Fall of Ruin and Wrath

Lis immediately rejects Thorne’s request, while Claude approves it. Lis protests that she is not an “object” and that she should be asked how she feels. However, Thorne insists that no one says no to him. She tries to argue further, but Claude dismisses her. Thorne thanks him and then leaves, telling Lis that she has an hour to come to his chambers.

Once Thorne is gone, Claude admits to Lis that he knows why she stays in Archwood: because she has a home and protection. Lis is shocked, not having realized that Claude understood that about her. Claude goes on to apologize for taking advantage of her gift. He tells her that he wishes he could do more for her and observes that being with Thorne will protect her in the upcoming war. Lis tries to object, saying that the Iron Knights may not attack. However, Claude reveals that he knows their commander, Beylen, and that Beylen will do anything that he feels he needs to. Claude then explains that he is distantly related to Beylen, leading Lis to guess that Beylen is a caelestia. She is shocked by the irony that the leader of the lowborn rebellion isn’t even a true lowborn.

Claude asks Lis if she would have gone to Thorne if she had been given a choice. She hesitates, giving Claude confirmation that she would have. He tells her that most Hyhborn wouldn’t have even asked his permission; they would have simply used their power to compel Lis to go with them. The thought comforts Lis somewhat, and she realizes that she is intrigued by the idea of staying with Thorne. Claude ends the conversation by telling Lis that Thorne “will be able to provide [her] with what [he] cannot” (262). When she asks what he means, he responds, “Everything,” and then leaves before she can ask for further clarification.

A while later, Bastian comes to retrieve Lis from her bedchambers. She tells him that she is feeling ill and will not go to Thorne’s chambers. Bastian laughs in response but offers Lis his help if she needs anything. She thanks and then dismisses him.

With Bastian gone, Lis hopes that she can stay alone for another night. However, within a few minutes, she feels the air change. She then hears the lock on her door clicking and turns to find Thorne standing in her doorway.

When Lis refuses to go with Thorne, he picks her up and puts her over his shoulder. She struggles as he carries her back to his chambers. Finally putting Lis down in his room, Thorne asks why she so resists being with him. She insists that she only wanted to be asked. Thorne explains that he assumed that she wanted to be with him, based on how pleasurable she found their previous meetings. She realizes that, as a Hyhborn, he relies heavily on logic and fails to understand human emotion—just as he tried to explain when they discussed compassion.

When Lis tells Thorne that she fears he is like other Hyhborn, he asks her to clarify. She admits that she knows few of them but uses the Feasts as an example, pointing out that the Hyhborn ignore the starving and dying lowborn citizens throughout the entire year. Thorne questions her experience with “starving,” and she admits that she used to struggle to survive each day. However, she stops before telling him about the orphanage.

Thorne acknowledges that Lis is right. He points out that the situation with the Iron Knights could have been prevented if the rulers had cared more about their subjects. He mentions the Royal Court, implying that there is infighting going on by saying that “there is nothing but ruin and wrath on the inside” (281). He explains that King Euros would have preferred to simply destroy Archwood and build new ports.

Shocked by Thorne’s revelation, Lis asks why the king would want to destroy Archwood. Thorne explains that it would save Hyhborn lives if they did not have to defend the city. When Lis points out how selfish that is, Thorne agrees with her. He acknowledges that it has happened many times in the past and that he has killed many people in the name of preserving the kingdom. Lis realizes that he is a “cog” who follows the king’s orders. Liz asks why Thorne chose to save Archwood but not other cities. He tells her that she convinced him, as her bravery in rescuing him reminded him that mortals are worth saving.

Thorne goes on to explain that the Hyhborn strive to prevent another Great War. Lis knows little about this, other than that it was a war centuries ago that destroyed the world. He explains that the Deminyen existed before mortals. No one knows their origins, though many believe them to be connected to the gods, as angels or devils. When mortals were born, Deminyens coexisted with them for a long time. However, it became clear that their lives were too different. Deminyens chose to go into the ground and rest, hoping to reawaken at a time when mortals had become more like Deminyens themselves. Mortals subsequently built up their world, creating large buildings, metal that moved and flew, and new technologies far beyond what Caelum has. In doing so, however, they also pushed the world to the brink of collapse, waking up the Deminyens.

