Kingdom of Ash

Aedion’s armies arrive at Orynth. They’ve lost all hope at victory over Morath’s extensive forces.

Maeve reveals her true identity to Erawan and offers to ally with him, now that the people of Doranelle have rebelled against her after receiving Aelin’s condemning letters. Maeve offers her spider handmaidens to Erawan’s army, to be possessed by Valg princesses. Erawan reveals his plans to bring his brothers, Orcus and Mantyx, back into this world. After leaving Erawan, Maeve becomes aware of Dorian and traps him.

Maeve offers Dorian an alliance: She will permanently rid the world of Erawan and his brothers in exchange for all three Wyrdkeys. Dorian offers Maeve marriage and the chance to rule Adarlan in exchange for her spiders joining Terrasen’s forces instead. Maeve agrees to his proposal. Dorian shifts into Elide’s uncle, Vernon Lochan, who is loyal to Erawan, to request an audience with the Valg king. The dangerous interaction doesn’t reveal anything about the third key’s location.

Nesryn and Sartaq—charged with leading the Southern forces around the eastern edge of the mountains—reach the Ferian Gap, but see no evidence of the Ironteeth legion. They relay this information to Aelin’s forces traveling between the mountains.

Six Valg princesses are placed in Maeve’s spiders while Dorian hunts for the last Wyrdkey. Maeve sets out to seduce Erawan so that Dorian can gain access to the Valg king’s tower.

After Erawan rejects Maeve’s advances, Dorian shifts into a mouse and hides in Maeve’s pocket during her meeting with Erawan. Erawan orders Maeve to summon the rest of her spiders, though Maeve does her best to delay the order by offering to use her power of creating portals to show Erawan his brothers.

Aedion’s armies set a trap for Morath’s forces, destroying two of their witch towers with underground explosives. The third witch tower is damaged, but still standing. Morath’s approaching armies still number 100,000 soldiers.

Maeve shows Erawan an illusion of his brothers while Dorian shifts into Erawan and sneaks into the Valg king’s tower.

Dorian finds a woman in Erawan’s bed, with the last Wyrdkey embedded in her arm. When he cuts it out of her, she becomes lucid enough to beg Dorian for death. Maeve appears, kills the girl, and uses her powers to forcefully infiltrate Dorian’s mind, bringing Dorian under her control.

What Maeve doesn’t realize is that Dorian has been studying Maeve’s powers since their faux alliance, as he did with the stygian spider. Dorian remains in control of his mind but pretends Maeve has succeeded in ensorcelling him. In doing so, he gains control of Maeve’s mind instead. Dorian reveals that while he’s been searching Morath for the key, he’s also been weakening its foundations. Dorian leaves Morath as it collapses, relinquishing control over Maeve’s mind after stealing her ability to make portals.

Yrene offers to heal Elide’s foot if they survive the war. The ruk-riders find Vernon Lochan in the mountains, who has information that Perranth has been conquered by Erawan and that Maeve has allied with the Valg king against Terrasen.

Vernon also knows that 100,000 soldiers march on Orynth and that the Ironteeth legion formerly stationed in the Ferian Gap is on its way. Aelin chains Vernon in a locked room to avenge his horrendous treatment of Elide; he will likely die of starvation.

As Aedion’s armies ready for battle, 1,000 wyvern-riding Ironteeth witches join the Morath troops marching for Orynth. Telling Lysandra he loves her, Aedion prepares to send her through the castle’s escape tunnels with Evangeline while Rolfe’s Mycenians prepare to defend against the Ironteeth with firelances.

Manon and the Thirteen arrive in Orynth with an army of Crochan witches numbering over 5,000. Morath’s approaching army is forced to halt and re-strategize. Lysandra and Evangeline stay in Orynth, where Lysandra warms to Aedion after he declares love.

Dorian summons the spirit of Gavin and tells him that he has all three Wyrdkeys. He plans to bring them to Aelin. He shifts into a wyvern and hides amongst Morath’s Ironteeth legions as they fly to Orynth.

In the tunnels under the castle, Lysandra finds the Florine River and transforms into a sea dragon. She swims down the river, along Morath’s eastern flank, and awaits the signal from Rolfe’s Mycenians.

Lysandra attacks the enemy as a sea dragon while Aedion’s armies launch flaming boulders at Morath’s forces. Manon and the Thirteen fight the Ironteeth legion alongside the Crochans. A Valg prince climbs the battlements and faces off against Aedion.

As the Valg prince stabs Aedion, Lord Ren Allsbrook kills the Valg with a firelance. Aedion falls unconscious and is sent to a healer.

Aelin’s armies hurry for Orynth but worry nothing will be left to save when they arrive. Rowan reinks Aelin’s tattoos, which were erased by healers during her months of torture. He adds two more: one that tells their story, and another that remains a mystery.

Elide and Lochan agree to a future together as Lady and Lord of Perranth after the war and have sex. Dorian finds Aelin’s forces and reveals to her that he’s in possession of all three Wyrdkeys.

On land, Lysandra’s sea dragon form struggles to hold back Morath’s forces as they attempt to gain access to the city through the river tunnels. In the skies, a Yellowlegs witch attacks Manon and her wyvern Abraxos. The Yellowlegs’s wyvern clamps down on Abraxos’s throat.

Petrah Blueblood appears with her Ironteeth legions to fight alongside Manon and the Crochans, saving Manon and Abraxos from the Yellowlegs witch. Manon and the Thirteen block the river tunnels with boulders before she takes Abraxos to a healer.

Lysandra returns to the castle, where she delivers to Aedion, Manon, and the Thirteen the news that Morath has repaired their remaining witch tower. Most of the Thirteen fly for the tower, leaving Manon behind with the injured Abraxos. Asterin and the other 11 witches infiltrate the tower and commit a mass-Yielding, destroying it and a massive portion of Morath’s army in the blast.

The citizens of Orynth and Aelin’s allies gather to honor the Thirteen by laying flowers on the battlefield as Manon mourns her fallen friends. Unbeknownst to her, kingsflame begins to bloom in the Western Wastes, hinting that the curse preventing the witches from returning to their homeland has been broken.

Dorian and Chaol tearfully reunite, and Dorian meets Yrene. Aelin and her allies vote on whether to create the Lock immediately, or march on to fight in Terrasen. The vote favors forging the Lock and sealing the Wyrdgate immediately.

Rowan suggests that Aelin and Dorian forge the Lock together, each giving up half their power so they both survive.

Aelin and Dorian agree to Rowan’s plan and journey to Endovier—the location of the Salt Mines where Aelin was enslaved at the beginning of the series—where they start forging the Lock. Aelin absorbs the Wyrdkeys into her arm and becomes the Wyrdgate.

Aelin and Dorian are taken to an in-between realm where the Lock begins draining their powers. When it becomes clear that it’ll kill them both rather than spare them, the spirit of Dorian’s father appears.

Dorian’s father, the former King of Adarlan, offers to pay the price required to forge the Lock. Aelin sends Dorian back into their world so that he may survive to rule and forges the lock with his father instead.