Prepare yourself... Rowan searches for Aelin. He’s been searching for months. Aelin is kept in an iron coffin on a small island in a raging river near a waterfall. She is taken out of the coffin only to be tortured by Maeve and her hunter, Cairn, as Fenrys is forced to watch. But Aelin will not tell them what they want to know. She holds on to her thoughts of Rowan and tells herself the story of a princess who loved her kingdom. Aedion and Lysandra (posing as Aelin) have traveled with their assorted ships from Eyllwe to Orynth, which took over a month, and spent another two weeks moving the trips inland. In all that time, they haven’t heard from Dorian, Rolfe, Rowan, or Erawan. There have been heavy snows, which may be delaying Morath but is also stopping their supply chain from bringing food and supplies, making the men restless, lowering morale, and making it difficult to train. Aedion, along with Galan and Ren, insist they keep up their training because Erawan will probably strike in winter, but Darrow thinks they’re wrong. A Morath scouting party comes through a pass near Ren’s castle but Ren, Aedion, and Lysandra make quick work of them. They leave one Morath soldier alive to question but all he does is laugh at them, so they kill him too and wonder why Erawan bothered to send scouts through the mountains. They spend the night in Ren’s castle, where they are reunited with Evangeline and Murtaugh. Aedion hasn’t spoken to Lysandra (when she’s not pretending to be Aelin) at all since he learned of this plan. He fell in love with Lysandra, but they only wanted him for potential breeding stock if they need to make a baby that looks like Aelin. He’s done with Lysandra. But in the morning when he finds out that Morath hit Orynth and destroyed the city, and ten of Wendlyn’s ships in the process, he breaks down and asks Lysandra to turn into a wyvern and fly them back to the Bane and the other soldiers. Aelin is tortured repeatedly by Cairn. Sometimes it is real, sometimes it is all in her mind, making is so she doesn’t know what’s real anymore. She and Fenrys have a secret code through blinking at each other. 1 blink - yes. 2 - no. 3 - are you alright? 4 - I am here with you. 5 - this is real. It is the only comfort they can give each other. Fenrys is forced to watch what they do to Aelin and is not allowed out of his wolf form. He is not even allowed to pee without permission. Aelin doesn’t give up; it’s the only thing she can do. Anytime she is not being tortured she is returned to the casket with shackles and sometimes they use the sweet-smelling gas to knock her out. Elide travels with Gavriel, Rowan, and Lorcan (who she refuses to acknowledge) as they search for Aelin. There has been no word or sight of Maeve or her armada. So, they track down Maeve’s commanders and torture them instead, perhaps one of them will know where to find Maeve. Manon and Dorian, along with the rest of the Thirteen, searched for the third Wyrdkey with no luck. So, they have abandoned that trail for now, looking for Crochan witches instead. Manon is the last Crochan Queen and it’s time the witches learned of it. But all the camps they find have been long deserted. They search and they train, all while being hunted by other Ironteeth witches. Dorian continues to train his magic: ice, fire, healing, wind, and the invisible force of death. He also trains with the witches in fighting styles and learns enough that he is given a witch dagger. But one night, he sneaks out of the witch camp alone. Taking his cues from what Aelin did, he uses Damaris to summon Gavin. He asks where the third Wyrdkey is and after some argument (if Dorian succeeds in his quest, Gavin’s mate Elena’s soul will be gone forever, and he cannot fathom that idea) Gavin tells Dorian that the key is in Morath. He also counsels Dorian not to go to Morath yet, he’s not ready. Gavin encourages Dorian to stay at the camp he’s currently in; the path will find Dorian there. Dorian asks one last question. His father sired him when he was possessed by the Valg, Dorian wants to know if he’s human. Gavin is not the one who can answer that question. Rowan’s group debates where to search next. One commander said Doranelle, weeks to the north, and another said Akkadia, a few days further south. Elide and Lorcan debate where to go next, but Rowan decides it would be stupid not to check Akkadia first since they are so close. Elide had been voting for Doranelle and takes this as another way Lorcan has wronged her. Lorcan tries to explain that it’s the best choice - but what Elide is really angry about is that Lorcan led Maeve right to them, causing Aelin to be taken. He is the reason that Aelin is missing. And when Maeve broke their bond, he still crawled after her. But Lorcan says no, he no longer cared about Maeve at that point. He had learned that things could be different. He was crawling to try to reach Aelin. Elide walks away without saying anything. That night, Rowan wakes up from a nightmare where an older, pregnant Aelin and their four children are ripped away from him by a dark wind. He still feels such guilt that he did not recognize Aelin as his mate, that they wasted so much time together. And that he wasted Lyria’s time too, when she could have been with someone better suited to her. And of the child that he lost when Lyria was killed, that Maeve killed. He doesn’t understand why but he can’t feel anything through his bond with Aelin and hasn’t felt anything since Maeve showed up and took Aelin. Although he at least knows Aelin is still alive because the bond is still there. Chaol and the khagan’s forces have made it to Fenharrow and tried to stay hidden all this time, but now they need to decide where to land. The problem with staying hidden is you hear nothing about your allies, Chaol has no idea what Aelin and Dorian are doing or where they are. They send Sartaq and Nesryn to scout on their ruks, taking Falkan in his hawk form with them. They see that the Valg have burned Fenharrow, not in war but in spite. They see a group of Valg, either scouting or killing any survivors of their purge. Sartaq and Nesryn kill them quickly. Yrene tries to keep busy by continually counting their healing supplies. Hafiza tries to calm Yrene but also remind her that people will die. This is war and they will not be able to save everyone. Yrene knows this. And she wonders how long she’ll even be able to fight with them, since she’s pretty sure that she is pregnant. They sail with half the khagan’s force. The other half, with Kashin, will sail north as soon as they’re able. Hopefully the good weather will continue, and Kashin can come soon. Dorian needs to find a way to delay the witches from moving on so that whatever “path” Gavin spoke of may find him. He doesn’t think Manon will help him get to Morath, she and the Thirteen barely escaped it not that long ago. Fortunately, that path doesn’t take long to get there. It comes as a polar bear that tries to kill Manon but quickly shifts into a stygian spider when she realizes she’s outnumbered. She confesses that she traded a young shapeshifting merchant for some silk and some of his skill came to her as well. When magic was released, she learned how to harness the gift. This gives Dorian an idea. Could he learn to shift as well? If so, this spider can teach him since she taught herself in only a few months. Even better, the spider (call her Cyrene) knows where to find some Crochan witches. Dorian convinces Manon to allow Cyrene to live and to lead them to the Crochans. When Aelin wakes up in the casket, she realizes that her arms are not manacled. Probably an oversight, not that it will help her any. She’s not strong enough to break out of the casket, not anymore. Soon enough, Cairn returns. But this time, he’s moving her. Another warrior puts a dagger to Fenrys’ throat to keep Aelin in line. Funny, she couldn’t run even if she wanted to. Her legs will barely carry her since they’re so weak. They take Aelin and Fenrys to see Maeve, who has brought out Mab’s crown… Aelin’s crown. She forces it onto Aelin’s head and then Aelin is pushed onto shattered dragon glass. As she is pressed into the glass to kneel before Maeve, Fenrys’ twin brother Connall speaks to him. He tells Fenrys that this is all his own fault, that he couldn’t just let Connall have something for himself. He accuses Fenrys of joining Maeve just to prevent Connall from having something of his own. Periodically in this time, Cairn forces more of Aelin’s body down into the glass. At some point, Mab’s crown rolls off of her head and into the river nearby. But still Aelin will not tell them where the keys are. She will not take the blood oath to Maeve. So, Maeve ups the ante. Connall stands and takes a dagger, advancing on Fenrys. But instead of killing Fenrys, he plunges the dagger into his own heart and Fenrys is forced to watch as his twin brother dies in front of him, unable to help in any way. Maeve tells Aelin that she had caused a rot that needed to be purged. Cairn stands Aelin up to take her back to her casket, but Aelin grabs a shard of glass in each hand. She jabs Cairn in the neck with one, then throws the other at Maeve, slicing her cheek just a tad. Maeve bleeds and for a moment, Aelin thinks that her blood runs black. But when Aelin looks again, it is red. Probably just a trick of the light. Aelin is tied to the altar next to her casket while Fenrys is forced to stay and “serve” Maeve. When he comes back much later, he is destroyed. He is allowed to take the glass out of Aelin’s body and then he must return to wolf form. They both cry as he does it. Fenrys because he didn’t realize how much his brother hated him. Aelin because Maeve told her Rowan was seen in Terrasen with “Aelin”, which means he isn’t coming for her. Which Is what she wanted, but it still hurts. Aedion, Ren, and Murtaugh fly on Lysandra (as a wyvern) to meet their armies and then to meet Morath’s. They fight with some of Ansel’s and Galan’s troops, as well as Sol and Ravi of Suria’s men, but keep the assassins and the Fae secret. There are five thousand Valg but no ilken, witches, or Wyrdhounds. A battle hard fought and won, but a battle designed to wear them down. Afterward, Aedion discusses with the Lords of Suria and Ren what to do next. Darrow has commanded them back to Orynth, but they would all prefer to travel south toward Morath to where the rest of Ansel’s fleet would be able to meet them earlier. But Darrow suspected this would be the case and sent them a messenger, one we’ve met before. Nox Owen of Perranth (see The Assassin’s Blade), former thief turned rebel and now Darrow’s favorite messenger. The message he brings asks them to return to meet with Darrow and they begrudgingly agree to move out in the morning and do as Darrow asks. Aedion goes around to the soldiers to boost morale and runs into Lysandra. They have another little fight where she tells him that she doesn’t regret and will never regret what she did but insists that what she and Aedion had was real. At least for her. He leaves without answering and she goes to her tent, pitched among the tents of Suria. Both of the brothers, as well as Ren, treat her well and recognize her as Lady of Caraverre. She is grateful for that. Sartaq and Nesryn return from scouting with news. They killed the scouts they had seen but they also got information that Morath’s army is converging to march on Anielle. Ten thousand soldiers preparing to decimate Anielle because Chaol’s father has not bent the knee to Erawan. Chaol, Yrene, Nesryn, Sartaq, and Hasar discuss what to do next. They are currently sailing north on the east side of the continent and will soon be coming up on Rifthold. The easiest way to get to Anielle is to travel west down the Avery River until it splits, then south straight to Anielle. But Morath holds both Rifthold and the Avery River. So, their other options are to continue north and leave Anielle to fend for themselves, or march on land over Fenharrow, through Oakwald Forest, and into the foothills of the White Fang Mountains to reach Anielle. They decide to send Chaol and Yrene with a ruk and rider to warn Anielle, then have the ruks leave the next day (two days at most) to help defend the city until the slower foot soldiers and the Darghan can arrive in about a week. They can all then travel from Anielle north along the Avery to secure the Ferian Gap and continue to Terrasen. While they march, the armada will wait for the remainder of the khagan’s forces and Kashin to arrive, then sail off the coast all the way north until they also reach Terrasen. Cairn has Aelin locked in her casket as punishment for