Hunt Athalar endures relentless torture in a dungeon, his wings already sawed off, his hunger and thirst worsening, and Rigelus’s newly inked halo weighing on him as a renewed mark of Asteri ownership. Despite the pain and filth, Hunt clings to thoughts of Bryce—his mate and wife—and vows to die before revealing where she fled, believing her escape is their only hope.

Chained beside Ruhn Danaan and Baxian, Hunt notes the Hind watching with dead eyes as Pollux methodically inflicts agony designed to keep them conscious. The three prisoners share a brief, hysterical moment of gallows humor, laughing through tears at the absurdity of their situation.

Pollux storms in to stop their noise, accompanied by the Hawk, another of Sandriel’s triarii. The Hawk taunts Ruhn with claims that Cormac begged for mercy and that both Morven and Ruhn’s father have disowned their sons; Ruhn reacts with shock and fury. Baxian and Ruhn bait the Hawk by offering their tongues, and Hunt matches their defiance as Pollux prepares a white-hot poker.

As Pollux closes in, Hunt notices something unnaturally dark moving in the shadows beyond the fire—older and deeper than any shadow Ruhn can summon while bound. The presence seems to beckon Hunt like death itself, and he wavers between craving oblivion and a lingering hope of seeing Bryce again.

In a later, near-death drift through pain and darkness, Ruhn’s consciousness is reached by Lidia’s voice. Lidia manifests in his mind-space, apologizing and asking him to understand why she has done what she has done and why she will keep doing it. Ruhn refuses her, rejects her plea, and deliberately lets himself sink back into the sea of pain rather than accept her touch or explanations.