Hamish and Catalina celebrate a beautiful and joyful wedding at The Burrows. Geraldine is overjoyed by her father’s marriage. In the lead-up to the wedding, Max and her betrothed, Justin, get into a fight over Geraldine.

After the wedding, Seth coaxes Orion into joining the festivities. He then confesses to Orion that he is secretly in love with Caleb. Later, in a private conversation with the twins and Orion, Seth confesses his feelings for Caleb to Tory and asks for a strategy to find out if Caleb likes him back without having to confess his own feelings. Meanwhile, Tyler and Xavier have gotten into a competition and posted pictures of their penises to social media so that others can vote on them.

Lionel and Vard (his accomplice and Seer) interrogate Felicity Corbin (a journalist and Tyler’s mother). Felicity has been publishing subversive articles criticizing Lionel’s regime. Despite torture, she remains defiant and Lionel ends up killing her. As Lionel leaves the interrogation site, he is publicly humiliated when a girl pelts him with feces and the press capture photos of this event. Lavinia mocks him and the two of them struggle for control before she subsides into seeming obedience. When Vard reports that a protest against Lionel’s reign is scheduled, Lionel vows that any rebel he captures will be killed.

Xavier loses the competition with Tyler, leaving him feeling insecure about the aesthetics of his penis. He gets an elaborate piercing and then goes to Tyler’s room to show it off. However, Xavier ends up deeply embarrassed when he realizes he has just exposed himself to a room full of people who are comforting the grieving Tyler (who has just learned about his mother’s death). Xavier comforts Tyler and Sofia, feeling a surge of protectiveness for the Pegasus Fae and hatred for his father.

It has now been a month since the Pegasus Fae joined the rebels; the twins and their allies are aware that there is growing dissent against Lionel’s reign. In a moment of intimacy, Darius begins to tell Tory about the bargain he made with fate but is cut off when they are summoned to a meeting. Tory, Darius, Darcy and the Heirs discuss a theory that Nymphs are not inherently evil and driven to harm Fae: the visions from Diego’s hat imply that Nymphs may be subject to Lavinia’s dark magic. The group discusses the possibility of Max interrogating a Nymph in hopes of learning more (Max’s Siren powers enable him to enter the minds and memories of other individuals).

Darius, Max, Seth, and Caleb depart to capture a Nymph while Tory, Darcy, and Geraldine remain at The Burrows.

Darcy, Tory, and Geraldine spend time with Angelica, and Sofia; Sofia confesses she is in love with both Tyler and Xavier. Catalina and Hamish join them, and the group discusses family Christmas traditions, which brings up painful memories for the twins of their deprived childhood. Catalina suggests they create new traditions together. Hamish then shares fond memories of his friendship with their father, Hail Vega, from their time at Zodiac Academy.

The Heirs travel to a house where a group of Nymphs are staying. Max puts a Nymph to sleep and probes its mind. The others share the vision, seeing Nymphs delivering dark artifacts to a black pyramid in a forest. Inside, these artifacts are used in a dark magic ritual that enables Lavinia to maintain her power. The vision then shows the Nymph brutally killing Fae. As soon as the vision ends, an enraged Darius decapitates the Nymph and uses magic to transport the group back to The Burrows, where they rush to share the information they have learned.

Gabriel has had a vision that a distraction will be needed, and he tells the twins that he will distract Lionel and Lavinia so that Tory and Darcy can carry out a mission. While awaiting the return of the Heirs, Tory and Darcy talk to Orion, who has been researching the missing six gemstones. Orion has uncovered a prophecy that when the twelve gemstones are reunited, a new era will begin (potentially alluding to the start of Tory and Darcy’s reign). However, he hasn’t found any leads on how to find the missing stones.

The Heirs return and report their findings: the Nymphs are making dark magic offerings at the secret temple, which is empowering Lavinia. The group plans to go to the temple, where Orion and Caleb will use magic to close the portal between the Shadow realm (the source of Lavinia’s power) and the Fae realm while the others create a distraction. Darius and Tory argue about who should lead the attack that will create the distraction, but Geraldine leads the twins away and provides them with armor. Once the twins learn that Tyler is taking over his late mother’s job as a journalist, they pose for photos, since they “needed the people of Solaria to know that we were still fighting and that we fully planned to reclaim our kingdom from that beast of a man” (440).

The group uses magic to travel to the rainy forest where the temple is located. As they sense Nymphs approaching, Tory is excited for the battle to begin.

As Orion and Caleb split off to approach the temple from another direction, the main group prepares an ambush. They capture three Nymphs, tie them to stakes, and set them on fire. The screams will lure the rest of the Nymph army into their trap. Hiding in the trees, they await the arrival of the enemy forces.

As the Nymph army leaves the temple to respond to the ambush, Orion and Caleb race inside. They find a chamber with a large altar covered in dark artifacts and a magical portal to the Shadow Realm. The power of the portal, or “rift” almost corrupts Caleb, but he resists by focusing on a happy memory involving Seth. Caleb uses magic to seal the door to the temple (to prevent Nymphs from entering and attacking them) and urges Orion to work quickly. Orion prepares to begin using magic to close the portal, knowing it will take extreme effort.

Back in the woods, a large group of Nymphs appears and attacks, turning the planned distraction into a chaotic, full-scale battle. As the battle rages, Tory repeatedly defies Darius’s instructions and ends up saving his life. To protect her, Darius charges into the fray after her as the battle rages on.

Inside the temple, Orion works to close the powerful shadow rift. The dark magic nearly overtakes Caleb again, but he resists and begins destroying the artifacts on the altar. The dark force of the portal begins to lure Orion in. Caleb saves him by using vampire magic (Caleb and Orion are both members of the Vampire Order), which triggers a strong magical bond to form between the two of them. Orion closes the portal and they escape together.

Orion arrives at the battle site and instructs the twins to go to the temple to destroy the artifacts that are being used in the dark magic ritual (this will further ensure that the Nymphs are unable to continue feeding Lavinia’s power). The twins assume their magical Phoenix forms and fly to the temple where they use magic fire to incinerate the temple, killing more Nymphs as well.

However, Darcy abruptly feels a dark and angry force seize control of her; involuntarily, she blasts her sister with magical fire. She loses control of her magical shape and begins to plummet to the ground. Orion catches her, but Darcy is terrified and confused as to why she can no longer access her magical powers. Max warns the group that Lavinia is about to arrive and they flee, forced to leave Tory behind in the chaos.

Gabriel stops a frantic Darius from returning for Tory, saying “He was going to go back for Tory. But he’ll die if he goes. I’ve seen it.” (323) He knocks Darius unconscious to prevent him from returning to the battle site and then uses magic to subdue Darcy as well.