sticking the glass shard into his neck. Or part of the punishment. He plans to keep her there several more days and whispers to her the sordid plans he’s making for her when she is finally released. Aelin is in a dark space, believing that she has failed Terrasen and everyone she loves, but a vision of her mother comes to her them. Evalin reminds Aelin that it is the strength of her heart that matters most and this revives Aelin’s spirit. She repeatedly hits the lid of the coffin and dents it before Cairn knocks her unconscious by pumping a gas into the casket. She almost managed to break the lid. She also sent out a pulse of power without realizing it, one that Rowan and the others feel. They know now that Aelin is in Doranelle, they will need to find a way to find her and rescue her. Which means they will need to find a way to lure Maeve out of Doranelle before she sees them coming and moves Aelin. Manon and the Thirteen follow Cyrene’s instructions and finally find a Crochan camp. The Crochans are, as you might think, not willing to trust that the Blackbeaks have come in peace but still listen warily when Dorian speaks to them. They remain on guard with their weapons at the ready, at least until they’re given the order by their leader. Their leader is an ancient witch who introduces herself as Glennis, whose family served the Crochan royals. She sees the strip of red that holds Manon’s braid, guessing that it comes from Rhiannon’s cape. When Manon tells her that Rhiannon died in the Ferian Gap, Glennis reveals that she was Rhiannon’s great- grandmother. Just as she is also Manon’s. Glennis beckons Manon and the others into the heart of the camp but before they get far, they are attacked. Two groups of Yellowlegs witches on their wyverns. Dorian assumes that Cyrene somehow led them here. The Crochans launch into the air on their brooms, a gift that the Ironteeth used to have too, but was stripped from them when they were cursed. The Crochans fight with bows and swords, but they don’t do much against wyverns. Manon and her Thirteen run to their own wyverns and Manon yells for the Crochans to fly lower and hold a line above the tents. When Glennis seconds this command, the Crochans obey and the Thirteen decimate the Yellowlegs. One of the Yellowlegs witch’s heads rolls toward Dorian after it is severed and he flashes back to when Sorscha was killed. He doesn’t even notice when the wyvern flies right toward him and opens its mouth, eating him whole. His magic explodes from him then, turning his entire body to fire - he burns through the wyvern and comes out completely unscathed. Manon, however, is not pleased with him. Just as some of the Crochans are not pleased with her and accuse her of setting them up. Glennis asks her point blank if she led the Yellowlegs witches to them, which Manon denies. Glennis accepts this answer. But Dorian has taken to holding onto Damaris’ hilt when people speak to feel it warm for the truth or chill to indicate lies, and he felt it go ice cold at Manon’s words. Manon, Dorian, and the Thirteen speak to Glennis after the dead are dealt with (the Crochans lost eight witches). Glennis explains that Manon’s father, Tristan, considered her mother his true mate, although they do not mate as the Fae do but by choosing mates. But when Lothian did not return to him, he was asked to take procreate with a Crochan witch. He was the last of his bloodline and it was unclear if Lothian or Manon had survived since childbirth for witches is extremely dangerous. He did as asked, and Rhiannon was born, but he always loved Lothian. Dorian asks how Tristan even came to exist since legend says that the royal Crochan line died with the original Rhiannon during the war between the Ironteeth and the Crochans. Glennis explains that Queen Rhiannon gave birth while the war raged but told everyone that the child had been stillborn. Then she gave the infant girl to Glennis’ mother to smuggle out of the area as Rhiannon held the line for three days, before cursing the Ironteeth and being killed. That daughter was raised in secret and continued the line. Glennis’ son married one of her children, which is how Glennis is Manon’s great grandmother but not a royal herself. And she points out that Manon has cousins in this camp. She introduces Bronwen, who has already been outspoken about not trusting Manon, as another great-granddaughter and Manon’s closest Crochan cousin. Bronwen declares that they will never follow Manon and storms out. Afterward, Dorian goes to question the spider about shapeshifting. He allows his magic to touch her, to feel the shapeshifting magic she holds, and he realizes that she is Valg. Born, not possessed. He kills the spider but studies the shapeshifting magic until it also fades. That night, he tells Manon that he understands why she sacrificed the camp. That they are at war and do not have time to woo the Crochans. When she asks how to win them over, he reminds her about Aelin and the Mycenians. He encourages Manon to find the thing that will turn the Crochans to her cause, like the sea dragon did for the Mycenians. The next morning, Manon talks to Glennis again. Glennis says that only a true Crochan Queen can light the Flame of War. Brannon once gifted the Crochans a flame that would not die and a part of that fire was smuggled out in a glass jar with the baby princess. That flame went out when magic disappeared, but it sprang back to life when magic returned. Only their queen can use it to call the Crochans to war, then the flame will ignite in all their hearths. But to use it, Manon would have to be chosen as queen first and it’s not Glennis’ job to know how Manon can achieve that. Manon asks what they’ll do next, and Glennis tells her they’re going to Eyllwe, where help has been requested from the Crochans. Darrow calls for a meeting with Aedion and the Lords of Terrasen. He does not acknowledge Lysandra, so she changes and attends as Aelin - returned from her “secret mission”. Darrow wants to retreat north to Orynth and hide behind its walls if necessary while Aedion and the others want to go south. Prince Endymion (known as Enda), a Whitethorn cousin, points out that the army is too large to split and Princess Sellene, another cousin, votes in favor of going south. In the end, the only votes that matter belong to the Lords of Terrasen - and Sol and Ren are outnumbered when they vote to go south. Darrow, Sloane, Gunnar, and Ironwood all vote to go to Orynth and Darrow goes so far as to release their allies if they don’t wish to join them. Luckily, they all decide to come to Orynth as well (the Whitethorn cousins, Galan of Wendlyn, Ansel of the Western Wastes, and the Assassins of the Red Desert, headed by Ilias). Before the meeting breaks up, Nox comes in with a messenger from Eldrys. Nox recognizes “Aelin” right away and so does the messenger, who shoots black wind at her as he says that Erawan sends his regards. Lysandra/Aelin’s arm is hit but she ducks in time to miss most of the blow. Aedion steps in front of Lysandra/Aelin to confront the Valg as Ansel and Ilias surround it on its other sides. Sol, Ren, and Ravi circle Lysandra/Aelin and Galan guards the door while Enda and Sellene pin the Valg with their magic. Aelin’s loyal court surrounds her as the other lords hide behind a table. Lysandra sees the moment the Valg smells her blood and knows what she is, and who she is not. She orders him killed and he is, but not before his eyes go black and he transmits the message to Erawan that Aelin is not with her armies. After the meeting, Aedion speaks to Lysandra. They are not going to Orynth, where Erawan wants them to go. Sol and Ravi will take some men to rendezvous with the rest of the Wendlynian fleet as everyone else marches south together. Later, Nox approaches Lysandra. He reveals that he has guessed that she is not actually Aelin and how he knew Celaena from the competition. He tells Lysandra that he’d been planted in the competition as a spy for Perranth until it got too dangerous and Celaena advised him to get out. He serves Terrasen, not Darrow, and he wants to help. That night, Nox serves wine laced with a sleeping agent to Darrow and the other lords who voted to go north. Their loyal banner men get the same treatment. When they wake the next morning, only their tents remain – everyone else has already left. Chaol and Yrene arrive in Anielle to find his father eating alone in the dilapidated keep. He already knew that Morath was moving and sent Chaol’s mother and brother to the mountains for safety, but he didn’t realize that Morath was coming for Anielle. He does not have the men to defend the city. Chaol encourages him to call to the wild men of the Fangs for help, Morath has been hunting them down too, but his father does not want to do that. He claims the mountains belong to Anielle and he will not give up an inch to the wild men of the Fangs. Chaol tells him to prepare for a siege, Morath is coming fast. Once they go to their room, Chaol and Yrene discuss what will happen. They will evacuate who they can, and those people will likely head to the Fang Mountains. Their chances in the mountains will be their best option even though it’s already snowing there. Chaol tells Yrene there are hidden passages the people can use, if they can find them. He also reveals that though the keep is not in good repair, it will hold through the siege. And Anielle is one of the richest territories in Adarlan, his father just doesn’t use any of it for repairs. The next morning, the ruks arrive, with Falkan as well. Morath is only a few days away. Maeve makes Aelin dream. In her dream, the war never happened, and she and Rowan are mates in Terrasen. Maeve is her aunt telling her a story. She tells Aelin her own story but paints herself as a poor girl who just wanted more than life had given her. That she wanted to protect the new world she’d found. She asks Aelin where she thinks the keys are. This makes Aelin realize that what she’s seeing is not real. So instead, Maeve tells her that she will be gone for a few days because a Valg have been spotted. The Valg has already been dealt with but the collars he brought are available for the taking. Maeve’s going to go get the collars and bring one back for Aelin. She walks off. In the meantime, Cairn is moving Aelin somewhere more secure, and Fenrys is coming too. Aelin’s power grows within her, painful since she hasn’t been able to release any of it. Of course, the rumors of those collars was spread by Elide, since the warriors are all well known in Doranelle and would have been recognized. They all hope that Maeve fell for it and comes herself to collect the collars. They travel to the city of Doranelle and camp outside of it. They see that Maeve has a huge army outside of the city. Bigger than they’ve ever seen. To keep them out, or to keep Aelin in? They discuss how to find Aelin but Elide has an idea. The males are too recognizable and it’s too risky to contact anyone they know, Maeve may have already compromised them. Elide will sneak into the city since no one will know who she is, even Maeve would likely not recognize her, and she will ask about Cairn. She will say she’s looking for the fae warrior who jilted her. Lorcan really does not like this idea but it’s not up to him, Elide decides to go and she has Rowan’s blessing. Lysandra scouts ahead of the army as a falcon. The terrain is empty until suddenly she sees the Valg army. Fifty-thousand foot soldiers commanded by ilken and five Valg princes. When the two armies meet, no one notices in all the mayhem that Aelin does not use her fire. Ilias manages to sneak up behind one of the princes and decapitate him, but Aelin’s armies cannot keep up with Morath, which was double their size when the battle started. Lorcan, Gavriel, and Rowan scout around Maeve’s army as Elide goes into the city. There are a lot of guards, but the camps are not impenetrable. Gavriel and Rowan discuss how they would infiltrate each camp if necessary while Lorcan worries about Elide. She is dressed in one of Lorcan’s shirt and Rowan’s cloak and looks terrible, like she’s been crying. She goes up to an empathetic looking group and boy does she get lucky! They tell her they don’t know where Cairn is, but she should stay away from him, but they also tell Elide that Maeve is away from the city right now. She leaves the group to try to get more information in a tavern, but one of the Fae women follows her, introducing herself as Essar. She recognized the scents on Elide’s clothes and wants to help, she and Lorcan used to be lovers. She correctly guesses that Maeve has captured Aelin. Essar grabs