Ithan and Hypaxia race through Crescent City toward the northeastern quarter after the brimstone missile strikes. They find terrified survivors stumbling through ash and dust, and then enter Asphodel Meadows to discover streets filled with bodies, melted cars, collapsed buildings, and charred remains—including children. Near the blast center, the destruction becomes total: a huge, smoldering crater where everything has been vaporized.

Shaken but focused, Ithan and Hypaxia begin helping the wounded. Hypaxia rushes to treat nearby humans with firstlight healing potion while Ithan lifts debris off an injured teenage girl whose leg is shredded to the bone. The girl asks Ithan why it happened, and he can’t answer; he notices Hypaxia’s firstlight supply is dangerously small and fears it will never be enough to undo the harm.

Elsewhere, Bryce’s group presses deeper through the Cave of Princes. Tharion senses only that the cold magic flows through the caves, while ghouls hiss from alcoves—hungry but driven back by Bryce’s starlight, which protects the group. Bryce studies the carvings: they depict brutal wars, ruined cities, and lands falling into a river of starlight, where long-ago Fae appear to have drowned the pegasuses.

Sathia confronts Bryce about her hostility toward the Fae and asks what Bryce plans to do with the Starsword, Truth-Teller, and the Horn if the Asteri are defeated. Bryce refuses any role among the Fae, condemning their cowardice and cruelty—especially how females are treated as breeding chattel—and insists she only wants the Fae to leave her alone. When Sathia argues that prophecy implies Bryce should unite the Fae peoples and become a queen who changes things, Bryce claims the prophecy is already fulfilled and rejects the idea, leaving the conversation tense and unresolved.

Back at the Avallen castle, Ruhn and Lidia eat in silence after the archives search ends. Ruhn voices fear for Bryce’s safety in the caves, and Lidia reassures him. He then presses Lidia about whether she intended to meet him in the garden the night of the ball; Lidia says the Harpy arrived before she could. Overcome by desire and longing for their lost closeness, Ruhn kisses Lidia’s throat, but Lidia abruptly pulls away, and Ruhn retreats to his room, humiliated and frustrated.