Saira Turley recounts her journey as one of the early travelers from Seventh Kingdom to the fae realm. She describes it as the bridge to nowhere, which she took to find her father after he was forced to go and never returned. The endless gray path mirrored her grief over losing both parents.

Exhaustion nearly killed her, but she kept walking, afraid of falling off the bridge. When the path finally ended, she fell through the ground, then crashed through clouds in an amethyst sky. She landed gently, triggering a shockwave that caused glowing blue flowers to burst from the soil around her. Saira realized she had arrived somewhere new—not Orea. She saw people with pointed ears staring at her. Over time, they would call her the broken-winged bird.

Auren’s senses return one by one, each accompanied by a childhood memory from Annwyn: tasting sugarcane, smelling her mother’s floral perfume, feeling her father’s hand, hearing a boy call her name, and finally seeing the rip far above her. As the opening begins to close, fear grips her.

She hears Slade’s voice in her mind, promising he will find her. When the rip seals completely, her fear transforms into resolve. The gold in the void gathers around her body, and the stars pulse with golden light. In a dreamlike sequence, she is brought to earth, entering Annwyn. Breathing the new air awakens her fae nature. As she nears the ground, her ribbons—which Midas cut off in Gleam—grow from her back, returned.

Auren lands gently in a field of glowing blue flowers, creating a circle of gilt blooms around her with her gold-touch. She discovers with overwhelming joy that her 24 golden ribbons have returned to her back, though she soon realizes she cannot move them—they hang limp and immobile. She resolves to be grateful regardless, noting they feel stronger, just as she has become.

When she stands, pain from her severely burned feet—which were injured in the Conflux—makes her cry out. Exhaustion overwhelms her. Nearby, she sees two dozen people watching her with awe and fear, murmuring about her golden appearance and her fall from the sky like the broken-winged bird. An old woman with wispy hair approaches and calls her Lyäri Ulvêre. The woman tells Auren she is home and speaks her name. Shocked that this stranger knows who she is, Auren collapses.

Two weeks after the Conflux, Slade flies toward Third Kingdom on a timberwing (large, mountable bird) named Crest, enraged over Auren being ripped from him. He carries a piece of her severed ribbon in his pocket. Drollard Village and everyone in it, including his mother, vanished when the rip there imploded as he created one to save Auren. Slade has tried and failed to open another rip every day since. He holds Queen Kaila responsible for instigating the Conflux and Auren’s kidnapping.

At Gallenreef Castle, Slade roars for Kaila to face him. An advisor named Sonnil appears with guards and refuses to bring the queen out. Slade unleashes his rot, which spreads across the sand and cracks the castle steps. When archers fire at him, Slade catches and dodges their arrows while his rot kills them instantly. Sonnil orders an attack, but Slade’s rot chokes the guards before they can act.

Queen Kaila’s brother, Manu Ioana, emerges and admits Kaila is in Sixth Kingdom. Slade chokes Manu while his rot kills more guards and begins destroying the castle. Instead of killing Manu, Slade announces he will kidnap him, taking the person most important to Kaila in revenge for Auren. He knocks Manu unconscious and carries him away. As they depart, Manu’s husband, Keon, is crushed by the collapsing castle doors. Slade flies off on Crest, leaving the rotted castle and corpses behind, determined to continue his vengeance.

Queen Malina is imprisoned in a tower of the ruined Cauval Castle in Seventh Kingdom, watching a fae army march from the newly restored Bridge of Lemuria. She examines the frost-rimmed cuts on her palms from a blood ritual. In flashback, she recalls being tricked by fae twins into willingly giving her blood, which they used to restore the bridge. The promised restoration of the castle was an illusion—it remains a ruin. The ritual gave her uncontrollable ice magic that manifests as snow from her palms.

An assassin appears in her room and uses shadow magic. He accuses her of betraying her world for the promise of power. When he grabs her throat, his touch is warm against her cold skin. He lists her rejections and failures, including his murder of her lover Jeo. Malina demands he use his shadow magic to sneak her out so she can warn her people in Highbell of the fae invasion. He does not believe her motives are genuine. He tells her to prove she wants to escape for the right reasons, then vanishes.

Auren wakes to Estelia, a fledgling healer, blowing healing breath on her burned feet, easing the pain. Auren realizes she is among fae. The old woman Nenet returns and confirms Auren is in the town of Geisel in Annwyn. Nenet says the people of Geisel remember the story of the lost gilded girl—the Lyäri Ulvêre—because of the local legend of Saira Turley, the original broken-winged bird who fell into this very field. Auren corrects her, recalling from the popular folktale that Saira walked a bridge, but Nenet insists Auren fell in the same place. Nenet compares Auren’s arrival to Saira’s, calling her the new broken-winged bird. When Auren asks how they know her, Nenet reveals that Auren is the Turleys’ last-birthed heir.

Auren reels from learning she is a Turley heir and initially denies it. Nenet insists it is true, noting the battle on the night Auren vanished. She sings a verse about a battle in Bryol where the gilded girl Turley disappeared. Auren recognizes Bryol as her home and remembers terrifying fragments of the battle—fire, screaming, and destruction. When she asks about her family, Nenet’s expression confirms they are dead. Auren grieves the finality of her orphanhood and realizes that without Slade, she feels completely untethered.

She falls asleep missing him. When she wakes in the evening, clean clothes and washing water have been left for her. She dresses, feeling the comforting weight of her returned ribbons. Driven by the need to find Slade, she leaves the attic and makes her way to the kitchen, where she finds Estelia, Nenet, and a man named Thursil, Nenet’s grandson. She observes their affectionate relationship, which makes her miss Slade even more. Auren tells them she needs to return to the field where she landed. Estelia warns that she cannot.

Auren demands to know why she cannot go to the field. Estelia warns it is not safe, triggering Auren’s trauma about being caged in Highbell. Estelia explains that while Geisel is full of Turley loyalists, Auren’s dramatic arrival may have been seen by others, which would be dangerous. The ruling Carrick monarchy views any living Turley as a threat and has spread hatred against the bloodline. The Carricks also broke the Bridge of Lemuria to Seventh Kingdom, causing the land to die and magic to fade from fae bloodlines. Thursil and Nenet believe Auren’s parents were purposefully killed as part of a Carrick scheme. They warn that if her identity is discovered, she will be killed.

Despite the danger, Auren insists she must go to the field to find Slade. Nenet agrees to sneak her there in a covered cart before dawn. Estelia reluctantly consents but makes Auren eat first. While the others arrange transportation with a part-Orean associate named Keff, Estelia and Auren bond over missing the men they love. Estelia explains that magic is now rare in Annwyn, and her healing ability must remain secret. Estelia gives Auren a cloak for disguise, and Nenet prepares to take her to the field.