Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, and Chaol walk in silence through the dark trees to the abandoned salt mines of Endovier, choosing the place because scouts are not watching it. Returning to the death camp sickens Aelin: the broken gates, whipping posts, pits, and overseers’ buildings force her to confront the suffering she endured there and the sense that her freedom has only ever been temporary.

In the yard, Aelin prepares the Wyrdmarks Elena taught her, drawing overlapping symbols for opening, closing, locking, and unlocking. Chaol asks what is needed, and Aelin says his presence is enough. Dorian privately embraces Chaol, while Rowan stops Aelin long enough to remind Aelin that he will be with her in her heart and asks Aelin to come back to him.

Dorian gives Aelin the Amulet of Orynth and the other two Wyrdkey slivers. Aelin opens the amulet, remembering her mother and recognizing the Wyrdmarks on it as both Brannon’s warning and confirmation of the price demanded of her. The third Wyrdkey falls out, and Aelin gives it to Dorian before pocketing the amulet halves as a piece of Terrasen to carry with her.

Aelin cuts her palm, Dorian’s palm, and then a deep wound in her own forearm. Aelin understands that to open the gate, she must become the gate, just as Erawan had begun turning Kaltain into a living Wyrdgate. Fighting fear, Aelin joins her bloodied hand with Dorian’s, their magic weaving together, and presses all three Wyrdkeys into the wound in her arm.

Rowan seals the Wyrdmarks with his foot, desperately believing Aelin and Dorian’s shared fate must be the reason their lives crossed at Endovier. Instead of light or power, Aelin and Dorian go vacant and motionless, their bodies present but their awareness gone. Rowan feels the mating bond twist in agony as the Wyrdkeys dissolve into Aelin’s blood.