Yrene and Chaol descend through the Torre library, counting steps and searching every aisle, alcove, and reading room for any sign of Hafiza. The lower levels grow colder and darker as books give way to scrolls, tablets, stone alcoves, and rough-hewn walls, but they find only acolytes preparing to leave and no Baast Cats.

Following Nousha’s directions, Chaol and Yrene reach a dim passage with four doors. Three are sealed with heavy stone, while the fourth stands open beside a lone candle. Chaol notices two sets of tracks leading into the tunnel and initially tries to make Yrene stay behind, but Yrene insists they continue together.

Yrene and Chaol enter the tunnel hand in hand, moving carefully through the darkness. A second light appears ahead, seeming to lure them onward. Chaol realizes the situation is almost certainly a trap and understands that Hafiza may have been taken as bait, but Chaol keeps going because arriving too late is not an option.

At the end of the passage, Chaol and Yrene discover a vast underground chamber filled with ancient gold, weapons, statues, chests, and stone sarcophagi. At the back, Hafiza sits gagged and bound on a golden throne. Beside Hafiza stands Duva, the khagan’s pregnant daughter, holding a knife to her own belly and smiling with an inhuman expression that reveals Valg possession.