Chapter 23

Maevyth rushes to stop Vonkovyan soldiers dragging Aleysia away. She fights, is choked, and stabs a guard, but Aleysia is forced into a carriage and taken. Uncles Riftyn and Felix restrain Maevyth as Agatha strikes and condemns both sisters, ordering Maevyth delivered to Moros.

Bound hand and foot, Maevyth is transported to Moros’s manor. On arrival, Moros coolly instructs her uncles to free her ankles; Maevyth kicks Riftyn in retaliation. Moros refuses to unbind her hands and lures her inside with the promise she may see her sister.

He leads Maevyth into a brightly lit cellar lined with jars of preserved oddities, then to a massive water tank housing two masked women surgically altered into “mermaids.” Moros boasts of abducting Lyverian sisters after butchering their family, framing it as taming wild women, and warns that Aleysia’s spirit will be broken by fear.

Moros then unveils a chained creature—formerly the captain who groped Maevyth—now a flesh-eating monstrosity. He explains that consuming certain stones can twist bones and flesh, proving his power and the stones’ horrific potential. As bells near, Moros tells Maevyth it is time for Aleysia’s banishment and insists she will watch it begin at The Eating Woods.