Lorcan, gravely wounded and barely conscious, clings to Elide as Farasha races toward Anielle’s keep. Seeing the damaged dam about to give way, Lorcan realizes his weight may doom Elide and tells Elide to abandon him so she might survive.

Elide refuses with absolute resolve, gripping Lorcan so tightly that he understands Elide would fall with him rather than leave him. Elide drives Farasha onward, and the mare surges past fleeing soldiers and cavalry, but the dam ruptures before Elide and Lorcan can reach the gates.

From the battlements, Rowan, Yrene, Fenrys, and the others watch the flood rush toward the plain. Rowan prepares to witness Elide and Lorcan’s deaths, but then Aelin appears, dropped by Arcas directly into the flood’s path, and raises a pillar of fire around herself.

As the earth cracks beneath Aelin, Chaol realizes the valley is threaded with hot springs and deep veins of heat. Rowan understands that Aelin has spent three months secretly descending into her power while imprisoned by Maeve, storing a death blow meant for Maeve, and has now chosen to spend it to save the army and the people on the plain.

Aelin releases a colossal wall of cobalt fire against the flood, and the collision creates lethal steam. Rowan uses the last of his magic to drive the steam away from the soldiers, pushing himself near burnout while Fenrys and Gavriel support him. Gradually, the flood weakens, the flames lower, and the waters sink harmlessly into the cracked earth.

In the aftermath, Aelin stands glowing like living fire, aweing everyone as the threat vanishes completely. The glow fades from Aelin’s body, leaving her emptied but clear, and she collapses; Rowan reaches Aelin, carries Aelin onto a ruk, and Aelin slips into darkness.