Tory and Darcy are sealed in a dark cavern by Clydinius, the star that is impersonating them right now at the Academy. The twins exchange apologies—Tory for trying to force Darcy to abandon Orion, Darcy for not being there for Tory after Darius’s death.

Tory reveals the cost of bringing Darius back, citing the Book of Ether: “To deny death is to become death” (21). Darcy fears ether magic, but Tory argues it is necessary in their war against Lionel and Lavinia, as the stars cannot influence it, as they can the four other types of elemental magic. Tory admits that Darcy’s absence forced her to become stronger, and now she knows how to wield ether and has her husband back. They reconcile, resolving to escape and win the war.

Orion stalks through Jupiter Hall, looking for revenge on Honey Highspell. He destroys her enchanted necklace and shatters her glamour. Seth, Caleb, and Max arrive, and Orion reveals her true face, showing that she has a penis for a nose, the result of a curse. Orion throws her out the window to mocking students below.

Later, the group gathers at Aqua Lake on the thrones Caleb made for them. Darius recounts his time beyond The Veil, meeting deceased relatives, including Orion’s father Azriel, and watching over the living. Orion goes to his rooms, seeking his father’s diary. Darius appears and delivers loving messages from beyond The Veil from Azriel and Clara. He reveals that Orion’s mother sacrificed herself to save him and Darcy. Most importantly, Azriel discovered the locations of two more Guild Stones from beyond The Veil. They immediately set out to find them.

On the first night of the twins’ rule, Geraldine overhears the queens (as impersonated by the star) discussing a fallen star. She misinterprets their conversation as a command to attack. She rallies the Starfall Legion and leads them to Celestia.

Lionel’s Nymph warriors attack, their rattles suppressing magic. Geraldine leads the charge. Separated from her comrades, she faces multiple Nymphs alone and is impaled by a probe. She is saved by a small boy wielding her sun steel dagger and declaring allegiance to the queens. She realizes that the citizens of Celestia pour from their homes to join the rebellion, turning the tide.

Max flies over the battle, using his Siren gifts to bolster allies and strike fear in enemies. He and Caleb trap General McReedy, his stepmother Linda, and his half-sister Ellis in an air dome. While Caleb battles McReedy, Max confronts Linda, who siphons Ellis’s magic to make her own even more powerful.

Linda exploits Max’s hesitation to hurt Ellis, wounding him badly. Max strikes her down. Using his Siren powers, he invades Linda’s mind and sees memories of her watching his mother die without remorse. As he prepares to shatter her consciousness, Ellis begs for her mother’s life. Showing mercy, Max instead erases all of Linda’s magical knowledge, rendering her permanently powerless. He warns Ellis to choose a side before they meet again.

Xavier and Sofia fight from the air on Tyler’s Pegasus back. Xavier spots Gus Vulpecula, a corrupt journalist allied with Lionel, looting Lionel’s office in the Court of Solaria. Xavier unleashes his decay magic, causing the entire court to rot. Gus shifts into fox form and escapes. They give chase.

Xavier’s decay magic spreads throughout the building. He traps Gus with a stone wall and then a metal cage. As he and Sofia kiss, the Court of Solaria collapses behind them, destroyed by Xavier’s power. The rebels return to Zodiac Academy with their prisoner, Gus.

Lyra, a traumatized and mute child, is imprisoned in a Nebula Inquisition Center. She recalls her mother’s death at the hands of Fae Investigation Bureau (FIB) agents. Two figures who look like Tory and Darcy appear, but their eyes are empty and wrong—they are not the True Queens.

The Darcy-impostor calmly murders one of the other prisoners. A kind woman shields Lyra, begging for the child’s life, but the Tory-impostor burns her to death. When Lyra opens her eyes, all other prisoners are ash. The impostors note that Lyra is different—her emotions are hollowed out by trauma. They decide to take her with them.

Following the directions that the deceased Azriel Orion gave to Darius beyond the Veil, Darius and Orion search a cavern for a Guild Stone. Darius dives into a deep pool and emerges in a hidden chamber containing the lost treasure hoard of his ancestor, Luxie Acrux. Darius’s Dragon instincts flare possessively over the treasure.

They open a music box that transports them into an illusory woodland trail. A giant metallic Centaur presents riddles involving six stones. They solve elemental puzzles while surviving carnivorous trees, venomous spiders, and a herd of metallic Centaurs with deadly arrows. Orion is struck, but Darius places the final stone just in time. The illusion shatters, and the Sagittarius Guild Stone materializes. They begin packing Luxie’s treasure to take home.

After the battle in Celestia, Caleb pursues General McReedy into the sewers. He captures the war criminal but finds that the rebel army has left without him. Wounded and tired, he coerces a civilian into giving him a pickup truck and drives three hours back to Zodiac Academy. At the gates, guards don’t believe it is him, but he clarifies his identity.

Seth finds and heals Caleb, explaining that the twins are missing. An alarm summons the inner circle to The Orb, where Geraldine shows them all footage of figures who look exactly like Tory and Darcy burning a Nebula Inquisition Center and its prisoners. Darius insists that they are impostors.

