In the Wake of the Ruined

While unconscious, Imogen experiences a vision of the past. She sees Empress Nivala offer her infant daughter, Halla, to the siren deity Eusia. Eusia tastes a drop of the baby’s blood, is shocked to find it “ordinary,” and expresses fury. When Nivala then offers the baby as a gift of sustenance, Eusia pulls away in disgust.

Imogen awakens in a small cabin, her wound healed into a scar. She finds a black binding gown and a note from Theodore. Angered by his persistence, she puts on the gown and confronts him on the fog-shrouded deck during his wedding feast with Halla. To speak safely without her powers harming him, Imogen instructs Theodore to tie her hands as a precaution. They find a quiet place to speak.

There, Theodore reveals that his marriage to Halla is a political “sham” designed to prevent a war. He explains that he refused to perform the blood-binding ritual and only agreed to her demand for a child as a bargaining chip, with no intention of fulfilling the promise. He professes his deep love for Imogen and asks her to tell him if she still wants to be with him.

After Theodore leaves, Imogen returns to the main deck and is invited to sit with Halla, Theodore’s steward Markis Gabros, and Marshal Aleka Baros. Aleka recounts a story from years ago when a previous king fought a “sea monster” in the lagoon of the blighted island Anthemoessa.

At Halla’s request, Imogen explains the origin of the Great Gods, drawing on accounts such as those found in Jesop’s histories, framing Eusia’s creation of magic as an attempt to gain power she was not born with. Halla defends Eusia’s desperation and expresses concern that her mortal, non-Leucosian blood might weaken the power of the Gods passed to any child, specifically noting that unlike Nemea she is not of Leucosian lineage. The conversation is interrupted when Theodore appears. He brushes his knuckles against Imogen’s hand, and the brief contact triggers a surge of Eusia’s corrupting power within her. Horrified, Imogen watches Halla enter Theodore’s stateroom for the night. Feeling her self-control slipping, she finds Lachlan and demands he lock her in her cabin until they arrive at Anthemoessa.

The ship is caught in a strange, unnatural storm with an eerie yellow light as it approaches Anthemoessa. During the chaos, Theodore is swept off his feet and clings to a rope around a mast. Imogen helps him. She realizes the blighted weather is Eusia’s magic, which she can influence through their shared bond.

Imogen deliberately taps into this connection to calm the storm. The power is overwhelming, and she briefly channels Eusia’s voice while her own eyes turn a milky, flickering white. In this state, she unintentionally scratches Theodore’s neck before he and Lachlan can restrain her. Despite losing control, she successfully stills the wind and sea, allowing the ship to proceed toward Anthemoessa’s reef.

Using her connection to Eusia, Imogen guides the ship safely through the treacherous outer reef and into Anthemoessa’s lagoon. Soon after, a creature strikes the hull. Halla says she was taught that Eusia’s execution involved being gutted and thrown into the sea. Observing the creature’s pink stomach, liver, and trailing intestines, Imogen realizes the monster is composed of Eusia’s own animated entrails.

Imogen, Lachlan, Halla, and Theodore take a launch boat to row to the island. During the crossing, the monster attacks and drags Lachlan into the water. Imogen orders Halla to perform a death spell found in a book titled A New Age of Terrible Magic that Theodore brought with them. While Halla prepares the spell, Imogen dives into the murky lagoon to rescue Lachlan.

Underwater, Imogen finds Lachlan in the monster’s grip and uses her power to command it to release him. At the same moment, she feels Halla’s spell activate, but it only stuns the creature instead of killing it. Theodore pulls Lachlan into the boat. Back on board, Imogen confronts Halla, who tearfully admits she failed because, in the final moment, she could not bring herself to truly intend to kill Eusia, causing the spell to fail.

Once ashore, the group finds tracks leading to Raidne Keep. They conduct a long, fruitless search of the keep for Imogen’s governess, Agatha. Despairing, Imogen finally discovers a hidden door concealed beneath a staircase. The passage leads to a secret grotto, linked to her mother’s power, containing a pool of pure, divinely powerful water. Desperate for reprieve from Eusia’s taint as much as from her grief over Agatha, Imogen enters the pool. Theodore follows her in and locks the door behind them, shutting them inside together.

The pure water of the grotto seems to neutralize Eusia’s corrupting influence, allowing Imogen to feel her own desire for Theodore without the usual violent hunger. He joins her in the pool, and they share an intensely intimate encounter, though they stop short of kissing or intercourse. Theodore uses the encounter as leverage, withholding a kiss unless Imogen agrees to teach him the spell to use against Eusia. Imogen refuses, knowing the intense psychological and physical toll of using spells.

Their argument is cut short by a terrifying, inhuman wail from outside the grotto. They find a second hidden passage leading deep underground. In a chamber below, they find Halla beside another pool. She is pulling on something, and Agatha’s head, her hair shorn, breaks the surface. Agatha is attached to a mass of fleshy veins and lets out another horrific scream.

Imogen dives into the pool, which she recognizes from prior visions of Eusia’s pool. She finds Agatha entangled in a network of fleshy veins burrowed into her skin. Imogen rips her free and gets her to the edge, where Theodore begins healing her many small wounds.

Agatha explains she was a living “offering” used to sustain Eusia’s body, which lies dormant at the bottom of the pool. When Imogen snatches Lachlan’s dagger and moves to the pool’s edge, Theodore pulls her back and urges her again to teach him the spell. Agatha, now conscious and coherent, volunteers to perform the death spell herself, declaring that her desire for revenge is the strongest of all. Imogen confronts Halla with the vision, revealing that Halla’s own mother once offered her as an infant to Eusia in Obelia, only for Eusia to reject her for having “ordinary” blood. Shaken, Halla says nothing. Imogen ultimately agrees to let Agatha attempt the spell.