Before dawn, Rowan arrives on Mistward’s battlements and learns from the sentries that Celaena has been practicing outside the ward-stones for four mornings. Rowan watches Celaena throw flame-weapons and use flame-enhanced hand-to-hand attacks against the magical barrier, which reflects the blows back at her. Celaena shields with increasing skill, rises after being knocked down, and continues, proving both resourceful and disciplined.

A week later, another demi-Fae corpse is found, and Celaena and Rowan run to the site. During the intervening days, Rowan has pushed Celaena through harsh training with fire until shielding and attacking begin to become instinctive. Celaena’s progress is strong, though Celaena still cannot summon her small water affinity, and Celaena remains emotionally unsettled by memories of Chaol.

At the corpse site, Celaena notices the familiar second stench from the earlier barrow-field encounter and warns Rowan that there may be more than one attacker. Unlike previous victims, this demi-Fae male appears to have fought back. Celaena examines the dirt beneath the corpse’s fingernails and finds black, oily blood, which reminds Celaena of the creature Celaena encountered beneath the library in Rifthold.

Celaena explains to Rowan what Celaena knows about the library creature, the Wyrdkeys, Maeve’s withheld knowledge, and the king’s use of that power to make things that target magic-blooded hosts. Rowan and Celaena reason that demi-Fae may be ideal victims because many have magic and few powerful authorities care whether they disappear. Rowan orders Celaena to burn the corpse, returns Rowan’s dagger belt to Celaena for the afternoon, and declares that they are going hunting.

The hunt yields nothing, even after Rowan searches from the sky in hawk form. As night falls, Rowan and Celaena hide together in a large tree without fire, and Rowan questions Celaena in detail about the library creature. Celaena thinks of Chaol, Dorian, and the uncertainty of her own identity, recognizing that grief and despair are changing Celaena into someone new. Celaena then asks Rowan whether Celaena could have tried to kill Chaol if Chaol were truly Celaena’s mate; Rowan offers complications, but Celaena refuses the full truth that night.