaze. Certainly more paternal than the way Lyrian looks at his son. Miret confirms that he and Levan are close, they became close after Levan’s mother died and he began developing obsessive compulsive behaviors. Soon Saffron speaks to Levan and asks what they’re doing exactly, (looking for a Necromancer?), but he won’t say. She pushes, telling him it can’t hurt to tell her if the person is already dead, but Levan tells her to never admit to anyone that she cares about someone lest they be used against her. She pushes again; she just wants to know more about him to humanize her captor in her own thoughts. This backfires, he is not her captor. She chose the brand. He storms off. Soon enough she goes looking for him and accidentally wakes up Segal, who was sleeping off a hangover. Saffron doesn’t find Levan, but she does eventually find an office with dates of lox shipments. She realizes only one of the four shipments the Bloodmoons receive each month contains lox and the timing of that shipment is varied. This month it is scheduled to arrive in a few days. That’s when Segal walks in and catches her snooping. She quickly casts an illusion on the book so it appears to be one of the Lost Dragonborn series, but Segal is still suspicious. He doesn’t stop wheedling until Levan comes in. She struggles to hold the illusion while Levan inspects the book, knowing it shouldn’t stand up to scrutiny by someone who is familiar with the books, but Levan just hands the book back and chides Segal for calling her Filthcloak. Soon enough they leave the ship for port, leaving Miret with the gondolier. They track Zares to her home and storm in. It’s laden with booby traps and Saffron is forced to use more of her already depleted well of magic to get through looking only slightly scathed. By this time, Levan, Rasso, Segal, and Zares are doing battle in the kitchen. Zares is shooting to kill while Levan wants to bring her in alive. Segal gets caught in a trap and is killed by Zares, then Saffron is nearly hit, ducking to avoid the spell. Levan protects Rasso from a falling chandelier and Saffron cuts her arm for a boost of magic. She cuts too deep, but it allows her to use an illusion to lure Zares out of her defendable position. Levan gets a scared look on his face when he sees “Saffron” walk out but quickly remembers what she can do with illusions. Zares shoots a killing spell which passes through Saffron’s illusion - heading right toward Levan. Saffron panics and pauses time, affecting everyone but her and Rasso. The fallowwolves always bonded with Timeweavers but their own time magic petered out when the Timeweavers were killed off. Rasso pads over to Saffron and puts his paws on her shoulders. He licks her face and stays by her side when she moves. The spell feels lighter this time around, as if buoyed by Rasso. Saffron pulls Levan out of the way of the frozen spell then turns to Zares. The Necromancer has a huge block of ascenite that serves as a kitchen island, it increases magic. But attached to it are four deminite shackles, designed to nullify magic. This is where she holds her victims. Saffron shackles Zares with the deminite and takes her wand for good measure before restarting time. When they come to, Zares looks confused, but Levan quickly figures out what happened and looks awed before turning to Zares. She refuses to help Levan, so he cuts her hand off and reattaches it a few times until she agrees. Then he brands her; in the spell it says if Zares tries to kill them once freed of the deminite, her hand will be severed automatically. They free Zares and she reanimates Segal. Segal is now alive but is not quite right. There is something uncanny about him. He stumbles towards the door that Saffron is blocking and tells the Filthcloak to get out of his way. Levan grabs him by the throat and impresses on him (again) not to call Saffron a Filthcloak - they would all be dead if not for her - before releasing him. Once on the ship, Levan asks Saffron to see him alone. She binds the cut on her arm before going so he can’t see she’s injured. Once back at the compound, she will stitch it up properly. When she sees him, Levan asks Saffron why she saved his life, but she can’t give him a reason. She doesn’t really know. She equates it to a moment in the Lost Dragonborn series when one character saves another because it’s the right thing to do, as unnuanced as that is. She mentions that the Dragonborn author is coming to a festival in the city and Levan almost asks her to go with him but chickens out. She says she will go on two conditions. They don’t wear their cloaks, and he answers one question for her: did he have a choice to become a Bloodmoon? He says not really, but if he’d had a choice he still would have chosen his family. This resonates with her. When the ship hits a small patch of rough water, Saffron is knocked sideways, and she’s already