The group prepares to infiltrate Imirath and reviews the details of their plans. Saskia explains that, according to ancient texts, the bond between dragon and rider can never be broken, only dulled by time. Still, Elowen accepts that she’ll let them go if they no longer wish to be with her. Ryder, Finnian, and Saskia ride with Elowen and Cayden to the border. Elowen tells Finnian that she left a letter naming him her heir in case she dies. He becomes distraught, begging her not to make him live without her. After exchanging goodbyes with their friends, Elowen and Cayden cross into Imirath.

Moving deeper into enemy territory, they hide from passing patrols and navigate toward the enemy camp. When they near it, Cayden tells Elowen to wait while he creates a diversion, but she follows him. He intercepts her and carries her to safety behind a boulder as explosives that he planted during the earlier battle detonate, distracting the soldiers. They escape into the forest, run until sunrise, and reach the sacred caves, which are hidden behind waterfalls. Cayden gives Elowen his cloak to keep her warm. He shares that the sound of water is one of the few things that quiets his mind. Elowen falls asleep feeling safe despite being in enemy territory.

Cayden wakes Elowen when someone approaches the cave. A specific bird whistle reveals that the arrivals are Ryder, Finnian, and Saskia, who explain that they couldn’t let Elowen and Cayden undertake the mission alone. Finnian cites Elowen’s farewell letter as his reason for following her. They argue that Elowen and Cayden would have done the same if their positions were reversed. Though frustrated, Elowen and Cayden reluctantly accept their company. Elowen also realizes that Cayden never woke her for watch, and he teases that she said his name multiple times in her sleep.

The five travel through the Etril Forest toward the Emer River, where they spot eight Atarah soldiers camped with horses. Finnian kills the watchman with an arrow, but the noise alerts the sleeping soldiers. Elowen, Cayden, and Ryder charge while Saskia and Finnian provide archery support, and they kill the remaining soldiers. Saskia finds a general order for a masquerade ball in Zinambra, the capital of Imirath, in a soldier’s pocket and suggests that they use the document to cross the guarded Emer bridge. They take the soldiers’ horses and head for the crossing, and Cayden dons a mask to hide his distinctive scar.

At the bridge, two Imirath soldiers stop them and order Cayden to remove his mask. Elowen quickly improvises, claiming that her husband is sick with fever and that they’re traveling to see a healer in Zinambra. She kicks Cayden’s shin, and he fakes a violent coughing fit. The sympathetic guard lets them pass. Once safely across, the group bursts into laughter over Elowen’s performance.

The group arrives in Zinambra at night. The city comprises multiple isles connected by canals. They rent an attic room at an inn and finalize their infiltration plan: Finnian, Saskia, and Ryder will use stolen guard uniforms to enter through the dungeon, forge an order to clear the east tower, signal Elowen and Cayden at the ball, secure travel papers, and escape by boat.

They go to a gambling den to steal ball invitations. Elowen climbs into the rafters to scout and identifies a man who has won two invitations. They follow him into a deserted street, knock him unconscious, and take the invitations. Cayden reveals that he already killed a guard and stashed the uniform. Ryder insists that Cayden sit out the next theft and pulls Elowen along to acquire another uniform.

Ryder’s plan involves Elowen luring a guard from a tavern. She enters in a revealing gold gown and orders honey whiskey. A guard named Evrin approaches, and she introduces herself as Faye. Cayden enters and becomes visibly enraged at the sight of them together while Elowen subtly taunts him. She convinces Evrin to step outside into an alley.

Before Evrin can touch her, Cayden appears and kills him. He says that he’s searched for her since his boyhood and tells her that he’ll become the worst version of himself for her. Their argument turns passionate, and they perform oral sex on one another in the alley. After they finish, Ryder arrives, teases them about their disheveled state, and takes the uniform from Evrin’s body.

Finnian locates a dress shop, and Elowen and Saskia pick the lock and steal a sky-blue ball gown. As they’re walking through the market afterward, a guard from the tavern recognizes and confronts them. Elowen sends Saskia away to find a mask, kills the guard and his approaching partner with knives, and flees through the crowd. She creates a diversion by throwing rum into a fire pit, setting a market canopy ablaze. Cayden and Ryder appear and help her escape, and the group hides under a bridge in a stolen boat until the danger passes.

That night, Elowen sits on the inn’s roof, overwhelmed. Cayden joins her, and they share childhood memories of finding small distractions from their pain. She counted stars through a crack in her dungeon cell, and he counted raindrops on the streets. Elowen admits that she fears how the dragons will react to seeing her again and asks Cayden to promise he’ll leave her behind if they’re separated during the mission. He furiously refuses, vowing that they will face their end together. Elowen kisses his scarred cheek and admits that he’s “made it impossible for [her] to hate [him]” (294).

