Aelin, chained on Cairn’s metal table, chooses defiance instead of submission. Knowing Maeve’s Wyrdstone collar is coming and believing her own death may be the only way to avoid enslavement, Aelin deliberately provokes Cairn by attacking his pride, cruelty, and cowardice.

Cairn loses control. He strikes Aelin, unlocks some of her restraints, drags her from the table, smashes her masked face into its edge, and hauls her toward the brazier. Cairn intends to burn and disfigure Aelin, but Aelin waits for his balance to shift, trips him, and tries to escape despite the chains hobbling her.

Aelin cannot get far. Cairn drags Aelin down, beats her, reaches for a red-hot poker, and then throws her into a chest of drawers with enough force to break something in her side. The small, hopeless sound Aelin makes devastates Fenrys, who has already endured Connall’s death, Maeve’s command, and two months of forced witnessing.

Fenrys understands Aelin’s four blinks as a final message before a breaking beyond recovery. Refusing to watch Cairn destroy Aelin completely, Fenrys fights the blood oath that binds him to Maeve’s commands. The effort agonizes him and makes him bleed, but Fenrys slowly rises despite Cairn ordering him to stand down and lie down.

Fenrys silently urges Aelin to run, but Cairn realizes the meaning and raises the red-hot poker toward Aelin’s damaged back. Fenrys leaps to stop Cairn, and in doing so snaps Maeve’s blood oath completely.