dizzy from blood loss and a depleted magical well. Levan is worried but she just tells him she’s depleted. So is he, which causes tensions to soar since everybody knows one of the best ways to replenish your well is through sex. Levan approaches her and cups her face in his hands and thanks her for saving him. She’s warring herself, crazy attracted to him and wishing she weren’t, and he takes her hesitation as fear and steps away. He thanks her again before leaving the room. Once she’s alone, she transmits information about the date of the next shipment to Aspar and is told that the Silvercloaks will be there. When they get back to the compound, she doesn’t see Levan as much. He’s off training and working on Zares. But he insists she not be unguarded and wards her room, as well as a few common spaces for her safety - which is a big deal because he’s really good at magic. She’s seen him enchant, heal, transmute, and wield during the fight with Zares, which is more specialties that Auria has. Does Levan protect her because of Segal now being a Risen or because he likes her, Saffron isn’t sure. Eventually, he comes to her room with Rasso and tells her to join them for the shipment. On the way, he asks her not to say anything about Zares. His dad doesn’t know they’ve caught her yet and Levan doesn’t want him to get overzealous and kill her before she does what’s needed. Levan’s work with Zares has not been going well. They even brought in a Compeller (not one that wears a red cloak) but Zares resisted. He promises Saffron gelato before their date if she complies, which makes Saffron sad. She knows this will be the last time he’s free if everything goes to plan with Aspar and they’ll never make it to the festival. And Levan is wheedling his way into her emotions. She feels for him and the choices he didn’t really get to make. So, she kisses him. And it is unlike any other kiss she’s ever had in a very good way. But then she remembers her parents and she pulls away. He’s hurt but seems to understand. They meet Lyrian on the way to the shipment, he’s with Segal and the “strongest wielder” he’s ever met, Aviruna Castian. When they get closer, Saffron begins to notice Silvercloaks in disguise, but they’ve sent too many. Lyrian also notices and Castian says something feels off. Levan stomps off alone while Segal does some recon. Levan returns just before the boat docks. He tries to convince his dad to stay on shore until they know it’s safe, but Lyrian doesn’t listen. Once they’re on the boat with the shipment, Segal runs toward them - trying to warn them as three customs officers arrive for a “routine inspection”. Segal hides. Lyrian is furious. Levan assures his father that they won’t find anything on the boat, but Lyrian is angry they would even check a Bloodmoon boat. He kills all three officers. It turns to madness. Lyrian shoots killing spells anywhere he sees a body, not caring if they’re friend or foe. Saffron sees Auria and Nissa among the Silvercloaks for a moment and then huddles with a terrified Rasso. She tries to conjure an illusion to distract Lyrian, showing him a version of his dead wife, but it’s cut short when Levan appears and tells her to shield them. He takes her and Rasso belowdecks and tells her his plan. He’s going back for his dad and Castian, then they will use portari to escape. He can’t explain now, but he has an imported wand, which is the only way the portari spell will work since the spell has been stripped from the domestic wands. When he opens the door to retrieve Lyrian and Aviruna, a woman waits outside. He kills her then continues to the deck. Saffron can hear the Silvercloaks. They didn’t find any lox. The raid was a bust. They could get Lyrian on murder charges if they catch him, but it’s not enough to cripple the whole of the Bloodmoon empire. And she will be stuck inside and likely known to be a plant. She goes outside and sees that the woman that Levan killed was Nissa. Somehow Nissa is still breathing, and Saffron realizes she’s wearing a shirt that makes the killing spell a little less effective. Saffron tries to heal Nissa, but she’s never had any talent for it, and it doesn’t work. Then she sees Levan running toward him with his dad and Castian. They’re all puking. He tells Saffron they have to hurry, the Silvercloaks are using some sort of airborne weapon. Saffron can see Auria and Aspar coming towards them wearing special gas masks, but she begs him to heal Nissa before they leave. It takes a minute, but he does it and Nissa gives Saffron the tracking spell, murmuring that it only works about half the time, before Saffron grabs Rasso and jumps into the portari (they leave Segal behind). Once safe, Lyrian turns on Levan, who explains that as soon as they smelled something fishy, he reached out to his contact in the Silvercloaks and then hid the lox before the boat could be searched. But now