You're about to see all the spoilers... WARNING! The King of Adarlan has put a collar on Dorian. He has not yet been taken completely by the Valg Prince who waits for him to stop fighting. He no longer remembers who he is, or even his name, but he remembers when the woman he loved was executed. It’s getting harder, he will lose the fight soon, but he continues to fight against being taken by the Valg. Aelin is in Rifthold, sans Rowan and sans magic. The king’s secret police is roaming the city at large, no longer secret. She’s looking for news of what’s been happening since she left - and looking for either Chaol or Arobynn. She finds one of Arobynn’s assassins, Tern, and follows him to the Vaults. She notices that several of Arobynn’s assassins are gathered there so she knows that Arobynn must be having a meeting with a very important client. She slips inside and tries to stay inconspicuous, but it isn’t long before she’s noticed, and Tern approaches and says Arobynn wants to see her when his meeting is finished. As she walks toward the booth where Arobynn is seated, his client rises to leave. She hides her face when she sees who it is: Chaol. He’s not wearing his guard uniform, and he has a woman with him that Aelin does not recognize. He doesn’t see her and when he leaves the Vaults, Aelin approaches Arobynn. After some game playing, he lets it slip that Aedion was taken prisoner and is scheduled to be executed in three days at Dorian’s birthday party. He has heard of the Queen of Fire that killed the king’s creatures at Wendlyn and insists that he wants to help her to free Aedion. He offers her his resources for two favors from her. 1. He wants to know she knows of the strange creatures the king controls. She reveals how the king can trap demons inside of the bodies of regular men. She believes the collars are strong enough for princes while the rings are meant for lesser demons. She knows that at least one of the creatures with a ring was killed by being stabbed through the heart, she killed the collared ones with fire, but a beheading may work as well. She does not tell him about the Wyrdkeys or Wyrdgate. 2. Bring him one of the creatures to experiment with. She tells him before she does that, they free Aedion. She asks why he cares about the creatures, and he tells her that Rifthold is his city, and he doesn’t much like what’s happening to it. A few of the captains of the king’s blackguards wear the king’s rings already. People who were magic sympathizers or known magic wielders are being taken off the streets, executions are happening every day. When she rises to leave, Arobynn tells her to look in the tunnels for what she’s looking for and whispers to her that he wants to pay penance to her, he wants her forgiveness. Could he not also have changed in the last two years, she certainly has. He leaves the Vaults before her. Aedion lays in his dungeon cell. He knows he’s going to die; the question is if it is the upcoming execution or the infection that takes him first. He hopes it’s the infection, which he hid from the guards and has allowed to run rampant, that way he can’t be used against Aelin. Aelin doesn’t have to wait long in the Vaults before the guards come for her, exactly as she had planned. She hates the Vaults with their beaten down sex workers and the gambling tables that take what little money the people have and the pit that Sam used to fight in. And Arobynn is part owner. So, when the guards enters, she makes sure to kill the new manager of the Vaults and destroy the place completely before she runs from the guards. Though none are wearing rings, she can smell the wrongness festering inside some of them. There are at least twenty men pursuing her when she leads them through the alleys of the slums, to a rooftop, then disappears down the sewer, losing them. The tunnels of the sewers run below the whole city, in the direction that Arobynn told her to go she can smell that same rotting smell. But the guard that had been with Chaol comes out and tells her to walk in the other direction, she will take Aelin to Chaol - who has left the king’s service and joined the rebels. Aelin hadn’t thought of the rebels, who may also like a word with her since she killed Archer. She meets with Chaol, but things do not go well. Chaol is working with the rebels - in charge of the docks and the slums. He and his people have been rescuing as many as they can of the people who are being taken for execution. Those people are kept in the tunnels for the Valg to feed on, the rebels sneak in, kill anyone they must, and free the people. Chaol doesn’t know that they’re the Valg, but he knows the guards drain people, feed off them, and that they’re interested in people who once had magic - Chaol commanded Ren to go North to keep him safe for that reason. Aelin is surprised but happy to hear that Ren is still alive. Chaol also sent Fleetfoot away, she is living at Nesryn’s dad’s country house and chasing the sheep there. Chaol also works with some people (Ress and Brullo) in the palace who keep an eye on Dorian, trying to find a way to get him out. Dorian and Aedion both. The guard that brought Aelin to Chaol is Nesryn, she’s a city guard who was with the rebels before Chaol. Chaol tells Aelin what happened with Dorian and Sorscha. That Dorian is almost behaving normally - but colder. That he’s now wearing a black collar. Aelin tells him about what happened to her in Terrasen now that he knows who she truly is, and what happened when she went to Wendlyn, but she doesn’t tell him about the Valg Princes or the collars because he already looks scared enough. Or where the third Wyrdkey may be. He’s upset that she did not bring an army with her when she came back, he assumed she’d get one from Maeve, but instead Aelin went to Doranelle and made a spectacle that ensured that not only would Maeve not help her, but it also alerted the King to her presence and endangered her friends in Rifthold. He calls what she did dramatic, that she doesn’t have any understanding of what he and Dorian were doing while she was off gallivanting with Rowan. He lets it slip that he might know how to release the magic, but he won’t tell her. He thinks people (specifically people like her) should not have magic. It’s what’s best for the world. She’s unpredictable. Violent. She decides then to tell him about the collars, that she may be the only one that can save Dorian (if he can be saved at all), and that she will need her power to do it. Chaol is also angry that she didn’t try to warn them about the Valg and the collars earlier (i.e. before Dorian was wearing one), but she replies that their priority should be to help Aedion and Dorian. He bites back that there is no “we”. She gives him his ring back, asking why he met with Arobynn. He wanted help to kill the king. She points out that if Dorian is taken over by the Valg, there’s no one to replace the current king. Aelin leaves, neither of them giving all their information to the other, both of them furious. Chaol pawns the ring and thinks about what Dorian once said to him, “you do not get to pick and choose which parts of her to love.” He knows that Dorian was right. Aelin goes to her apartment in the city that she hasn’t used since the night Sam died and she realizes that others have been in it since then. Including Arobynn. She sends Arobynn a message accepting his help to free Aedion on exchange for one Valg demon. Manon and her Thirteen, as well as half of the Ironteeth host, are now in Morath taking orders from Duke Perrington. The only place Manon is not allowed is the duke’s private tower, which smells absolutely vile, rancid with wrongness that she wouldn’t want to go there anyway. Wherever Perrington goes, so does Kaltain (now sporting a black collar), though Kaltain never speaks and it’s clear the woman is being mistreated. She has a nasty scar on her forearm. The witches have been there for some time but are only going on scouting missions and are commanded not to engage. Tempers are high among the witches, and Manon hates Perrington. Aelin goes out to get breakfast and comes back to a package in her bed. Arobynn, subtly reminding her that he can get into her apartment. It’s her black suit, a silent question of if she can ever forgive Arobynn. If they can work together. She puts it on again. Later, she gets a visit from Lysandra - who brings a young girl with her, Evangeline. Lysandra is bringing plans from Arobynn, and a warning from herself to Aelin. She details Arobynn’s plan to rescue Aedion and when she’s done, Lysandra tells Aelin that Arobynn is having her watched. Whatever his favor is, it is likely also a trap. That Aelin should be careful of Arobynn, he’s playing his own game. Then she gives Aelin a letter that she’s been carrying around for two years. A letter from Wesley, who Lysandra was in love with. She asks Aelin to read it and points out that Wesley and Sam were her only friends in the world, Wesley was more than that still, and Arobynn took them both. As she leaves, Aelin is unsure whether to trust her. Lysandra is not the same as she was, and Aelin herself has changed so much in the last two years. Evangeline turns around to speak to Aelin before following Lysandra out the door. She tells Aelin a story. Her mother sold her to Clarisse, and she was given to Lysandra to train. Evangeline cried so hard that Lysandra offered to make it so she would never have her body sold, but it would hurt. Having agreed, she gave Evangeline a scar down her face that would not disappear after healing. Lysandra was beaten for doing it and was forced to pay for Evangeline, but she’s never complained, and she cares for the girl still. Lysandra would have paid off her debt by now and been free of Clarisse if not for that. Aedion is still in the dungeons and his infection is growing worse. He’s optimistic that it may kill him before his execution. Suddenly, the door to his cell opens and Dorian walks in. Aedion sees the collar around his neck and the cold look in his eye and knows that it’s not just Dorian inside this body. Aedion talks to the prince and repeatedly uses his name, continues to talk about the night that Sorscha was killed - beheaded in the throne room. He doesn’t know why, but it seems important to remind Dorian of those things. Aedion even thinks that Dorian almost reacts. When Dorian leaves, he tells the guards to call a healer for Aedion. Aedion is force fed medication, and his wound is cleaned and stitched up. He won’t be avoiding execution after all, hopefully Aelin won’t come for him. Upstairs, Dorian is not in