Chapter Twenty-Nine

Escorted by carriage to separate starting points, Sylvia, Diya, and Mehti prepare for Trial Two in Dar al Mansi, a village swallowed by Essam Woods when Jasadis sacrificed their home to deny invaders. Sylvia arms herself and advances under the circling threat of Al Anqa’a, reflecting on the moral weight of killing in a graveyard of her people.

Inside the village, Sylvia slays a charging nisnas with an axe but discovers the creature reknits itself, forcing her to flee. In a ruined home, a seemingly ordinary man taunts her with memories of Jasad’s fall and Niphran’s death, then transforms into a dulhath. Provoked, Sylvia unleashes her magic through her cuffs, rending the dulhath into three and taking a severed leg as a trophy.

As she moves on, Sylvia finds Mehti already dead, desiccated in a zulal’s coils, and retreats. Near the border to Essam Woods, she encounters Dawoud, former head of Niyar’s staff, aged and captured by Nizahl months earlier. Realizing Rawain released him to test whether she would kill a Jasadi, Sylvia refuses. Al Anqa’a attacks; she wounds it but is dragged from cover.

Dawoud reveals magic and stalls the bird, urging Sylvia to “end this.” Instead, she raises a barrier with her cuffs, and Dawoud notices her eyes remain unchanged—her magic flows entirely through the restraints. Terrified for her, Dawoud stabs himself to prevent exposing her identity. The barrier collapses; Al Anqa’a departs.

Cradling him, Sylvia tries to heal or hold him with words. Dying, Dawoud confesses Hanim imprisoned Sylvia in Essam for five years and had brought Soraya into the palace, confirming a deeper betrayal. He dies in her lap, and Sylvia remains, grieving amid Dar al Mansi’s ruins.