After a priestess cuts Violet’s arm and declares the match-ups, Violet learns she will face Marlis. Xaden and Dain negotiate weapons with the Unnbriel commander, agreeing to daggers and best of three. Violet warns Xaden not to watch her, then prepares to rely on speed and leverage against the larger, armored Marlis as rain begins to fall.

The three duels begin. Violet probes for openings and lands a cut on Marlis’s ribs but takes a punishing stab to her side that cracks a rib, her armor deflecting the worst. Marlis suggests removing armor, which Violet refuses, and Violet uses the slick stone and leverage to trap Marlis’s wrist and then her leg, toppling her and pinning her arms. Meanwhile, Dain is knocked unconscious by Palta, and Costa gains the advantage over Xaden, forcing a blade toward Xaden’s face.

Seeing Xaden in immediate danger, Violet chooses to help: she yanks her dagger from Marlis’s neck, throws it into Costa’s shoulder, and gives Xaden the opening to disarm and incapacitate Costa. Violet instantly replaces her knife at Marlis’s throat and demands a yield.

As Violet shouts, the charged air breaks; twin lightning strikes hit the plaza’s terraced seating, cracking and charring the stone. Startled, Marlis yields, and the commander calls the match. Guards rush in; Cat and Aaric move to Dain, who is breathing. Xaden, bloodied and bruised, thanks Violet for the throw that saved him. Andarna, visibly agitated atop the wall with Tairn and Sgaeyl, claims anger at the unfair three-match setup.

Violet realizes she pinned the Queen of Unnbriel. Marlis acknowledges the two of three victories and grants the audience, addressing Violet as Amarali. Violet states their two goals: to find the rumored seventh breed of dragon and to seek allies. Marlis denies the existence of fire-breathers on Unnbriel in recent centuries and questions Violet about the lightning damage, which Violet denies causing, noting there should be no magic on the isles.

Marlis declines to commit forces, preferring a Deverelli-style arrangement: Unnbriel will offer shelter in the jungles and hunting rights for riders and dragons, but not fight alongside them. When pressed to name a price for military aid, Marlis states the isles want dragons, implying riders would have to deliver dragons to gain her army. The scene closes with the stark reminder that dragons do not grant fealty lightly.