After five days of siege at Anielle, Yrene braces through another catapult strike inside Westfall Keep. Morath has not breached the walls, but its remaining catapults keep battering the keep and city, while wounded soldiers, ruk riders, and ruks overwhelm the makeshift sick bay in the great hall.

Yrene returns to healing despite exhaustion and depleted magic. Eretia stops Yrene long enough to warn that Yrene’s early pregnancy makes the strain even more dangerous. Yrene admits she has not told Chaol because she fears adding to his burden during battle, though Yrene is determined to help end the war before her child is born into darkness.

On the lower battlements, Chaol commands Anielle’s defenders from horseback because the strain on Yrene’s power has worsened his own body. Morath’s siege towers, hauled by mutilated wyverns, begin reaching the walls. Chaol rallies frightened soldiers by reminding the defenders that the Valg-infested attackers can still die, then prepares to hold the wall for Yrene and the child he somehow knows she carries.

Above the battlefield, Nesryn and the rukhin attack Morath’s rear lines, following a strategy to kill Valg commanders instead of endlessly striking the front. The ruks and riders are battered and exhausted, but they keep fighting until a horn announces Princess Hasar’s arrival. Hasar leads the khagan’s cavalry and infantry into Morath’s exposed eastern flank.

The battle continues through the gray day, with the khaganate’s fresh forces joining the fight but failing to break Morath’s army. At night, both sides pull back. Nesryn flies Yrene and Chaol from the secured keep walls to Hasar’s battle tent for a royal war council, but the meeting is interrupted almost immediately by an unexpected person entering the tent.