On the execution platform, Rune Winters and Seraphine stand chained together as a crank tightens their restraints, preparing to lift them for the purging knife. Seraphine demands to know why Rune informed on Kestrel, and Rune tearfully explains that someone betrayed them and the Blood Guard would have killed both Rune and Kestrel; Kestrel insisted Rune betray her so Rune would live.

Rune reveals she came to Seraphine’s house the night Seraphine was arrested and then spent two years tracking Seraphine down, arriving too late to save her. Seraphine, noticing something beyond the platform, insists Rune has not failed yet.

Four black, fiery comets slam into the platform, killing guards and igniting the wood despite the rain. As more fireballs strike, the beam overhead cracks and drops; Seraphine dives into Rune, knocking Rune aside just before the timber crashes through the spot where they stood.

In the chaos, Rune recognizes the scent of magic—blood and roses—and then feels her menstrual blood begin, briefly realizing she has fresh blood to cast with, though her iron restraints prevent it. Looking out, Rune and Seraphine see dozens of gray-cloaked witches flooding the square as gunfire and panic erupt among the crowd and Blood Guard.

Rune spots their leader: “Verity de Wilde,” holding a crescent-shaped knife. Seraphine identifies the leader as Cressida Roseblood disguised by illusion, forcing Rune to reckon with the possibility that Verity was murdered and her identity stolen. Desperate for freedom, Rune calls to the witch queen for help, and the leader smudges bloody spellmarks to drop the illusion, revealing Cressida.

Cressida seizes a young woman from the crowd, slits her throat, and uses the fresh blood to draw a new symbol. The spell flares, and the locks on Rune and Seraphine’s manacles and ankle chains click open; the iron falls away, leaving Rune and Seraphine free on the burning platform.