that his dad has murdered a bunch of people, Lyrian can’t leave the wards of the compound. But more than that, Lyrian wants to know how the Silvercloaks knew to be at the docks. He turns to Saffron and tells Aviruna to take her to a cell and rough her up a bit. But Aviruna doesn’t rough Saffron up. She believes in innocent until proven guilty and having a moral code is the only way she can survive being a Bloodmoon. So, she doesn’t rough Saffron up at all and even leaves Saffron her wand, since Lyrian didn’t give specific instructions to take it. Rasso also refuses to leave Saffron’s side even while she’s in a cell. When Saffron is called to Lyrian’s office, she insists she did not snitch. He makes her take a truth serum and she does, it does not change her answer. Lyrian explains he’s in a real quandary. He was never cut out for this life; this was Lorissa’s gig. He just amplified her. But he’s become someone he doesn’t recognize and killing those officers, he lost control in a way he hasn’t done for a long time. He doesn’t like the person he is, but he can’t seem to stop. Just like he can’t let Saffron live. She can’t be a Bloodmoon because he knows she’s a traitor. But he can’t just let her go free. The Bloodmoons are his family, and he will do anything to protect them. So, he will kill Saffron but hopes she takes comfort in the thought that her uncles will live. Everything that he says, Saffron can tell is true. When Lyrian shoots the spell to kill Saffron, she stops time. Rasso keeps looking at the desk and at Lyrian. She realizes what he’s trying to tell her. Lyrian has an old hourglass on his desk that pays homage to the Timeweavers. Saffron flips it over and taps it with the wand Lyrian uses, which used to be Lorissa’s, who had a tiny bit of time weaving magic. When she does so, Saffron makes time reverse by several minutes - to when she walked into Lyrian’s office. The scene plays out again, but Saffron’s head is reeling with her newfound ability, and she needs to find a way to change the end of this meeting. She takes the truth elixir again and insists she didn’t tell the Silvercloaks about the shipment, but this time she suggests that her Silvercloak contact put some sort of listening spell on her, possibly on her cloak. She also gives Lyrian the spell to find the wand that killed Vogolan. She explains that it needs to be used on Vogolan’s body, directly on the wound that killed him, thinking that will keep her safe since Vogolan’s body was turned to stone and scattered throughout the city. But nothing is that easy. Lyrian produces a vial of Vogolan’s blood which he used to the trace Vogolan. He thinks the spell will work with the blood. The spell looks like it works but leads into the hallway, not toward Saffron’s wand. Then she tells Lyrian that she knows he doesn’t want to do any of this. She understands how hard it is and something in him responds. He tells her to leave. She follows the spell, thinking of how she just sentenced someone else to death, and suddenly she just knows that it leads to Levan. She runs to warn him and admits to him that she killed Vogolan - and that he deserved it. Levan hides Saffron and Rasso in his armoire just before his father storms in. He drops his wand and it rolls underneath his bed. Levan admits to killing Vogolan but claims the brand did not kill him because Vogolan had become a liability to the Bloodmoons. Lyrian suddenly believes that Levan can overpower the brand and freezes him, then has him transferred to a cell. For a moment Saffron is stunned inside the wardrobe by the power she now realizes she has. She’s as powerful as Levan is! Then she realizes that she can’t save anyone - including Levan - whilst in a wardrobe. As she leaves his room, she sees two golden cloaks in Levan’s closet. Hand sewn golden cloaks for them to wear to the convention together. She realizes that she likes Levan, more than just the way he looks, even if he is complicated. Who isn’t!? She and Rasso march down to the cells. Levan’s cell is strangely left unguarded and she’s able to get inside. Saffron finds Levan with his hand impaled to a table with a piece of deminite. He tells her that his father cursed the deminite. Lyrian couldn’t stomach to kill Levan himself, at least not directly, so he cursed the deminite. The deminite itself makes it so Levan cannot use magic, and the curse makes it so if someone removes the deminite, all of a Levan’s blood will leave with it. It will kill him eventually. The only question is when. For now, Levan asks how exactly Saffron is still standing and if she is the one that ratted to the Silvercloaks. She tells him the same lie she told to his father, but Levan asks follow up questions. He doesn’t quite believe her but maybe he wants to. The conversation quickly devolves into an argument in which he refuses to tell her who his Silvercloak contact is and says she