her sister Dresenda, who is a soldier. Elide learns that Cairn went to the eastern camp today, Dresenda saw him there that morning. Dresenda tells Elide that the watch there is weakest at dawn, and she will make sure the guards at that time are occupied, giving the warriors a way into the camp. But she doesn’t know where Aelin is, or if she was taken with Maeve, and neither sister knows where Maeve went or when she will be back. Elide tells the warriors what she learned, and they make a plan. Elide will hide in the woods and wait for them or flee if necessary. Rowan will sneak into the camp alone and when he finds Aelin, send up a flare of power. At his signal, Gavriel and Lorcan will cause a raucous near the eastern camp entrance to allow Rowan and Aelin to escape. Manon learns that the camp she is at is one of the Crochans’ oldest camps and that many of their tribes, called hearths, have a fire there. She begins to make inroads with the witches, or tries to, at least. One of the Crochans, Karsyn, has been studying the wyverns. Karsyn reveals that Abraxos and Asterin’s blue mare have mated. That even something made of darkness does not always turn out as expected. Meanwhile, Dorian tries to shift any part of himself at all but has no luck. Manon just gets done telling him that his eyes are still blue and they get into a little tiff. Dorian knows that Manon cares about the Crochans, even if she won’t admit it, and insists that caring is not a bad thing. She retorts that he should try caring sometime but Dorian retorts that if anything, he cares about too many things. He even cares about her. This does not help. Manon storms out of their tent and doesn’t come back until the very early morning hours. When they wake up, Dorian’s eyes are brown, and they join the Crochans as they fly south. Aelin waits for Cairn, chained to an iron table. Through a hole in the top of the tent, she can see a couple of stars, the first time she’s seen stars since she was taken. Fenrys sleeps close by, grieving his brother. Cairn comes in and starts to explain his plans for Aelin, and she decides it’s better to die than go through the next few days, just to be put in a collar at the end of them. Outside the camp, Rowan waits for dawn so he can enter but he hears a voice telling him to go now. Mala encourages him several times to make his move and he does, taking the breath out of the soldiers as he runs, killing them before they can sound the alarm, although he knows it won’t be long before he’s noticed. Lorcan and Gavriel wait, and they sense when Rowan enters the camp too early. Aelin bates Cairn and he is exactly the kind of male that is easily bated. He immediately melts down but it does not go the way Aelin wants. After beating and burning her, Cairn throws Aelin against a table and something breaks in her. Physically and otherwise. She makes a small sound, and that sound scares Fenrys more than anything else – it’s as if she’s given up. She blinks at Fenrys to tell him she is with him, but Fenrys recognizes that it’s a goodbye and he strains against his bond with Maeve. And he wins. It hurts, it will kill him, but he stands even when he has been commanded to lay down. And when Cairn tries to hit Aelin with a fire poker, Fenrys attacks him. He buys enough time for Aelin to use the poker to melt the chain between her leg shackles and run, as Rowan fights his way to Cairn’s tent. Lorcan can see something moving through the camp, killing anything in their way, but he knows it’s not Rowan. He and Gavriel separate to meet it, and they find Aelin, fighting as an assassin since she still wears shackles and the iron mask. Soon, he and Gavriel run next to her, protecting her and buoying her when she flags, Lorcan pulsing his power to Rowan all the while. When she finally sees Rowan, she screams Fenrys’ name and points toward the camp. They all understand what she’s trying to say. Lorcan will take her to the glen where they will all meet, Rowan and Gavriel will retrieve Fenrys. Both Fenrys and Cairn are unconscious when they reach the tent, Fenrys close to death. Gavriel immediately starts to heal him as Rowan waits for Cairn to wake up so he can exact revenge. Aelin and Lorcan make it to the glen where Elide waits and Aelin is desperate to remove her chains and mask. But they cannot unlock them. Finally, Rowan and Gavriel arrive carrying Fenrys and Aelin traces a Wyrdmark that Rowan can use to unlock everything. She could not do it herself while wearing iron. Once free, she becomes fire itself. Her clothes burn away, and they see that all the scars she once had are now gone. Including the scar from the oath she made to Nehemia. Her skin is entirely new because of what Maeve and Cairn did to her. Gavriel tells them all that Fenrys does not have much time left and Aelin goes to him. She offers him the blood oath and Fenrys accepts it, drinking blood from her arm. She commands him to live and after a minute, he manages to stand up. Rowan welcomes him to the court. But now they need to get away before Maeve realizes what has happened and comes after them. Before they can start on their way, the Little Folk arrive and beckon for the group to follow them. They take them into an underground cave filled with bedrolls, food, and clothes. Aelin is finally able to sleep. Dorian’s eyes remain brown for days before he manages to switch them back. The magic forces him to let go in order to work, and he it is not something he’s good at. He can’t manage anything else until Glennis asks him who he’s trying to become - his eyes turn green and his hair blonde for a moment before switching back - but Dorian does not answer. After, Glennis asks if Manon would rebuild the Wastes if she were able. She recommends having a plan if Manon wants to become Queen. But the conversation does not get far before the Shadows return from scouting their rendezvous point with the Eyllwians who requested help. They’re too late, the Eyllwian war band was already killed by Ironteeth. Manon and the Thirteen dig a grave for all the bodies using only their hands, winning some approval from the Crochans, as Dorian and Glennis write to warn the king and queen of Eyllwe that Morath is no longer taking prisoners. The witches who had called for aid were also too late to save the war band and already continued to the capital, they write back that Ellwye continues to fight but they have limited resources. Dorian decides he must retrieve the last Wyrdkey from Morath before something like this happens again and he finds some privacy to summon Gavin again. But Kaltain shows up instead. Dorian apologizes to her for leaving her in the dungeon and not worrying about her when she went to Morath. She tells him not to try to kill Erawan, he will not succeed. Get the key and get out. When the conversation is done, Dorian fesses up to what he wants to be. Someone worthy of his friends and kingdom. He wants to be happy. He changes to a raven, changing effortlessly this time. That’s when he sees Manon, who has heard everything and knows where he plans to go. Galan tells Aedion that they need to retreat and Aedion knows it’s true. Even their strongest soldiers are flagging. The soldiers have noticed that there is no fire whatsoever on the battlefield and they wonder why Aelin is not using it to fight their enemy. Aedion decides to retreat toward Perranth where they can freeze and cross the river using the Whitethorn’s magic, then melt it again before Morath crosses, or while Morath is on the ice. It takes all of Enda’s and Sellene’s power to shield the army as they retreat. Once the army stops moving and can rest, Aedion turns on Lysandra and blames her for everything. He is quite nasty, telling her that she and Aelin have ruined everything they were working toward. Why did Lysandra ever think she could replace Aelin? Lysandra does not yell back but leaves his tent, wearing only a cloak since she had been a horse most of the time and only changed into human form to get yelled at, and goes into the frozen night alone. Aelin couldn’t tell if this rescue and escape was another of Maeve’s tricks, at least until the Little Folk assured her that it was real. She sleeps inside a circle of flame with Fenrys but goes to Rowan when she wakes. Her magic is desperate for release so she enters the frigid subterranean lake to bath and cool off, releasing some of her magic where it will quickly be extinguished. After speaking about what has happened during the time Aelin was held captive for just over two months, they see a boat approaching towed by two blind eels. They are being hunted above ground, so the Folk have given them a safe way to escape. They’ll have to be led by the eels through the tunnels and caverns in the pitch black, but they will be able to move undetected. And they do not have time to delay. Lorcan wonders why the Folk would help but Gavriel explains that Aelin is not just descended from Brannon, but Mab as well. That means that she is the Little Folk’s queen too. The Folk present her with Mab’s crown which they rescued after it rolled into the river. Then Aelin boards the ship. The Folk gave them a small light that hangs on the boat, their only light in the caverns. Elide struggles with the darkness and a closed in feeling, knowing they will likely be there for several days at a minimum. Aelin struggles with who she is now but vows not to yield, not to break. For the friends that came for her, she will present an unbroken face and maybe one day it will feel true. After a few days they enter barrow wight territory and Aelin asks the boat eels to pull over so she can get out. Rowan, Gavriel, and Fenrys follow her. They have made their way into the territory of the barrow wights, who are obsessed with gold which is why they’ve made their home in the tombs of kings. Aelin points out that they’ll need money to keep going and she intends to get it from these tombs. Fenrys leaves his wolf form for the first time since their escape, so they have more pockets. While he is in Fae form, he and Aelin hug. She offers to release him from the bond made by the blood oath, but he doesn’t want to be released. He’s honored to be a member of her court. He tells the others what happened with Connall. When he and Gavriel return to the boat, Aelin presents Rowan with a wedding band she found while looting, and they make their promises again. She doesn’t allow him to kiss her, she’s not ready for that yet. But they do speak through their bond. Meanwhile, Lorcan and Elide argue. Lorcan asks how long he will have to do penance before she forgives him. He reiterates that he tried to save Aelin, that he tried to break the bond to Maeve but could not. Elide may have been most worried about Aelin, but all Lorcan could think in that moment was of how to keep Elide safe. She still doesn’t forgive him. When Fenrys sees Lorcan, he is able to tell him that he also hasn’t forgiven anything, and he considers the situation they are in to be Lorcan’s fault. They agree to settle their differences later, after the war is done. It takes five days for the Morath army to reach Anielle. By that time, as many people as possible have been evacuated into the Fangs, using ruks when necessary, and others housed inside the keep. Healers of the Torre Cesme teach anyone from Anielle that shows promise, they have been making a steady stream of tonics. And now they wait for Morath to attack. Chaol has a chair waiting in the hall and a cane hidden in the back of his tunic for when he and Yrene start to tire. He plans to meet Sartaq, Nesryn, and his father before dawn but when he arrives only his father is waiting. He reveals that Chaol’s mother and Terrin were not sent away, they left him (finally). And his father also tells Chaol that Yrene is pregnant. Not that Chaol can do anything with this information right then, as he watches Morath advance. After Manon and the Thirteen buried the dead, she won some approval from the Crochans, including Bronwen. But the Crochans must decide where to go next, and so must Manon. She discusses with Asterin and decides to go to the Ferian Gap. There she will ask Petrah Blueblood to join them. It was after deciding that she went into the forest and saw Dorian speaking to the ghost of Kaltain. Manon is upset. She thought they had no secrets from each other. And she doesn’t want him to get killed or worse, collared. This is what she gets for caring about someone. But Dorian will not be dissuaded from going to Morath. She offers him a test instead to make sure he is ready. Come spy for them in the Ferian Gap. The eel boat leads Aelin and the others from the caves to the ocean and drops them off not far