Feyre faints after Hybern breaks the bond’s visible mark, and when she wakes moments later, Tamlin tears off her glove and finds that the tattoo on her hand is gone. Tamlin pulls Feyre into his arms, but Feyre is repulsed by his touch and scent. Nearby, Rhysand is collapsed and desperate, crawling through Cassian and Azriel’s blood to reach them as the King of Hybern declares Rhys free to leave and notes that the poison is gone from one friend while the other’s wings are badly damaged.

Realizing the castle wards are down because of what she has done, Feyre silently begs Rhysand to take her sisters and go. Rhysand, Cassian, Azriel, and Mor understand her unspoken farewell. Mor moves first: she winnows to Lucien, Nesta, and Elain, slams Lucien aside, grabs Feyre’s sisters, and vanishes. Rhysand then lunges for Azriel and Cassian and winnows out with them without looking back, while the king erupts in fury at his guards, Jurian, and the failure of the wards.

In the aftermath, Feyre feels the absence of Rhysand as a terrible silence. Lucien, already frantic because Elain is his mate, snarls at Tamlin to get her back, but Tamlin ignores him. Feyre also ignores Lucien’s rage and thanks the king, maintaining the role she needs to play while the queens begin bickering and moving toward the Cauldron. Jurian mocks Lucien with crude threats about what Illyrians might do to Elain, and Feyre spits at his feet and curses him.

Lucien then studies Feyre closely and realizes something is wrong: Feyre is too calm about her sisters being taken. Feyre tells Tamlin to take her home, but the King of Hybern interrupts and demands the Book of Breathings. When the castle shudders, he realizes Feyre never had it on her and that she has deceived him. As Tamlin gathers power to winnow Feyre away, Feyre openly promises Hybern, Jurian, and the queens that she will light their pyres herself for what they did to her sisters. Then Tamlin takes Feyre from the castle.