In Avallen’s archives, Ruhn, Flynn, Declan, and Lidia spend hours searching the catalogs for anything about the vanished islands, the Starsword, the dagger, or the mists, but find nothing. Lidia pointedly keeps her distance, and Flynn and Declan needle Ruhn about brooding while Declan worries about being unable to contact his family.

Deep in the Cave of Princes, Bryce leads Hunt, Baxian, Tharion, and Sathia through dense, rancid mists. Bryce reveals a terrifying power from another world: a tool called the Mask that can raise long-dead skeletons without necromancers, underscoring how dangerous that magic is and why the Asteri fear it.

The group reaches the first carvings: an eight-pointed star and a procession of Fae hunting and drowning pegasuses, confirming that early Fae slaughtered Theia’s flying horses. Ghouls begin to writhe in alcoves, but Bryce’s starlight forces them to keep their distance; even when one reaches out, her light drives it back. Bryce and Sathia sense something unnaturally dead and festering in the cave, and Baxian hears a large river ahead as Bryce presses them onward, wary of what comes next.

Back in the archives, Ruhn is confronted mentally by his cousins, Seamus and Duncan, sent by their uncle to ensure Lidia “behaves.” They taunt Ruhn about Lidia and threaten her, but Ruhn discovers Lidia’s mind is protected by a raging wall of fire. Lidia coolly warns the twins away, and Ruhn adopts a colder, more princely composure to dismiss them until they leave, vowing menace on their way out.

Afterward, Ruhn and Lidia’s guarded silence shifts into a more personal exchange: Lidia jokes that she chose fire because “stars and night were already taken,” and Ruhn admits Flynn and Declan kept him sane despite his father. Lidia briefly opens up about a painful farewell with her sons—Brann might accept her, but Actaeon loathes her—before they return to worrying about whether Bryce will find something to use against the Asteri.

In the House of Flame and Shadow, Ithan and Hypaxia walk the halls after breakfast, preparing to leave for Avallen soon to find Sofie’s body and lightning as a possible cure. Explosions shake the building, and they rush to Jesiba’s office, where a live feed shows devastation: omega-boats have entered the Istros and launched brimstone missiles into Asphodel Meadows.