Sylina argues that Tarkan’s organization depends on him. If he dies, his army will collapse without mass bloodshed. Atrius doubts she can assassinate the warlord alone and volunteers to go himself, but she insists he is too recognizable.

She enters Vasai disguised as one of Tarkan’s concubines. The city’s smells and sounds trigger memories, but Sylina pushes on to the Thorn Palace. She lies to the guards at the entrance, claiming her handler is ill. Once inside, she kills the guard assigned as her escort in a deserted hallway, hides the body, and opens a window. Atrius climbs in, having scaled the outer wall.

They navigate the palace together, and hide together as two guards pass. When Atrius wants to strike, Sylina holds him back to avoid triggering a broader fight. After the guards leave, they reach the doors to Tarkan’s chambers. As the skeptical guards examine them, Sylina and Atrius prepare to strike.

Atrius and Sylina kill the guards in unison and burst into Tarkan’s apartment. Fighting back-to-back, they defeat the warriors inside. Tarkan emerges from his bedchamber with two guards.

One of Tarkan’s guards attacks Sylina with an axe, moving like someone high on a drug called Pythoraseed. When his weapon tears her veil and he sees her face, he drops his weapon in shock and speaks her childhood name, Vivi. The guard is her brother, Naro, whom she believed dead.

Atrius gains the upper hand on Tarkan and, after a pause, nods to Sylina to deliver the killing blow. As she swings, Naro tackles her. She knocks him away with her sword hilt. Atrius kills Tarkan by cleaving through his throat with Naro’s axe. Naro charges Atrius in grief and rage. As Atrius raises the axe to kill him, Sylina throws herself between them and uses her magic to sedate Naro.

Sylina begs Atrius to spare her brother. He hacks off Tarkan’s head, tells Sylina she was right about defeating the warlord through assassination rather than a battle, and goes to the balcony to claim his new city.

Tarkan’s forces crumble without their leader, and Vasai falls to Atrius within days. Numb, Sylina stays at Naro’s bedside as he suffers through the aftermath of long-term Pythoraseed use. He remains unconscious for days, wracked with tremors and fever.

Erekkus brings her a meal at Atrius’s order and expresses sympathy, noting his people understand loss and are used to saying goodbye to their own. Sylina, angered by the implication that she is losing Naro, curtly dismisses him.

When Naro finally awakens, he expresses disgust that she joined the Arachessen. Hurt and indignant, Sylina retorts that he joined Tarkan. They recount the night they were separated during the fighting and explosions that destroyed their home. For 16 years, each believed the other was dead. They share a moment of relieved, near-hysterical laughter and hold hands.

Naro’s anger returns when he reverently calls Tarkan the Thorn King. He spirals, screaming that his sister and the vampire killed him, and he crashes to the floor when he tries to leave the bed. As footsteps approach, Sylina sedates him again and lifts him back into bed. Atrius asks her to discuss business with him.

Atrius leads Sylina to his private apartment and gives her expensive tea, noting she has barely eaten or drunk in days. He knows Naro is her brother because of their resemblance and his use of her childhood name. Sylina admits she grew up in Vasai and didn’t know Naro was alive. When she asks why he offered her the chance to kill Tarkan, Atrius says he saw she wanted it and deserved it. He mentions that his people have a history of loss and powerlessness but doesn’t share the specifics.

Sylina shifts the conversation to their next target, Karisine. Atrius reveals that his soldiers’ families live on the nearby island of Veratas, and that his cousin will launch a supporting offensive. He confesses his people are exiled from their homeland. The admission reveals a quiet sadness that echoes within Sylina.

Overwhelmed by the collision of her identities, Sylina places her hand on Atrius’s chest. Atrius tells her that her well-being matters to him and promises Naro will be safe. He explains he is helping Naro because, if the vampire he loved like a brother were still alive, he would want someone to do the same.

She asks for the truth about why he wants to conquer Glaea, but he deflects. She slides her hand under his shirt. He touches her face and says the past is devouring them both. They share a kiss. As she moves her hand lower, he abruptly pulls away. As she leaves, he stops her and speaks four words in Obitraen, which he doesn’t translate.

Naro’s condition worsens as Pythoraseed withdrawal takes hold. Desperate, Sylina searches the palace for a stash of the drug but finds nothing. Atrius appears and gives her a small pouch of Pythoraseed. He warns it is a cruel substance that will kill Naro slowly even as it prevents death by withdrawal. Sylina gives Naro a single seed, which calms his tremors but does not wake him.

Sleeping by Naro’s bed, Sylina is woken by a Threadwhisper from her Sister Asha. She meets Asha and the Sightmother outside the city in the late afternoon. Sylina recounts Atrius’s plans for Karisine but omits the civilian settlement on Veratas. She recommends that the Arachessen ally with Atrius, arguing he would rule better than the Pythora King. The Sightmother is displeased, rebuking Sylina for her familiarity with Atrius and for questioning the will of their goddess.

