After Celaena and Rowan report the threat near Mistward, the fortress responds with grim discipline rather than panic. Malakai sends messengers to Wendlyn’s king for military aid, to other demi-Fae settlements to evacuate noncombatants, and to the healers’ compound to move patients who can travel. Wendlyn promises reinforcements, which relieves Celaena but also makes her uneasy at the possibility that Galan or other kin from her mother’s family might arrive.

Rowan takes command of Mistward’s defenses, and the residents accept his leadership gratefully. Because Narrok’s force includes mortal soldiers and three monstrous creatures, Rowan plans to slow the enemy until help arrives. Celaena and Rowan help prepare the surrounding forest with pitfalls, venomous areas, spike traps, and snares along the likely path to the fortress, while Malakai reveals an old secret tunnel that could serve as an escape route if Mistward is besieged.

A few days later, Rowan leads a strategy meeting with the fortress captains after Bas’s scouts report that the creatures may move soon. Celaena watches Rowan coordinate the defenses with calm authority and sees how much the demi-Fae depend on his steadiness. Celaena privately realizes how effortless working with Rowan has become and wishes, despite the impossibility of his oath to Maeve, that she would not have to leave the continent without him.

After the meeting, Celaena asks why Rowan has not called for Fae warriors from Maeve’s court, since they might shift the battle’s odds. Rowan confirms that Maeve would likely order him home for several reasons, and Celaena condemns the queen’s hold over him, saying Maeve does not deserve him. Rowan resists the subject, and Celaena leaves him with the unspoken knowledge that she wishes she could keep him beside her.

The next afternoon, a heavy silence settles over the fortress, and Celaena rushes to the kitchen fearing Maeve has arrived. Instead, Celaena finds Rowan with Emrys, Malakai, and Luca, all visibly shaken. Rowan tells Celaena that after Nehemia’s assassination, a slave girl in Calaculla killed her overseer and sparked an uprising; the King of Adarlan responded by sending legions that slaughtered every slave in Calaculla, then sent more legions north to kill everyone in Endovier as well.

The news destroys Celaena’s composure. Celaena thinks of the enslaved people, including children, rebels, Eyllwe’s people, and Terrasen’s people, and blames herself for abandoning them and arriving too late. Unable to bear Rowan’s touch or her own guilt, Celaena leaves the kitchen, walks beyond the fortress, and unleashes her fire into Mistward’s invisible wards until the barrier devours her power and she keeps burning.