Aelin flees through Rifthold’s slums after leaving the Vaults in bloody ruin. Twenty of the king’s new guards pursue her, and although none wear collars or rings, Aelin senses the corruption of Wyrdstone in them. Aelin suspects Arobynn may have arranged the chase as a test, while also recognizing that Aelin brought danger to the Vaults deliberately and destroyed a place tied to Sam’s killers.

As the pursuit closes in, Aelin climbs a stack of broken crates, slips through an open apartment window, and races through a cramped home full of sleeping occupants. Aelin warns one startled resident to stay down, breaks through the apartment door, throws a silver coin behind her to pay for the damage, and escapes up the communal stairs to the roof.

From the roof, Aelin spots a sewer grate and remembers Arobynn’s hint that the southeastern tunnels might lead to the person Aelin seeks. Aelin climbs down a drainpipe, opens the grate, and disappears into the sewers before the guards can spot where Aelin went.

Inside the sewers, Aelin struggles with memories of once being bound, abandoned, nearly drowned, and rescued by Sam in the same foul tunnels. Aelin forces herself onward toward the southeast, listening for signs of pursuit or Chaol, until Aelin reaches an intersection and finds one tunnel filled with unnatural, soundless darkness. When Aelin throws a stone into it, the stone makes no sound.

A hooded female guard from the Vaults appears behind Aelin and warns Aelin not to provoke whatever lies in the darkness. The woman recognizes Aelin as the king’s Champion but claims the pursuing guards do not answer to Captain Westfall. The woman leads Aelin through the sewers, while Aelin maps every turn and gauges the stranger’s skill and possible connection to Chaol.

When the woman brings Aelin to another tunnel touched by the same unnatural darkness, Aelin decides they have gone far enough. Seeing the woman expose her back, Aelin draws a knife, slips behind her, and presses the blade to the woman’s throat.