Darcy and Tory escape their imprisonment, recharge their magic, and fly back to Zodiac Academy. Guards initially bar them due to the doppelgänger footage, but the inner circle vouches for them. The twins explain they were impersonated by Clydinius, the Imperial Star given physical form when they returned it to break their family’s curse.

In a war council, Darcy reveals that she weakened Lavinia and now has the Shadow Beast as a freed ally. Darius reveals the recovered Sagittarius Guild Stone. Orion explains that only Pisces and Aquarius stones remain to be gathered—Azriel traced one to the FIB impound.

Afterward, Orion takes Darcy to a secret kitchen beneath The Orb, where they feast and discuss their trauma before learning that they can visit Gabriel, Tory and Darcy’s brother, who is a Seer.

At the lake, the group meets another student, Rosalie Oscura. They find Gabriel weak and overwhelmed by visions. Dante explains they are taking him to a secluded cabin to recover. Darius tells Gabriel to remember someone named Marcus to keep that soul from fading in the afterlife.

Geraldine leads them to their prisoners, Lionel’s allies. One of them, Milton, reveals that former Academy principal Nova was under Lionel’s Dark Coercion. Marguerite confesses that her loyalty was always to Darius, not Lionel, and reluctantly bows to the queens. The twins break Lionel’s coercion on Nova, who swears fealty to them.

Tory and Darius interrogate General McReedy. When he insults Tory’s family, their bloodlust curse triggers. They lose control and brutally kill him, intoxicated by the rush. Darcy and Orion enter to find them kissing over the corpse. Darius realizes that a need to repay death with death is the price of his resurrection.

Lionel contemplates the suspicious footage of the twins burning an Inquisition Center. He continues to attempt to convince Lavinia to become his Bonded Ward, a magical contract by which she is bound to protecting him above all else. Lavinia shows him a fallen star she has trapped in her shadows, and they torture it for information.

The star reveals that Clydinius is seeking two more fallen stars on Earth to form a forbidden Celestial Trinity—a union powerful enough to shatter the universe and splinter time. Instead of viewing Clydinius as a threat, Lionel sees an opportunity to ally with him, planning to help Clydinius in exchange for destroying the Vegas, then seize this ultimate power for himself.

Tory researches their bloodlust curse in the Book of Ether, seeking a way to summon the Ferryman to understand it. The twins oversee the arrival of Rump Island, the floating rebel military base constructed in the previous novel. They connect its protective wards to the academy’s to keep the rebels safe as they plan their next move. Darius and Tory retreat to her room, which is filled with Dragon hoard gold and items Tory stole from Lionel in a previous novel.

That night, the group begins infiltrating the FIB impound. Darius and Caleb work on magical wards while Tory disables the electric fences. Darius and Tory tease Caleb with veiled references to Seth, suggesting they know about their secret relationship.

Darcy’s team seeks the last of the Guide Stones. They find out that one might be in the FIB compound and create a massive fire diversion. Orion carries Darcy, Tory, and Darius inside at Vampire speed.

They defeat 12 FIB officers; the last swears allegiance and reveals that the Guild Stone reputed to be stored there was taken by Rathmaron, a monstrous spider, into a sealed area called the Void. They descend into the Void and find a giant web filled with victim cocoons. Rathmaron attacks, biting Orion and Tory with paralyzing venom. Darcy kills it with a spear, and Tory’s flames finish it. Darius finds the Pisces aquamarine stone. They use antivenom and escape. Outside, they find themselves surrounded by FIB agents, but are relieved when the High Commander of the FIB and her entire unit bow to the queens.

Lyra observes the Clydinius impostors as nothing satisfies their hunger. They arrive at a riverbank near a black tree with a noose. The Ferryman, who brings the dead across the river and beyond the Veil, appears and refuses Clydinius’s bargain, explaining that cursed creatures like the impostors cannot cross his river. As the impostors wonder what to do, Lionel emerges from the shadows and proposes a deal.

During a celebration, Caleb dismisses their secret relationship as nothing serious, deeply wounding Seth. Darcy follows Seth and encourages him to talk to Caleb. Seth finds Caleb in The Wailing Wood, and they spar playfully before Seth arranges something special.

Seth creates a solid cloud platform high above Earth Territory and builds an elaborate obstacle course. They play and laugh together, and Seth confesses he is in love with Caleb. Before Caleb can respond, Seth panics and rambles. Caleb silences him and admits what they have is special—he has never felt this way about anyone. They have passionate sex on the cloud platform under the moon.

Caleb wakes with Seth, feeling happiness and dread about their fragile relationship. His horoscope warns of danger. They arrive two hours late to the war council; Darius needles them with suggestive talk, implying he knows their secret.

Geraldine argues that the final Guild Stone may be in Herithé, a legendary cursed city. Using the Map of Espial, she pinpoints it in the Tanai Forest. The group searches there for hours. They find the gate to Herithé and enter one by one. When Caleb and Tory step through last, they find themselves alone in an abandoned courtyard—their friends have vanished. The gate slams shut, trapping them inside the cursed city.