charge of his own body, but he can remember Sorscha and is continuing to fight. It’s a losing battle. Chaol and Nesryn meet Brullo and Ress in the Shadow Market, Brullo and Ress are pretending to be knife vendors. Chaol pretends to haggle for a knife as Brullo gives him drawn out plans for Dorian’s birthday party. None of them notice Aelin until she speaks. She tells Brullo and Ress that she needs help, but Brullo wants a look at her face - likely to confirm that she is who he thinks she is, the assassin and the queen. She tells Brullo that all she needs of them is to keep their men away from the southern wall at the party and to have them all wear a flower to “honor the prince”, but make sure that the flower is easily visible. That way she can mark who their people are. When she leaves the Shadow Market, Aelin goes to the bank and pulls out some money. Manon is continually called for an audience with the duke and it’s grating on her. Kaltain is always there, and always with a blank face, but now there’s another man, too. Vernon Lochan, who is incredibly irritating and not nearly afraid enough of Manon. The duke tells Manon that she’s to choose a Blackbeak coven to take part in some experiments. They want to sew a piece of the onyx just below the witches’ belly buttons to allow them to carry a Valg child. Manon is not sure what to do but when Asterin pushes back against choosing a coven, she demotes her to Third. Manon needs to keep the witches in line, her grandmother’s threat to kill them all still hangs over her head. She returns to her rooms to find a servant girl, with one crippled foot and chains around her ankles. She introduces herself as Elide, Vernon’s niece, and swears she’s not spying. Manon tilts her head, scratching Elide in the process, and orders her to leave. When she tastes Elide’s blood, she knows the girl has witch blood within her veins. And she was definitely spying, sniffing around Manon’s desk and maps, but was it for her uncle or for someone else? Later, Sorrel encourages Manon to reconsider Asterin’s demotion. Aelin is summoned to the Assassin’s keep, where she surreptitiously looks for any place in his office where he may have hidden the Amulet of Orynth. Arobynn lets it slip that Nesryn and Chaol used to sleep together, before he met Aelin, and that Chaol visited him again. Aelin tries not to let her surprise show at either piece of information. He asks why she has not yet brought him one of the Valg demons and she tells him that he won’t get his prize until after she rescues Aedion. He reminds her that if she fails to follow through once Aedion is free, Rifthold will become very dangerous to her. Aelin returns to her apartment to find Lysandra waiting - and she brought snacks! Lysandra reveals that she didn’t just want to warn Aelin the other day, she wants to help destroy Arobynn! The two quickly apologize for being so nasty when they were younger and make amends, then they begin to make plans. Nesryn and Chaol are planning to rescue three people before their planned execution when Aelin shows up to help, sneaking up on them on the rooftop. They begin to talk as Nesryn tries to find shots to kill the guards at the execution block (she can’t find any clean shots and she’s an exceptional bowman), tensions are still very high between Chaol and Aelin. Chaol and Nesryn are going to help free Aedion, which is happening the next day, and they’re going to try to get Dorian without hurting him, too. Chaol threatens Aelin – that she better not hurt Dorrian - but Aelin lashes back and Chaol sees that she is a queen in more than just name. He tells her his theory to restore the magic - take out one of the towers. He warns her to make sure she doesn’t end up with a collar around her neck, too. It’s only then that Aelin realizes that the king could trap her or Aedion with Wyrdmarks, and she would have no way out. She doesn’t have time to retrieve her magic books that may have a safeguard. Chaol surprises her by telling her he has the books; he took them when he escaped from the palace. She can come and get them. Aelin thanks him before leaving to kill some of the guards below, they end up rescuing two of the three prisoners. Nesryn goes to tell the family of the third of his death. Aelin kills a bunch more of the king’s guards, all of which wear black rings, before getting ready to rescue her cousin. Aedion - whose infection is gone just in time for his execution. Madame Florine and her dancers have been hired to perform at the palace for Dorian’s birthday. They’ve also been hired by Arobynn to sneak Aelin into the party. Florine used to give Aelin dance lessons, continuing even after she broke from Arobynn, and not charging her for them - even allowing Aelin to play the piano after her training. Aelin almost trusts her, and they have a moment together grieving the conductor and performers killed after the work camp massacres. Arobynn has arranged for a ship on the river, any of the dancers that make it to the ship today will be ferried away from the city for their own safety. Florine intends to be one of them. As the dancers go through check points, Aelin sees Wyrdmarks on the ground waiting for her. She feigns a fight with another girl and starts crying, asking for water. As she is dragged past the guards by Florine, she spills the water and ruins the Wyrdmarks. Florine, Aelin, and the dancers prepare for their performance. Aelin watches the servants rush back and forth taking food to the guests, she sees that Nesryn is one of the servants. Florine passes a black glass rose to each dancer. As the dancers go on stage, spreading black powder meant to represent ashes, Florine speaks quietly to Aelin, telling her that she peeked at the crowd and everything seems normal. Aedion is right where he’s supposed to be onstage. Florine has figured out who Aelin is and makes one request: make sure the arts survive when she burns the world down. Florine will find her again one day, and she will bring music and art with her. When Florine leaves, Aelin slips into the crowd, moving along as a protégée looking for a better view of the performance. She steps behind a side curtain and reappears again as a noble man. Someone calls out the man’s name and she turns around to wave at them, but she does not stop. Aedion sees all this but doesn’t realize who he’s watching until she’s next to the stage and looks right at him. He smiles back at her as the dancers throw their glass roses to the ground. When the glass hits the powder, a reaction flares up, causing a thick layer of smoke to roll out and provide cover as Aelin starts to lay waste to the guards around her. She can hear Florine rushing the dancers out as Aelin makes her way to Aedion on the stage. When she reaches for his ankle chains, the Eye of Elena flares, so she cuts her own arm and uses her blood to draw an opening Wyrdmark onto the locks instead. She grabs the Sword of Orynth, which had been displayed behind Aedion, and hands it to her cousin - telling him to keep close. They run into the garden, where people are throwing water to tamp down the smoke and ruining the Wyrdmarks placed to capture Aelin and Aedion, which is so helpful. They make it to the garden, they’ll only need to make it past the archers now, and Aelin stops to undo Aedion’s arm manacles. When she’s done, she sees Dorian walking towards them, and she knows it’s not him inside. Aelin takes the sword from Aedion and commands him to get to the wall. She fights Dorian while secretly drawing a Wyrdmark in the dirt. The Valg Prince steps inside the mark and is trapped. Aelin gives Dorian one minute to give her a sign that he’s still in there, any sign. She waits, encouraging him, reminding him who he is, but she gets nothing in return. Just as she’s about to kill him, Nesryn comes and stops her. Chaol was warned by Arobynn that Aelin might try to kill Dorian. Betrayed! Again! Aelin escapes Nesryn and gets Aedion over the wall, following closely behind him. Aelin and Aedion walk a few blocks to a carriage that Lysandra sits in, waiting for them. Aelin and Lysandra stuff Aedion into the empty compartment below one of the seats as Lysandra helps Aelin change and quickly hides her bloody clothes. They’re stopped and searched, but the carriage is allowed to pass. A little while later, Aelin and Aedion switch carriages and enter one that Chaol has waiting. They drive until they’re only a block away from her apartment, then all three of them get out and walk the rest of the way. Lysandra meets them at the apartment soon after. They take care of Aedion while Aelin and Chaol have yet another fight. Chaol tells her that Dorian is his sovereign, not her. Aelin is aware of that but points out that Chaol needs to figure out who he does bow to, because Dorian isn’t in charge of himself anymore. The Valg has taken control of his body, it’s unlikely Dorian will ever be back. His body is still alive, but his spirit probably is not. Chaol stomps off to the roof to keep watch and Lysandra walks back in from the other room, where she was tending to Aedion’s wound (which opened during their flight). She heard everything and she now knows who Aelin really is. She also understands why Aelin didn’t tell her. Elide climbs up to Manon’s rooms to deliver a letter. Manon catches her there and questions her again. Elide reveals that she can’t read, so opening Manon’s letter would have done her no good (her nurse Finnula taught her many things including how to be observant, but could not read herself); that Vernon was her father’s younger brother (now he’s Lord of Perranth, having stolen the seat from his niece); and that her mother was from Rosamel in Terrasen (Elide does not know she has any witch’s blood). Soon Abraxos comes in and takes a liking to Elide, noticing that she has a damaged foot and is in chains. The letter Elide delivered was from Manon’s grandmother, telling Manon not to second guess the duke, to follow his orders, and that five more witch clans will be joining them in Morath soon. Manon speaks to Ghislaine, a member of the Thirteen who was schooled among the humans and loves books. She tells Manon what she knows of the Valg and guesses that the king is trapping the Valg in human bodies. When Manon reveals the duke’s orders, Ghislaine noticeably pales. It would be very bad indeed if the Valg came back. The next morning, everyone has heard about the duke’s orders and one of the Yellowlegs clans volunteers for the experiment. When Manon gives her choice to the duke, Perrington tells her he wanted Blackbeaks, but Manon retorts that he’ll be getting