In the present, Kazhimyr and Ravezio ride to a village on the coast. Kazhimyr spots a wanted poster for a sanguidin, or a mage who drinks blood to stay young. Kazhimyr recognizes her as Melisara, the woman who hired him to steal the Mortucrux, a vial of blood hidden by King Jeret that supposedly provides protection from plague.

They find a ship’s captain whom Kazhimyr knows, but the man refuses to bring them to the island of Calyxar. After the captain leaves, an Elvyniran invites Kazhimyr and Ravezio for a drink, claiming that he can provide transport. He asks for 1,000 liro and presents paperwork identifying him as Dravien Nokvayne and proving his residence in Calyxar. Kazhimyr notices that as Dravien tugs at his ear, some other men leave the tavern. Kazhimyr and Ravezio leave to consider his offer and discover that their horses have been killed. Back inside, they are attacked by tavern patrons. They kill their attackers with Dravien’s help and agree to his terms for transport.

In the past, the orgoth guard throws Lord Rydainn’s ashes on the floor of Zevander’s cell. The warden and General Loyce arrive. Loyce commands Zevander to kneel, but Zevander refuses and bites the orgoth’s ear. The guard forces Zevander to his knees, opens his mouth, and shoves his father’s ashes into it on Loyce’s orders. As Zevander chokes, Loyce tells the warden to send Zevander to the city of Luximos—he will be joining Loyce’s Gildona, a group of enslaved people whom Loyce keeps for her entertainment.

In the present, Maevyth finds Zevander in a trance, holding a rabbit that is still alive. The rabbit and his face are covered in blood. Maevyth wakes Zevander, and they dart inside before the infected creatures can attack. Zevander drops the rabbit, wipes the blood off his face, and attempts to seduce Maevyth. She wants to distance herself from him because Zevander must return to Aethyria if they can’t find vivicantem, but she’s eager to embrace and undress.

Aleysia suddenly awakens, screaming, and then calmly asks for some meat. Aleysia claims that Moros helped her escape the Eating Woods, took care of her until the infection began, and then went to Elowen, all of which Maevyth finds odd because she saw the wrathavor eat Moros. Aleysia says that Elowen first helped her but then trapped her in the crawlspace.

Zevander starts making rabbit stew, but Aleysia insists on eating the meat before it’s fully cooked. Maevyth worries that Aleysia hallucinated some of the events in the Eating Woods. Suddenly short of breath, Maevyth warns Zevander about the Lyverian women whom Moros turned into what he called “mermaids” with grotesque surgery. She asks him to kill them.

In the past, Zevander enters a hall filled with nude enslaved people lounging among gold decorations. Loyce and her soldiers are Zephromytes, half-mancer and half-orgoth. Zevander fights back until the soldiers secure a chain around his neck. They then drag him to a bath, take off his clothes, and force him into the water. Loyce commands two women to erotically bathe Zevander, who struggles to suppress his erection with thoughts of his father. As the women sexually assault Zevander, Loyce slices his thigh with a dagger, threatening to cut out his eyes if he doesn’t give in. Zevander would rather die, so the soldiers force his head under the water until he loses consciousness. A voice guides Zevander to Caligorya again.

In Caligorya, out of total darkness, the old man Zevander met before appears. The man calls himself Alastor and explains that he invited Zevander to Caligorya. While Zevander’s body endures Loyce’s torture, Alastor can protect Zevander’s mind in Caligorya. Alastor claims that Zevander has great power and promises to teach him to use it.

They appear in a town, where a young girl with dark hair (clearly Maevyth) is being tormented by a group of children calling her the lorn, or a cursed child. The dark-haired girl struggles to breathe until a blonde girl chases the others away and grips her neck, helping her breathe. Alastor asks Zevander to imagine that he cares about the girl, but when Zevander insists that he doesn’t, Alastor shows Zevander what Loyce is doing to his body until Zevander cries out in pain. Alastor brings him to a chapel to Caedes, the Red God, in which the dark-haired girl is praying. When Zevander accidentally knocks over a bowl, the girl reacts, making Zevander wonder if Caligorya is a dream or reality. A man in red interrupts and chastises the girl. After she leaves, Zevander knocks over another bowl, scaring the man. Alastor offers to teach Zevander magic, bringing him to a field of roses that represent Zevander’s enemies. Alastor shows Zevander the glyph Exitiusz, which Zevander uses to kill the roses.

Zevander wakes up in a bed of silk sheets, with soreness in his groin and bandages on his legs. He tries to convince himself that he should have enjoyed the sexual assault but knows that he did not consent and then decides that he deserves to be hurt. There is a scar on his hand in the shape of Exitiusz.