from a Wendlyn port. They manage to find a ship that will take them to Erilea. Rowan and Aelin have a room to themselves, and they really talk for the first time. Aelin apologizes for not telling him they were mates; she didn’t want to cause him any distress. He reveals that he had always wanted it to be her since they had first met in Mistward and didn’t understand why it had been Lyria instead. That made him feel guilty, but this makes much more sense to him. They decide whatever comes next, they will face it together. Then they claim each other fully. The next morning, it’s time to deal with Lorcan. The entire group converge on the deck of the ship and Aelin approaches him. He was Maeve’s second before their bond was severed. He is too powerful to allow into Terrasen when Aelin cannot trust him completely. So, she offers him the blood oath. The only command she will ever give him is to protect Terrasen and its people and he would be able to live wherever he would like, but if he does not take the oath he will not be allowed within Terrasen’s borders, in case he takes information back to Maeve. Aelin, in a whisper, tells him that all is not lost with Elide and he sees the glimmer of hope on Elide’s face himself. He takes the oath. Aelin reminds Fenrys that he and Lorcan are now both bound to her and so their duel cannot be to the death - Lorcan had already decided he would fight but not try to kill Fenrys when it happened. Afterward, Aelin tells Elide that she is not offering the oath to her. She needs the Lady of Perranth not to be sworn to her to help her get her throne back. Elide is disappointed but understands Aelin’s reasoning. Now, they train and they plan. Assuming that Dorian will find her with the keys, they will go straight to Terrasen instead of tracking him down. The Crochans agree to meet the Thirteen back at the hidden camp where they first met. Dorian changes his face, leaves the keys and Damaris with Manon, and takes Asterin’s mare wyvern into the Ferian Gap to spy as a wyvern trainer. He needs to know if the matrons are there or if Petrah Blueblood is leading the host. He reports back to Manon that Petrah is there, and the matrons are not. So, she and the Thirteen go in next, leaving Dorian alone to wait for them. Petrah agrees to allow Manon an audience, gathering her host in exchange for the life debt she owes Manon. Manon tells all the witches in attendance that they have all been fed a lie. That humans and Fae and witches can all live in peace together if they try, she has seen it. She asks them to join her, fly against Morath, and potentially end their curse altogether. If they don’t, her grandmother, the Blackbeak matron, intends to become High Queen of the witches and kill any who do not submit to her. The choice is theirs. Then she leaves them alone with her words. Aelin has nightmares. Anytime she’s awake she needs to be moving, to be training. Rowan has to encourage her to eat. The only time she is still is when she teaches them Wyrdmarks, which Rowan requested she do. She feels the need to hurry, knows that people are dying. No one asks why she doesn’t call her fire. No one notices, or they don’t mention, that Fenrys does not teleport at all. Can he even do it if Connall is dead or was it a gift given to a rare set of twins that requires both of them? Or maybe he can portal, and he just can’t bear to. The group is given a small reprieve on land when a storm forces their ship to dock. The next day, Rowan checks in with the captain and flies back frantic, pointing to the skies. The battle at Anielle has waged for five days and both sides have taken substantial damage. Today, the ruks ride for the back of Morath’s army to take out the commanders. They take out two, leaving three commanders alive. Nesryn aims at a third commander and lets her arrow fly, but she doesn’t see if it lands. She’s distracted by Hasar coming up from behind Morath’s forces, leading the khagan’s land forces. When the day is done and the night is black, both armies rest. Nesryn flies Chaol and Yrene down to join the war council but they are interrupted by someone Chaol does not expect. Aedion has chosen where to make his stand. After buying them two days by blocking Morath with their magic, Enda and Sellene are nearly drained. But they stand at the banks of the river all together, with no hope of rescue. There has been no word of the remainder of Ansel’s or Galan’s fleets and none at all of Rolfe. Morath approaches and when the river is full, Enda and Sellene use what magic they have left to break the ice and drown the soldiers standing on it. But it’s not enough. The river quickly refreezes in the winter cold and Morath keeps coming. Soon enough, their lines break, and the soldiers flee Morath. Lysandra knows what she has to do. She transforms into Aelin and walks to the front lines with only her sword and shield. The soldiers whisper that the queen fights with them, that she is here, and they rally. But Aedion knows the truth. He knows that Lysandra cannot fight the ilken she is up against and all at once he regrets everything that he has said to her. He needs to save her. He runs, desperate to reach her, and he watches as she is hurt by the ilken. She kills one but the other hits her leg with its poison tail, just as Aedion arrives and kills it. He looks at Lysandra’s leg, and they are lucky, it doesn’t look as if it was poisoned by the ilken - perhaps it had no poison left by then. But she is losing a lot of blood. The soldiers fight around them again, with renewed vigor, but Aedion carries Lysandra and looks for a healer - finding no one. He does see as Ironteeth witches crest the peak behind them, walking with their wyvern pulling one of their towers that can decimate an army. He screams for his troops to fall back as he watches one of the witches perform the yielding. Sacrificing herself and entering the tower, the witch’s power is amplified by the mirrors and shoots into four thousand of his soldiers. There is nothing left of them when the debris clears. After a few moments of discussion in which Sartaq reveals he was about to break the dam and flood the lower lands of Anielle before Hasar showed up (a desperate move that would have been disastrous) they are interrupted by Aelin and her friends. They make the introductions and then decide what to do next. Aelin wants to convince them to march to Terrasen, but the khaganate aren’t convinced about going straight there. She will need to convince them when they fight. Their meeting is interrupted again, this time by Borte and Falkan - who is young again and has his full magic! He recognizes Aelin as the assassin from the desert but since he’s two decades younger now, he has to remind her that he sold her the stygian silk. Then Chaol and Nesryn tell Aelin the truth about the spiders and Maeve. And what Yrene can do to the infected. Of course, the news of Maeve does not go over well. Especially for the Fae warriors who drank her blood. Aelin goes cold and stops speaking, but the others make a plan for the next day. When the meeting is adjourned, Aelin rushes out. She has lost all hope; she cannot face two Valg rulers. Erawan was bad enough. But Rowan reminds her that they will fight together, and they will face it together, whatever happens. He’s worried though; she has not used her fire at all since the first night she was rescued. Gavriel is also worried, but for Aedion, of which there’s been no word. He asks Rowan why Aelin did not offer him the blood oath with the others, because he would have accepted it. Rowan explains that Aedion still has not taken his oath to Aelin. She will not offer it to Gavriel until Aedion has already sworn his oath to show him that she put his needs above her own. But both she and Rowan know that Gavriel would accept if it were offered. Lorcan is also struggling, how could he be so close to Maeve and not know what she was. He and Elide get into another fight and he accuses her of being jealous of Maeve. She tells him that she wants to know how he could love a monster because maybe it will explain how she loved one too (ouch). Then she tells him she doesn’t care if he lives through the battle the next day. Even Gavriel censures her about this. The Thirteen return to the Crochan camp and tell them what happened. That they don’t know yet what the witches in the Ferian Gap will choose. Glennis reveals that the Crochans have decided to return to their home hearths, they are leaving the next day. Dorian starts to practice how to fly, now that he can change into a raven. Lysandra wakes up in a tent. Her leg has been stitched and will hopefully avoid infection. Aedion tells her she slept for three days as the army abandoned Perranth and retreated. Morath follows them but has luckily been delayed by a storm. She realizes that she is no longer wearing Aelin’s body, and Aedion reveals that she shifted back when she was being stitched up by the healers. The soldiers know now that she was never Aelin. He apologizes for everything he said to her, but she won’t accept his apology. She has never been more humiliated or hurt than when he kicked her out of his tent into the snow. He leaves her, but it only gets worse. Ren is waiting outside of his tent with Darrow, who strips Aedion of his rank and forces him to give up the sword of Orynth. Aedion does it without much of a fight. But Kyllian, the new commander of the Bane, refuses to acknowledge their new roles and insists that Aedion still lead them. When they continue to march, trying to stay ahead of Morath, they come to a choice. Cross the river or go north. Lysandra scouts ahead and speaks to Ren afterward (she is not speaking to Aedion and Ren is enamored with her). Ren tells Aedion that the river is not frozen and Morath has destroyed the bridge across. Morath has herded them toward exactly where they wanted them and now, with Orynth too far to reach before Morath is upon them, they are trapped. Chaol tells Yrene that he knows her secret; they’re both delighted about the baby although the timing is not phenomenal. Then he introduces his dad to Aelin. Considering how well Aelin deals with old, egotistical men, it goes as well as you would expect. Afterward, Rowan tells her, Fenrys, and Elide that the Anielle troops are nervous about the khagan’s men and do not trust that the khagan’s forces will fight with them. It could lead to weak or broken lines the next day. Gavriel agrees once he returns from inspecting the soldiers. They’ll have to figure that out. Elide asks who will be in charge of Doranelle should Maeve die. It passes through the female line and Maeve has no descendants. So, it would be shared between Mab and Mora’s lines. Mab’s only living female relative is Aelin, while Mora’s closest relative would be Rowan’s cousin Sellene. Aelin never wants to enter Doranelle again, so she relinquishes Doranelle to Sellene. The others name Aelin and Sellene the Faerie Queen of the West and the Fae Queen of the East. Aelin doesn’t hate it. Dorian tries out what it feels like to have a woman’s body, to walk in it, as he prepares to go to Morath. Manon sees him and they get into another argument. They haven’t shared a tent since she found out he was going. He calls her out and accuses her of being scared. She wants him to stay with her, but she will never admit it because it scares her. Manon storms off. But she doesn’t want to think about what he said, and how it may be a little true. She is afraid of showing herself. And not just to Dorian, but to the Crochans as well. Yes, she asked them to join her to fight but she didn’t really show them anything of herself that would encourage them to follow her. She was too scared. And now they’re leaving (although some look like they don’t want to). Manon says goodbye to Glennis but suddenly, Glennis tells her to run. Somehow Glennis scented them before Manon. The three Ironteeth matrons are here. The matrons have come by themselves to kill Manon, who seeks to destroy what they have built and draw their covens away. Manon meets them head on, drawing a line in the sand and telling the others not to engage. True, she nearly died when she fought her grandmother before, and that was only one matron. But Manon is not that witch any longer. She is stronger, she knows who she is, she knows what she believes. She fights all three matrons at once and at one point, beckons for a second sword to be thrown to her. Bronwen tosses her own to Manon and Manon fights the matrons with both hands. She lays a trap and kills the Yellowlegs matron, who was wearing Rhiannon’s crown. Manon picks the crown up and places it on her own head. She tells Cresseida