Yellowlegs anyway. She asks why they’re doing this, and he responds that it’s because they can (that’s terrifying). That the world was getting too stale. Manon catches at the words “the world” and wonders if the king has any real intention of following through on his deal or if the witches will have to fight the king himself to get the Western Wastes back. Dorian tried to gain control when Aelin spoke to him, but the Valg Prince was too strong. He wishes she had killed him. Chaol leaves the apartment when others arrive to take over watch and he’s itching for a fight. He heads to the sewers but finds that the Valg have cleared out and taken their prisoners with them. And likely not because they’re scared. He heads to Nesryn’s house. He’s angry that Aelin almost killed Dorian, he decides that he can’t trust her. Nesryn points out that he broke Aelin’s trust, too. Who’s side is she on?! Nesryn argues that she is fighting for a better future, and she wants to bring Dorian back because Chaol promised that Dorian would lead to that better future. But if Dorian is no longer an option, if what Aelin says is true and Dorian is gone, Nesryn will find another way to get to that better future. They will not give up on Dorian, but they will plot a new path just in case. Aedion wakes up and he and Aelin spend some time bonding. They tell each other of everything they’ve done in the last ten years, purging their souls clean and leaving it bare for the other to see. They come out on the other side, fully in support of one another and whatever they had to do to survive. Arobynn summons Aelin to the Pits, the new version of the Vaults, and she brings Chaol with her to watch her back. Arobynn wants Aelin to fight in the pits for him - to fight one of the Valg. She chooses a Valg commander and fights under the name Ansel of Briarcliffs. She jumps into the pit and is joined by the commander. They fight, a flurry of limbs so fast they’re barely seen, but Chaol can hear the commander and Aelin from where he stands watching at the edge of the pit. The commander bites Aelin and tastes her blood, he’s now aware of what she is and taunts her that he should take her to Morath to be experimented on. Now Chaol knows where the missing prisoners were taken. Aelin ends the fight, killing and beheading the commander. Chaol and Nesryn (who was watching from the back) follow the other Valg guards from the Pits while Arobynn speaks to Aelin. He specifically asked her to incapacitate this guard, not kill it – whoops. She responds that he will get his Valg just like she said he would. Arobynn makes her an offer before she leaves: the location of Sam’s grave. She doesn’t know what it will cost her but she’s sure it’s more than what Arobynn says he’s asking for. It doesn’t matter. She gets the location of the grave and leaves, hoping that Chaol might now understand what is inside of Dorian. Elide is doing dishes is the kitchen when Asterin comes in and offers, then demands, to help. She quietly asks Elide why her mother never told her about her witch blood, blowing Elide’s mind (this is the first she’s heard of her witch blood). She says her mother died young but continues to repeat, mostly to herself, that she can’t be a witch. Elide leaves the kitchen. She’s been planning an escape but if what Asterin is saying is true, she’s out of time and out of options. Is this why her uncle brought her to Morath? To offer her up as breeding stock for the Valg? She goes to Manon’s room to take some of Manon’s gold to try to bribe someone to help her escape from Morath, but Asterin, and then Manon catch her. Witchlings, any witch under the age of sixteen, are sacred to witches, protected and important to them all. Elide is only 18, barely older than a witchling, so Asterin makes a case for taking her under their wing, but Manon refuses and walks Elide back to her room. They find Vernon waiting for Elide in her room and he mockingly reminds Elide that today is the anniversary of her father’s death. Once he leaves and Manon is alone with Elide, Manon tells Elide to choose. Does her blood run blue or does it run red? If it’s blue, then Manon can try to protect her. Elide chooses blue. Aedion is slowly improving, and he and Aelin discuss the future. First, capture a Valg for Arobynn. Second, knock down a tower and return the magic. Third, go to Terrasen and raise an army. Easy peasy. Aelin has already written letters to the Bane and the members of her court they’re aware of - warning them to keep a low profile, but an army will cost a lot of money: to feed, to clothe, to arm, to pay. Money that they don’t have. And Aedion brings up the blood oath, which he still wants to give to Aelin. In Terrasen, monarchs only accept one blood oath for their entire life - Aelin doesn’t mention right now that Rowan (the most powerful full blooded Fae warrior that Aedion has heard tales of) has already given his to her. Chaol arrives and he is, again, full of accusations. The Shadow Market was penned in and burned by guards because there was a rumor that the people who freed Aedion had met there. All the people inside were killed. He blames Aelin for the fire and believes the fire was used as a message for her. He and Aedion talk later and Aedion points out that they shouldn’t be working separately but Chaol believes he can’t trust them, not anymore. He reveals to Aedion that the rebels are thinking about setting up bases elsewhere, now that the Valg are not using the sewers, and the prisoners are being ferried away. But Chaol won’t leave Rifthold without Dorian. That night Aelin tracks a Valg guard, hoping to get some intel to tell Chaol, and follows it into the sewers to a pool. There she sees something crawl out of the water that stops her cold. It’s one of the gargoyles that is carved into the king’s clock tower, and it speaks with the king’s voice when it asks for an update. All Aelin hears is that they don’t know where Aedion is before the Eye of Elena starts to glow blue and she sneaks away. That night, Aedion and Aelin swap war stories and Aedion brings out the Sword of Orynth for Aelin. But she refuses it, it’s Aedion’s to use now. A few days later Aedion is losing his mind from being cooped up, so they decide to go out for the first time since rescuing him and grab a drink. They are interrupted, then joined by Nesryn, Aelin asks all about Nesryn’s life (her father is the owner of a very popular bakery), but none of them actually drink. On their way back to the apartment, they find Rowan waiting in the alleyway. Aelin runs to him, and they just cling to each other. Aelin, Rowan, and Aedion go to Aelin’s apartment where (after Rowan is thoroughly washed because of his smell) Rowan and Aedion are officially introduced. Aedion wants to train with him and learn what Rowan knows but before they get further than that request, Rowan asks who Aedion’s father is. He can smell Aedion’s father - Gavriel. No wonder Gavriel asked Aelin how old she was when they met, he was nervous since she looked so much like her aunt, but she was too young to be his daughter. Aedion realizes that his mother refused healers when she was dying because a healer could have realized she’s had a child with Gavriel, and that information could have made it back to Maeve. She died to keep him safe; he’s never realized it until now. After some weird posturing between the two males, Rowan unknowingly lets it slip that he took the blood oath to Aelin and Aedion loses it. He is furious, but Aelin points out that she didn’t know that Aedion was still on her side, they hadn’t seen each other for a decade, and she believed that he was loyal to the King of Adarlan, and Rowan won her trust. Aedion asks what trust she has won recently after hiding for years, and yet her people are still giving their trust to her. He strikes a sore spot and Aelin throws him out. She tells him not to come back until he can behave. Aelin paces while Aedion is gone and eventually tells Rowan about what Chaol said about her being a monster. About how terrifying it is to be in charge of the lives of others. He points out that she and Aedion both have tempers, but Rowan knows that Aelin can rule. He would not have taken the oath to her otherwise. Then he gives her his bad news. Lorcan is in the city, it’s the reason he came to Rifthold. Lorcan and Rowan are equal in power even though Lorcan is not full Fae. Rowan believes that Maeve has sent him to track down the last Wyrdkey. Or rather, have Aelin lead him to it. Rowan doesn’t know where Lorcan is right now, but he will start searching in the morning. They go to sleep, in the same bed, although Rowan is now very worried about propriety. And things between them have changed, the month they spent apart making some of those changes very apparent. The tension is crackling. Even so, nothing happens or is even spoken about. The next morning, Aelin makes breakfast while Rowan is still sleeping and Aedion reappears. He was on the rooftop all night. He and Aelin both apologize for what was said and Aelin apologizes for not telling him about the oath first. She points out that things change, and she doesn’t have to rule the same way her ancestors did, he can still take the oath if he wants to. Aedion decides to wait until she’s actually crowned, and he can take his oath in front of everyone. Dorian is no longer in charge of his own body. The Valg Prince takes him downstairs where he sees two chairs beneath two crowns: the crowns of the fallen kingdoms. The Valg Prince assures him there will be more crowns to come. Dorian wishes Aelin had killed him. Manon is no longer permitted to see the Yellowlegs clan that volunteered to breed. She storms into a room to demand answers from Perrington, where she sees Kaltain kneeling in front of a terrified soldier. She asks what is happening and Kaltain speaks (shocking Perrington, she never talks anymore), saying that she is using shadowfire. The shadowfire envelopes the soldier and he screams, though he doesn’t die until Perrington snaps his neck. Perrington seems to think that Kaltain will be able to use this shadowfire against full armies eventually, and he has full control of Kaltain. He implies that the Matrons of the clans are creating another “weapon”, as Kaltain is a weapon, but this weapon will be for the witches. When Manon asks what experiments he’s conducting below the mountains, Perrington makes a not at all veiled threat that if Manon doesn’t keep her nose where it goes and follow orders, the Valg Princes will cull the weak witches. After that, Manon calls the Thirteen and has them alert the other