Chapter 21

In Kasvaihn a week later, Dianna leaves a salon after threatening the stylist, Nora, openly flashing her fangs and intimidating the room. Roccurem, wearing a mortal guise and renamed Reggie, cautions her against public displays that might expose her to the king of Rashearim. Unmoved, Dianna steps into traffic, flips a truck with her talons, and abducts its driver, Elijah.

At an abandoned factory, Dianna interrogates Elijah for Kaden’s whereabouts. Despite Reggie’s warnings about killing a mortal, Dianna beats Elijah, who taunts her and stalls, believing she won’t kill him before he talks. Frustrated by her failure to extract information and by memories of a migraine from a prior failed read, she snaps Elijah’s neck.

Reggie observes Dianna’s growing volatility and notes Samkiel’s recent return with Imogen, hinting at Dianna’s jealousy. He confirms Samkiel summoned Oblivion to save her, evoking Dianna’s painful memories of the forest and Irvikuva. When pressed about his past, Reggie describes a prophecy of rebirth involving a World Ender and a partner; the partner was destroyed, and the Moirai were slaughtered after speaking too soon, with Unir saving Reggie.

Reggie demonstrates the fates’ perspective—countless branching variables rather than control—then explains that power can even be used against a fate, leaving only one fate alive. He reframes death as impartial and inevitable, telling Dianna she prolonged Gabriella’s life but could not prevent her destined end. Reggie warns Dianna she will face a crucial choice: selflessness sets one path; vengeance brings devastation.

As Dianna contemplates Elijah’s meaningless death and Reggie’s warning, a suffocating presence fills the factory. Kaden appears, smug and uninjured, greeting Dianna and reigniting her hunt at the moment she has run out of leads.