Inside the Valg darkness, Celaena is forced into a childhood memory of Orynth, when the King of Adarlan visited Terrasen with young Crown Prince Dorian. The court is tense and heavily guarded, while young Aelin sits with Aedion, observes the king with hatred, and briefly speaks to the lonely, frightened Dorian during the feast.

During the feast, Aelin suffers a violent magical and mental attack: a dark, wormlike presence forces its way into her mind, causing her fire magic to erupt uncontrollably. Evalin, Aelin’s mother, is ordered to stop her and uses water to smother the flames, nearly drowning Aelin into unconsciousness. As Aelin blacks out, the King of Adarlan smiles, revealing to Celaena in the present that the king himself caused the attack.

The Valg princes savor the memory, and a fourth prince within Narrok warns that the soldiers are nearly through the tunnel and orders them to keep Celaena alive as a prize. The memory continues: Aelin’s parents mistakenly believe Maeve attacked her, then remove Aelin from Orynth to a remote manor for safety. There, Evalin gives Aelin the Amulet of Orynth, telling Aelin never to lose it and promising it will lead Aelin home.

That same night, an unnatural storm and darkness fall over the manor. Aelin awakens, finds her parents dead in their bed, and is taken away by Lady Marion, who bathes and comforts Aelin while news arrives that King Orlon has also been murdered. When an assassin comes to finish the slaughter, Marion sends Aelin to run for the river bridge and stays behind with daggers drawn, sacrificing herself to delay the killer.

Aelin flees through the woods, is briefly trapped by roots, and is freed by the Little Folk before reaching the river. The assassin has cut the bridge, so Aelin falls into the icy water and later awakens far away, found by Arobynn; the Amulet of Orynth is lost in the river. In the present, Celaena understands that Marion’s sacrifice broke her, that she twisted survival into hatred, and that her shame over wasted sacrifices, including Nehemia’s, has kept her from returning home.

As the Valg believe they have defeated her, visions of the people Celaena loved urge her to get up. The Valg twist those faces into accusations, but Celaena realizes the King of Adarlan planned the attack to separate and murder her family, and that she was not to blame for bringing them to the manor. Seeing Terrasen and Orynth in her mind, Celaena accepts Aelin Galathynius, chooses light over monstrosity, vows to build a kingdom for her people, and rises.