Blackbeak covens that watches are to be placed over the witch dormitories, they can tell the Blackbeaks everything that was said but keep it a secret from the other clans for now. Elide hears everything that is said as she sleeps under Abraxos’ wing. She didn’t go to her own room tonight because she sensed someone waiting for her inside, and the only place she believed she would be safe was the wyvern aerie. Of course, Manon knew that Elide was there before the Thirteen entered the aerie. Once it’s clear that Elide is awake and was listening, Manon announces that she wants Elide to get into the room where they are experimenting on the Yellowlegs coven and spy for her. No witches are allowed, but humans are. So, Elide goes to the laundry and starts working her way toward where she needs to be, winning the trust of the laundresses and getting as much information as she can while bidding her time and hoping to still stowaway on the supply wagons when they come. She finally follows a laundress to where the Yellowlegs coven is being kept, and then she turns to go back to Manon’s rooms (where she is now sleeping). She stumbles across her uncle speaking to Kaltain alone in a stairway. He speaks to Kaltain as if she’s playing hard to get when, in actuality, Kaltain is barely present in her own mind. Elide approaches them to find Kaltain pressed against the wall with her shirt pulled down low. Elide says that Manon needs to speak with Kaltain and leads her away from Vernon. Vernon makes a comment before Elide leaves that makes it clear that he knows about her witch heritage, and he makes a flippant comment about Elide and Kaltain looking like sisters. Elide guides Kaltain away, noting the wounds and bruises all over her body. When they’re far enough away, Elide murmurs to Kaltain to get back to her rooms. Kaltain walks away from Elide - almost as if she understood Elide for a moment. Elide goes to Manon and asks for poison. Aedion trains with Rowan and Aelin in the warehouse below the apartment, but when Aelin tells him training is over (he’s still recovering), Aedion attacks Rowan to prove that he’s fine. And he’s defeated quickly. They’re interrupted when Lysandra comes in and Aelin takes her upstairs into the apartment. While they’re alone, Rowan tells Aedion that he is going to teach him the old ways. Aelin’s court will be different than any other and they will be the backbone of it. They will build a court that will serve and protect Aelin, as well as each other and Terrasen. Aedion starts to understand why Aelin accepted Rowan’s blood oath. Upstairs, Lysandra brings clothes for Rowan (Nesryn asked her to) and information on Arobynn. Two prison wagons were seen on their way to Morath full of magic wielders. Arobynn has been looking into his client’s lineages to see what he may find (to see what may be used against them), Aelin should keep that in mind. Aelin asks how much Lysandra still owes to Clarisse and Lysandra tells her the debt keeps going up, ever accruing more charges for Evangeline. Aelin offers to kill Clarisse for her - and she means it - but Lysandra says not yet. The offer remains open. Chaol comes to the warehouse and Aelin asks him about the castle defenses. She’s planning to take out the tower, but he doesn’t have much information to offer her. He hasn’t spoken to Ress or Brullo for a while. She tells him about the prison wagons on their way to Morath and asks if he’s going to stage a rescue. When he confirms, she tells him that the doors have iron bars and are warded (she knows from experience), so be prepared. And stay out of the sewers. Aelin spends the next day showing Rowan the city. Emotions get too high when they go to the river and see a girl selling flowers that reminds him of his dead mate, Lyria. So, she pivots and takes him to the amphitheater where she used to hear the orchestra play. She plays the piano for him, the first time she’s played since Nehemia died, and even starts to teach him a little. After, she pulls more money out of the bank. Chaol and Nesryn, as well as a bunch of other rebels, kill a dozen Valg guards and rescue the two wagons of prisoners, getting them to boats waiting on the river. Afterward, Chaol asks Nesryn to go out for a drink with him and she initially says no - thinking he just wants to feel sorry about something - but later agrees. That night, Aelin sneaks out of her apartment dressed for a fight and carrying Goldryn (Athril’s sword) and Damaris. She times this so that Chaol and his rebels would be reaching the prisoners at the same time and not be in her way. She is followed and leads her shadow on a little detour, pretending to slip into the sewers, so that when Lorcan follows down to where he believes her to be, he comes face to face with some Valg commanders instead. He kills them and finds her not long after, and he’s pissed. There were six commanders and a Wyrdhound. He traps Aelin but Rowan comes up behind him, Aelin was wondering how long it would take for him to show up. Lorcan steps back and tells them that if they kill him, Maeve will ally with the King of Adarlan. Aelin made a big mistake when she showed Maeve the vision of her with the Wyrdkeys. Before they go their separate ways, Aelin tells him she won’t forget that he whipped Rowan, and she won’t ever forgive it. One day she’ll make him pay. Dorian is taken to the dungeons and forced to watch as the prisoners are tortured. Aelin and her roommates are having dinner when Lysandra shows up bringing Aelin a box, something that she requested. Lysandra tells them that Arobynn wants the Valg delivered the day after tomorrow and for the three of them to stay for dinner afterward. She says it’s likely a trap of some kind but she’s not sure what Arobynn has planned. Rowan, King of Accidentally Spilling Secrets, calls her a shape-shifter and Lysandra’s truth comes out. When magic was available, she could shape shift into anything she wanted - and was smart enough to hide this from every single person. The power must’ve been from her dad, who she doesn’t know, because the one time she did it in front of her mother (accidentally) she was kicked out of the house at seven years old. When she stayed in front of their door, her mom threatened to call the guards and have her arrested. Magic was already outlawed at that point. Lysandra had to learn to survive on her own. She quickly learned that pretty kids get more money when begging, and so she made herself prettier. She made herself prettier on the day the magic left. Now, she’s stuck in that body, and she doesn’t even remember what she used to look like. Aelin is briefly reminded of how Nehemia also lied to her but quickly pushes it aside. Lysandra’s lie is one of self-preservation, just as Aelin didn’t tell her that she was the Queen of Terrasen. The next day, the invitation from Arobynn shows up at the door with a gift, a bottle of oil that smells like him. He wants Aelin to wear it. She and Rowan go out hunting for Valg. They go to the sewer where Lorcan was tricked, they find the body of the Wyrdhound that Lorcan killed and look closely at it. It has flesh under a hard, stone exterior. And it’s capable of staying dead. She explains to Rowan that she tricked Lorcan for more than just one reason - right now Lorcan is probably being tracked by a bunch of Valg that want him to pay for what he did. She needs Lorcan and the Valg distracted when it’s time for her to sneak into the sewers and blows up the tower. They are quickly able to trap a Valg commander wearing the king’s ring. The man inside is able to fight the Valg for a moment at least, telling Aelin that he wants to die for what he has done since being possessed. He wasn’t given a choice of whether to wear the ring; he was told the ring was part of the uniform. She makes a deal with him. That night Aelin sneaks out again, and this time Rowan doesn’t wake up until she’s been gone for a while. She comes back smelling like ash and immediately passes out. Rowan is pissed that she snuck out again without even telling him, but when she wakes in the morning, he agrees to go to Sam’s grave with her. They see Sam’s gravestone, originally left blank but Wesley paid to have it engraved with “Sam Cortland. Beloved.” Rowan guesses that Aelin plans to kill Arobynn that night and she confirms it. She needs to get the amulet but after dinner, she will also finally make Arobynn pay. Elide offers to help in the kitchens and uses the poison Manon got for her to make the laundresses sick, specifically the ones that do the laundry for the pregnant witches, but she gets a third of the other laundresses as well, so it doesn’t look sketchy. Then she volunteers to help with the laundry. She takes the laundry downstairs and leaves it outside the proper door but pretends to trip when she backs away. She sees a handsome man open the door; his face is devoid of any emotion, but he smiles when he sees her on the ground. Elide can see behind him into the room; she sees the witches moaning and crying. They’re ready to give birth at any moment, and they’ve clearly already done this once because there’s already babies. But the babies are not anything like the witches, they’re beasts with snouts and black fangs. Darkness seeps out of the man, creeping toward her, but she’s able to get away. She reports what she saw to Manon, Sorrel, and Asterin (after vomiting several times). Asterin blames Manon for this and assumes that she’s not going to mount a rescue. She even cuts Manon at one point and throws Sorrel into a wall. She basically calls Manon a coward for following the Blackbeak Matron blindly. Manon demotes her again and says the rest of her punishment will be delivered the next day. And if Asterin tries to rescue the witches, she will be killed. Later, Elide bandages Manon’s arm where Asterin cut her. She explains that her parents are dead: her father was executed, and her mother killed while protecting Aelin, her country conquered, her own seat taken by her uncle. And yet for a decade, she has waited for Aelin to return, not believing her to be dead. And even though she and Aelin weren’t friends before, she has believed all this time that Aelin would come for her. If she found out today that Aelin was alive, Elide would still fight to get to her. It’s hope that keeps her going. Elide thinks that hope is what makes Manon continue to follow, the hope to regain the Western Wastes for the witches one day. Manon asks Elide if she believes monsters are made or born and Elide has her opinions, but she doesn’t tell Manon what those are. Instead, she tells Manon that it’s not what