Feyre and the others return to Velaris immediately after obtaining the second half of the Book, fearing the mortal queens will soon notice it is gone. Amren takes the Book and isolates herself for two days trying to decode it, while Rhys and Mor go to the Court of Nightmares to return the Veritas and confirm Keir is preparing his forces. As everyone waits for news, Feyre realizes war is now inevitable, receives no word from her sisters or the queens, and is quietly watched over by Cassian and Azriel while Rhys remains away.

During Rhys's absence, Feyre and Rhys exchange flirtatious notes through the bond, and Cassian keeps Feyre company. After attending a symphony with Cassian, Feyre walks back across a bridge and speaks to him about Nesta, explaining that Nesta's cruelty is a shield for how deeply she feels and that she will remember Cassian's promise to defend Elain. Their conversation is interrupted when Feyre senses a wrongness in the river and the earth beneath the city, and Cassian's battle armor instantly forms as they both look toward the sea.

A black mass of winged creatures rushes in from the coast and begins attacking civilians. Cassian throws up a red shield over the city, but the invaders carry blue stone gauntlets from Hybern that break through magic, allowing them to tear holes in the barrier and drop soldiers into Velaris. One of the creatures is the Attor, and it lands after a mutilated golden-haired mortal queen has been hurled onto a lamppost, still barely alive, as a message "of the mortal queens. And Jurian." Cassian orders Feyre to run, chases the Attor, and leaves her as the queen dies and the city falls into chaos.

Feyre races toward the town house, planning to shelter people inside its wards, but she finds Hybern soldiers already swarming the streets and realizes the city's protections have somehow been breached. She sees Cassian and Azriel fighting in the sky and Amren across the river using terrible power to drop enemies from the air, yet the Rainbow remains exposed and under assault. Choosing not to hide, Feyre winnows into the artists' quarter, kills the first soldiers she meets, and sees a lone shopkeeper trying to defend her gallery while more attackers descend.

Drawing on the Sidra, Feyre unleashes her power through water, raising wolves from the river to hunt and drown Hybern's soldiers in the streets. When more enemies flee upward, she reshapes the water into hunting birds and then freezes the soaked winged soldiers with brutal, ancient cold until they shatter on the cobblestones. The Attor escapes higher into the sky, spattered with the blood of Velaris's people, and Rhys finally reaches Feyre through their bond, demanding to know where she is. Instead of retreating, Feyre gathers the invaders' poisoned ash arrows and winnows into the air after the Attor.