Ransom walked through Ellder’s devastated courtyard at dawn, counting rows of bodies—men, women, and children—amid blood-soaked ground and the stench of death. Fires had been extinguished and the city walls still stood, but the gates leaned precariously; King Ramsey and the surviving soldiers had already left the city while Ransom had been unconscious.

Ransom joined Cathlin at the body of his mother, recognized by her dress and boots he had gifted her. He forced down his grief, vowing to let it fuel his rage. He acknowledged that additional deaths might follow, with Halston fighting for his life after losing a leg and Zavier gravely wounded by a thrown knife.

Ransom recalled that a healer named Geezala had found Zavier and warned of likely death, but Tillia had insisted he be saved and was equally determined to keep Halston alive. Ransom carried Zavier’s circlet in his vest, deciding that if Zavier—Dray—survived, he would be freed from the role and allowed his own life.

Ransom then examined a solitary corpse at the courtyard’s center: a naked woman lying in a pool of blood. He remembered being carried skyward by the massive female crux after Odessa fled with Evie, stabbing the creature through the heart midair, and falling. He had expected to find a beast’s body with his sword in its chest, but upon waking at first light, he had instead pulled his blade from the woman’s body.

The woman had striking red, spiral curls reminiscent of Odessa’s hair. Ransom cut a lock of the hair and placed it beside Zavier’s circlet in his vest. He questioned Cathlin, who had never heard of crux reverting to human form; neither understood what it meant. Ransom ordered the soldier on guard to burn the body.

As he headed for the gates, Cathlin asked where he was going. Ransom, intent on Odessa’s safety and the mysteries now exposed, said he was going to find his wife and left the ruined city to begin the search.