she thinks that matters right now. Aelin prepares to go to dinner at Arobynn’s, and she puts on the oil. What she doesn’t realize is that so does Rowan. He’s got to keep Arobynn on his toes! Nesryn drives them to the house while Chaol and other rebels watch from the house across the street. Aelin delivers the Valg commander, he’s taken to the dungeons where Arobynn “questions” him in front of Aelin. The commander tells them that it’s not just the rings that allows them to gain control of the people, the king must drink some of the victim’s blood. Arobynn slips off one of the commander’s gloves so he can see the ring the commander wears. Then Arobynn kills the commander and pockets his ring. They go upstairs and join Aedion, Rowan, and Lysandra. Rowan and Aelin get involved in a secret, nonverbal conversation so Aelin is caught off guard when Arobynn asks her if she’s enjoyed destroying all his investments. Not only did she destroy the Vaults, but she impersonated one of Arobynn’s clients when she freed Aedion, making it seem like Arobynn and his clients were rebel sympathizers. He asks what it will take for her to stop annoying him. They discuss her terms in a different room with Aedion and Rowan waiting quietly in the hall. She wants her amulet back - and for him to provide resources to help her take down the king. He agrees very quickly, and hands the amulet over to her with way less argument than I expected. He had been carrying it in his pocket already. She puts it on, and it feels wrong to her, but she assumes that the feeling is from the key that it holds. She gets up to leave, telling Arobynn that they will meet again in the morning to make plans He hugs her close before she leaves, slipping the Onyx ring onto her finger as he does. He gouges her with his fingernail and licks her blood off. He asks her why she came back to Rifthold, and she tells him the truth since she’s completely under his thrall: that she wants to kill the king and the prince. He tells her to say she loves him, and she does, then he orders her to go home and tell no one about what happened in this room. She does. When she gets home, she stops the act. The ring was a fake - she had it made using a vendor that Lysandra recommended, and the human the Valg was using agreed to play along. He wanted to know that he’d done something good before she gave him the death he so desperately wanted. She also had a replica amulet made, this way she can hide the real one. Then she goes to the roof to wait. She gave the honor of killing Arobynn to Lysandra. She nearly kisses Rowan as they stand on the roof together, but he stumbles away from her and tells her not to touch him, hurting her feelings. Across the city, Lysandra slits Arobynn’s throat in his own bed as he sleeps next to her, using his knife. Dorian tortures one of the purported rebels, who doesn’t have any information to give up. Dorian is not gone yet, and he’s forced to watch as the Valg Prince controls his body. When Lysandra “wakes up” screaming from finding Arobynn’s body, word is sent for Aelin. Obviously, it wasn’t her, assassins saw her on the rooftop for much of the night before she went to bed and did not leave her apartment. She walks into the Assassin’s Keep where she finds Tern, Mullin, and Harding waiting for her. Lysandra and Clarisse are also there, sobbing on the couch. They explain that the window to Arobynn’s room was broken from the outside and a man’s boot print can be seen in the blood (courtesy of Chaol). When they accuse Aelin and she prepares to leave, outraged at the accusations, Clarisse tells Aelin to stay. The Master of the Bank will be there soon to read Arobynn’s will, and she knows that both she and Aelin are listed. When the will is read, Arobynn’s debt to Clarisse is paid and every single other thing is left to Aelin: the house, the money, the investments, everything. After some bargaining, she agrees to sell the keep and everything in it to the assassins, who will all have to band together to buy it from her. She asks the bank guy to draw up the paperwork for the sale and he agrees to return in three hours, the assassins will be back with proof of funds at the same time. Once everyone else is gone, she explains to Rowan and Aedion that she has been sneaking out of the apartment to replace the copies of Arobynn’s will, she had been frequenting the bank to get a feel for the layout. Aedion needed money for an army, now they have it. In his actual will, Arobynn had left most of his money to Clarisse, the keep and the assassins within it to Tern, and the only thing he left Aelin was the amulet. Then, they head downstairs where she cuts the head off Arobynn’s corpse. You can’t be too careful. Manon punishes Asterin, who then stalks off on her own. She’s later summoned to the duke, she sees Vernon and Kaltain are also present. Perrington demands a new coven, a Blackbeak coven this time, and says the Yellowlegs will be ready for visitors soon - although Manon already knows he’s lying. She tries to buy some time before needing to name a new coven, but he tells her to decide quickly, or he will decide for her. In the meantime, he has a job for the Thirteen. Each of the Thirteen take a rider with them, among them Perrington and Kaltain (who rides with Manon), to a village in the mountains. They circle the village with their wyverns as Perrington commands Kaltain to burn the whole thing down using her shadowfire. Kaltain can’t finish the job, Perrington commands the Thirteen to kill the remaining villagers. They do it, but none of them like it, including Abraxos. Aelin signs the keep over to the other assassins and that night things are still awkward with Rowan, though he apologizes for snapping at her. What he doesn’t tell her is that when she touched him, when she looked at him like that, it reminded him of Lyria and the fact that she is dead while he is not. Reminded him that he failed her and his unborn child. On the roof, she tells Aedion what comes next: bring back magic, kill the king, free Dorian (if possible). Not necessarily in that order. Aedion tells her that although she can do all that by herself - she doesn’t have to. But Aelin reveals that she cannot bear to chance his life. The next day, she and Lysandra visit a bakery with their “bodyguards” Rowan, Aedion, Chaol, and Nesryn. Posing as two spoiled rich ladies looking for their next fix, they ask the bakery lady, Nelly, if she knows where to find the dealer from the Shadow Market that supposedly got away. After a lot of asking, Nelly finally reveals that the dealer went into the sewers. Although there were guards waiting there to cut down anyone trying to escape, Nelly tells them he got away by going down to the catacombs below the sewers - which Aelin has never even heard of. Later, Nesryn takes Lysandra home as the rest join Aelin in the tunnels. She reveals that the opium dealer Nelly directed them too also made hellfire (rumor says). Aelin knows that the dealer got caught and killed by guards a few days ago. So, she’s come to find where he stashed his hellfire and use it to take the tower down. They find a grate inside the sewers that is close to the Shadow Market’s sewer entrance. Aelin is able to pull the grate cover off and crawl inside, although it’s not obvious that you’d be able to, unless you know what you’re looking for. They find catacombs of a temple, Chaol says there was a rumor the Shadow Market was built in the bones of the God of Truth. And there are bones a plenty here, the whole place is covered in bones… and secrets. People wrote their darkest secrets down and left them here; it is not a temple for goodness. They split up and start searching for the hellfire. By the time Aedion finds it, Aelin has already traveled far back into the temple. Some of the confessions here are dated as far back as the time of King Gavin. Aelin remembers that Damaris is the “Sword of Truth”, and that Gavin could supposedly see the truth when he wielded it. She pulls Damaris out and keeps walking. She arrives at a wall covered in Wyrdmarks and a huge drawing of the Eye of Elena. When she steps up to the wall, she feels Damaris turn frigid and the wall begins to move, rearranging the marks to tell a story. Legend says that Gavin and Elena killed the Valg King that had been trapped in this world, called Erawan. But this wall says differently. On his deathbed, Gavin wrote here that nothing they did killed Erawan, but the Eye of Elena did manage to put him to sleep for a little while. He and Elena made an iron and stone sarcophagus to hold the sleeping Erawan and placed the sarcophagus inside a sealed tomb within a mountain. The doors of this tomb can’t be opened by any key or force. And that is where they have contained Erawan all these years. Below the keep of the noble family of the Black Mountains, placed there to keep watch over the tomb. The Black Mountains are now known as Morath. Manon meets with the Thirteen about which Blackbeak clan to send to Perrington, but they refuse to choose. They tell her to send them instead. Suddenly, the Valg Prince that Elide had seen with the Yellowlegs coven walks into the room. Ghislaine starts screaming, Manon attacks him. He says his name is Roland and asks Manon to kill him before the Valg Prince takes his body back. The prince returns and sees Manon’s eyes (completely gold and idealized by the Ironteeth), he screams at her to get off him, but she decapitates him instead. She realizes that several others of the clan are puking and terrified, but anyone with any gold in their eyes was not affected by the prince. She finds Kaltain and asks her where the shadowfire comes from. Kaltain reveals it was always hers, but it has now been joined with another source. She says the Valg don’t want witches… they want kings. Manon grabs her arm, but Kaltain burns her - the shadow fire is excruciating - before the mask falls over her features again and Kaltain walks away. When Aelin and the others leave the catacombs (the hellfire hidden away in a sarcophagus, so they don’t blow themselves up), they are met by Nesryn. She has a missive from Ren alerting them to the army of Valg demons and the legion of Ironteeth witches in Morath… with wyverns. Chaol starts to think that between this new information and Erawan, magic might not be so bad to have back after all. Rowan and Aelin separate from the others to go back to the apartment, Aelin is spiraling as she feels penned in from enemies on every side and the deaths of those already dead and the deaths to come weigh heavy on her. They’re distracted and don’t hear Lorcan in