At the Ferian Gap, Yrene works in a covered wagon while the allied armies prepare to cross back over the Avery and push north through Oakwald. With Elide assisting, Yrene treats an infected thigh wound on an unconscious Darghan soldier, using both ordinary surgical cleaning and healing magic. The magic succeeds, but Yrene immediately vomits, revealing that her pregnancy sickness has become difficult to manage while she continues healing soldiers.

As Elide makes peppermint tea for Yrene, Yrene examines Elide’s damaged ankle and offers to heal it if they survive the war. Yrene explains that a true repair would require breaking and rebuilding the bones over weeks, followed by a painful recovery, while avoiding the procedure would leave Elide with worsening pain and arthritis. Elide admits she does not know whether she can face that kind of pain again, and both women leave the decision for after the war.

Borte arrives with urgent news: rukhin searching the Northern Fang have found Elide’s uncle, Vernon Lochan, hiding among the wyvern trainers. Elide is flown up to the mountain, where Gavriel and Fenrys escort her through the foul halls to Aelin, Rowan, and Lorcan. Aelin explains that Elide has been summoned to decide whether she wants to speak with Vernon before the others question and punish him.

Elide enters the chamber and confronts Vernon, who is bound in irons and already beaten. Vernon taunts Elide, Aelin, and Lorcan, then admits his cruelty was driven by resentment and jealousy of Elide’s father, Cal Lochan. Elide refuses to let him define her, tells Vernon that he will be erased from memory, and then learns from him that Perranth has been sacked by Morath, making the war’s northern stakes even more urgent.

After leaving Vernon, Elide tells the others that she does not care what happens to him, only that his death be quick because that is what her father would have wanted. Lorcan is ready to use torture, but Aelin, shaken by memories of her own captivity, stops him. Rowan supports Aelin’s decision, framing it as a choice about what kind of court they intend to become.

Aelin chooses deception and conversation instead of torture. With only Gavriel and Fenrys in the room, she gives Vernon ale, needles his pride, and suggests that Erawan discarded him after his failures. Vernon bargains for his life, and Aelin swears that neither she nor her companions will kill him if he tells them what he knows. Vernon then reveals that Maeve has come to Morath not merely to visit Erawan, but to unite with him.