As Sera looks at Kolis, she realizes that his head was not fully removed. He vanishes. Sera is hopeful that his injury will give them time to regroup. Sera looks out and sees the people of the city, the living walking among the dead. Attes then arrives and takes Sera back to the Shadowlands.

Sera learns that Ash is still at the Pillars. Her regret and guilt return as she realizes that she sent many of the souls there tonight. As Attes urges her to return to her bedchambers to recover, Sera insists on speaking with Aios, Bele, and the others. She informs them to destroy any ships that arrive if they are not loyal to them. The war has begun, whether they wanted it or not, and she will stop at nothing to protect her people.

In her bedchambers, Attes tries to get Sera to focus on healing and recovering. She fights against her feelings of rage and regret. Nektas arrives and tries to calm her down. However, she is unable to do so, instead turning into her nota.

Sera is overwhelmed by the primal urge to flee. However, Nektas grabs her and holds her down. He instructs everyone to leave the room. He urges Sera to calm down. Eventually, she does, and Nektas sits and strokes her fur.

Dawn breaks. Nektas continues to hold Sera. She thinks of everything that happened, believing that she was equally at fault for all the death. She realizes that she has failed repeatedly to trust her instincts, instead doing what she believed she should do to be a good queen, such as trying to be different from Eythos and relying on others’ judgment.

When night falls again, Reaver and Jadis come into the room. They sit with Sera. For the first time, her mind clears, and she falls into a dreamless sleep. Hours later, she hears Ash saying her name.

Ash helps Sera bathe, then lies with her. She expresses her guilt and regret over what happened. However, Ash insists that he would have done the same thing. She argues that she is more similar to Kolis than anyone wants to admit. In response, Ash points out that she acted unintentionally and has regret—both of which are not true of Kolis. When she tells him that she should have acted as herself instead of trying to be what others believed she should, Ash assures her that that is what he has wanted for her all along.

A while later, Sera stands on the balcony, thinking about everything. She knows that she has to tell Ash everything and is prepared to do so. Ash joins her, and the two sit together.

Sera tells Ash everything that she has been through. She talks about Tavius and her training to kill Ash, including how to seduce him. She once took a sleeping draft to try to die by suicide, feeling as though she had no autonomy. Then, when Kolis captured her, he made her feel the same way. He controlled every part of her life, paraded her in front of his court, fed on her, and forced her to sleep next to him so that Rhain could be freed. She expresses her guilt over this and the fact that she even found a strange pleasure in his feeding, but Ash immediately stops her. He insists that she should not feel any shame or guilt for anything that happened, instead placing the blame squarely on Kolis. When she finishes, Sera yells and then cries as Ash holds her.

After breakfast, Ash checks Sera’s injuries. He is concerned about her bruises that still have not healed. He wants her to see Kye, the Healer, but Sera insists that she is fine and there is too much to do.

The two discuss what their next steps are. They decide to call the Primals, even Kyn and Veses, to give them a chance to align with them. They make a new plan to put Primals in place to control the courts of those who side with Kolis, killing the old Primals. They struggle to think of someone to rule Veses’s court, so Sera suggests that she could do it as she truly has no other. They ultimately decide to continue their plan of entombing Kolis, even if it means allowing the prophecy to be fulfilled if he reawakens in the future.

Sera and Ash tell their plans to the others in Ash’s court. They all readily agree. Attes assures Sera that her plan is smart and not “brutal,” as she believes. Instead of fighting a hand-to-hand war that will never end, they are making choices to hold the leaders—the Primals—accountable instead of the soldiers they force to fight.

That afternoon, Sera is sick again and wonders what could be causing it. When she lies down, she thinks of being imprisoned by Kolis and the dreams that she had. One comes into her mind of a cave cat on the shore, which she now knows is herself, standing alongside two cubs. When she thinks of the cubs, they turn into two young boys. She bolts upright, realizing that they are her children. She fights back the certainty that she is pregnant.

Ash returns to take her to meet the Primals. He can tell that she is suffering from extreme panic, but she assures him that she is alright and decides not to tell him about her possible pregnancy. Sera uses her eather to compel all the Primals to join them.

Sera addresses the Primals by telling them that she knows she is not worthy of being the Primal of Life in their eyes. She removes her crown and makes it vanish. She explains her intent to rule alongside Ash as King and Queen. There is disbelief from most of the Primals, while Veses and Kyn react with annoyance. They goad Sera, but Ash’s anger makes them fall silent.