When the Deminyens saw what was happening, they were split on how to handle it. Many felt that humans should be left alone, while others wanted to destroy them completely. King Euros was somewhere in the middle, as were many who survived the ensuing war, wanting to curb humanity’s destruction while allowing them to survive. Ultimately, the “Great War” among the Hyhborn destroyed the advancements of the mortals and killed many of them.

When Thorne finishes his story, he tells Lis that sharing that information with her was forbidden. He acknowledges that he is unsure why he did it, other than wanting Lis to have the information to decide for herself whether he is a “monster.” He then gives her the choice to leave. Lis goes to the door, opens it, and hesitates. She considers Thorne’s willingness to let her go. Although she is physically attracted to him, she also realizes that he gives her comfort and trust that she has been unable to find anywhere else. She closes the door and returns to Thorne.

As Lis goes back into the room, she feels as though her decision to stay is “the start of everything changing” with Thorne (291). He takes her to his bed and starts asking questions about her childhood. She explains that she does not know what happened to her parents, as she was in an orphanage her entire childhood. She was close with Grady from the beginning, which made life easier but also more difficult, as she had to protect someone else.

Lis asks about Thorne’s birth. As a Deminyen, he was created in the ground beneath the Wychwoods. He became conscious, and then his body was fully formed over many years. Some creatures, like the nix, are awakened early from this process intentionally, leaving them monstrous. They then discuss children. Lis admits that she cannot imagine bringing a child into their world. Thorne can have children with another Deminyen or a mortal, but they both have to choose to do so.

As they talk, they slowly undress each other. Lis explores Thorne’s body with her hands, delighting in the ability to touch someone without her intuition affecting her. Thorne allows her to do so for several minutes. Then, Lis pleasures him with her mouth. He asks her to touch herself while she does so, causing them to orgasm together.

After, Lis expects to go back to her bed chambers. However, Thorne lies down beside her, insisting that he wants her to sleep beside him. Just before they fall asleep, Lis asks him if his heart once beat as a mortal’s does. He admits that it did until he lost the ny’chora. She asks him what that is, but he simply responds that it is “everything.” The two then fall asleep.

When Lis wakes up, Thorne is gone. She remembers him leaving at dawn, promising to return. She takes a cloak that he left for her and leaves her chambers. Outside, she runs into Grady, who was trying to pick the lock.

As they walk, Lis tells Grady about the things she learned. She explains that King Euros wanted to destroy Archwood and that Beylen is a caelestia. To her surprise, Grady does not care that Beylen is a caelestia, insisting that they are treated no better than the lowborn. Grady has also begun to believe that the princess of Visalia must be better than most other Hyhborn. When Lis questions him about this, he points out that she believes the same about Thorne.

Lis brings up another thing that is bothering her. When Claude spoke of Beylen, he referred to him as “starborn,” which sounded familiar even if she couldn’t figure out why. To her surprise, Grady reminds her that the prioress at the Priory of Mercy, where Lis lived before the orphanage, used to tell Lis that she was “born of the stars” (310). She assumes that it is just a coincidence. Nevertheless, Lis wants answers about the starborn and decides to speak with Maven, who is the only other caelestia she knows. There are rumors that Maven is Claude’s grandmother, but she rarely speaks to anyone.

Lis enters Maven’s chambers, pretending to return a headdress. She then asks Maven about her relationship with Claude. Maven initially doesn’t answer, pointing out that Lis never asked about her life before. Lis threatens to use her intuition to learn the truth, though the thought of going against Maven’s will makes her uneasy. However, Maven laughs in response and explains that she is Claude’s grandmother. When she was young, she was impoverished, so she became a paramour of Remus Huntington, Claude’s grandfather. She gave him two children, Renald—Claude’s father—and a girl named Eloise. Although Remus claimed the children were his wife’s, Maven helped to raise them.

