Chapter 9

Fleeing pursuers, Veya squeezes into a volcanic cavern riddled with lava pools and rune-scarred walls. Wounded by an iron bolt in her foot, she navigates collapsing paths toward an exit, realizing the chamber is a brimstone cage likely used to confine Bharon, Tyroth’s Sabersythe. Tyroth blocks the way, impales Veya with obsidian, and suppresses her attempt to strike back through Bulder.

Tyroth confiscates Veya’s bangle and cuts her hair as proof of death, hinting he knows of Kaan and Elluin. He reveals shattered containment runes around the cavern, implying Bharon’s captivity, then seizes Veya’s mind. Forcing through her defenses, Tyroth ruptures a hidden seal, unleashing memories Veya had suppressed.

Veya relives Pah’s order to poison the Neván family after Tyroth’s pairing failed, with one exception: Elluin must live. Her friend Mior, a Mindweft, compassionately strips Veya’s emotions to make her compliant. Veya infiltrates Arithia and poisons Ahdrik, Eudora, and Haedeon Neván. Overwhelmed with remorse on her return, she begs for death, is brutalized, and then further mind-wiped by Mior—only for Mior to be beheaded moments later.

Back in the cavern, the revelations destroy Veya: she realizes she orphaned Elluin and enabled Tyroth’s incursion. Tyroth commands “Feast” to Bharon and departs, expecting Veya’s death. Instead, the once-magnificent, now-ruined Sabersythe lifts Veya from the lava floor, defying the order.

With a frigid rush, Bharon carries Veya into the snowy sky and heads north, sparing her life and subverting Tyroth’s plan. Veya, devastated by truth and injury, is borne away toward the sun, her survival redefining the conflict and her guilt.