Mische dreams of traveling with her sister Saescha toward the Citadel of the Destined Dawn. Saescha comforts Mische with a sunrise and the promise that dawn will always come, but the dream curdles into horror: Mische burns, Saescha appears dead with her throat torn open, and Mische calls on Atroxus too late.

Mische wakes in Morthryn with Saescha’s name on her lips and her sun-magic burns scratched open. The nightmare reminds Mische that the dreams worsened after Atroxus withdrew his magic during the attack on the Moon Palace. Mische finds herself in an empty, horizonless void and senses that Morthryn is more than an ordinary prison; it is a god-touched place bound to myth and divine power.

A strange skull-faced wolf appears and telepathically orders Mische to follow. Darkness coils around Mische’s wrists, a golden doorway marked with Alarus’s eye appears, and the wolf pushes Mische through into Morthryn’s halls. Mische is awed by the prison’s impossible beauty: mirrored floors, mist, rib-like golden columns, blood-tipped vines, and sealed arches that seem alive.

The wolf leads Mische to a study filled with books, relics, bones, blood samples, and weapons. Mische’s curiosity almost draws Mische toward a suspiciously familiar black rapier, but the wolf warns Mische away. A red-lit side door opens, and Asar appears half-dressed and covered in human blood, irritated that the wolf, whom Asar calls Luce, brought Mische early.

Asar questions Mische from behind his desk, noticing Mische’s hunger and dismissing Mische’s attempts to deflect. Asar reveals that he knows Mische’s surname, origin, religious history, Turning by Malach, friendship with Raihn, role in the Kejari, and murder of Malach. Asar challenges Mische’s claim to be a priestess rather than a crusader and focuses on the anomaly of Mische still possessing Atroxus’s fire after becoming a vampire.

Asar places a shadow spell over Mische’s heart, creating an anchor so Mische will not get lost on their journey. The contact makes Mische realize Asar was the one who secretly helped heal Mische before Raoul’s party, and Asar explains that Shadowborn magic can create as well as destroy. Asar then brings Mische into a spell-covered circular room where a silk-wrapped woman’s corpse lies at the center, prompting Mische to realize that Asar is a necromancer.