Sylina confesses she found Naro and asks if Arachessen healers can help. The Sightmother reminds her, “Sylina does not have a brother” (185). For the first time, Sylina questions her vows. The Sightmother gives her a blessed dagger and orders her to let Atrius take Karisine, kill him as soon as she can do so safely, and return to the Salt Keep.

Sylina returns to her room to find Atrius waiting for her. He says Naro is awake and offers to have Bloodborn healers treat Naro in Vasai while they are away. Sylina is filled with hope and thanks him.

She goes to Naro, who is awake but physically wrecked. He refuses to look at her, expressing shame and guilt for not being there to protect her. They argue bitterly. Sylina yells that she is ashamed of him for his addiction and loyalty to Tarkan. Naro replies that Tarkan gave him everything when he had nothing and that there was honor in his service to the warlord. She calms, tells him she is leaving, and that healers will be coming. She begs him to accept their help. His expression softens, and he agrees. She wants to tell him that she loves him, but she doesn’t.

Atrius’s army leaves Vasai and begins the journey to Karisine. The trek across the rocky plains is slow but uneventful. Erekkus and Sylina find it strange that the Pythora King mounts no defense. Atrius gives her a magic seal so she can send letters to Naro. She writes a brief note asking how he is, frustrated by her inability to find adequate words for what she wants to say.

At daybreak, Sylina goes to Atrius’s tent, leaving the blessed dagger behind. She finds him shirtless and kneels to perform her healing magic on his curse. He makes it clear her efforts to heal him are not an order, and she tells him she wants to be there. After the healing, they drift to sleep in each other’s arms. Sylina tries to convince herself she is maintaining his trust for the sake of her mission.

Days pass as they wait on the coast for Atrius’s cousin’s fleet, which never appears. Atrius grows increasingly uneasy, waking frequently during the day despite Sylina’s magic. She agrees to perform a Threadwalk to investigate. At the coastline, they perform the ritual together, and Atrius tells her to be careful before she begins.

In the Threadwalk, Sylina searches for the fleet but finds only mist. She shifts her attention to Veratas, and the mist turns brutally cold. She sees the Sightmother’s ghostly figure walking ahead, leaving bloody footprints. The Sightmother turns and pours scalding blood onto Sylina’s hands before vanishing.

Sylina follows a thread to the Veratas settlement, which is empty. She runs through abandoned dwellings until she trips on something jutting from the sand. Frantically digging, she unearths Atrius’s severed head. She realizes the entire settlement is littered with hundreds of dismembered vampires. As it begins to rain blood, Sylina clutches Atrius’s head to her chest and throws herself from the thread.

Sylina returns to her body and coughs up saltwater. Atrius drags her from the incoming tide and wraps her in his cloak. She was in the trance for over an hour. She warns him something is terribly wrong on the island. Atrius believes her without question and orders fishing boats sent from Vasai at once.

Erekkus confronts Sylina, frantic with worry, and reveals he has a child on Veratas. Pained by this, Sylina offers a vague but calming reassurance. When the boats arrive, a small force prepares to depart. Atrius allows Sylina to come. While packing, she hesitates over the blessed dagger before strapping it to her thigh.

They sail through thick mists to Veratas, with Sylina helping to navigate. The island is empty and silent, but Sylina senses a strange, pervasive buzzing in the threads that intensifies into a painful headache. They find the settlement abandoned with signs the inhabitants vanished suddenly. She follows the buzzing sensation until a drop of black-red blood falls on her hand.

Atrius and Erekkus cry out as they look up into the trees where hundreds of vampires are staked high in the branches, kept in a state between life and death. The vampires’ agony was masking the presence of soldiers hiding in the woods. Sylina tackles Atrius to safety, but explosives detonate before she can speak.

The explosion triggers a flashback to the destruction of Sylina’s childhood home. Atrius’s voice brings her back to the present. The threads are too erratic for Sylina to see clearly, and Atrius orders her to stay by his side.

Pythora’s soldiers pour from the forest, outnumbering Atrius’s force. Sylina sees a soldier lunging for Atrius’s back and impulsively moves to intercept. She stabs the soldier but is grievously wounded in the abdomen. She collapses, unable to rise or sense the threads. Atrius hacks her attacker to pieces and then ignores the battle to kneel beside her, his usually calm aura filled with terror.

As her consciousness fades, Atrius lifts her into his arms. He calls her both Sylina and Vivi, begging her to stay with him. The last thing she hears is Atrius screaming at his men, “Kill them all” (213). Her final thoughts are of rage at the Pythora King, and she agrees with the order, not thinking of her vows or mission at all.