Slade’s rotted heart causes him severe pain. He has failed to open a new rip despite hours of effort. King Thold arrives, demanding an answer on their renewed alliance treaty. Slade and his Premiers renegotiate, withholding oil shipments while securing Thold’s food imports. After Thold leaves, they discuss Fourth Kingdom’s improving situation and the collapsed mine, which Slade suspects Kaila sabotaged.

Judd leads them to the courtyard, where Slade’s timberwing, Argo, waits. Slade had to leave him behind previously, injured, on a dangerous venture in the desert. Ryatt introduces two sisters from Second Kingdom, Shea and Wynn. Wynn possesses healing magic; she promised to heal the timberwing when it was being shipped back to Slade in exchange for passage. Shea requests asylum in Fourth Kingdom and protection from exploitation for Wynn, revealing her sister can also heal people. Slade grants both requests and asks Wynn to help Rissa. However, when Wynn touches Slade’s chest, she says she cannot heal him because there is nothing to heal.

Suddenly, a magical cacophony of voices assaults them, including Auren’s voice screaming. Queen Kaila arrives on a timberwing, using her sound magic, and demands to know where Manu is. Slade overpowers her with rot, telling her that Manu is in his dungeon. Just as he is about to kill Kaila, his army captain Lu arrives, bloodied and terrified, announcing that the fae have invaded Orea.

Osrik watches over Rissa as she lies dying. He loves her but refuses to accept her impending death. Hojat gives Osrik a vial of poison to end Rissa’s suffering. After witnessing her pain, Osrik reluctantly agrees it is the right thing to do.

As Osrik sits on Rissa’s bed and begins to administer the poison, Isalee enters with Shea and Wynn. Wynn examines the infected wound and agrees to help. She uses her magic on the injury, and it begins healing instantly. Osrik is shocked. Rissa’s breathing stabilizes, and she opens her eyes, looking at Osrik.

Malina awakens in Dommik’s arms on a rooftop, having been unconscious for hours. He confirms Highbell has fallen. From their vantage point, Malina witnesses the devastation of her city and sees the fae army marching toward Fifth Kingdom. She refuses Dommik’s offer to hide her away, accepting her duty as queen, and thanks him for saving her emotionally as well as physically.

They search the Pitching Pines forest for survivors. Using Dommik’s shadow magic, they travel through the devastated city streets and into the peaceful forest. They discover several dozen survivors. The people, including a woman whose child Dommik previously saved, rejoice at seeing their queen. Malina confesses her role in the fae’s arrival, but the survivors thank her for her warnings and the ice wall that allowed them to escape. Malina rallies them and vows to keep them safe.

Lu reports that Highbell has fallen to the fae. She reveals that Queen Malina is alive and possesses ice magic, that Kaila fled the city, and that the fae massacred nearly everyone. Lu explains the fae arrived via the repaired Bridge of Lemuria. Slade realizes the bridge is his way into Annwyn to find Auren and the others. He prepares to leave immediately, but Ryatt pleads with him to fulfill his duty as king to defend Orea. Slade reluctantly agrees.

Slade holds council with his people, King Thold, and a captive Kaila. She confirms she fled Highbell and believes she can negotiate with the fae. Thold rebukes her, stating the fae intend to conquer all of Orea. Guards bring in Manu, ravaged by Slade’s rot. Slade offers Kaila a deal: He will heal Manu if she commits her army to defend Ranhold in Fifth Kingdom. Kaila agrees. Slade removes the rot from Manu and orders them to leave.

Thold pledges his forces. Slade clarifies to Ryatt that he is only going to Ranhold because it lies on the path to Seventh Kingdom and the bridge. After helping establish defenses, he will leave to find Auren.

Cull stalks threateningly toward Elore. Auren’s glamour begins to fade as she confronts him to protect Slade’s mother. She attacks guards, and Cull retaliates with his magic, breaking stone around her and snapping her arm. As the fight continues, her glamour completely fails, revealing her golden form. Cull becomes intrigued when the old rot in the manor responds to the rot in Auren’s magic. He causes a wall to collapse, but Auren uses all her wearable gold to form a net that catches it. She uses the opening as an escape route and holds a golden archway open while the Oreans flee.

Cull seizes Elore by the throat. Auren attacks with golden needles, forcing him to release her. Cull retaliates by grinding the broken bones in Auren’s arm, causing her to lose control of her magic. Wick grabs the collapsing Auren and carries her toward Brennur’s enlarged fairy ring, where Ludo and Emonie are fighting guards while villagers escape through it. Auren stops Wick to try to save Elore. A guard attacks, and Wick intercepts the blow meant for Auren. His wound bleeds gold, shocking Auren as she realizes he is a Turley.

Reeling, Auren watches as Wick kills the attacking guard with a cloud of golden ash from his mouth. Cull kills another guard who approaches Auren and shouts that no one is to touch her. He tortures Auren for information about her connection to his son, repeatedly breaking her bones and then those of Wick, Emonie, and Ludo.

The seed of Slade’s rot magic within Auren’s chest begins to pulse powerfully. The old rot magic in the manor’s ground surges toward her, and she feels her magic and soul connect with Slade’s across the realms. As Cull threatens to snap Elore’s neck, Auren’s power collides with Slade’s across the distance between worlds.

Auren’s aura flares, combining her golden light with black shadows. Simultaneously in Orea, Slade feels the connection as his rotted heart bursts and is replaced by scales. His two forms, Commander Rip and King Slade Ravinger, mend together.

Cull witnesses the combined aura and identifies it with the fae word “Pāyur,” meaning a fated bonded pair. Auren remembers seeing that word beneath an illustration in a forbidden fae book. She has a flashback to a conversation with Slade as Rip, when he called them quite the pair, and realizes he has known about their bond all along.

Emboldened by her new connection to Slade’s power, Auren unleashes a massive rot attack that frees Elore. She, Elore, Wick, Emonie, and Ludo escape through Brennur’s fairy ring. However, they arrive in the courtyard of the royal castle in Lydia, Annwyn’s capital. King Carrick and his Stone Swords surround them, having already recaptured all the escaped Orean villagers.

Brennur’s betrayal is revealed. Cull resumes torturing Auren and her friends. The scent of oak bark on Brennur makes Auren realize he kidnapped her as a child. Before she can react, Brennur strikes her in the face with his cane. Cull requests that Auren be kept from further harm, as he needs her power. Carrick orders his guards to execute the villagers. He reveals the Bridge of Lemuria has been repaired, and his army is invading Orea.

The knowledge that there is now a path to Slade gives Auren a surge of hope, and she launches an attack. A fae woman named Una grabs Auren from behind, placing her hands over Auren’s ears. Una’s magic scoops out Auren’s memories, emotions, and sense of self. Auren forgets everything.

The final section presents a prophetic poem about three queens across two lands (Orea and Annwyn). It describes them as “[p]ast, present, and void” and reveals that while three queens were declared, only one was born (746). The poem identifies one queen as ice who looked on in scorn, another as brought through a bridge and made, and the last as a vine who reached through the split. It describes how divine forces “gripped the bridge and fed snow into Jaded” and “tipped back the sun, and out hatched the gold-plated” (747). The poem concludes by revealing that these three queens were reborn and claimed their power through magic, suggesting their fates are intertwined by cosmic design.