Two days after Aelin’s coronation ball, Nesryn Faliq is still exhausted from the celebration. She remembers the joy in the Great Hall and especially Aelin and Rowan’s first dance as queen and consort, during which Aelin crowned them both in flame and danced with blazing grace.

In the khaganate royals’ temporary headquarters, Kashin reports that the last soldiers will be ready to leave in five days. Sartaq asks Dorian for permission for a small group of young rukhin to remain in Adarlan after discovering abandoned wyvern eggs at the Ferian Gap. Dorian agrees, already seeing the possibility of a new aerial force, while Hasar makes clear that she wants nothing more to do with wyverns.

Dorian then gently acknowledges that Nesryn will not return as his Captain of the Guard. Instead of treating her departure as a loss, Dorian says he will be glad to gain another royal friend. Sartaq corrects him that Nesryn will be an empress, and after Dorian thanks and embraces her, Nesryn and Sartaq privately look forward to going home together.

Later, Chaol sits with a sealed letter from his mother, afraid to open it because of the pain of their long separation. Yrene reads it first and tearfully tells Chaol that his mother loves him, misses him, and wants to come live with Chaol and Yrene, bringing Terrin as well. Reading the letter himself, Chaol learns that his father hid his mother’s earlier letters and that she is proud of him; moved to tears, Chaol realizes he and Yrene will need a larger home.

The next day, Dorian brings Chaol and Yrene to the aerie, where Manon is saddling Abraxos. Dorian asks where Manon will go after everyone leaves, and Manon says she will return to the Wastes to see what can be rebuilt. Dorian asks her and the Ironteeth to consider coming back to help train the rukhin and wyverns as Adarlan’s new aerial legion, and Manon suggests she may be able to visit from the Wastes.

Yrene bluntly suggests that Dorian and Manon marry, both for honesty and political alliance. Manon only smirks and says, “We’ll see,” before flying off on Abraxos. As Chaol and Yrene laugh and bicker behind him, Dorian watches Manon disappear into the sky and feels hopeful about the future.