to leave and tell Petrah that all debts between them are even, allowing her mother to live is payment for allowing Manon to speak to the Ironteeth and leave unscathed. Cresseida does not hesitate, taking her own wyvern and the Yellowlegs matron’s as well. But Manon does not reengage her grandmother. Instead, she beckons to Asterin. Before Asterin can join her, Manon’s grandmother makes a run for her own wyvern and Manon lets her go. Afterward, Manon returns Bronwen’s sword and gives Rhiannon’s crown to Glennis. But Glennis says it does not belong to her and crowns Manon with it instead. The Crochans and the Thirteen bow to her, Queen of the Witches. Rowan wakes up early and is concerned. They need to inspire the men and impress the khagan’s children to convince them to march toward Terrasen. And he’s not sure if Aelin can wield her fire. Fenrys, who saw him watching Aelin, tells him that Maeve and Cairn burned her. It was one of the many ways she was tortured by them. Aelin and her group break open Anielle’s vault and pick out armor and weapons, then Aelin sends the others to the battlements to wait. She will be up shortly. The mortal men are antsier than ever as Morath prepares their siege tower. But as it makes contact, Aelin steps out into full view wearing beautiful armor she found and a diadem around her head. She’s holding a shield and Goldryn and she begins to lay waste to the Morath soldiers. She doesn’t need fire to inspire; Rowan remembers that now. The Fae warriors join her, and they show everyone exactly what they can do. Elide assists the healers as the others fight. A ruk rider that has been assessing the battle speaks to Sartaq and he takes off on Kadara, Nesryn following quickly. A group of thirty Morath soldiers used the night to approach the dam and if they break it, they will flood the field, killing their own soldiers but also most of the khaganate’s. The Morath soldiers start battering the dam, but Sartaq and Nesryn arrive in time to kill them and assess the damage. Meanwhile, Lorcan and Gavriel take the lead fighting their way to the siege tower with Aelin and Rowan behind them. They make it, dismantle the tower (made of iron so their magic won’t work on it), and begin to fight in the field. They push from the front as the khagan’s armies push from the rear, making progress. Finally, Chaol yells at them all to come back up on the walls but Lorcan doesn’t listen. There is something telling him to continue. And who cares if he dies today anyway, certainly not Elide. He continues fighting but he does not see the Valg soldier who manages to cut him up his back. Then the soldier stabs him in the stomach with his sword. Lorcan’s world goes black. The battle ends and Sartaq and Nesryn return with bad news. They stopped the dam from breaking… for now. But the damage is too great, and it will break soon. They need to evacuate the plain. They decide to use the ruks to take as many people into the mountains as possible and they will fill the keep as full as they can. The rest will have to take their chances by running into Oakwald if they can make it. What Chaol doesn’t say out loud is that the wave will be so high, it will likely top the trees of Oakwald too. They start the evacuation and chaos ensues. That’s when Elide notices that Lorcan is not there. Gavriel tells her he saw Lorcan on the field and points out where. Rowan tells Fenrys to travel there but Fenrys insists that he can’t. Not that he won’t, he can’t. Elide takes Chaol’s warhorse Farasha and rides for Lorcan. In all the bodies, no one sees where she goes until they see her riding across the plain. At that point there’s nothing they can do but watch and hope that she returns before the dam breaks. Elide rides as fast as she can, screaming for Lorcan, until finally she sees him raise his hand from under a pile of dead Morath soldiers. He is alive but badly injured. He can’t stand without Farasha’s assistance and barely makes it into the saddle. But he eventually does and Elide climbs up too. They see a ruk riding from the dam with a warning flag that the dam will break soon. Farasha runs as fast as she can and Elide prays that the gate is still open. The gate is still open, but Lorcan knows that there’s no way they will make it in time. Lorcan tells Elide he loves her and intends to slide off the horse. Without him weighing her down, Elide will be able to make it to the keep. But Elide refuses to allow him to sacrifice himself and holds on to his arm. Then the dam breaks and their friends watch the waters rush toward them. That’s when Rowan realizes that Aelin is gone, just before Borte and Arcas drop her onto the plain, directly in front of the rushing water. Then he knows that she hasn’t used her power because for months she has been tunneling into it, stocking it up to kill Maeve. But instead, Aelin uses all that power to evaporate the water. Rowan only has enough time to throw out his wind and push the steam away from the soldiers. Aelin burns until the water no longer threatens to overwhelm them, pushing Rowan to his limits but saving the army and her friends - who did not make it to the keep. The witches move camps. Manon comes to Dorian, she knows he’s leaving for Morath the next day. She asks him if he would stay if she asked, even offering an alliance between any witches who follow her and Adarlan. Between the two of them. But Dorian knows that she would not be happy in a marriage to anyone, it would be like a cage to her. He does not answer but they spend the night together and when she wakes up, he is gone. He’s taken the Wyrdkeys with him. Aedion and the others prepare to make their last stand. In a moment of desperation, he tells Ren to send a message asking for aid to anyone who might give it. Although he’s not sure there will be anyone left to aid even if allies do come. Morath gets close enough that Ren’s archers shoot their arrows. But when Morath returns with their own volley, the arrows land with heads already spiked on them. The heads of Ansel’s soldiers. The rest of her fleet, who must’ve met Morath on their way and been decimated. Morath gets ever closer but then Aedion sees fire on one of the flanks. Not Aelin, but Rolfe and the Mycenians carrying firelances. It turns out that Ravi and Sol had run into Rolfe as he arrived with his fleet and sent him to help, believing that the others might be in trouble. Morath retreats from the firelances, and Rolfe sails his ships onto the river. They evacuate most of Terrasen’s army to the opposite riverbank and Aedion and the others sail to Orynth, where the army will join them. But all Aedion can think of now is what happens when the witch towers reach Orynth. Yrene hears horns outside the keep, and when she looks out, she sees Kashin leading the rest of the khaganate’s forces. Aelin and Rowan are taken to rooms to sleep and Lorcan is patched up by Yrene. When he wakes the first time, Fenrys is watching over him. The second time, it’s Elide. They profess their love for each other and patch things up, finally. One of Ren’s messengers is heard by a witch who brings the request for aid back to camp. Manon wants to follow Dorian, but she will go to Terrasen instead. The Thirteen vow to go with her. She lights the flame of war and the Crochans answer her call. Aelin and Rowan finally wake up, and Rowan asks if she has any more surprises. She admits that she has sent letters to Essar and to Rowan’s uncle, telling them about Maeve and her plans. She’s hoping they will rebel from the inside. But she promises that it’s the last surprise. They take in the news that Kashin has arrived. They meet with the war council and Sartaq agrees to go north with the khaganate’s forces to fight for Terrasen. They reveal that reports show that’s where Morath is converging anyway. But to go up the woods they would pass the Ferian Gap. And Erawan holds the river so they cannot go across it. But Chaol has already contacted the wild men of the Fangs, and they know of passages the armies could take - for the low, low cost of some of Anielle’s lands. Which Chaol’s father is unwilling to relinquish. Good thing it’s not up to him anymore. Before they decide on their route, Aelin hears that Yrene is healing the Valg infested men, and she wants a demonstration. She watches as Yrene heals a man who thanks her heartily afterward and Aelin is impressed. Yrene can do as many as fifteen a day depending on the difficulty of the cases. Aelin and Rowan scour the books of Wyrdmarks that Yrene and Hafiza brought from the Torre but find nothing useful. Chaol’s father tries to bribe him not to give land to the wild men, showing him years of letters that Chaol’s mother wrote to him that his father never actually sent. Starting the same day that Chaol left. This is why his mother finally left; she found the chest of letters. Chaol doesn’t fall for it and makes a deal with the wild men. The wild men begin to take the army through the mountains toward Terrasen. Dorian scouts Morath from the skies as a crow, then goes through the halls as a mouse - being careful to check for cats. He thinks to check Erawan’s tower first but on his way, the behavior of the people around him stops him. He goes to the kitchens instead and hears that Erawan is going to a meeting. He heads to the council room (thankfully he knows the layout of the keep from Manon) and watches as Erawan meets with Maeve. The northern army led by Aedion makes it to Orynth. None of them are hopeful that they will ever leave. Dorian listens as Maeve introduces herself as the sister-in-law Erawan was looking for long ago - he still hadn’t figured it out himself. Then she explains why she has come. Aelin’s letter worked, the Fae have rebelled against Maeve, she is Queen of Doranelle no longer. She wants revenge and for that, she wants to ally with Erawan. They discuss what Aelin has been doing and Dorian is able to find out a bit of what his friends have been up to. But what does Maeve have to offer Erawan? It turns out that Erawan has been having trouble finding suitable hosts for six Valg princesses. Maeve suggests using the karankhui. They’re willing and would be excellent hosts for the princesses. Erawan agrees to think it over and gives Maeve a room. Dorian follows her, but she knows who Dorian is and catches him. Through a tense conversation, she says she wants to ally with Dorian. She doesn’t want to destroy this world… she wants to use the key to seal Erawan and his brothers out of it forever. Dorian, thinking fast, asks if she would prefer to ally with Adarlan instead of with him alone. He could make her his queen. She thinks this sounds like a grand idea. But they still have to find the key. Dorian spies and hears Vernon Lochan complaining about Erawan. It gives him an idea. He makes himself look like Vernon and approaches Erawan directly. He doesn’t learn much except that Erawan intends to kill anyone that does not bend the knee to him. Maeve isn’t looking so bad now. But Dorian also learns that his father never completely bent to Erawan and fought him every step of the way. When the meeting ends, he sleeps in front of Maeve’s fire. Aelin and Chaol approach the Ferian Gap at shocking speed, thanks to the guidance of the wild men. On their way, Gavriel congratulates Chaol on the baby. He tells Chaol to savor every moment, he never got to experience any of it since he didn’t know Aedion existed until recently. Chaol insists that Aedion will forgive Gavriel when he’s ready, because Gavriel is a good person, and sons always want to forgive their fathers. Even Chaol, even though he has been burned so many times. Soon, Borte and Nesryn arrive from scouting and announce that the Ferian Gap is nearly empty: no witches and no wyverns. There are a few people left but likely just trainers. Sartaq is going to find out what they know. Dorian searches the Morath keep for a week but cannot find the last key. He does find where Erawan keeps the collars, deep in the basement with his broken sarcophagus. When Dorian enters the room, the feeling overwhelms him and he’s not sure he can find his way out until Maeve pulls him outside. She explains that that feeling is why she left her world and came here. Dorian asks questions about the Valg. She reveals that the princesses are stronger than princes but harder to contain, which is why Erawan has kept them for the second wave of his war. Dorian tells Maeve that he has searched everywhere, the key must be in Erawan’s tower but there is no way for Dorian to access it. Maeve is going to have to seduce Erawan. She is not pleased by this plan, but she does it anyway. Erawan, however, turns her away. She is his