Maven and the other caelestias call themselves “old blood,” which means that their ancestry traces back to the Great War, or even earlier. Maven then explains that the old blood “[a]llows the stars to fall” (315), which is why some Hyhborn are unwilling to create new caelestia: A star that falls makes a mortal “divine.” It gives them powers beyond what mortals have, like Lis’s intuition and her ability to read minds. She tells Lis that she is divine and has a connection to old blood. Lis is confused by the entire conversation, not fully understanding what Maven is saying. However, Maven refuses to expand. Instead, she tells Lis that a prince has come to Archwood for what belongs to him.

As Lis contemplates what Maven said, Hymel bursts into the room, demanding to know why Lis is talking to Maven. Lis insists that she was simply returning a headpiece and then helped Maven when she didn’t feel well. Instead of contradicting Lis’s story, Maven drinks from her cup. Lis then leaves, with Hymel following her and angrily reminding her that she isn’t “needed” in Archwood.

Later that evening, Lis walks through the garden. She wonders if she could possibly be caelestia and then realizes that she knows nothing of her parentage. She considers whether Claude knows and if he would hide the truth to keep her in Archwood. She decides that he would never do that to her. She then remembers Maven’s words, “[H]e came for what is his,” (319), and is overwhelmed by a strange sense of “Rightness. Acceptance.” 

Thorne suddenly joins her in the garden. Lis is uncomfortable, unsure of what he knows and how she feels about him. He tells her that he met with the people of Archwood today to see who would fight in the battle. To his surprise, Claude came and observed. She assures him that he is not as bad as he seems.

Lis tries to get answers from Thorne by asking questions about him. She learns that he has something similar to siblings, as Deminyen often come out of the ground together. He has one brother and lost a sister. He reads when he is alone, typically books from before the Great War. Lis also asks Thorne if Hyhborn can sense caelestia, and he tells her that they can. She decides that she must not be caelestia, as he has repeatedly called her “mortal.” She then asks about starborn. Thorne admits that “mortals [were] made divine” once (324), but no longer.

Thorne asks Lis to dance. She hesitates, as she has never done so before. However, she lets him take her in his arms, and the two dance together in the garden. When they finish, Lis has the strange urge to run from Thorne, wanting to feel the excitement of him chasing her. She hesitates and then gives in to the urge, fleeing further into the garden.

When Thorne catches Lis, he grabs her. She can feel his arousal, and he pulls her to him. As he kisses her neck, he scolds her for running. She expects him to force her to the ground; instead, he asks her permission, and she assures him that she is ready. Thorne holds Lis’s body against his as he takes off her clothes. They then have penetrative sex for the first time. When they finish, he holds her in the grass of the garden.

Later, Thorne and Lis lie in bed together. He tells her that he is leaving for a few days but will return before the Feasts. He asks her to go with him, but she says that it wouldn’t be “wise.” Before falling asleep, Lis thinks about Maven’s words. She realizes that Thorne told her that he was looking for something when he was in Archwood before; Claude later confirmed that he was actually looking for “someone.”

At dawn, Lis wakes up as Thorne leaves. He hesitates above her. She wants him to kiss her on the lips for the first time, and she thinks that he wants to do so. Instead, he kisses her forehead.

That evening, Lis goes to speak with Claude. She asks him if he knew that she was a caelestia. He explains that he was never sure—and still isn’t—as her eyes are brown, not bearing the mark of an immortal. Lis thinks back to the day in the orphanage when Thorne checked the children’s eyes, as well as her eyes looking blue in the mirror a few days ago. Claude apologizes for not sharing the information with her sooner. He was afraid that, if anyone found out, she would be taken before the High Court. 

Lis then asks about Beylen. Claude acknowledges that he is starborn and that he believes Lis could be, too. However, he kept that a secret because he feared Lis would want to meet Beylen, despite his treasonous acts. Lis says that Thorne believes she is a mortal and tells Claude that she isn’t sure how to feel, as Thorne also told her that he felt like they had met before. Claude points out that they did meet in the orphanage. This surprises Lis, as she told him about the lord there, but not that he was Thorne. Claude insists that he could tell by Thorne’s behavior that they had met before. He urges Lis to tell Thorne the truth.