Lidia is summoned into the shower with Pollux and, masking panic, asks what he means by saying the Asteri have “fixed the Harpy.” Pollux reveals Rigelus believes the Harpy will wake soon, needing only “one more thing,” and estimates she will be back within a day or two. While Pollux uses Lidia sexually, Lidia internally panics that the Harpy could reveal what she saw and expose who truly killed her, jeopardizing Lidia’s entire cover and plan.

In the Meat Market, the Viper Queen announces that Ithan must fight Sigrid in the pit as the price of her deal. Ithan refuses, furious at being forced to harm Sigrid, and Tharion offers to fight Holstrom instead, but the Viper Queen refuses and threatens to cancel their help and doom their wider rescue mission. Sigrid, seeing no other option, volunteers to fight, leaving Ithan devastated and Tharion wracked with guilt for the choices that led them into the Viper Queen’s control.

In the Prison in Prythian, Bryce continues listening to Silene’s recorded history and learns that Theia, while enslaved by the Daglan, studied their weapons: the Dread Trove (Mask, Harp, Crown, and Horn). The vision shows Theia stealing those artifacts and using cave-archways to move across the land, then meeting her secret lover, Fionn, on Ramiel; Azriel identifies Fionn as the first and only High King. Silene reveals the Daglan captured and corrupted the Cauldron into a tool of destruction, and Bryce watches Fionn pull the Starsword from it, linking the weapon directly to this history.

Silene’s account then exposes betrayal at the heart of that reign: Fionn is killed during a hunt in a Daglan-made bog by a pale creature while Theia and her general, Pelias, watch impassively. The Starsword and Truth-Teller are recovered, and Theia summons both blades to herself, claiming them because she helped Make them. With those blades and the full Trove, Theia crowns herself with unchecked power and rules through fear, teaching her daughters, Helena and Silene, that evil always waits beneath them while pushing them toward a legacy of conquest.

Silene explains that Theia’s ambition grows into a plan to open doors to other worlds, encouraged by Pelias, who secretly studies summoning and seeks surviving Daglan. Pelias steers Theia to open a portal to Midgard, where a seemingly friendly young Rigelus greets them; the Fae begin their exodus, and Theia hides the Horn and Harp in a pocket of nothingness only she can access. The Asteri’s trap is revealed: they lure multiple peoples to Midgard, wait to learn where Theia hid the artifacts, and prepare to reclaim Theia’s home world, while the newly arrived Fae slaughter and enslave humans city by city—leaving Bryce sickened by her lineage yet determined to keep listening for anything that can help save Midgard.