the alleyway with them until he has a knife to Aelin’s throat. He surprises them by saying that Maeve didn’t send him here, he broke away from Maeve for Maeve’s sake, because Aelin gave her something powerful and dangerous. The golden ring she traded for Rowan’s freedom was not an heirloom of Athril’s family, but something that protected the wearer from the Valg. Maeve will use it to find the Wyrdkeys. Lorcan wants to protect Maeve from what she will become if she does that and destroy the keys before Maeve can find them. He asks where their key is, but Rowan insists they don’t have it and Lorcan finally leaves. Aelin was in such a position that she very easily could have been killed, and it makes Aelin and Rowan both face their feelings for one another - but bigger than that is that Rowan feels like he failed her by allowing her to be taken. Aelin shows him that she trusts him more than anyone else by willingly offering him her unprotected throat and believing that he will not take the opportunity to kill her. Dorian is learning to like feeding on the sorrows of others. Manon tells Elide that she and the Thirteen will be leaving in a few days, for a few days, and advises Elide to lay low while they’re gone. Elide thinks of all the provisions she’s been hoarding and what a good time it would be for the supply wagons to arrive so she can escape while the witches are away. Kaltain no longer remembers that her name is Kaltain, but she has killed the prince inside her with her shadowfire and will now answer to the name of Death, or the Devourer of Worlds. Evangeline breaks into the warehouse with a message for Aelin from Lysandra: Run! The king’s men have taken Lysandra, Arobynn knew about her lineage somehow and had a message sent to the king. A nuisance even in death. As they prepare to leave, surely Arobynn betrayed Aelin too, Chaol and Nesryn arrive. They just received word from Ren that a meeting between the king, Dorian, and the wing leader of the witches takes place tomorrow. Aelin begs them to save Lysandra and Chaol says it would be better to stage an ambush, but Nesryn agrees that they will work together to get Lysandra back. They take Evangeline to Nesryn’s dad for safe keeping, who agrees to watch her until they get back, and they get ready to travel to Oakwald, where Lysandra will be taken for the meeting. The Thirteen are already there, having scouted a perimeter, and Aelin’s group sees the wyverns for themselves. They hear hoof beats approaching (the king and Dorian) as well as wingbeats (the matron, carrying a covered wagon). Chaol sees Dorian and realizes he is no longer human - Aelin was right. Death would be a mercy. Manon’s grandmother greets the king, bowing slightly to him, which startles and enrages Manon. When her grandmother introduces Manon and the king greets her, she is impertinent - even though she knows it will cost her later with her grandmother. The king and the matron go to see the weapon that the matron has brought in the covered wagon, Manon is not invited to join them. Instead, she speaks to Dorian. Who speaks back to her. When she asks his name, it takes a minute, but he answers that his name is Dorian. Inside him, the demon is raging, terrified of Manon and continually bringing up her eyes. Aelin notices that Dorian gave his actual name and wonders if there is a chance still to save him, but first they need to get to Lisandra. Rowan gives a signal, and Nesryn and Aedion (stationed across the field, closer to the wyverns) start to make the wyverns growl somehow, who knows what they did. This distraction, which causes the witches to look towards the wyverns, allows Chaol, Aelin, and Rowan to get to the prison wagon and pick the lock. As soon as the lock is undone, Lysandra runs out and Chaol takes her into the forest. Aelin relocks the wagon and she and Rowan run to the forest themselves. Nesryn and Aedion join them just as the matron and the king come back onto the field. The king tells Dorian to get ready to go and they leave with their guards, leaving the prisoner wagon behind - which the Thirteen are supposed to carry to Morath. Afterward, Manon is confronted by her grandmother, who slaps Manon with her nails out. Manon asks if her grandmother has received her letters, her grandmother slaps her again and tells her that she is not to disobey the duke. That she did receive the letters, and she burned them. She commands Manon to go look in the wagon to see the new weapon. Aelin decides that now is a good time to leave, but when she gets to the spot where they are supposed to meet Chaol and Lysandra, Lysandra is alone. Aelin sends Lysandra with Nesryn, telling them to wait for the rest of them at the nearby temple. She takes Rowan and Aedion and they track Chaol. Chaol plans to find Dorian, although he’s not sure what step two of the plan will be. He stumbles onto a clearing believing that Dorian will be there, he’s just going to start swinging and not stop until he reaches Dorian, killing him and giving him the peace he deserves (terrible plan). But Chaol does not see the king’s retinue. Instead, he finds the Thirteen with their wyverns. Big mistake. Rowan tracks Chaol but by the time they arrive, Chaol is already a bit bloodied and so is the ground around him. The witches see them as soon as they arrive and Aelin yells at them to free Chaol and take her instead. She walks directly up to where Manon is standing, where Chaol is bleeding on the ground, and Manon notices that Aelin seems to be fidgeting from nerves. Aelin reveals who she is, and Manon recognizes the name. Manon lets Chaol go, this is not worth the trouble right now when she’s already overwhelmed, discovering that her grandmother is okay with the breeding of the witches. Aelin tells Manon that she must be smarter than Baba Yellowlegs, showing her the scars she received when she killed the matron. Witch killing is unacceptable, Manon changes her plan. Manon tries to attack Aelin but is trapped by the Wyrdmark Aelin drew in Chaol’s blood while she was fidgeting. They (including Chaol) run for the temple, which is located on an island of land surrounded by a steep ravine, plank footbridges over the ravine linking the island on two sides. The witches quickly catch up to Aelin’s group and Asterin shoots an arrow at Aelin that Rowan takes in the shoulder. This is too much for Aelin, who turns to face Manon. The two face off, telling their respective groups to back off and fight one on one, and each is grudgingly impressed by the other. Aelin realizes she needs to get to the other bank where her friends are because Manon will be able to wear her down given enough time, she goads Manon into hitting the pillars that hold the temple roof. Eventually, enough are broken or destabilized that the roof falls on Manon, allowing Aelin to run to the other bridge. The witches watch from the first bank, Asterin is screaming for Manon to get up. She’s still alive but weak and buried under the rubble, the other witches are unable to get to her, and now the island is shaking as if the force of the roof hitting it was too much and it may succumb to gravity. Aelin is already halfway across the bridge when she makes a split decision and turns back for Manon. She clears the debris and pulls Manon to her feet, hurrying as fast as she can. The two run across the bridge and almost make it to the other bank when the island collapses, taking the bridge with it. Aedion grabs onto Aelin as Chaol pulls Manon over the edge of the ravine to the solid ground. Manon’s cape does not make it. Manon starts throwing up blood and passes out. When she wakes up, the witches and wyverns are with her, but the others are not. Now she owes Aelin, her enemy as she is aligned with the king, a life debt. What a pickle. The arrow Rowan took went right through his shoulder, and without his magic he’s unable to heal quickly. He’s losing a lot of blood as they travel. He is growing weaker, he will not make it to Rifthold in this state - and even if he could make it, they don’t have a healer to call for him. Chaol suggests they go to Nesryn’s father’s country estate. The man who takes care of the house has a midwife for a wife, they agree to go. Fleetfoot is delighted to see Aelin when they arrive. The midwife is able to patch Rowan up since the arrow hadn’t hit anything vital, then she looks Lysandra over as well. When Aelin washes up at the well outside, Chaol comes out and apologizes - explaining that he wanted to end it for Dorian now that he realizes that Aelin was right. Aelin doesn’t blame him; she would have done the same for Rowan. She tells Chaol that once magic is freed, they will find Dorian and give him the peace he deserves together. Chaol realizes (finally) that she is not a monster at all, even if she has done terrible things. The next day, Rowan can travel again, and they continue to Rifthold. Manon takes her Thirteen and heads off the king’s party. She tells the king that rebels in the forest took the prisoner and attacked her coven, the rebels and the prisoner are all dead now. She invites him to send Dorian to Morath, he will like it there. She asks if the king truly plans to use her grandmother’s weapon: giant transportable towers made of sacred mirrors of the Ancients which will amplify any power used on them. He confirms that he has every intention of using it… with the shadowfire. The supply wagons show up to Morath several days late, but they do show up. Yet when Elide goes to gather her supplies, prepared to hide inside the wagons until they unwittingly ferry her away from Morath, her uncle is waiting for her in Manon’s room. As he grabs her and drags her to the dungeons, he tells Elide that going to the Blackbeaks only proved to him she had the blood of a witch. Between that and the magic in her family line, she’s a rare gem that the king will want to use. Manon is immediately called before Duke Perrington, who rewards her for her good behavior. It seems destroying the village and killing Roland was a test (Roland had served his purpose) and she passed those tests with flying colors. He gives her intel on their enemies - including Chaol and Aedion. He tells Manon he wants a clan to be chosen, but she’s able to delay one more day. When she leaves, Asterin asks her to speak privately. She agrees but is on guard, things between Manon and Asterin have been tense, to say the least. They fly out alone and Asterin tells her a story. When Asterin was in her twenties (eighty or so years ago) she was injured while flying and taken care of by a human man. They became lovers, but Asterin eventually left