Aedion watches Aelin prepare to strike the occupied temple in Ilium. Earlier that day, Aelin and Aedion secured false passage north while secretly arranging to sail south at dawn, and they sent letters to Wendlyn asking the Ashryvers for aid. The ship captain also warned them that fifty Fae warships and an army had gathered on the western coast of Maeve’s territory, leaving Aelin shaken by the possibility that Maeve may move against Terrasen or join Morath.

While Aelin waits on the roof, Aedion and Lysandra discuss Aelin’s unsettling calm since Rowan’s departure and Rifthold’s fall. Lysandra fears Aelin is the center of a storm shaped by gods and war: Erawan’s darkness, Maeve’s mobilization, and Aelin’s still-unrevealed fire. Aedion rejects the idea of Aelin as a pawn, but Lysandra’s warning leaves him uneasy.

Aelin signals with blue flame, and Lysandra shifts into a ghost leopard to draw the Adarlanian soldiers out. Aelin, Aedion, and Lysandra reveal themselves before soldiers and townspeople, with Aelin crowned in fire and bearing Goldryn. Aelin orders the soldiers to leave her temple; some flee, but the commander mocks her and refuses to retreat.

When the commander taunts Aelin and mentions harming a farmer’s daughter, Aelin burns him from the inside out, reducing him to ash. The remaining soldiers either run, surrender, or fight. Aedion attacks with the Sword of Orynth, Lysandra tears into the soldiers in leopard form, and Aelin unleashes her flames.

Within twenty minutes, Aelin’s group retakes the temple. Surrendered soldiers are handed over to the townspeople, and Aelin uses cleansing fire to remove the Adarlanian filth from the sacred complex, revealing ancient carvings throughout the site. Leaving Aedion and Lysandra in the archives, Aelin goes alone to the innermost sanctuary, dims the sacred flames, finds no hidden Wyrdmarks, and steps onto the holy black Rock to proceed by older means.