Sera goes on to tell them about her plan to create a democracy. She assures them that they will all make mistakes, but no one will ever be punished or made to feel fear as Kolis has done to them all. She assures them that she understands why many of them have aligned with Kolis or remained hidden: out of fear.

When she finishes, Sera excuses Veses and Kyn. She tells them that they do not want their allegiance after the abhorrent acts they have committed, nor do they trust them. Phanos points out that Sera is acting like Kolis. However, Sera counters that she “will not be forgiving to the point of foolishness” (572), as Veses and Kyn have willingly committed unforgivable acts.

After Veses and Kyn leave, Sera turns to the rest of the Primals. Some seem committed to her while others are uncertain. Phanos steps forward and tells her that he cannot align himself with her, as Kolis will refuse to back down. He is also insistent that he will not side with Kolis, instead returning to his court and remaining uninvolved. Although several people express their disappointment at this, Sera allows him to leave.

Attes, Bele, Maia, and Penellaphe take turns swearing an oath to Sera and Ash. When it comes to Keella, however, she informs them that, years ago, she was forced to pledge to never move against Kolis. When she acted to protect Sotoria’s soul from him along with Eythos, the Fates insisted that she pledge to Kolis as a form of “balance.” Although she doesn’t understand it, she knows that she must obey it. She has been preparing herself to die so that Ione may take her place.

Sera leaves the group to go find Aios. She hesitates, then asks her if she can tell if Sera is pregnant. After touching her stomach, Aios informs her that she is pregnant with twins.

Sera is overwhelmed by panic at the thought of her pregnancy. Aios repeatedly reminds her that she has autonomy and that it is her choice whether to have the children. She will need to consider how it will impact her fighting in the battle and her future.

Sera goes to the Pools of Divanash to think about her options. She knows that she will have the children but is anxious about how she will be as a mother and how Ash will react. As she floats in the water, Ash joins her. She tells him about the pregnancy.

When Ash responds, Sera realizes that he is crying. He insists that he is happy about the news and overwhelmed by joy at the thought of their children. The two then have sex in the pool.

The next day, Sera and Nektas discuss her pregnancy. She tells him that she feels unworthy of having children after the death she recently brought through her vengeance. However, Nektas insists that she is worthy and that her past mistakes do not define her.

Kye, the Healer, comes to examine Sera. Because the last Primal born through pregnancy (Ash) happened a couple hundred years ago, he has little personal experience with a Primal pregnancy. However, he warns her that much of her essence will be used to protect the children, especially in the last trimester. She needs to be careful about exerting too much energy and to feed often.

After Kye is gone, Ash tells Sera that he does not want her to go with Nektas to the Thyia Plains to Ascend Iona or to the Callasta Isles to deal with Veses today, as they had planned.

Sera and Ash argue about Sera’s role in the upcoming war. He insists that she needs to sit out entirely. However, she argues that her presence—and them fighting together—is what is needed for them to truly defeat Kolis. Without it, they are endangering their children’s future. Eventually, Ash relents. They both promise each other that they will survive to raise their children together.

Sera, Ash, and Nektas go to the Thyia Plains. Keella pulls Sera aside and talks with her about Sotoria. She gives her new information about the prophecy. When Eythos tried to uncover the truth about it, he spoke with Delfai and Etris Balfour, the last Oracle. Whatever they told him made him believe that it was Sotoria who was destined to become the Primal of Blood and Bone. Eythos believed that he could prevent this from happening by placing Sotoria’s soul in Sera’s bloodline; instead of usurping Ash and Kolis, she would marry Ash. However, his plan went wrong when Sotoria was not reborn as Sera, but instead, her soul was trapped in Sera. In Keella’s eyes, this only means one thing: the Fates intervened to stop Eythos’s plan and ensure Sotoria was not reborn. This, in turn, would allow her to instead be reborn in the future when the prophecy will be fulfilled and a Primal of Blood and Bone will rise. Ultimately, Keella urges Sera to go through with her plan to free Sotoria’s soul but to be careful because the Fates may intervene.

Back with the others, Sera allows Iona to drink from her blood, Ascending her to Primal. Keella then disappears, her soul going to Arcadia, with Sera noting how “peaceful” she looks in doing so.