when she was called back to the Blackbeak Keep. She was already pregnant. She had planned to return to the man, but the Blackbeak Matron forbade her from leaving the keep at all once her pregnancy was discovered. Manon never knew anything about this because the matron kept Asterin from her, sequestered in her tower room, anytime Manon came home. Asterin had the baby, but she was stillborn. The matron beat Asterin, screaming at her about how she was a disgrace, and she had dishonored her clan. She burned the witchling’s body without even allowing Asterin to see her first, then branded Asterin’s abdomen with the word “unclean” so that Asterin would never have another opportunity to have a child. No man would have her with that mark. Then, the matron turned Asterin out into the wild to die. Sorrel was in the room when Asterin was beaten and fought to stop the matron, receiving a broken arm for it but accomplishing nothing else. When Asterin was sent away, Sorrel found her and called Vesta as well, they took care of her secretly until Asterin grew strong again. The wildness that Asterin has in her is her desire to outrun the despair she’s lived through. She has stayed with Manon, as her second, because Manon – not the matron - was worth serving. It was worth waiting until Manon came to power. She asks Manon not to allow another clan to be taken. Manon points out that they will all be hunted down and killed if they go against the matron’s orders, but Asterin tells her that they all know that already and they are still in agreement that this is what they want. The first thing Manon does with this new information is promote Asterin back to her second in command. Rowan wakes up after recovering in Rifthold. Solstice is in six days and Aelin is planning something big. When she next sees Lysandra, Aelin presents her with papers saying that hers and Evangeline’s debts to Clarisse are officially paid - they’re free women. Manon stays in the mountains with Asterin for another day and they plan together. But before they put those plans into action, Manon needs to go to Rifthold. Asterin goes with her. Elide has been in the dungeons for four days now, and no one has even come to look for her. Rowan smells Lorcan on the rooftop and comes out to meet him. Lorcan tells him that the beasts Aelin sent after him (Wyrdhounds) are all dead now and asks if they have reconsidered his proposal. They give him the key; he gives them the ring that protects from the Valg. He even makes a vow that he has not lied about the capabilities of the ring, so Rowan gives Lorcan the amulet, takes the ring, and leaves. Hopefully Lorcan isn’t too mad when he finds out that the amulet is the fake, holding one of the black rings inside so that it feels like the real amulet. Chaol comes to discuss plans with Aelin one last time before the solstice, and he apologizes to her. They both apologize for the ways they’ve acted in the past. They’re in a better place now. Rowan and Aelin kiss, just once, the night before their big plan goes into action. Nesryn and Chaol go to the Sea God’s temple together, and Nesryn makes Chaol promise to not die the next day. Aelin goes to the market for breakfast food and everybody there is jumpy. The vendor she buys from points her toward a message written at the edge of the market (as well as every other market) that has everybody on edge. It’s written in Valg blood, a message from Manon to Aelin - telling her that Dorian is still inside his body, trying to hold on. Well, this changes everything. Lysandra collects Evangeline so they can have their slave marks covered and collect their things, they won’t be returning to Clarisse’s. Aelin recommends that they get out of the city to Nesryn’s dad’s country home. Rowan, Aedion, Chaol, and Aelin move the barrels of hellfire into the sewers. They’ve painted their bodies with Wyrdmarks for protection, concealed by their clothing. Aelin wears the golden ring. Rowan and Aedion rig up contraptions to set the hellfire alight, even with the long fuse they will still need to run fast in order to get to safety before it detonates - they have Fae agility and speed, so it will have to be them. Which means neither of them can be with Aelin. Above the sewers on the surface, Aelin plays the part of Celaena and puts Chaol in chains and leads him straight to the king. They see guards executed on the wall to the palace, Ress and Brullo among them. After seeing this, Chaol whispers to Aelin that he needs to change the plan. She leads him through the near deserted palace (the queen has taken much of the court to the mountains, most of the remaining people have fled) to the throne room where she sees the king and Dorian. She presents the king with the seal rings of the King and Crown Prince of Wendlyn, explaining that she killed them and sent word of her success the day before she left Wendlyn to return to Rifthold. She can’t imagine why her message did not make it to him before she did. Chaol was waiting for her at the docks when she got to Rifthold, without his uniform, and she wrung all the information she could get from him. She needs to keep talking, to buy them a few more minutes, but she may not be able to. The king knows who she really is. Aedion and Rowan take more barrels into the black clock tower and the stench of the Valg is so strong, Rowan can barely stand it. His nose starts to bleed, then his ear, but they get their barrels placed and run their lines. It’s only when Rowan hears snarling that he realizes that Lorcan didn’t kill the Wyrdhounds, but he did give them a portion of Rowan’s cloak to scent him with. Seven of them are now waiting for him and Aedion, standing between them and the exit. In the throne room, the king and Aelin taunt at each other as Chaol shakes off his manacles, no longer pretending to be chained. Aelin keeps the king talking until the clock tower chimes indicate that it is noon, then she pulls out the Eye of Elena. She’s realized that the necklace is the key to opening Erawan’s tomb - and the one thing the king wants more than anything else. Except something is wrong. Noon comes and goes, and the tower still stands. Rowan and Aedion cannot get to the fuse to light it, and they are losing the battle against the hounds. Aelin orders the king to let Dorian go or she will destroy the necklace, so the king follows her orders and lets Dorian go. He chases after Aelin - who runs out of the throne room. Dorian chases her, throwing ice and breaking windows. She jumps out of one of the broken windows. Meanwhile, Chaol faces off against the king using Damaris, gifted to him by Aelin. Alone in the throne room, just him and the king. Aelin keeps running, Dorian follows her trying to shoot her with his ice. The king throws waves of darkness at Chaol, one after the other, until it’s too much for Chaol to take. At least Aelin and Dorian got out. But Aelin leads Dorian to a footbridge at the top of the palace where the noon sun shines down on her. Right where she’s supposed to be. But magic does not return. And Dorian stabs her in the side. Rowan and Aedion have killed four of the hounds, but they are running out of steam. They cannot get to the fuse. Rowan is fighting two hounds when one chomps down on his leg, but he still manages to kill it. Then Lorcan comes in to save the day and kills the second hound just as it’s about to kill Rowan. Once all the hounds are dealt with, he helps Rowan toward the exit while Aedion lights the fuse. They run as fast as they can, Lorcan and Aedion towing Rowan between them. Suddenly, Rowan feels the magic return to him as the tower is destroyed. Just as they see the unending line of Valg waiting for them, the sewer behind them caves in from the blast. There’s nowhere to go except through the Valg. Aelin tries to remind Dorian of Sorscha - who he loved; of Chaol - who he sacrificed himself for; of herself - who came back for him. As he stabs her, she slips the golden ring onto his finger. She uses her newly returned wildfire on him. Aedion prepares to die. There’s no way they are making it out of these tunnels. Rowan and Lorcan are out of magic, they’re already depleted from not having magic before. They can hear screaming from the back of the line of Valg and assume it’s the soldiers Lorcan cut down on his way to find them, getting ready to return the favor. But then a snow leopard shows up, the screams the product of her laying waste to the Valg! Lysandra had left the carriage before it exited the city, sending Evangeline to safety alone, and turned around to help her friends. What luck that magic returned quickly afterward, she would have been much less help without it. Once she’s dispatched all the Valg in the tunnel and rescued Rowan and Aedion, who were backed up to the cave in, Lysandra runs to find Aelin. One time she is almost shot by an arrow on her way to the palace gates, but Nesryn knocks the arrow out of the air with an arrow of her own as she and the remaining rebels shoot Valg from the rooftops and yell for the citizens to get to safety. Aelin is trying to bring Dorian back, asking him to fight as the demon inside keeps throwing shadows at her. Then the king shows up and Aelin accuses him of killing Chaol. The king tells her that he regrets that he could not take his time as he killed Chaol. This snaps Dorian out of it, even though he continues to wear the collar. When the king attacks Aelin with his shadows, Dorian blocks the shadows with his ice. Then he reaches up and removes the collar, the golden ring having broken it for him. He remembers Aelin, he remembers who he is. And he has a full well of magic waiting to be tapped into. The king proclaims that he will kill them both, but Dorian and Aelin join hands and become something more, something insanely powerful. They break through the king’s shadows one by one. When they’re done, he calls out for Dorian, his son, in a voice that Aelin does not recognize. The king asks if Aelin has finally come to save him. Lorcan scouts ahead in the tunnels and tells them that they’re overrun with Valg again, so the three of them go back to the cave in and move enough rocks to squeeze through. They find another cave in a little further, but Aedion moves enough rocks so that they can see sunlight. Rowan turns into hawk and flies to Aelin. He sees her fighting with but not against Dorian. The king explains to Aelin and Dorian that Perrington mentored him when he was young, eventually taking him to see Erawan’s tomb. When the king found the first key, Perrington was taken by Erawan while the king was taken by a different demon. He had