On the night of the masquerade ball, Elowen and Cayden part ways with the others without formal goodbyes. Inside the castle, Elowen notices that King Garrick has decorated the walls with dragon imagery. To avoid drinking wine, she pretends to be pregnant, and Cayden plays along, calling her his wife. He asks her to dance, and she accepts.

Garrick makes his entrance. Upon seeing him, Elowen realizes that he’s just a man, not the monster of her childhood memories. He introduces Queen Aveline and King Fallon Lilura of Thirwen, a magical kingdom, as his new allies. Garrick gives a speech denouncing Elowen for aligning with Vareveth and murdering the former queen, vowing that with Thirwen’s help, they will break her bond with the dragons. Cayden reveals that he also arranged for the rulers of Galakin to attend.

Ryder appears in a guard uniform and signals that the east tower is clear, that their weapons are stashed in a nearby stairwell, and that he, Saskia, and Finnian are leaving immediately to secure a boat. Elowen and Cayden head for the stairwell.

In the stairwell, Cayden and Elowen change into their leather armor and retrieve their weapons. When a guard approaches, Cayden creates a distraction by kissing Elowen and then covertly draws a knife from her holster and stabs the guard in the throat. They move through the east tower and kill six guards posted outside the dragon chamber.

Elowen enters the chamber alone. The space is dark and filthy, and the chained dragons face windows overlooking mountains they can’t reach. She throws the amulet on the floor, and the dragons breathe fire on it, activating magic that breaks their chains. Once free, they circle Elowen and strike her repeatedly with their tails, bruising her ribs and thigh and knocking her into the stone floor. She endures the assault without defending herself, apologizing for leaving them.

Cayden bursts in and shields her with his body as guards fire arrows from the doorway. A dragon breathes fire over them, driving back the guards. Cayden detonates a bomb, shattering the chamber’s outer wall, and they jump from the tower into the snow below as the dragons fly free and begin attacking the castle.

As guards pursue them into the forest, Elowen trusts the bond and commands Sorin to burn the soldiers. He appears instantly and incinerates the battalion. He then lands and gently presses his snout to her hand. Elowen tells him to fly free and find her in the morning. All five dragons fly into the night sky.

Elowen and Cayden flee through the mountains, pursued by beasts set on them by Garrick’s soldiers. They’re forced to cross the freezing Emer River to throw the creatures off their trail. Upon spotting a beast nearby, Elowen kicks Cayden, and they both fall into the icy water, hiding behind rocks. He reveals that he intended to lead the beast away after getting her to safety. She refuses to leave him. They escape the river using a thrown knife as a diversion. Elowen sustains a head wound when she falls into the river that leaves her dizzy, and Cayden carries her the remaining five miles to a run-down village that he reveals is his birthplace. At the inn, Elowen challenges Cayden to join her in the bath, and he accepts.

Elowen and Cayden bathe together. He gently washes her hair and notices the severe bruises on her torso and thigh. She explains that the dragons struck her to verify she was real. He comforts her, insisting that no one deserves such suffering. He confesses that he’s been searching for her ever since he glimpsed her at a festival when they were both children. He learned his mother’s blueberry cake recipe in the hope of befriending her, and he later secretly followed her to Aestilian because he couldn’t bear to lose track of her again. Though shocked, Elowen understands his motives and tells him she wants him. They have sex.

Afterward, Cayden shows her the ruins of his childhood home from the window and tells her that Imirath soldiers killed his mother and scarred his face there when he was 11. Elowen summons Venatrix, who burns the remains of the house as a pyre for Cayden’s mother, who didn’t receive a proper funeral. He asks her to grow a garden at his current home, and they have sex again, tenderly.

Elowen wakes to find that Cayden has acquired breakfast, new cloaks, and horses. They leave the village without looking back. Cayden leads her to a snowy cliff overlooking a vast blue lake and produces a bag of apples for the dragons. Elowen calls them, and all five appear. She plays with them, throwing apples for them to catch. The dragons dive into the lake and chase eels. When she tries to climb onto Sorin’s back, he shies away, and she doesn’t push him. She and Cayden sit together watching the dragons play. They decide to ride for Vareveth with the dragons flying overhead.

After a near-nonstop ride, Elowen and Cayden reach the Vareveth border camp. The dragons fly low over the camp, and the soldiers erupt in cheers. Finnian, Saskia, and Ryder are all safe, and their reunion with Elowen and Cayden is joyful. In the command tent, Saskia explains that they saw the dragons escape from the castle while sailing down the canal. Ryder reveals that King Eagor has planned a celebration dinner for the following night. Their friends also reveal that they placed bets on when Elowen and Cayden would sleep together.