doesn’t deserve his story and why he does what he does, but she is just as bad as he is. She turns to leave and he apologizes (I have to say, she should have as well) and explains that he doesn’t like people seeing him helpless. But he asks her to get the salve from his bedroom drawer and gives her the password for the drawer. It’s not his hand; he has a different wound that is festering. She agrees to get the salve for him. And to let Harrow know that Levan is occupied, they were scheduled to meet. When Saffron gets to Levan’s room, Harrow is waiting already. She delivers Levan’s regrets and takes the opportunity to ask Harrow some questions. Harrow is not an Augerite, so she trusts his answers more. He says that years ago, being able to tell the future was not uncommon. Mostly it was mundane things that people saw, but occasionally something big would come out. The relic she touched during her trial could have been any wand. Sure, it could have been relaying the memory of a message that was received a thousand years ago, perhaps because it concerned her, but he really doesn’t know for sure. When Harrow leaves, Saffron goes into Levan’s room and retrieves his wand first. Then she finds the salve and wonders why Levan has so many mixtures when he can heal so well. Then she uses her newly given password to look at Levan’s journal, the one she found when she first snooped in his room but was unable to open. This time it opens with no problem. She discovers that Alucia, the woman that Levan loved, has been gone for three years. Saffron slams the journal closed and almost decides not to look again but convinces herself that it is her duty to look. She’s a spy for the Silvercloaks first and foremost. She opens the journal back up and finds out who Levan’s insider in the Silvercloaks is. Tiernan. She delivers the salve to Levan then goes straight to bed, exhausted. The next day, she takes a bath and makes a plan. She will talk to Tiernan on the day she should have met with Nissa. She suspects that the first time she approached Auria when Tiernan left the tavern, that was when Levan got to him. It makes even more sense now that he would apologize the following week. She will need to find a way to ensure her safety in the Bloodmoons without betraying Tiernan’s betrayal of the Silvercloaks. Before then, she is going to find a weaverwick wand used by Timeweavers. Unfortunately, the first shop she visits has a sign saying that the sale of weaverwick wands has been banned. The shopkeeper gets testy when she asks for one anyway and insists that she would be hard pressed to find a weaverwick wand at all, let alone be able to buy one. But as she leaves, he suggests that she visit an oddities shop. They’re obsessed with all things Timeweaver. But when she gets to the shop, it has recently been burned down by Augerites, so no luck there. Not at any other wand shops, either. Next, she goes to an antiques shop and explains about the hourglass full of small ascens that she wants to buy, like the one on Lyrian’s desk. They have two hourglasses, but the price for just one is exorbitant. Way more than she has in her bank (and she has a lot). But the shopkeeper spots her necklace and offers her a trade. Saffron does not want to give up her necklace, the only thing she has left of her parents, but the hourglass may keep her alive. She makes the trade. As the shopkeeper retrieves the hourglass for her, Saffron spots something else that feels powerful. When the shopkeeper returns, she explains that the item is called a saqalamis, or painmaker. Timeweavers used them to give themselves boosts of magic. Saffron buys that as well. Before confronting Tiernan, Saffron takes Levan more salve and a Lost Dragonborn novel to read. He looks terrible, unable to move from his standing position because it would damage his hand more. He reveals that Aviruna has been bringing him food and water. He asks what happened to her necklace (she says she thinks she lost it) and promises to enchant her another if he ever gets free and manages to stay alive. She doesn’t say so, but she thinks that he must, since she kills him in her vision. But she wonders if she changed the future by changing the past and this is Levan’s new end. He explains that he knows the necklace is very important to her, that she uses it like a touchstone. He sees her in all of her facets, and she realizes that he does - though she can’t read him hardly at all. She asks how his other wound is and where he got it (it’s healing and he refuses to answer the second question). Then they get testy with each other again and Saffron leaves. Saffron goes to the tavern where she met Nissa expecting Tiernan to come, but she waits alone and no one shows. When she finally leaves, she hears Tiernan call to her from the alleyway. He tells her everyone she’s close to is fine and he even proposed to Auria, realizing after the