the towers built to protect Dorian, since the Valg would have sensed how strong he was and would have targeted him. He was able to do that much. Erawan hates both the Havilliards and the Galathyniuses for locking him away, and he sought to destroy both families, but he didn’t realize that the king had been the one to rid the land of the magic. He believed the gods had taken it and all the king’s strength has gone into protecting that secret ever since. He went to Terrasen when Aelin was a child so that Aelin could use her fire to cleanse the demon from his body, but her mother stopped her before Aelin had the chance. He confesses that Chaol is still alive, badly hurt but not dead. Dorian calls his father a liar and tells Aelin not to believe a word he says, but Aelin is not sure. The king begs for them to end his life, but before they can decide on what to do, Dorian starts screaming and the glass castle completely shatters underneath them. Dorian has shattered the glass portion of the castle and sent the shards flying toward Rifthold. As she falls, Aelin can only think about saving the people in the city. She throws out all the magic that she has left, and the glass meets her wildfire at the edge of the castle grounds, melting it before it enters the city and turning it into a wall of glass around the palace. Rowan buffets her fall with his wind, but she still hits her head on the ground when she lands. She’s knocked unconscious, but only for a minute. When she wakes, she sees Dorian and Chaol both lying nearby, also unconscious but still breathing. She had slipped the real Eye of Elena into Chaol’s pocket before she ran from the throne room without Chaol realizing, while she carried a replica of the necklace. That’s likely what saved his life, since the king had mentioned that Chaol glowed for a moment as he fought. She senses Rowan, Aedion, and Lysandra nearby, but ignores them to enter the city and make an announcement. The king is dead, but their prince still lives. He is grieving, so until he is able to greet them himself, she will rule this city for him. But she will happily relinquish it to him when he is capable of ruling it himself. She frees the slaves right then, and lets the people know that if they revolt or riot, the repercussions will be swift and heavy. Elide has been in the dungeons for some time, but she doesn’t know how many days - time has all blended together. She felt a ripple of something strange a while ago, but didn’t know what it was until she was visited by her uncle and a Valg prince he called Cormac. He explained that she was going to be cleaned up, that they want to know what exactly she’s capable of now that magic has returned. That once she’s done with the small operation allowing a pregnancy, she’ll be given over to Cormac completely. Manon finally returns to Morath and wants nothing more than to go directly to bed, but notices that Elide has not been in her room for days. Her smell is stale. She asks the head cook and laundress where Elide is, but they haven’t seen her for days. Manon continues her search when another laundress stops her and says that she and a few others had been looking for Elide. They’ve found out she’s been taken to one of the dungeons, but they don’t know which one (there are three). She and the other laundresses were trying to find a way to help her. Manon tells the woman not to say anything about this conversation and leaves to find the Thirteen. While Manon is running through the castle, news arrives that the king is dead and the whole place dissolves into bedlam. She finds her coven and tells them to ready their wyverns, she takes half of them to search the first dungeon. Manon hears a soft woman’s voice in her head encouraging her to hurry. They find nothing in the first dungeon but rebel prisoners. They move to the second and find the same, but at the end of the third dungeon, Manon can hear Elide. She’s arrived just in time; the soldiers have come to collect Elide. Manon kills the soldiers holding Elide (as well as everyone they’ve come across to find her) and realizes that a bunch more soldiers are coming from below. She cuts Elide’s chain in half, allowing her to walk in full strides (though she can’t remove the shackles yet), and tells Elide they are going to have to fight their way out. But just then, Kaltain shows up behind Manon. She tells them that “they” are wondering why elide hasn’t shown up yet and Manon realizes that Kaltain has broken away from the Valg and controls her own body. If Kaltain leaves with Elide, they will come after them, so Kaltain tells Elide to switch clothes with her quickly. They look so similar; most won’t notice the swap. They switch dresses and then Kaltain tells Elide to look in the pocket of the dress and pull out a scrap of cloth that she keeps there. Kaltain cuts open the nasty scar on her arm and picks out a piece of black stone. She puts the stone in the cloth. She tells Elide to find Celaena - no one else - and tell Celaena that she wasn’t allowed to take the cloak with her, but she did take a small piece of it to remind her, and to remind Celaena, to kill them all. Manon runs from the dungeon, eventually carrying Elide over her shoulder, collecting the other Thirteen and flying off on their wyverns as Kaltain takes Elide’s place in the cell. Kaltain waits until she is on the operating table before she unleashes her shadowfire and kills them all. Then she continues her destruction in the hallway as she finds her way to where the Yellowlegs coven is being held. She kills the witches and their spawn, and unleashes her fire so strong that it destroys this part of the keep and burns her completely to ash. When Manon looks back at the keep from Abraxos’ back, a third of the keep is decimated. Dorian and Aelin sleep for three days. They put Aelin in her old room (the stone castle still stands while the glass addition was destroyed), with Chaol (also not yet awake) and Dorian in two rooms in the same hall. Lorcan comes to Aelin’s rooms and gets vomited on by Lysandra (her human stomach does not handle Valg innards well at all) while Rowan yells at him for lying about the hounds. He knows the only reason Lorcan helped is because of Aedion - and who Aedion’s father is. When Lorcan leaves, Rowan doesn’t scent him nearby anymore. Rowan goes crazy with worry until Aelin finally wakes up and they fill each other in on what happened while they were apart. Dorian’s magic is so vast, Rowan has never seen anything like it. And Aelin knows exactly what knocked her out, and it wasn’t the fall. It was Lorcan, who took the golden ring back from Dorian’s unconscious body. Whether or not Lorcan knows the amulet is a fake yet is still to be determined. Dorian wakes up. When he shattered the glass castle, he killed only the courtiers and servants in it who didn’t deserve to live, while somehow sparing Chaol and the others. But he struggles with killing his father. Aelin comes in to see him. She tells him that one day, he will get past this and be able to move on, though it may be a while, and he likely will not believe her right now that the day will ever come. But together, they can forge a new world - as friends. Chaol wakes up last and Dorian breaks the news to him that he should be dead, that his spine was broken in several places. Rowan healed the two higher breaks, but the lowest break even Rowan could not fix. Chaol is now paralyzed. Dorian fills Chaol in on a few other changers: Aedion is in charge of castle security, Nesryn is the current captain of the guard (the first woman to even be in the king’s guard), and Chaol just got promoted to Lord Chaol of Westfall, King’s Hand. His first order of business as King’s Hand is to go with Nesryn to the Southern Continent and seek out the Torre Cesme to see if they can heal him. The Thirteen take Elide to Oakwald, which is as far as they can go. They must return to Morath where, if Vernon is still alive, Manon will tell him that Elide died with Kaltain. She frees Elide from her shackles and gives her leathers to wear. She arms her and gives her money, though she tells her to use it sparingly, and points Elide in a direction. The King of Adarlan is dead, killed by Aelin and aided by Aedion. Rumor has it that Ren is in the north acting as a rebel. Elide should go north and make sure she gets to Terrasen. Right now, her queen is in Rifthold, but she likely won’t stay there for long. The Thirteen leave and Elide starts her journey with the last thing that Manon gave her: hope. Dorian signs a decree freeing all the conquered lands from Adarlan’s rule. Aelin gives Lysandra a ring and a piece of land, inhabited by ghost leopards, to become lady of - making Lysandra an official member of her court. Manon returns to find that both Perrington and Vernon have survived, but so did most of the witch covens since they were on a training exercise away from the keep. Only two covens were killed. Perrington believes that Elide and Kaltain (and the stone in Kaltain’s arm) are at the bottom of the keep somewhere, and he plans to find them. Manon hasn’t even told her coven about that stone. But she does tell Vernon that she won’t forget what he did, and that he should watch his back. She heard that Aelin is alive and looking for those that did her wrong. Aelin goes to Elena’s tomb before leaving Rifthold, but there’s a cave in and she can’t reach it. She does hope that Mort is okay. Dorian and Chaol are waiting for her when she comes back to her room. Chaol gives the Eye of Elena back to her and Dorian asks why the necklace glowed this time, but not for the year Chaol had worn it while Aelin was in Wendlyn. She believes it requires the courage of the heart to work. Aelin appoints Chaol as emissary for her court and tells him to make the Southern Continent their ally, whatever it takes. They need the help. Her court prepares to depart for Terrasen, and it is a sad parting for Chaol and Aelin, but especially for Dorian - who will be alone again when Chaol leaves in two days. But that night, Dorian wakes from a nightmare and goes to his balcony to find Manon and Abraxos perched not that far away. He raises a hand in greeting, and then a hand to his throat, indicating the collar is gone. Manon leaves, wondering to herself about this new world that’s emerging. Aelin’s group picks up Evangeline and Fleetfoot on their way past and travels for three weeks. When they get to Terrasen, Aelin realizes that it smells like Rowan. Or that he smells like her home. He tells her it feels like he’s always been searching for this place. Aelin is finally home again.