Aelin flees through Maeve’s camp at sunrise, still weakened, masked in iron, and with her hands bound. She chooses the direction of the rising sun and runs past confused soldiers, refusing to slow even when orders and pursuit rise behind her.

At the camp’s edge, Lorcan and Gavriel wait for Rowan’s signal while tracking signs of death and movement. Lorcan senses someone approaching the eastern entrance and breaks from the trees to intercept the disturbance, only to see Aelin racing toward freedom, bloodied, chained, and nearly spent.

Soldiers converge on Aelin, but she uses one attacker’s sword strike to snap the iron chains binding her hands. Once free, Aelin kills the soldiers blocking her way and continues toward the open field. Lorcan kills the entrance guards with his power and signals Rowan that Aelin is outside the camp.

Aelin crosses the uneven hills as archers fire at her. Lorcan deflects arrows and blocks soldiers from following, while Gavriel arrives and shields Aelin with golden power, unable to touch her directly because of the iron still on her body. Aelin keeps moving despite exhaustion until Lorcan and Gavriel reach her and help her into the trees.

Rowan arrives in hawk form, shifts, and rushes to Aelin, but she sobs Fenrys’s name and points back toward the camp. Understanding that Fenrys remains with Cairn, Rowan orders Lorcan to take Aelin to the glen and commands Gavriel to return with him, then charges back toward the camp in fury.