Feyre and Mor continue fighting through Tarquin’s palace, starting with a group of Hybern soldiers trying to break into a room full of terrified servants. Feyre uses fire and water to kill with ruthless efficiency, while Mor beheads the others. In another room they find Hybern soldiers abusing captives, kill the worst offenders more slowly, and leave two wounded men alive so the surviving faeries can take vengeance themselves.

They move to the floor below, where Summer Court soldiers are being overwhelmed in a blood-soaked corridor. Feyre drops the hallway into magical darkness, gives herself night vision, and winnows with Mor through the blackness, decapitating Hybern soldiers before the enemy can react. In less than a minute they wipe out the force and, when the darkness lifts, the stunned Summer Court soldiers are left with a cleared corridor.

After securing the palace’s lower levels, Feyre and Mor push into Adriata’s streets. Under the rising sun they spend hours killing Hybern troops, sometimes with blades and sometimes with magic, while the larger battle continues in the bay between the Illyrians, Tarquin’s fleet, and Hybern’s ships. Feyre grows numb from blood, heat, and exhaustion, but she keeps going, relieved only that she does not see Alis or her family among the dead.

When Feyre finally reaches for Rhys through the bond, she finds his mind locked behind unusually hard shields. A brief opening lets Feyre slip inside, and she sees the battle through Rhysand’s eyes aboard a Hybern warship. Rhys is exhausted and his immense power has been mysteriously dampened, which has prevented him from ending the fight quickly. He has tracked the source of that suppression to this ship, and as soldiers part before him, the King of Hybern emerges to face him.