Ithan spends two nonstop days helping the devastated Meadows, digging through rubble, carrying the dead and dying, and assisting medwitches like Hypaxia as they try to save the wounded. The sheer number of human casualties, and the lack of any traditional honors for their dead, hardens Ithan’s resolve as bodies are laid in rows inside an intact office building.

The 33rd and the Aux arrive to help, but only a small number of wolves show up, which Ithan views as disgraceful. With the Governor absent and the human suffering overwhelming, Ithan decides real change must begin with him. He commits to going to Avallen to find Sofie’s body and to bring Sigrid back, believing that only an alternate Fendyr heir can legitimately lead the wolves into a new future.

In Helena’s black-salt chamber beneath Avallen, Bryce and Hunt abruptly collapse unconscious after drinking the salt-laced water. Tharion and Baxian catch them and lay them carefully on the ground while Sathia watches, anxious. They debate how long to wait before trying to wake Bryce and Hunt, agreeing to monitor their breathing.

As they wait, Tharion and Sathia trade guarded questions that turn personal. Tharion reveals the River Queen’s bounty stems from him trying to end a decade-long engagement to her daughter, and that the River Queen would have confined him by stripping him of his fins. Tharion admits he married Sathia because it felt like the safer option, and he confides that his sister, Lesia, was murdered—an experience that motivated him to help Sathia when she was in trouble.

Baxian notices a new sign: Bryce and Hunt’s entwined bodies are coated in a thin layer of frost, convincing him they truly are in Hel. In that dreamlike realm, Aidas ferries Bryce and Hunt by black boat through an ancient, empty city where Hel’s dead rest. Hunt presses Aidas about withholding the truth, but before it can be resolved, they arrive at a temple and meet Apollion, the Prince of the Pit, whose lightning answers Hunt’s as he greets Hunt as his “son.”