Rowan realizes the full implication of Aelin’s unscarred body: Maeve’s healers must have replaced nearly all her skin so her torment could be repeated again and again. Aelin sees that the scars from Endovier, Baba Yellowlegs, Arobynn, Nehemia, and Rowan are gone, and her flames burn brighter as the loss sinks in.

Fenrys lies dying because he broke Maeve’s blood oath to help save Aelin. Aelin walks to him inside a shield of flame, kneels beside him, and silently acknowledges his sacrifice. Knowing that only a new blood oath might bind Fenrys’s fading life back together, Aelin cuts her forearm with Fenrys’s claw and lets Fenrys drink her blood.

Aelin commands Fenrys to live through their new bond. After a tense wait, Fenrys opens his eyes, rises, and bows to Aelin as his queen. Rowan welcomes Fenrys into the court, but Aelin remains distant and hollow, suggesting that escape has not freed her from Maeve’s psychological damage.

Gavriel urges the group to move before Maeve’s forces find them. As they prepare to flee, the Little Folk appear and beckon them onward. Rowan trusts them because they saved Aelin once before, and the group follows them through the forest while smaller folk conceal their trail.

The journey carries them east toward the mountains and near the ruins of Rowan’s old home. Aelin walks silently and barefoot, wrapped in Rowan’s cloak and enclosed in her golden flame with Fenrys beside her. The Little Folk lead the party into a hidden cave containing bedrolls, food, water, a fire, and a vast underground lake lit by strange old magic.

Inside the cave, Rowan, Gavriel, Lorcan, and Elide assess the shelter warily, but Aelin shows no caution. Aelin briefly communicates with the Little Folk, apparently learns the cave is safe, then lies down on the bare stone beside the fire and closes her eyes, still emotionally withdrawn.