At halftime, the cheerleading squad takes the field. Tory approaches Darius with a plan to provoke his anger. She wears several large, distinctive gold rings that she stole from his hidden treasure hoard months earlier. When she touches his arm, he feels the magic in the rings and recognizes them, his expression quickly shifting from surprise to fury. As the cheerleaders begin their routine, set to Ariana Grande’s song, 7 Rings, Tory continues to taunt Darius by flaunting the jewelry. He glares at her from the sidelines, his anger palpable. Orion eventually grabs his arm and forces him toward the locker rooms. Tory is both nervous and excited by his reaction, having intentionally awakened his aggressive Dragon side.

In the final moments of the Pitball game, Darius tackles Rosalie just before she can score, securing Zodiac Academy’s victory. After celebrating with his team, Darius confronts Tory on the pitch and demands his treasure back, but she whirls away laughing before he can do more than draw a breath. 

Later, at the afterparty in The Orb, Darius finds Tory dancing on the Heirs’ couch, adorned in even more of his priceless family jewelry, including a crown and a large ruby pendant. Enraged, he lunges at her, pinning her to the couch. He pulls her into his lap and challenges her to a game: They will stay together and see who can withstand the stars’ punishment the longest. The room starts to shake as the stars react, but Tory stays in Darius’s arms and the tension builds between them until Mildred charges across the room and attacks Tory. 

In the ensuing Fae-on-Fae fight, Tory brutally beats Mildred unconscious, using Darius’s heavy rings as weapons. Afterward, Darius creates a private bubble of fire and heals Tory’s injuries. Impressed by her victory, she returns the jewelry, but he tells her to keep the ruby pendant. As she walks away, she gives him a small smile.

At the afterparty, Seth tries to flirt with Rosalie, but she seems equally interested in Caleb. The remaining partygoers, including the Heirs and the Vegas, start a game of truth or dare. When his turn comes, Seth is dared to sing the princess anthem that Geraldine composed. He performs a vulgar, rewritten version of the song, which horrifies Geraldine but makes everyone else, including the Vegas, laugh hysterically. As the party winds down, only Seth, Caleb, and Rosalie remain. She propositions both of them, but Caleb declines, stating that life is too complicated at the moment. After Rosalie leaves, Seth and Caleb share a hug. In that quiet moment of closeness, Seth has a painful realization that he has romantic feelings for his straight best friend.

Orion confronts Diego about his consistently poor academic performance. Diego confesses that he’s never been great in school, and now he can’t concentrate on his studies because he’s being pressured by his mother and uncle to spy on the Vega twins for Lionel. As proof, he shows Orion memories of his traumatic childhood. 

Sympathizing with Diego’s situation, Orion promises to protect his place at the academy and encourages him to defy his family. Later that night, Orion meets Darcy in the secret archives beneath the library, where he has set up blankets and magical flames. She gives him a powerful, custom-made sword forged with Phoenix fire. Overwhelmed by the gift, Orion kisses her and they have sex, assuming a dominant-submissive dynamic. They spend the night together in the archives.

The morning after her night with Orion, Darcy realizes her Atlas is missing. During breakfast in The Orb, agents from the Fae Investigation Bureau (FIB) arrive and publicly arrest Orion for fraternizing with a Solarian princess, revealing they have video evidence of their encounter. The school erupts in chaos; Mildred immediately deflects suspicion onto Tory, though it quickly becomes clear that Darcy is the princess in question. Horrified, Darcy tries to intervene, attacking an agent with fire and getting tasered in response. Orion is cuffed and led away. 

Gabriel arrives and stops Darcy from following, warning her it will only make things worse. Seeing Seth in the crowd, Darcy furiously accuses him of turning them in. Principal Nova summons Darcy to her office, where she questions her and warns that her position at the school is now in jeopardy. Devastated, Darcy leaves with Tory and Gabriel, her world falling apart.

Tory spends the night comforting a grief-stricken Darcy. The next morning, Darcy lashes out, accusing Tory of being too stubborn and afraid of vulnerability to pursue a real relationship with Darius. She tells Tory that unlike her and Orion, who risk everything for love, Tory actively pushes away her own happiness. Darcy kicks Tory out, telling her to go be honest with Darius. 

Reeling from the argument, Tory finds Darius on their usual running path. To avoid the stars’ interference, they talk amongst a Pegasus herd led by Sophia. Tory asks Darius why he never apologized for his past cruelty. He explains his ruthless upbringing and admits he didn’t think she would accept an apology. He confesses his love for her, and she admits she always felt their connection. They share a desperate, passionate kiss, which provokes a violent storm from the stars. A tree crashes down where they were standing, forcing them apart. Darius leaves, and Tory is left with the painful knowledge of their impossible love.