raid that they could die at any moment, and she said yes. Saffron is genuinely happy for them but also knows that he’s given Auria a sort of manacle. He reveals that he hasn’t told his father yet about their engagement, but with Auria he cares less about what his father thinks. Even if Auria is working herself too hard. She has gotten her fourth specialization and is now going for a fifth, ever since the death of her grandfather. Tiernan asks Saffron how the Bloodmoons got to her, but she doesn’t tell him anything. Instead, she asks if he was the one that tipped off the Bloodmoons about the raid. Before she realizes what happening, he kills himself with the killing spell. There is nothing she can do to save him. She has no wand with which to turn back time. She cannot raise him herself… but she knows who can. And she knows where to find her. She uses Levan’s wand to cast the portari spell to quickly get to Zares, who she tells she will free if Zares just brings back one innocent person. Zares obviously agrees and Saffron uses portari to transport them both back to Tiernan’s body - which she left with Rasso. Zares asks if Saffron really doesn’t know why the Bloodmoons wanted a Necromancer and explains that Lyrian has his wife’s body kept in an ascen crypt. She’s been kept “viable” for twenty years, but every day they need more ascen to keep Lorissa’s body in that state, which is why the Bloodmoons have been stockpiling it. But Zares insists that it doesn’t matter how much ascen is in the crypt, it’s too late to bring Lorissa back. Then she elbows Saffron in the temple and runs for freedom, losing her hand in the process thanks to the brand Levan gave her. Saffron berates herself; desperation made her not think this plan through. But she has another idea. She takes Rasso and Tiernan’s body with her, using portari to get to the tunnel Levan brought them to when they escaped the raid. Cryptmouth Tunnel. Here Saffron sees artwork depicting the Timeweavers that she originally thought was a homage to Lorissa but now realizes it shows the entrance of the crypt. She tries everything but cannot find the entrance. Until Saffron remembers her hourglass and the hourglass that Lyrian keeps on her desk. She uses her hourglass to find the entrance of the crypt, where she sees Lorissa’s pale dead body in a state of repose. She stashes Tiernan’s body in a far corner of the crypt and leaves to confront Levan. When she gets to Levan’s cell, she tells him without preamble that she knows why the Bloodmoons collect the ascen. She has found the crypt and his mother. It comes out that if she connects the dates, her parents were killed because the Bloodmoons were looking for a Necromancer to raise Levan’s mother, who had been killed in a heist near the village Saffron’s family lived in. Saffron realizes that if she had not turned that knob her parents may still be alive, but so may Levan’s mother. He asks her for help bathing, he can’t remove his shirt without assistance, and she helps cut it off him. She sees the brand over his heart (he was ten when it was given), a betrothal tattoo of a holly branch, and rows of tiny scars signifying all of his kills - which he does not heal magically. This is the reason for all the salve. She washes Levan’s back, then kisses him. He stops her for a moment, citing the power dynamic of her being forced into the Bloodmoons, but he is literally stabbed and pinned to a table, so it doesn’t take long for that argument to be waved away. They have sex, even though he’s attached to a table, and afterward Saffron looks at his hand. It’s turning gray as the deminite shard leaches his blood from his body. Levan tells her that there’s no way to free him except to cut the impaled hand off. His father already tried to nullify the spell, even bringing Miret to help, and nothing worked. He tells Saffron she’s the only person he trusts to do it well. It has to be by magic so it will seal immediately without bleeding out and he will still be able to get a magical prosthetic (he knows a guy who makes them from college). After some light begging, Saffron does it. He asks her to leave so she doesn’t see him in intense pain and she does, hearing him scream from the hallway. She knows there are things she should be doing: finding a weaverwick wand, contacting Aspar, bringing Tiernan back, but all she can think about is Levan. She knows now that she must have changed the prophecy when she went back in time because there’s no way she could kill Levan now. She just might be in love with him. After a few hours of sleep and a couple attempts at contacting Aspar, Saffron decides to see how Levan is doing. She doesn’t have to go far; he’s knocking at her door and showing her his new golden prosthetic hand that is incredible – it works just like a real hand and he can feel everything. She asks him to lay with her for a while and he explains about