In the present, haunted by memories of Loyce, Zevander gets up and looks at Maevyth sleeping, but he hallucinates that Loyce there instead. When Loyce claims that she sent Maevyth back to Aethyria to be her prisoner, Zevander repeatedly stabs Loyce. Suddenly, the hallucination ends, and Zevander sees Maevyth sleeping. He has been stabbing the floor, making marks like those under Aleysia’s bed. Holding the scorpion pendant for comfort, Zevander finds Aleysia hunched in her room, staring at a human face on the underside of an infected creature at her window. He covers the window, leaves the room, and resolves to go to Moros’s house alone.

Zevander insists that Maevyth watch Aleysia instead of coming with him. Maevyth finds the scorpion pendant in Zevander’s pocket and tells him to keep it. After Zevander leaves, Maevyth tells Aleysia what happened after they separated, including how Zevander captured her, Dolion uncovered her Corvikae lineage, and she trained with magic. Aleysia doesn’t believe anything Maevyth is saying, insisting that Maevyth abandoned her and simply fell for Zevander’s tricks. Maevyth refuses to defend herself. Suddenly, two large spiders appear on the wall, and a third crawls out of the bag containing the dead rabbit.

In the past, Zevander attends a feast with the other enslaved members of the Gildona. A young man covered in scars approaches Zevander with a plate of food and introduces himself as Theron. Theron recommends that Zevander give in to Loyce’s demands since Zevander’s defiance is only a game for her. Zevander refuses and criticizes Theron for trying to become Loyce’s favorite. Theron is a healer and treats the wounds of enslaved people after Loyce injures them. Theron gives Zevander an elixir that will heal his injuries and remove pain. The potion also prevents erections, which will embarrass Loyce. Theron promises that Loyce will eventually lose interest in Zevander, as she did with him. Most prisoners die from either suicide or torture, but Theron hopes Zevander survives.

In the present, Zevander walks through the village of Foxglove, regretting leaving Maevyth. He hears Theron’s voice whispering in Solassion, and a masked figure attacks him. Zevander fights the figure, gets the advantage, and takes off the figure’s mask, revealing Theron (actually a hallucination). Theron claims that Loyce sent him to Mortasia to retrieve Zevander and then disappears. Zevander feels a hand at his neck and spins to attack, but he finds no one.

In Caligorya, Alastor brings Zevander to a small home, where the dark-haired girl, now 16, struggles to light a fire. Alastor stops Zevander from touching her because touching unborn people invites the gods to meddle. Alastor has taught Zevander a complex symbol, but Zevander can’t remember all of its details. When the girl’s hands remind Zevander of Loyce’s hands, he’s embarrassed. Alastor transports them to Castle Eidolon, where Zevander’s sister, Rykaia, sleeps next to their mother, Lady Rydainn. They are cold, so Alastor encourages Zevander to make a fire with the new glyph. When Zevander struggles, Alastor reveals that the scar on Zevander’s chest is in the shape of the glyph. Zevander pictures the glyph and produces sablefyre. Alastor and Zevander are delighted. Alastor can manipulate sablefyre, but only Zevander can create it. Alastor plans to teach Zevander to merge the sablefyre with his prodozja, or protective magical scorpion.

Maevyth and Aleysia are forced to run after more spiders appear. As the spiders chase them, Maevyth uses Aeryz, a glyph that summons a powerful wind, to push the spiders away. Maevyth tries to use her bone whip, but she’s not quick enough. Remembering the glyph formed by the whistle, Maevyth calls Raivox, who appears. Raivox protects her and Aleysia in its wings and breathes silver flames that coat the spiders, killing them. When a wraith appears from one spider’s corpse, Raivox eats it. Aleysia panics at the sight of Raivox, but Maevyth calms her, reminding her of the egg she once brought home and explaining that Raivox hatched from it. Touching Raivox’s scales, Maevyth cuts her finger, and a black glove-like mass forms on her hand. Zevander arrives.

In the past, Theron bandages Zevander’s wounds and asks why he hasn’t used the elixir. Zevander asks why Theron is so insistent on helping him. Theron once tried to resist Loyce too; he shows Zevander the scars he has from fighting. Zevander would rather suffer than submit to Loyce. Theron suggests taking the elixir when Loyce is away.

At night, Zevander reminds himself that retreating to Caligorya doesn’t protect his body, so he pours some of the elixir into his wounds. The liquid spreads a pleasant, dull feeling through his body.