brother’s wife, after all. The next day, Erawan asks what else Maeve can bring to their alliance. He wants the rest of the karankhui as soldiers. Maeve is hesitant to agree to that, but she tells him she can teach him about opening portals to worlds instead. He doesn’t know as much as she does. And though she cannot bring them through, she can show him his brothers now. Darrow has made sure that Orynth is prepared for a siege, but Aedion worries about the witch towers. He devises a plan and he and others, including Lysandra, work the entire night to lay traps. The next morning when Morath comes into view, they count one hundred thousand troops and three witch towers. But when the towers get to a certain point, hidden assassins shoot flaming arrows at the pits that Aedion and the others dug and camouflaged. Inside the pits is the same reactor that is in the fire lances. Two of the towers are completely destroyed and while the third is intact, it is stopped for the moment since the wyvern pulling it is now dead. Erawan takes the opportunity to see his brothers again and Maeve tells him to meet her that evening when it’s dark. When they’re alone, she tells Dorian that it will only be an illusion to distract him while Dorian sneaks into his tower and gets the key. She is skilled with portals. Brannon knew this and warded his land from her so she could only walk into it, and so did Erawan. But she has spent her time in Morath taking Erawan’s spells apart. She leaves to meet Erawan and Dorian changes into Erawan’s form and goes through a portal that Maeve created leading straight to Erawan’s tower. It doesn’t take him long to find the key. It’s imbedded in the arm of the girl on Erawan’s bed, who looks more than a little like Kaltain. Dorian removes the key, but the girl begs him to kill her. He’s trying to decide what to do when Maeve comes in and chooses for him, killing the girl then forcing her way into his mind. What she doesn’t know is that Dorian has laid his own trap. The first night he met Maeve, he made his mind shift to be what she wanted to see. Jealous of Aelin, spiteful. When she sinks her talons into his head, he snares her. Then he shows her what he’s been doing as he searched the keep. Filling the cracks with ice which he is now expanding. He keeps his hold on Maeve as he flies away, destroying the keep and burying the collars beneath it. Before he releases her, he uses his magic to change a part of Maeve’s magic, now she cannot portal at all. Then he collects the other two keys, which he had hidden, and flies away. Elide helps Yrene as she heals a soldier with an infected wound. When they’re done, Yrene tells Elide she could heal her ankle. It would require weeks of work, Elide would have to relearn to walk again, and it would be agonizing, but Yrene could do it. After the war is done. Elide decides to think about it and let her know her decision if they both survive. Soon, Borte comes to fetch Elide. They’ve been questioning those left in the Ferian Gap and they’ve found her uncle hiding there. It’s up to Elide to decide what to do with him. She speaks to her uncle briefly, but he doesn’t do himself any favors. She walks out and tells the others to do what they want with him but make his death quick when it comes. Aelin decides not to torture Vernon, she couldn’t stomach it after what she’d been through even if Lorcan really would like to make Vernon suffer, so she plies him with questions instead. When she promises him his life for information, Vernon tells her that Maeve has united with Erawan. He doesn’t know where Maeve’s army is, he was sent here quickly after her arrival and has no other information about her. But he does know that those stationed in the Ferian Gap were sent north to fight Terrasen. When he’s done, they tighten his chains - to his surprise. Aelin never promised to let him go, she promised they wouldn’t kill him. It’s not her fault he won’t be able to feed himself. She locks him in the room and hands the key to Elide. This death won’t be fast but Elide does not open the door anyway. The night before the battle, Aedion visits Lysandra and Evangeline to give Evangeline a pep talk. The next morning, Darrow asks Evangeline to help him as a runner during the battle. A small kindness to keep her distracted so she doesn’t have to watch as her friends walk into danger and likely die. The rest of them go into the battlements and know that Morath will be in range of the archers in an hour’s time. That’s when the Ironteeth witches arrive to fight with Morath. One thousand of them. Aelin’s forces already didn’t stand a chance, but at the sight of the witches, Aedion asks Lysandra to take Evangeline and run - using a secret tunnel to escape. When she points out that he’s not telling anyone else to run, he says that’s because he’s not in love with anyone else. And he’s sorry he didn’t tell her sooner. But Lysandra refuses to go, just taking his hand and standing next to him. Thirteen more wyverns are spotted from the opposite direction but when they get close, Aedion recognizes Abraxos. Manon has come to fight with them, and she’s brought all the e Crochan witches with them to fight. Five thousand of them. Enough to rival the Ironteeth aerial legion pitted against them. Manon tells them that the witches will handle the Ironteeth. She leaves Vesta with them in case they need to get her a message, but the others go to the castle battlements and wait. Their arrival has thrown off Morath enough that they do not move that day. That night, Lysandra approaches Aedion and tells him she will think about his declaration even though she’s still mad at him. He asks if they survive the next day, can he kiss her. She makes no promises, only telling him they’ll talk if they survive. Dorian flies as a wyvern for two days as hard as he can before stopping. He Summons Gavin again and tells him he found the third key. He wanted to give Gavin the chance to say goodbye to Elena. He will head now to the north so that he and Aelin can decide who closes the gate, although he’s hoping Aelin has come up with an alternate idea. Gavin tells Dorian not to give up on life so easily. Then the sky goes dark as the witches who had still been in Morath fly toward Terrasen. No one notices as Dorian quietly joins their flock of wyverns. The next morning, those in Orynth prepare to fight. Lysandra slips into the Florine River and heads toward Morath’s eastern flank. There she waits for her signal. Aedion, Ren, and the other archers watch the witches rise into the sky as Bronwen blows the horn of Telyn Vanora. That horn was last blown to signal for the Crochans to run after Rhiannon Crochan was killed in the witch war. This time the horn will rally the Crochans instead. As witches fall into the river, Lysandra either saves them or kills them, depending on who they are. When she gets her signal, she crashes out of the river as a sea dragon and lays waste to the eastern flank before retreating back to the water, moving, and doing it all over again. On the wall, Aedion and Ren shoot with the archers and the flame lancers. They unleash boulders that have been raised by the Fae to the catapults and covered in oil. When the boulders are shot with flaming arrows just before hitting the ground, they ignite and the fire travels through drilled holes to the flammable powders the army has shoved inside. The boulders explode and kill the soldiers with great success. Then a Valg prince climbs the siege ladder and comes face to face with Aedion. Aedion engages him immediately and is able to block the Valg’s dark magic with the shield. The Valg is not happy about that. At one point, the Valg prince stabs Aedion under his shoulder where his armor does not cover but Aedion beats him back until Ren is able to shoot the prince through the neck and kill him with the fire lance. Then Aedion passes out and is taken to the healers. A note is sent to Darrow saying that Aedion will be brought to him after the healers are done and he’s able to be moved. Evangeline waits for that moment, scared for Aedion and the others, and watching the battle with Darrow. Aelin and the others travel north through Oakwald, she clears trees with her fire to make them a path. The wild men of the Fangs join their ranks; the witches have been picking the off for months and they’re ready for payback. They will have to pass Endovier as they travel, and Aelin is not sure she’s ready but she’s glad she has Rowan for support. As they travel, he redoes her tattoos that were wiped away when her skin was healed, just like her scars. In addition, they get matching hawk wing tattoos over their shoulders. When they pass Endovier, Aelin and Elide talk and bond about how they were captive and never thought they would see Terrasen again. Elide and Lorcan are sharing a tent (and more) now that Lorcan has nearly died. Once they pass Endovier, they see a huge wyvern pass them and intend to hunt it down so it cannot report to the others where they are. But the wyvern uses ice to push the dangers away from itself and then shifts into Dorian. Aelin can tell right away that he has found the third key. Aedion is only down an hour before returning to the battle - though he cannot wield his sword. He searches for Lysandra and sees her fighting on land instead of using the river to surprise the soldiers. He sees that she is trying to keep the Morath soldiers from the river and realizes what she has figured out. Morath has discovered that the river flows into Orynth, which is how Lysandra used it to leave Orynth undetected. They are now trying to use the river to breach the walls of the city and Lysandra is desperately trying to hold them off. Aedion signals to Manon for the Thirteen to get to the walls and stop Morath immediately but before she can, Iskra ambushes her and Abraxos, Iskra’s wyvern putting his jaws around Abraxos’ neck. Iskra’s wyvern does not have a good enough grasp to kill Abraxos outright, but it’s good enough to choke him. Abraxos realizes this and tries to get as low as he can to the ground to make sure that Manon can live if they fall. Manon tells Abraxos that she loves him and prepares to jump from him to Iskra’s wyvern to try to save them. But then, a wyvern crashes into Iskra. It’s Petrah, she’s brought hundreds of Ironteeth witches who are looking for a better world to fight with Manon. Petrah tells Manon to go for the walls, she will take care of Iskra in the name of her first wyvern, Keelie. Petrah and Iskra lock into battle, flying ever higher until even the wyvern cannot properly breathe, and then plummeting to the ground. But Petrah has been waiting for this moment, and she pulls out, flying in tight circles around Iskra and her wyvern so that they cannot pull out of the fall. They hit the ground hard and Petrah is barely able to pull out of the fall herself, but she manages it. Manon is impressed, Petrah must’ve been practicing. She and the Thirteen go toward the river where Morath is trying to enter Orynth and they kill the soldiers, then use boulders to block the grate so they won’t be able to get into the city that way. Manon heads inside with the others and they scream for a healer. Abraxos is hurt worse than she thought from Iskra’s wyvern and passes out. The Thirteen staunch his wounds with their hands as the healer comes. At the same time, Ren helps Aedion inside since he has torn his stitches and Lysandra comes to find them. The witch tower is back up now and coming this way. As she tells them, the tower’s first blast hits close by. They’re going to tear down the walls with the tower. There’s too many Ironteeth guarding the tower, no one can get through to destroy it. Manon wants to fight but Abraxos is still not awake, and Lysandra is too weak to shift again right now. The Thirteen prepare to ride and Asterin approaches Manon. She tells Manon to live and to give their people a better life. Then she punches Manon in the stomach to prevent her from following them as they fly off. The rest of the Thirteen fly right at the witch tower as Manon, Lysandra, and Aedion watch. One by one they are picked off but each one gets them a little closer until Asterin is able to throw a dagger into the witch about to Yield and trigger the tower. Asterin’s wyvern crashes into the tower as Asterin jumps onto the tower and pulls her weapons. She fights her way toward the Blackbeak matron, who was standing with the witch about to yield. As Asterin reaches the matron, Asterin Yields and blows herself up, killing the witches around her. One by one, each of the fallen Thirteen Yield as well, until only Manon is left. Manon sits quietly on the wall for hours and eventually