Chapter 80

Raeve wakes shackled in a dark feasting cavern, facing a brutally beaten, gagged Kaan chained with rune-etched restraints. Arkyn, the Scavenger King, taunts them, his beast Cliár circling above. He brandishes a copper weald and claims he is Kaan’s brother, inflaming Kaan’s fury and Raeve’s confusion.

Arkyn exposes trophies from Kaan’s person, including Raeve’s parchment lark and severed uhloo braid. When the lark returns to his palm, Raeve realizes Arkyn is the Elding and that the cavern is The Flourish, the very refuge she’d trusted. He burns the uhloo and declares ownership over Raeve, turning the meal into deliberate psychological torture.

A guard reports on runing, and Arkyn orders Ahvi to ward the fighting pits, confirming Ahvi is being coerced. Arkyn insists the child’s death was never intended, calling prior manipulations a game to secure Raeve’s attention. He threatens Raeve with conjured flame from the weald, then withholds, instead force-feeding her to assert control.

Arkyn details how he saved Raeve after her head injury, profited from her victories, and used her to eliminate threats in The Fade. He reveals his beaded army is poised to purge Kaan’s forces as he charges on Dhomm, brandishing Rygun’s dragonscale blade and citing prophecy about burning the world before rebirth.

Finally, Arkyn presents an ancient diary bearing Kaan’s málmr design. Raeve and Kaan silently recognize it as Elluin’s diary, confronting the past Raeve does not remember and tightening Arkyn’s leverage over them both.