After receiving an official court summons, Darcy goes to the Elemental Combat class, determined to confront Seth. In front of the entire class, she accuses him of betraying her and Orion to the FIB. They engage in a brutal magical duel. Fueled by a desire for vengeance, Darcy unleashes the full extent of her power and soundly defeats Seth, encasing him in ice and forcing him to yield. The victory brings her no relief. She and Tory fly to the roof of King’s Hollow, the Heirs’ private treehouse. As they look up at the stars, Tory mentions briefly that she spoke to Darius and that he told her he loved her. Darcy remains consumed by her grief, knowing her own fight has just begun.

Darius recalls a cruel lesson from his father about the nature of power. He goes to the FIB headquarters with his shrewd lawyer, Mr. Kipling, and uses his influence to secure a meeting with the imprisoned Orion. Kipling outlines their legal strategy: They will argue that Orion’s relationship with Darcy was a fated romance, not predatory, in hopes of receiving a lenient sentence like house arrest instead of a term in the brutal Darkmore Penitentiary. 

As Darius flies back to Zodiac in his dragon form, he sees Caleb and Tory together by the lake. Caleb uses his fire magic to write, “Round 2?” in the air. Darius lands on the shore, and Tory strokes his dragon scales. When Darius shifts back to his human form, moving closer to Tory, the stars react violently. All three of them are confused—usually when Tory and Darius have someone else present, the stars don’t react unless they touch each other. In the sky above them, Darius, Tory, and Caleb’s constellations appear, and they realize the stars have figured out their work-around. Devastated, Tory shifts into her Phoenix form and flees. 

In the aftermath, Darius asks Caleb if he wants Tory for himself, but Caleb assures him that he was always just a placeholder for Tory—the one she really wanted was always Darius. He pushes Darius not to just accept the stars ruling, but to fight for the future he and Tory should have. Inspired by Caleb’s words and his own feelings, Darius resolves to find a way to be with Tory even if it means defying the stars themselves.

On the morning of his trial, Orion is overwhelmed with anxiety, unable to see a way out of his situation. He recalls Gabriel’s recent visit, in which Gabriel told him that if he was in the “right state of mind” he could save Darcy from the consequences of this scandal (613). He receives a visit from his ex-girlfriend, Francesca, who expresses her disappointment and urges him to save himself by claiming Darcy manipulated him. Orion angrily rejects the idea and throws her out. 

In the armored van on the way to the courthouse, his lawyer reviews their strategy one last time: They will portray the affair as a tragic, fated love story to earn the jury’s sympathy. As Kipling speaks, Orion has a destructive realization. He understands that even the best-case scenario—a few years of house arrest—will permanently tarnish Darcy’s reputation and destroy her chances of ever claiming the throne. Believing any outcome will ruin her life, he concludes that there is only one path he can take to protect her.

At the Court of Solaria, Darcy sits with Darius as Orion’s trial begins. The prosecution, led by Mrs. Whitclaw, plays excerpts from the sex tape, recorded in the library archives, using their dominant-submissive dynamic as evidence that Orion is a predator. The defense lawyer, Mr. Kipling, argues the footage shows two people in love who trust each other deeply. When Darcy takes the stand, Whitclaw questions whether Orion coerced her into sex, but Darcy passionately defends her love for Orion. 

Mrs. Whitclaw calls Kylie to the stand. She testifies that she stole Darcy’s Atlas, discovered Orion’s message, planted the camera in the archives, and submitted the video to the FIB. She claims she suspected Darcy was sleeping with Seth and uses her testimony to publicly insult Darcy’s character. Finally, Orion takes the stand. In a shocking reversal, he lies, confessing that he used Dark Coercion—a form of dark magic—to manipulate and control Darcy for his own gain. Horrified, Darcy and Darius try to object, but it’s too late. Orion changes his plea to guilty. The judge sentences him to 10 years in prison for manipulation of a Solarian princess and another 15 years for wielding dark magic, totaling 25 years in Darkmore Penitentiary. As he’s led away, Orion refuses to look at Darcy, leaving her completely shattered and betrayed.

In the weeks following Orion’s trial, Darcy is lost in grief, and Tory returns to using her shadow magic to numb her own emotional pain. Darius has become cold and distant. In class, Mildred confronts Tory, taunting her. She reveals that the fire ruby pendant Darius gave Tory—one of only seven of its age and quality in the kingdom—is worth 1.3 million auras, implying that Darius is paying Tory for sex while he waits for his wedding night with Mildred. 

Tory finds Caleb in the Fire Arena. He’s agitated, as his Vampire bloodlust is heightened by an astrological event and Seth, his usual Source for blood, is unavailable. Tory agrees to let Caleb hunt her. The hunt quickly turns aggressive, and Tory realizes Caleb is not in control. She hides on the roof of King’s Hollow, but Caleb tackles her aggressively, biting her neck hard, and they both fall toward the ground. Caleb tries to use magic to soften the ground, but fall breaks Tory’s spine, leaving her paralyzed and bleeding internally. Darius rushes out of the treehouse and heals her catastrophic injuries with help from Max and Seth’s magic. Overcome with fury and fear, he viciously attacks Caleb until Max and Seth pull him off. Darius tells Tory, “I’d take death over life without you” (653), before the stars force him away. Max steps in and carries Tory to the infirmary.