Zevander appears in the Caligorya woods alone, behind the dark-haired girl, who is carrying a basket of fruit and singing. Zevander suppresses the urge to touch her. The girl trips and drops the fruit. Zevander moves closer and tells her that he’s an angel. She tells him that she’s the lorn, shunned by everyone. Zevander says that she’s perfect. After a soldier whips her for speaking, Zevander grabs the soldier’s whip and lights the man on fire. The girl tries to help the soldier, but the man threatens to report her, so Zevander commands him to forget everything that happened. When Zevander returns, the girl promises to keep their meeting a secret but adds that they cannot speak again. Zevander reaches to touch her, but Alastor appears and stops him. Alastor is confused that Zevander was able to enter Caligorya by himself. He promises that the gods will set Zevander free.

In the present, Kazhimyr, Ravezio, and Dravien take four days to reach the city of Wyntertide, from which they will go to Calyxar. Kazhimyr is suspicious of Dravien. Kazhimyr asks where they should stay, so Dravien suggests a hostelrie. However, Kazhimyr and Ravezio secretly plan to spend the night at Wintergrave, a castle owned by Zevander’s aunt Morwenna.

Kazhimyr and Ravezio run into Torryn, another Letalisz assassin, pursued by men in cloaks. Kazhimyr dispatches the assailants. Torryn, Dolion, Rykaia, and Allura are also staying with Morwenna. Dolion is becoming unstable, so Torryn stole a book of bloodlines for him—that’s why he was being chased.

Dolion has a massive glyph on his wall, combining the weaknesses of every bloodline, including sablefyre. The glyph is powerful enough to destroy the Umbravale barrier separating Aethyria from Mortasia. Dolion discovered that Cadavros was born a non-magical spindling named Alastor Calzareth and that Cadavros has a sister named Melisara. Dolion doesn’t know how Cadavros gained magical powers but suspects that Pestilios, the god of pestilence, is using Cadavros as a vessel to raise an army of infected. Dolion wants to find Zevander, who is the only person capable of casting the eldritch glyph he has created. He adds that Maevyth is the key to keeping Zevander stable.

Zevander, Maevyth, and Aleysia decide to go to Moros’s together. Zevander tells Maevyth that he saw Theron and thinks Loyce is after Maevyth. As Aleysia plays in the snow, Maevyth worries that Aleysia is in denial. Zevander flirts with Maevyth and carries her, noting that her magic has left her exhausted. They pass through the destroyed village of Foxglove.

Moros’s home is empty, but Maevyth wants to put the mutilated Lyverian women out of their misery. She grabs two knives, gives one to Aleysia, and heads into the basement. Maevyth breaks the “mermaid” tanks. One woman is already dead. Another woman wakes and thrashes for breath, so Aleysia slits her throat. Maevyth is upset, but Aleysia claims to be acting out of mercy. Two small spiders approach, and Aleysia quickly kills them, furthering Maevyth’s suspicions. Zevander turns the two dead Lyverian women into bloodstones. Their bloodstones contain silver, which indicates their connection to the Corvikae, the lost people of whom Maevyth is the last descendant. Maevyth sees a vision of Moros in the corner of the room.

In the past, women paint Zevander with gold clay for the Golden Bacchanal, an event held by General Loyce for Solassion elites. Zevander is uncomfortable with the women’s caresses, which remind him of Loyce’s abuse. As Theron watches from afar, one of the women introduces herself as Vaelora, Kael Vexmoor’s sister. She wants Zevander to tell the Bellatryx Aradia that Vaelora is in captivity. Aradia has a bond with Kael, who will rescue Vaelora and kill Loyce. Vaelora warns Zevander that the food at the Bacchanal is drugged and that Loyce intends to feed injured enslaved people to her pet charnelyths, or dragons.

At the Bacchanal, Zevander meets Aradia’s prisoner Dravien Nockvayne, who warns Zevander that Theron cannot be trusted. Zevander sees Theron talking to Aradia, who then approaches Zevander. Zevander tells her about Vaelora. Servants pass out food and drink, but Zevander abstains. A servant blows smoke in Zevander’s face, but Theron rubs herbs on him that make him alert. Loyce then orders Zevander to sexually assault Vaelora. When Zevander refuses, Loyce summons Aradia, exposes the plot to save Vaelora, kills Aradia, and shoves Vaelora into the charnelyth pit. Zevander jumps in after her. A charnelyth attacks them, and Zevander kills it, but another charnelyth drags Vaelora away. A rope wraps around Zevander’s neck and pulls him out, knocking him unconscious.