After bathing, the group eats together. Cayden later applies magical warming bandages to Elowen’s bruised ribs and thigh. She asks if Eagor will be a problem for their relationship, and Cayden promises that no one will keep him from her.

On the evening of the celebration banquet, Elowen slips away from her guard to check on the dragons and finds Cayden waiting in a candlelit gazebo with pillows, pastries, wine, and flowers. They have sex. Afterward, Elowen confesses that she’s nervous about Ailliard’s reaction to seeing the dragons because they killed his sister. Cayden offers to accompany her, but she decides that she must speak to her uncle alone. They leave the gazebo to attend the banquet.

During the banquet, Ailliard pulls Elowen into a private sitting room. He reveals that he’s brokered a deal with King Garrick, who wants Elowen returned to Imirath in exchange for peace. Elowen refuses. Ailliard discloses that Garrick hired a mage to torture the dragons for years with magical illusions of Elowen’s presence, only to rip the hope away repeatedly. Elowen then realizes that Ailliard rescued her from Imirath 15 years ago not out of love for her but for revenge against Garrick. He doesn’t deny it and insists that returning to Imirath is her only safe option. Elowen gives him an ultimatum: He must leave Vareveth forever, or she will kill him the next time she sees him.

Ailliard attacks her and locks her in the room. The dragons roar outside, sensing her distress. Elowen breaks the door handle and escapes. Ryder finds her and reveals that Imirath soldiers have infiltrated the banquet and are holding Finnian at knifepoint.

Elowen enters the hall to find Finnian on his knees, held hostage by an Imirath soldier. Venatrix has shattered the windows and stands with Cayden, Saskia, General Braxton, and several allied generals. King Eagor reveals his complicity, stating that peace with Imirath can be achieved by returning Elowen to Garrick. Vareveth soldiers drag in the beaten Ailliard. Elowen offers to exchange herself for Finnian’s freedom. Cayden refuses and invokes his right as Commander of Vareveth to challenge the throne, deems the monarchs unfit to rule, and declares Elowen his queen.

In the ensuing chaos, Finnian frees himself and rejoins Elowen. Cayden explains that an ancient marriage clause allows him to legally overthrow the king by marrying someone of royal blood with the army’s support. Elowen, shocked and hurt by his secrecy, agrees to the marriage to legitimize the challenge. Battle erupts, and Queen Valia is killed. When Ailliard charges toward Cayden’s undefended back, Elowen throws her knife and strikes him between the ribs. She walks to her fallen uncle, summons Calithea, and commands the dragon to burn him alive.

After killing Ailliard, Elowen collapses sobbing. Cayden approaches, but she shoves him away, accusing him of deception because of the marriage clause. Finnian rushes to her side and comforts her, reassuring her that he isn’t afraid of her. Cayden carries the injured and exhausted Elowen from the hall.

Later, Saskia braids Elowen’s hair. When Cayden enters, Saskia leaves them alone. Elowen confronts him about the deception. He explains that Galakin’s marriage proposal at the alliance ball motivated him to learn about the clause, but he never planned to use it. He wanted it only as a safeguard if she desired something more than a commander. He tells her that he wants her, not the crown. Elowen is torn between hurt and love, saying that a lie of omission is still a sin. She tells him that she needs time to process the betrayal. She accepts her new role and tells him to send for the fire priestess to officiate their betrothal and coronation. He agrees, acknowledging the start of their rule as “the demon king and dragon queen” (363).

At sunset, Elowen and Cayden, wearing their new crowns, preside over King Eagor’s execution. Elowen commands Basilius to burn him alive, and Ryder proclaims them the Conquerors of Vareveth. Elowen’s bond activates, and golden light streams from her palms, connecting her to Cayden and the dragons. The fire priestess arrives and declares that the fire of the gods resides in Elowen. She performs a bond-strengthening ceremony in the lake, using five drops of Elowen’s blood to release magical colored strands representing each dragon. The dragons fly together, breathing fire in a synchronized circle above Elowen.

Despite the reinforced bond, Elowen feels that something is missing. The priestess says that the dragons may be urging her to trust the bond completely. The dragons gather before a waterfall cliff, and Venatrix stares Elowen down. Understanding that she must take a leap of faith to become a true rider, Elowen runs to the cliff and jumps. The dragons fly alongside her as she falls, and she reaches out to Sorin. He flies beneath her and catches her on his back. She soars through the sky, leaping between all five dragons and experiencing ultimate freedom before landing on Venatrix at the cliff edge before the gathered crowd. The priestess presents her as the dragon-riding queen. Cayden walks forward, unsheathes his sword, and kneels. He offers Elowen his blade and his loyalty and then commands everyone to bow before their queen or face death. The kingdom kneels.