falls asleep, she wakes with Abraxos’ wing guarding her. When she appears from beneath it, they walk through the battlefield to where the witch tower once stood, which is now just the center of a blast zone. She kneels there and behind her, though she doesn’t notice them, are people who have come to honor the Thirteen and what they did. Glennis, Bronwen, Petrah, Lysandra, Aedion, Ren, Ansel, Ilias, Rolfe, Galan, Enda, Sellene. Witches - Ironteeth and Crochan alike. And humans. All bringing flowers or tokens of thanks. And miles away in the Wastes, a flower blooms. Dorian meets Yrene and hears the happy news, then tells his unhappy news. Maeve is without an army but has joined with Erawan. He’s sure they both survived though at least he collapsed Morath. But the worst news is that there are still at least a thousand Ironteeth witches with their wyvern headed toward Orynth. Some carrying Morath soldiers. Aelin gives the group their options. They can continue to march and hopefully make it to Ornyth before it is completely decimated, or they can forge the Lock now. She puts it up to a vote. After a lot of discussion, it is decided that they will Forge the Lock the next morning. Even though Yrene insists that Erawan can be stopped without Forging it at all. The fight that happens that night between Rowan and Aelin is a big one, but it ends with Rowan telling her that when she and Dorian joined forces in Rifthold, it was unlike anything he’s ever seen. Maybe they can each Forge the Lock but each only gives half. Perhaps they could both survive. They go to Dorian, who agrees to try. But he wants Chaol with him. They decide to do it now, before the others wake up. They walk to where the salt mines are, and Aelin draws the Wyrdmarks. Once they stand inside them, she and Dorian cut their hands and clasp them. She cuts her arm, and they put the three keys into the wound. Rowan breaks the Wyrdmarks but can still see Aelin and Dorian as the keys dissolve into Aelin’s blood. As his mating bond begins to hurt, as if it is writhing in terror. Together Dorian and Aelin see thousands of doors. They form a Lock, it looks like the Eye of Elena, in order to lock all those doors so they can never be opened again. But the Lock starts draining their power. Taking it from them, they will never get it back. It begins to hurt, it’s agonizing, and Dorian realizes that they are both going to die. The Lock just keeps demanding more. But then his father appears in one of the doorways and says to stop. He is looking at Dorian with pride and sorrow, fully human with no trace of the Valg now. Dorian realizes that he is still wearing Damaris, who must have summoned his father to him. His father apologizes for everything that happened and asks to close the gate instead of Dorian. Nameless is my price, that is the price to close the Gate. And Dorian’s father is nameless. Erawan has wiped his name from memory, from history. Dorian and Aelin agree to let him help but before Dorian realizes what’s happening, Aelin pushes him out of the Wyrdmarks and grabs his father’s hand instead. Rowan realizes that Aelin planned this, she lied to him. Agreed that Dorian could help just to get them there, just to get to where she needed to go. Their bond gets weaker, but no one can get to her. Aelin feels her magic as it is pulled from her, this is punishment for the years she ran and did not return to Terrasen. The old king looks at her and gives her a message. Her parents are so proud of her - and the price has been paid enough. Aelin watches as he disappears completely just as her magic disappears. Or at least, her fire does. She is left with her mother’s gift, just a drop of water. The gods appear before her, standing with Elena as they demand to be sent back to their land. Aelin attempts to make a deal with them. Her friends believe they can beat Erawan, so leave Erawan but also leave Elena and allow her to live with her family in the afterlife, then return to their lands. Deanna approaches Elena and destroys her spirit completely, then tells Aelin that they can have Erawan, but the gods no longer make deals with mortals. Then Deanna goes through the portal to her own world. The other gods follow, all except Mala. Mala, who loved Brannon, who was Elena’s mother. She approaches Aelin and tells her to seal the gate but gives her one last gift. A fallen star. Mala tells Aelin that after the gate is closed, think of home because the Wyrdmarks will lead her back. She points out that Rowan has incorporated Wyrdmarks into her new tattoo. After Mala has gone through, Aelin rips a portal into the sky on the gods’ realm, to the world she once went into to retrieve Chaol and Fleetfoot. Let them fight for once instead of meddling with the lives of others. Then using Mala’s gift, Aelin seals the Gate. But she is not done. She uses the Lock and the new power to seal all the doorways to other worlds, but she finds the door that will lead her back to Erilea. She takes just a bit of the magic Mala gave her and she jumps back through the gate to Erilea before it seals. It doesn’t take her directly home, but she sees many worlds overlapping, and she falls past them. She uses the marks on her back and her tether with Rowan. She feels it growing stronger as she gets closer to the layer that is her world. She sees in one world a winged male Fae with a pregnant female looking at the stars as she falls through them. Aelin is falling too quickly and flings out an arm toward them, begging for help. The male blasts her with power, a shield to slow her down. The shield doesn’t last long before she’s torn through it, but it slows her just enough that she’s able to find her world and pull herself back into it. Into her body. The three she left behind cry over her as they realize she’s still alive. She explains to them that she has barely any magic left compared to what she’d once had. She gave it to close the gate. She also gave her life, but only her mortal life. She is Fae entirely now, her mortality given as the price to close the Gate. She has also retained the small water gift her mother gave her. A week later and Aedion and Lysandra are still alive in Orynth, taking small moments together where they can. There’s not many. Manon is barely functioning and not sleeping. Petrah recommends that they order some of the covens to stay in the keep and make arrows since the witches are running low, and that Manon stay with them. Manon refuses but Petrah points out that of all of the witches, she means the most. She is the future and if she dies, so does the promise of a better world for the witches. But Manon insists on fighting. At breakfast, Ansel approaches Manon and confides that she lost most of her soldiers as well. She tells Manon that should they walk away from this, she is willing to share the Wastes with the witches. They can have the entirety of their old kingdom, and Ansel will take the remainder. She doesn’t require an answer now but tells Manon to think about it. During the battle, Bronwen gets a message to Evangeline for Darrow. A siege tower is being brought along the west to the western wall. Already Ren and Aedion are pressed thin as they command their soldiers so Murtaugh decides to take command of the western wall himself - even if he is old. Evangeline and Darrow both worry about him as he leaves to go to the wall. Aelin tells everyone what happened, all of it. How she has very little power now and how Erawan is still alive. The meeting does not go well. But when it’s done, Borte finds her and says she wants to fight where she is when they get to Orynth. Elide gives Aelin the golden ring back since she’s more likely to see Erawan and will need the additional protection. And the khaganate agrees to continue northward anyway. But their army is delayed due to a northern snowstorm. Murtaugh does not make it. He is overwhelmed on the wall, but his death rallies the men around him and they manage to destroy the siege tower. At the war council that night, Darrow tells them they have enough food for a month. But their arrows are running very low and their fire lances even lower. They have maybe four or five days left before their stand is ended. Aelin’s army has been delayed for a full day already, and who knows how long the snow will last. Morale is running low at this delay, especially as they must travel the long way around the mountains since Morath sacked Perranth and last they heard, still held it. But Aelin is beckoned out of her tent to see the Lord of the North, the emblem of Terrasen, surrounded by Little Folk. They beckon Aelin and the others to follow them. Orynth is about to fall, and they will show them a fast way to get there that will not be affected by the storm. The army rushes to get moving but Aelin has an idea. She talks to Rowan about it. Meanwhile, Aedion’s army fights for five more days. They expected the arrows and the fire lances to be used up before then, but they last five whole days. They know that the next day they will only have their swords since even their spirit is worn down. Evangeline asks Darrow what happens next, and he tells her they have two options. 1. Surrender and be made slaves. 2. Fight to the death. He asks what she would do if it were up to her, and Evangeline tells him that she would fight. Terrasen is her home, it has represented everything she never had, ever since Aelin offered it to her and Lysandra - even if they never got to see Carravere. Darrow takes Evangeline to the hall where the food is laid out. He gives Aedion the Sword of Orynth back, telling him he has fought more valiantly than anyone could be expected and apologizing for ever taking it from him. He asks for forgiveness for trying to protect Terrasen too much. He formally recognizes Lysandra as Lady of Caraverre. And he asks Evangeline to be his heir since he has no children of his own. She has impressed him with her bravery and kindness. Evangeline accepts. The next morning, the battle does not go well. People inside the city walls flock to the castle for protection as Morath beats at the gates with battering rams. Manon calls the witches into the city to fight. Aedion is about to go make his last stand at the gate, telling Lysandra goodbye, when they hear a horn blow. Not the witch horn. Not a horn of Morath. They look up to see an army appear along the foothills with Aelin riding the Lord of the North at the front of it. They’d rushed for six days, even marching through the night on the last night. When the horn blows the third time, Aelin gives the signal, and they all rush forward. The first line of Morath doesn’t stand a chance. At the city, they can hear Manon rallying the witches and calling them back to the field. Aelin fights with Borte above her, Yelan and Falkan (as a ruk) on either side of her. Dorian has Chaol and the wild men around him. Rowan fights with the other Fae warriors, trying to stay near Aelin. But a wyvern crashes into Borte, causing her and the others to scatter and allowing a massive wyvern to descend toward Aelin. Luckily, Lysandra kills it and greets her friend. Meanwhile, the siege towers are at the wall, battering rams are at the western and southern gates, and Morath soldiers are pouring over the walls. The southern gate is holding but the western won’t, so Aedion goes down to meet Morath. Aelin and Lysandra get to one of the siege towers and fight their way to the top and Ansel does the same to one of the others. They use the catapults to destroy the neighboring tower before Lysandra rips one of the catapults from its bearings and uses it to destroy the last one. When Morath finally breaks through the western gate, Aedion struggles to find a way to get it closed again when his father kills a wyvern and crashes it right in front of the gate, sealing most of the gate. Soldiers can still get through but the tide is much slower. Morath’s army in Perranth arrives to fight too, bringing fresh Morath soldiers, lots of Valg princes, and more Ironteeth witches. Gavriel shields the doors to the gate with his magic, but Aedion says they need to get them closed. Gavriel agrees and pushes his shield, going through the doors and telling Aedion to close them. The Bane follows Gavriel’s orders and closes Gavriel outside with all the Morath soldiers. Aedion rushes to the wall to try to get to his father but all he sees when he finally gets there is the piles of dead Morath soldiers and Gavriel lying among them, dead. His last act was to save his son and seal the gate. As Aelin’s armies run desperately to enter the city before the rest of Morath’s army is on them, to recuperate and reassess, Rowan sees Gavriel’s body and