After returning from the Prison in the summer heat, Feyre learns that Cassian must stay in Velaris while the others go to the Hewn City. Wanting to check on Elain before they leave, Feyre attempts to practice flying to the House of Wind, crashes onto a balcony, and then goes to the library. There she finds Elain out of her room for once, watched over by Nesta. Elain speaks in unsettling fragments, saying she can hear the sea from far away, hear heartbeats, and dreams of a bird made of fire. Feyre invites Elain to work in the town house garden, but Elain’s strange answers only deepen Feyre’s fear that something is wrong.

Feyre draws Nesta aside and learns that Elain has barely eaten and has been speaking like this all day. Nesta worries Elain may have powers of her own, while Feyre suspects this could be part of Elain’s adjustment to being Fae. Their tense conversation shifts when Lucien enters the library and is startled to find Elain outside her room. Feyre secretly slips into Lucien’s mind to judge his intentions. Through him, she sees genuine concern, the violent pull of the mating bond, grief for Jesminda, and guilt over Hybern rather than any plan to harm or betray Elain.

Lucien gently tries to speak with Elain, offering tea and biscuits. Elain recognizes him from Feyre’s stories and from Hybern, accuses him of betraying them, and reminds him that she was meant to be married within days. Lucien apologizes, and Elain says she can hear his heart through the stone at night. She then reveals her deeper wound: no one ever really saw her except the man she was to marry, and now he will not. After Feyre returns to herself, Nesta orders Lucien out, but Lucien pointedly says Elain needs fresh air and a garden instead of confinement. His warning pushes Feyre to act.

Feyre immediately has Elain and Nesta moved from the House of Wind to the town house, with Lucien housed far from Elain. Azriel carries Elain down and gently offers to show her the garden; she calls him beautiful, and he blushes as he leads her outside. Rhys flies Nesta down after she complains, making her violently sick. When Nesta emerges from the bathroom, her eyes burn with a terrifying, unnatural force, and Lucien senses that her power is unlike ordinary flame. Nesta says she made the Cauldron give something back, and Feyre realizes that Nesta’s stolen power may be death itself, explaining why the Bone Carver knew of her.

As the household prepares for the Hewn City, Feyre watches Azriel and Elain in the garden and questions Rhys about mating bonds, free will, and whether Lucien is truly right for her sister. Rhys explains that mating bonds can be rejected, can be wrong, and can turn dangerous if a male refuses to accept the female’s choice, though Elain would be protected in the Night Court. Feyre then admits her guilt over entering Lucien’s mind, and Rhys tells her to learn from crossing that line and not do it again. Finally, Feyre and Rhys dress as the dark rulers of the Night Court, ready to descend into the Court of Nightmares and force Keir to give up what they need.