Aelin storms into the Assassins’ Keep with Aedion and Rowan concealed beside her, demanding answers about Arobynn’s murder. Tern, Harding, and Mullin confront her, while Lysandra, bloodied and apparently hysterical, sits with Clarisse in the sitting room. Aelin performs suspicion toward Lysandra and Clarisse to maintain appearances, then orders the assassins to show Arobynn’s room.

In Arobynn’s bedroom, Aelin finds a gruesome bloodbath: Arobynn’s throat was cut, a boot print marks the blood, and the window lock appears broken from outside. The assassins reveal they had Aelin watched the night before and believe they know she stayed home, just as Aelin had arranged. Aelin threatens their spies and continues acting outraged and uninformed.

The Master of the Bank arrives to read Arobynn’s will. Instead of leaving the fortune to Clarisse and power to Tern, the will names Celaena Sardothien as sole beneficiary of Arobynn’s wealth, properties, and holdings, with only a small sum for Clarisse. Aelin uses her new legal ownership to expel Clarisse, Lysandra, and then Tern, Harding, Mullin, and the other assassins from the house, forcing the assassins to gather money if they want to buy the Keep and Guild back from her.

Once the Keep is emptied, Aelin, Rowan, and Aedion descend to the lower levels where Arobynn’s body is kept. Rowan, unsettled by Aelin’s cold Celaena persona and by her refusal to let him close after their earlier tension, watches Aedion realize Aelin switched the will. Aelin confirms she secretly infiltrated the bank and replaced Arobynn’s documents so that his fortune would fund Terrasen’s army, revealing that the original will had left her only the Amulet of Orynth while enriching Clarisse and empowering Tern.

Aelin uncovers Arobynn’s corpse and curses him to the dark god’s realm. Taking the Sword of Orynth from Aedion, Aelin severs Arobynn’s head from his body as a final act of justice and certainty, saying only that it is “just to be sure.”