brings it inside the city. The ruk fly the healers (and Elide) into Orynth. Rowan last saw Aelin running with Ansel to the southern gate while Rowan simply uses one of the siege ladders to go over the wall. He knows that Erawan is probably with the incoming army and needs to get to Aelin so they can face this together, but he can’t shift since a piece of iron is imbedded in his shoulder. He starts to dig it out when he gets the count from the new approaching army. A minimum of twenty thousand, mostly Valg, soldiers and six Valg princesses inside kharankui bodies. The gates are closed with Aelin still outside them, and her magic nearly tapped. Rowan and Aedion give an order to evacuate for anyone who can, but Darrow says there’s no way out that’s fast enough for the people to make it. Erawan and Maeve separate from their army and walk together toward Orynth where Aelin goes to meet them. They do not realize that the magic she uses to make her sword and shield fiery is basically all she has left. She taunts them. She tells Erawan that Maeve plotted against him, that even now there are hundreds of healers waiting for him inside the city and they’ve been practicing expelling Valg from their hosts. That Maeve has always held a group of healers around her. She turns Maeve and Erawan against each other, planting as much doubt as she can before fighting them with her sword. By now, Rowan has removed the iron from his shoulder and wants to get to her, Fenrys and Lorcan with him, but soldiers pour into the city, and they know Aelin would never forgive them if they didn’t protect the people of Terrasen. So, they stay. Elide knows that Aelin is buying time for something, but what. Her gaze shifts to Yrene. The ilken are released with the kharankui, causing the witches and the rukhin to fight just to survive. Chaol and Dorian are fighting to keep Morath away from the wall when Lysandra lands and Yrene and Elide slide from her back. They need Dorian. After a moment, Chaol asks Dorian to protect Yrene while they do their task and Lysandra flies off. Something has changed, causing Lorcan, Fenrys, and Rowan to leave the walls and fight in the field with Aelin. Meanwhile, Erawan realizes that Aelin was right - there are skilled healers from the Torre inside the city. He suspects that she was telling the truth about Maeve and is carried away from Aelin and Maeve by an ilken. He travels to a tower where Yrene has been calling for him, sending flares of her power out. Aelin faces Maeve but Maeve has realized that Aelin has no power left. Goldryn and her shield only flame because she had imbued them with her power before she closed the Gate. Maeve causes Aelin to see visions. She sees Cairn again. But this time, Aelin is able to see through the visions. But when Aelin sees Elide on the field, come to help her, she tries to protect Elide from Maeve and realizes that she was tricked. Maeve starts to choke Aelin with her shadows, demanding that she yield and take the blood oath. Then Rowan, Fenrys, and Lorcan arrive, and they lash out at Maeve. But it appears that Maeve has been waiting for them, and she unleashes her full power on them. The three warriors start to scream as their powers are swallowed up by Maeve’s darkness. Erawan sees Yrene waiting for him and explains that he doesn’t want to kill her! Healers are what they used to take the keys from the Gate. He wants to take Yrene and use her to forge new keys. He’s so excited by the thought that he walks right into a Wyrdmark that traps him. That’s when Dorian explains that he’s not actually Yrene, he had shifted to look like her to lure Erawan towards him. At that moment, Lysandra and Yrene fly into the tower and Yrene attacks Erawan with help from Dorian - who hits him with his own healing power. Lysandra changes to her snow leopard and pins Erawan to the ground so that Elide can stab Damaris through Erawan’s stomach and really keep him from getting up, wedging the sword into the stones below Erawan’s body. Yrene begins to burn the Valg away from the host body, Dorian shares his power with her when her own starts to wane. But Dorian wants something else, something he didn’t even realize he wanted until now. He wants his father’s name back. Erawan refuses to give it and Yrene is nervous that this will throw off their momentum. Erawan manages to shoot his power at her, but Dorian protects Yrene and demands his father’s name still. But it is Damaris, spearing through Erawan, that says that the king’s name was also Dorian. Though Erawan took his name from him, the king remembered it one last time, long enough to give it to his son. Yrene finishes eradicating the Valg from the host body and the body shrivels up. Dorian burns it - better safe than sorry - and the ash drifts away. Erawan is no more. Rowan, Lorcan, and Fenrys are in a hell of Maeve’s making, each specific to the person. Rowan sees Aelin dead as Lyria berates him, Fenrys sees his brother die over and over again while taunting him between deaths, Lorcan sees Elide and the home he so desperately wanted as she turns him away or as she ages and dies in front of him. Aelin sends her fire to each of them and burns their shoulders, it is enough to bring Lorcan and Rowan back to themselves, but Fenrys is too far gone. Rowan pretends he is still seeing visions but cuts his hand on his dagger and offers it to Aelin, who cuts her hand and joins his. His power rushes into her. That’s when she shows her secret weapon. Found in the books of Wyrdmarks brought from the Southern Continent, she found where the Fae had gone when they left the Southern Continent. To join the fabled Wolf Clan, the same place the Fae in Terrasen had fled to. And conveniently enough, the book had Wyrdmarks that would open a portal right to them. Aelin had gone to speak to the Wolf Clan before following the Little Folk to Orynth and begged them to fight with her. She had told the Fae from the south that they could have the kharankui if they came to fight, since they’d been trained by their ancestors on how to kill them. For the whole fight, Aelin’s Fae warriors had written the Wyrdmarks on the field in their blood, in case they needed to call upon the Wolf Clan. And this is the moment Aelin opens those portals, and the Fae and mortals come through riding giant wolves. But she still intends to take Maeve on herself. Aelin blinks at Fenrys four blinks over and over until finally he responds. She signals and he understands. Then she unleashes her fire on Maeve as Lorcan blasts Maeve with his dark power. When Aelin points out that Fenrys has been the most wronged and has a real vendetta against Maeve, Fenrys grabs Goldryn from the ground near him and portals to directly behind Maeve. He stabs her through the heart. Maeve screams and begs them to pull it out. Aelin slips the golden ring onto Maeve’s finger and the ring fights against the Valg inside her body, finally expelling it. Then Aelin pulls Goldryn out of Maeve’s chest and cuts off her head, stabbing it to the ground. As she does, Valg and kharankui and ilken around her drop dead. Aelin burns Maeve’s body as Morath’s Ironteeth realize what has happened and flee, the other witches and rukhin in pursuit. The Valg king and queen are dead. Chaol passed out when Yrene flared her power into Erawan, his mind and his spine giving out. He wakes with Yrene next to him and cheers of her name on the streets. Nesryn and Sartaq are bloodied but alive, though Nesryn’s ruk Salki needs tending. And Aelin is finally welcomed into Orynth by her people. They do not kill the people the Valg used as hosts. Now that the Valg are gone, they hope to heal those people. Lysandra finds Aedion grieving next to his father’s body and stands with him till it’s time to leave. In the hall, she is approached by Falkan who reveals who he is to her and weeps for having found her. Dorian thinks about everything he has found out, finally knowing he is definitely human, and sees that the blade of Damaris has turned black. Manon finds him and they grieve the Thirteen together. Afterward, Elide gets the news from Manon but Manon reminds her to live, as she plans to do. Soon Elide finds Lorcan and she asks him to stay, asks him to come to Perranth with her, asks him to marry her. He accepts and will bind his lifespan to hers, so they won’t live a day without the other. He will soon become Lord Lorcan Lochan. Aelin enters the Great Hall where Darrow greets her as “Her Majesty”, with Evangeline right next to him. Aelin asked Evangeline to win her the throne back and the girl delivered. Then Aelin finds Aedion, and they go to see Gavriel together. In death, she gives Gavriel the blood oath. She announces that he was worthy of honor and will be remembered as such. Hafiza tells Yrene to rest and at first Yrene doesn’t want to go, but she eventually relents. Before she does, Hafiza tells Yrene that in a few weeks the healers will be leaving to go back to the Torre Cesme, without Yrene. But Yrene bounces an idea off of Hafiza. What if she opened a northern Torre to teach healers on this continent. Hafiza is delighted by the idea. Manon asks Glennis, Bronwen, and Petrah where they plan to go next. They want to go to the Wastes together as one people. They show Manon the flower that has sprouted there, the witch curse is broken. Aelin meets with all the young people in her court, including Ren. They reconcile and the talk turns to rebuilding. Fenrys reveals that the last member of Maeve’s cadre, Vaughan, may be convinced to join them. He just may be with the Fae on the field now. Fenrys also offers to travel once everything has died down, to the west where there is a country that rules as a democracy. They want to rebuild Terrasen in a similar way. Then Aelin meets with her allies. Rowan speaks to Enda and Sellene, giving Sellene the news that she’s the new Queen of Doranelle. Rolfe says the Mycenians will decide together if they should live in Ilium or in Skull’s Bay. Galan meets Aelin for the first time. And Ansel reveals that Ilias didn’t speak the entire time he was here. He still does not speak, now that the war is over. Aelin finds Manon and gives her condolences for the Thirteen. They grieve for the lost together. Ten days later, Aelin is crowned Queen of Terrasen. Elide, Lysandra, and Evangeline (Lady of Arran) serve as her handmaidens. Aelin makes her vows to her country and is given a newly forged crown. But before the ceremony is over, she offers the blood oath to Aedion, who accepts. Then the Little Folk come in and give Aelin Mab’s crown as well, she wears it with the crown of Terrasen. She walks through the streets to see her people, bringing her friends and allies with her, the people who believed in her and fought with her to get where they are. Friendships have been forged and there is a lot of sadness as they prepare to go their separate ways. And happiness too. Sartaq asks Dorian a question. The rukhin found a clutch of wyvern eggs and a few of the younger riders would like to remain in Adarlan to raise them and train them. Dorian agrees to this but has an idea of his own. He asks Manon what her plans are now that the war is over, and she tells him she is headed for the Wastes. He would like the witches to help the rukhin with the wyvern hatchlings. A veiled offer to see him often, since the wyvern clutch in near Rifthold. She thinks that could be possible. That’s when Yrene points out that they could stop pretending and just get married already. It would be good for their people to ally as well. Manon just smiles and says “we’ll see” before flying off on Abraxos. A week after Aelin’s coronation, her friends come together once last time. This time to say goodbye, tearfully. First the witches leave for the Wastes, then the khaganate to the Southern Continent. Then they say goodbye to Ansel, to Ilias, to Galan who will collect his ships from Sol and Ravi before sailing home. When it comes time to say goodbye to Dorian and Chaol, Aelin’s court gives her space while the three of them hold each other and cry, making promises to each other of a better world. Only Rolfe and Falkan stay in Orynth. In the spring, everyone in Terrasen is exhausted from rebuilding. The Fae who had left Terrasen have returned, along with many of the Wolf Clan and some of the Doranelle Fae as well. Aelin has written to Nehemia’s parents and plan to meet soon. They’ve celebrated Lorcan and Elide’s wedding, and they will celebrate Lysandra and Aedion’s in a few weeks. Fleetfoot has taken to laying beside the fire in Aelin and Rowan’s rooms. One morning, Aelin walks onto her balcony in the morning to see the Plain of Theralis covered in blooming kingsflame.