Throne of Glass, #7
Kingdom of Ash
by Sarah J. Maas
Contents
Chapter 92
Overview
Aelin and Rowan’s confrontation over the coming sacrifice forces Aelin to admit how exhausted, afraid, and resigned she has become after surviving captivity only to face the Lock. Rowan refuses to let her walk willingly to her death and proposes a new possibility: Aelin and Dorian, both heirs of Mala’s blood, might share the cost of forging it.
Aelin accepts the desperate plan and asks Dorian, who agrees without hesitation. The chapter shifts the narrative from Aelin’s solitary execution toward a shared sacrifice, while preserving the urgency of sealing the gate before the war reaches its final crisis.
Summary
At the camp near Endovier, Aelin sits in the royal tent with Rowan, unable to eat and searching Wyrdmark texts for an alternative to forging the Lock. Rowan angrily refuses to accept the vote that decided she should do it at dawn, arguing that Aelin has always defied fate and should not submit now. Aelin insists that delaying could doom everyone and that the free peoples of Erilea have chosen.
Rowan challenges Aelin’s willingness to die and suggests Dorian could forge the Lock instead, since Dorian survived Morath, faced Maeve, and destroyed the fortress. Aelin refuses to let Dorian sacrifice himself, claiming the burden is hers because Elena’s attempt to spare her only brought worse consequences. Rowan then offers to forge the Lock with Aelin, but Aelin rejects the idea because she believes someone of Mala’s bloodline must pay and cannot bear the thought of Rowan being erased.
The argument exposes Aelin’s despair after her captivity. Aelin admits that surviving Cairn and Maeve depended on remembering that the Lock still needed her, yet she had also secretly hoped to escape the price and felt dread when Dorian arrived with the keys. Rowan realizes that perhaps Dorian was not brought back so one of them could be chosen over the other, but so Aelin and Dorian could share the burden.
Rowan recalls the power Aelin and Dorian joined when they destroyed the glass castle, reasoning that both carry Mala’s blood and might each give half of themselves to forge the Lock. Aelin is uncertain it will work and agonizes over asking Dorian, but Rowan insists the burden is not hers alone. Rowan breaks down before Aelin, and Aelin grieves the future she wanted with him; Rowan urges her to fight for that future one more time.
Later that night, Aelin wakes Dorian and, with Rowan standing guard nearby, asks whether Dorian will forge the Lock with her. Dorian immediately understands the plan and agrees, saying he is sorry he did not think of it first. Aelin decides they should do it immediately, before the others and before any good-byes, and Dorian asks that Chaol be present.
Who Appears
- Aelin GalathyniusFaces the Lock’s cost, argues with Rowan, and asks Dorian to share the sacrifice.
- Rowan WhitethornRejects Aelin’s resignation and proposes that Aelin and Dorian forge the Lock together.
- Dorian HavilliardAwakened by Aelin, immediately agrees to share the burden of forging the Lock.
- Chaol WestfallAbsent from the scene but requested by Dorian to witness the coming act.
- Elena GalathyniusDiscussed as the source of the debt and the spirit whose soul will also end.