Alucia. She was a Whitewing who infiltrated the Bloodmoons to get close to Levan (ooof) – their relationship was never real for her. The betrothal tattoo that he never had removed is supposed to remind him never to fall in love again. They talk about their parents, and he explains that his dad used to be fun and his mom was fundamentally good. She tried to help people. But she knew the throne had been taken from her and that she would have been a good queen, so she was using the Bloodmoons to stage a coup. She will want to continue once she’s Risen. He falls asleep soon after and Saffron feels worse than ever. They wake up all tangled together and make use of their closeness in the best way possible. His hand is hurting him and after they’re done, that he needs to find some sort of pain relief that is not lox. He’s going to run and spar and do all his training, then they’re going to pick up the lox shipment he hid. It’s in Lunes. It’s only after he leaves that Saffron realizes he used magic to keep her quiet in the heat of the moment… and it had worked. She should tell Aspar what she’s learned - that they’re going to Lunes for the shipment and what the Bloodmoons’ larger aspirations are (a coup for the throne) but can she stand to see Levan locked up for the rest of his life or worse, executed? When Saffron meets Levan to collect the shipment, his father insists on coming and bringing Castian, Segal, and four other Bloodmoons. She notices that Lyrian is wearing a new jade pendant, a ward for some sort of magic but she can’t remember what. They go through the portari portal to Havenwood where Levan used to live as a child. The small houses are ramshackle and spelled to look deserted even if someone is inside them. If the door is forced open, there are tunnels in each for escaping. This is where Lorissa started her plan to take the crown. Levan and Lyrian go into their old shack, telling Saffron to join them, and they find the shipment undisturbed. Saffron sees four mugs with the letter “L” on them. Lorissa, Lyrian, Levan, and …. it turns out Levan had a brother. Once they have the shipment and rejoin the others, they find a perimeter dome around Havenwood. Saffron had given the information to Aspar and Aspar chose to trust her, even after learning of Tiernan’s death. The Silvercloaks have come and now there is no way for the Bloodmoons to escape. Not even through the portari spell. Lyrian immediately suspects Saffron and turns to attack her, but she’s protected by Levan. Castian tells Lyrian to wait until they get out of this mess to do anything. It stops Lyrian from hurting Saffron, but he orders someone through his wand for another Bloodmoon to kill her uncle instead. Saffron reels, wondering which one it is while Levan wonders why the Silvercloaks haven’t done anything yet. It becomes clear a moment later when most of the twelve shacks release gas from the chimneys, the airborne toxin the Silvercloaks used at the docks. Levan creates masks for all of them before giving orders. They need to find the person casting the dome. Split up and check all the cabins, he and Saffron will take Rasso and do the tunnels below the cabins. The caster cannot be far. The tunnels create a sort of starburst, the tunnel from each shack leading into the center where they all converge, the shacks creating a circle. Levan and Saffron walk to the end of each tunnel and he stands under the trapdoor feeling for the correct essence of magic being used. Miret taught him this. When Levan finally locates it, he goes up and into the cabin and disables the two Silvercloaks inside. He orders the one who was casting the dome to tell him how they knew the Bloodmoons would be there. At first, the Silvercloak says he doesn’t know but he finally reveals that there is a spy in the Bloodmoons - and they’re close to Levan. That’s when Saffron realizes that Levan is a Compeller. And he now knows who betrayed them. Saffron runs, Levan follows but is delayed when Rasso bites his arm. She has no choice but to choose a tunnel spoke at random and hope that she can get into the cabin at the end without being seen. She hopes she doesn’t choose the shack with Lyrian in it. She runs down a spoke and through a trapdoor, closing and sitting on the door. She hears Levan. He just wants to talk (and he could compel her to open the door if he wanted to, but he’s choosing not to). She believes him and lets him in. He explains how it is that he’s so powerful. When it was clear he was good at healing, his dad was desperate for him to be able to use necromancy. When Levan couldn’t, Vogolan started torturing Levan, believing that the pain would make him more powerful. It did, it made him incredibly powerful, but he still had no luck with necromancy. This is also the reason his life is so regimented - it was all he could do to have any semblance of control over his life since Vogolan