Dior wakes after sunset in her cell, bruised, chained, hungry, and terrified after her failed escape. Celene’s moth-fragment remains with Dior but is still too burned to rescue her, and Dior tries to steady herself by practicing the sword-forms Gabriel taught her. Kiara arrives with Worm, orders Dior dressed in finery, and leads Dior from the dungeon toward Nikita and Lilidh’s court.

On the way, Dior sees the bodies of the elderly and frail from Newtunn being taken to the kitchens, and realizes the Dyvok have been feeding human flesh to their people. Dior challenges Kiara over the cruelty of the Untamed, but Kiara answers that mortals hunted vampires for centuries and that Nikita made Kiara his beloved, not merely his victim. The exchange hardens Dior’s horror and rage, but Kiara keeps Dior chained and moving.

In the Hall of Plenty, the Dyvok court gathers beneath hanging victims. Dior is knelt beside Aaron de Coste, who has been fed by Nikita and now looks at Nikita with the adoration he feared would consume him. Nikita addresses the court, celebrates Kiara’s vengeance for Tolyev, boasts that the Dyvok have conquered Ossway, and argues that all Elidaen can be seized if the kith remain united.

Nikita then formally claims Aaron as his bloodsworn. Isla brings a heated brand, Aaron declares that he serves and loves Nikita, and Nikita brands Aaron’s hand before removing his collar. Dior is devastated to see the former capitaine transformed into a loyal servant of the monsters he once fought.

Before the ceremony can fully conclude, Soraya enters with news that Alba and Aléne Voss, the Terrors and daughters of Fabién, have come under Courtesy to speak for the Ironhearts. Nikita allows them in despite Lilidh’s contempt. The twins demand Dior as Fabién’s property and offer two thousand mortal cattle in exchange, pointedly revealing that the Dyvok lands are near famine after Nikita’s conquest.

Celene pauses her account to explain the ancient hatred between Voss and Dyvok and why the offer matters: Nikita’s new kingdom is starving, and summer’s thaw will end easy expansion. Nikita appears to accept, but only if the Terrors humiliate themselves before him. Instead, the twins reveal a foulblood child being used as a puppet, and the child speaks with Fabién’s will, prompting Nikita to recognize the Forever King’s presence.