would come at random times. Levan was seven when this started. He reveals that most of what Lyrian does is Lyrian, he rarely needs to be compelled, and he’s been fighting against the compulsion more and more. Levan believes Lyrian’s mind splintered the night of the raid because Levan was trying to compel him, but Lyrian was in such a rage he was able to fight it off. Levan compelled Tiernan, both to become a spy and to kill himself if caught. He doesn’t compel often because he doesn’t want people to know that he has that ability. And he’s never compelled Saffron. But he did know she was coming. He knew from Harrow, who saw a vision that Saffron would lead Levan to Zares and save his life. But now they are at an impasse. She’s a traitor and he doesn’t know what to do next. But he hopes that she will change her loyalties and freeze time to save his dad. He hopes she will choose him. She doesn’t. After Levan gives his wand to her, Saffron freezes time and then takes the wands of the Bloodmoons (pocketing Lyrian’s weaverwick wand) and putting them all in handcuffs. Then she goes back and does the same to Lyrian. But when she starts time again and after his disappointment settles into anger, he compels Saffron to return his wand and free him. She does it. He explains that after being tortured, he and Miret practiced releasing himself from curses. He practiced so much that he can do it without a wand. Saffron realizes that he is unstoppable. She asks him to forgive her, and he gathers her close to tell her that he always wins. That’s when she kills him. She leaves the shack to find Auria next to Aspar, desperately trying to keep her alive. Saffron tells Aspar that they did it, they brought the Bloodmoons down, but she knows they can’t save the captain. Aspar gasps out that Saffron’s dad would be so proud, that he left her a letter. Those are Aspar’s last words. After Aspar dies, Auria turns on Saffron. How can Saffron live with herself? All of this is her fault. Saffron reveals that she was undercover this whole time, but Auria isn’t swayed. Everything comes out, including about Tiernan and how he killed himself. Auria tries to turn Saffron to stone but it does nothing, Saffron tells her she’s immune to magic. That’s why she was able to infiltrate the Bloodmoons. Auria tries to attack again but Rasso lunges at her. Saffron stops time again before Rasso reaches Auria. She realizes that with Aspar dead, no one can testify that she was undercover. She will go to prison for being a Bloodmoon (Nissa has been in a coma since the failed raid), unless she reverses time to before she killed Levan. Unless she does choose Levan this time. She uses the very last of her magic to go back to the moment he asks her to choose him and kisses her. When she takes Levan’s wand this time and casts the spell to stop time, Saffron uses the magic she regained with the kiss, but she doesn’t have enough to sustain the time stopping spell. Time restarts right away and both Lyrian and Aspar cast a killing spell. Lyrian’s hits Aspar in the head, Aspar’s hits Lyrian’s chest. Levan runs to his father’s body and in his grief, fires a killing spell at Auria and kills her. Saffron cannot stand it; this was supposed to make things better. She grabs the painmaker that she keeps in her pocket and is filled with magic again as every fiber in her body hurts. She only lets go when Levan takes her hand away from the painmaker. He isn’t affected by it while she, who is usually immune to magic used on her body, is not. She uses Lyrian’s wand to go back again, but this time when Levan shoots his spell, she stops time and moves Auria out of the way. She restarts time and apologizes to Levan while Auria gets away. Meanwhile, Segal’s spells have been barely working, and he suddenly screams that as a Risen, he cannot feel anything. Until now, he did not understand the ramifications of this but without feeling, without pleasure or pain, his magic will never regenerate. Which means that even if they bring Lorissa back, even if they put Lyrian in the crypt with her and bring them both back, they will never regenerate their magic. But Saffron realizes something as well. She reversed time for several minutes without any assistance except from being near Rasso. Could she go back to when her parents died? Could she save their lives? Would doing so bring Lorissa back? It would take a massive amount of ascen, more than the Bloodmoons have right now. But if they work together to continue to grow their supply of ascen, could she collect enough to go back that far? She decides to try. It will be worth it if it works. What Saffron doesn’t realize is that Levan knows. He remembers enough about his mother’s small time changes to have recognized what she did. She must have betrayed him and reversed time when it didn’t go her way. She is a Timeweaver who has unmade his world so now he will unmake her.