As Max struggles with his cramped quarters in R.U.M.P. Castle, Justin arrives and mocks his relationship with Geraldine, dismissing it as temporary, and Max forces himself to walk away instead of lashing out. When Max goes to see Tory, he finds her obsessively studying the book on Ether, searching for a way to bring Darius back. When Max reminds her that resurrection is impossible, she refuses to accept it.

Together, they then interrogate Miguel, who tells them that his tribe, along with a few others, broke away from Lavinia. He suggests that there was once a connection between their species, and Tory suggests forming an alliance with the rogue Nymphs.

Afterward, Tory prepares the Ether ritual to track down Darcy. Seth and Max warn her that the magic is dangerous, but Caleb defends her. Tory pushes forward anyway, constructing a pentagram and ritual doll, which she infuses with her blood, her hair, and enchanted herbs. When the ritual activates, Tory’s soul is ripped from her body. The Heirs panic, but she quickly snaps back into her body and tells them what she learned: that Darcy and Orion are prisoners of Lionel.

The Undercover A.S.S. prepares for their attack against Lionel, who is scheduled to make an appearance at Zodiac Academy’s main assembly hall. When he arrives with his camera crew and Principal Nova, the students are forced to bow to him. As he gives a propaganda-filled speech focused on Order superiority, the rebels attack with glue and glitter bombs on live television. They also play a mocking remix of his speeches, along with a sex tape of him with a shifted Pegasus girl. A blood-red paint bomb splatters against his air shield, forming a message accusing him of exploiting the lower Orders.

Milton and Bernice flee the scene, blending in with the students running from the aftermath, but nearly run into Lionel while he berates Nova. They hide in a closet as Lionel uses Dark Coercion to command Nova to hunt down the rebels and deliver them to him. Marguerite notices them in the closet but pretends not to, saving their lives again.

After learning that Lionel has Darcy and Orion, Geraldine breaks down, and Max carries her to her room. Once there, she lashes herself with a vine whip as self-punishment for failing her queen. Max restrains her, and in the tension that follows, Geraldine demands that he have sex with her, and he complies.

Orion returns, unconscious, after more torture, and Darcy fears that Lavinia’s magic is tainting his soul. Stella arrives and offers her help. With no other choice, Darcy relents, and Stella removes the tainted shadows, bringing Orion back to himself. After Stella leaves, a hidden passageway opens. Inside, Darcy and Orion find the royal treasury, filled with ancient artifacts and treasures, including the Heart of Memoriae crystal. Through it, Darcy witnesses a vision from which she learns that there is a curse on the Vega family, which the Imperial Star is still enacting. She and Tory are doomed to failure unless they can uncover the broken promise that keeps the curse alive. Orion also finds a book that he recognizes from Gabriel’s vision. They hide the items and then hurry back to their cage just in time. Lionel passes through the throne room with an entourage, including Gabriel, who warns them, “Fear the Bonded men. The night the Hydra bellows is coming, and fate has shifted” (612). Before he can say more, Lionel silences him.

Later, after they are allowed out to bathe, Lavinia summons Darcy in her Shadow Beast form and forces her to hunt down escaping prisoners. Fighting against Lavinia’s control, she manages to save one Fae imprisoned in the form of a small rat and hide it in the secret passage. Lavinia, furious at her disobedience, drags her and Orion back into the torture chamber again.

Orion drifts in and out of consciousness while Darcy and Stella draw him back from the darkness again. As Orion regains himself, Darcy clings to him, terrified of losing him, and he promises to fight for her. The white rat that Darcy rescued arrives and reveals itself to be Eugene, a Fae they knew from Aurora Academy. Eugene tells them that Vard is conducting experiments on captured Fae, whose Order forms are being transplanted onto others, often fatally. They are also twisting Fae into monstrous new forms for Lionel’s army.

Tory convinces Miguel to take her to the rebel Nymphs’ sanctuary, where she appeals for an alliance, arguing that Lionel and Lavinia will only ever see the Nymphs as pawns. Despite skepticism from some, Miguel’s testimony about his suffering under Lavinia sways many. While the Nymphs don’t immediately agree to join the war, they promise to consider her request.

To learn more about the magic in the Book of Ether, Tory follows a Nymph named Uma to a cave where she meets three oracles—Vidi, Audire, and Loqui—who sacrificed their senses to gain supernatural knowledge. Bound by their magic, she experiences night after night of sex with Darius while the oracles feed off her grief and passion. When she awakens, she finds a message left by the oracles pointing her toward the Damned Forest.

Tory is missing for over a day, and the prison guards who were on duty when she left with Miguel are in distress, fearing they’ve failed their queen. Caleb, along with the other Heirs, try to maintain order, but Geraldine and Max’s father clash over whether to send out forces to find her. A magical fight breaks out between them, causing further disorder among the rebels.

Amid the chaos, Caleb and Seth argue before Caleb finally relents and feeds from him. They are interrupted by Seth’s mother, Antonia, who is horrified to learn that her son has become a Source for a Vampire. She demands that Caleb renounce his claim on her son, but he refuses. The fights finally end when Tory returns with Miguel, reassuring them that he is an ally. Later, Tory tells Caleb about the Nymph oracles and the Damned Forest.

Lionel revels in his power as the self-proclaimed Dragon King but remains frustrated by his inability to access the palace treasury. While waiting for a summoned lover, Francesca Sky, he meets with Vard, who presents him with the results of his Order-switching and fusion experiments. However, the processes are unstable, and the subjects often die. Lionel commands him to continue perfecting the experiment.

In his chambers, Lionel contemplates his plans to solidify his grip on Solaria and track down the Imperial Star. However, he dreads Lavinia’s demands for an heir from him, and he decides that she’s a threat he must neutralize. Stella arrives, and he orders her to continue delaying her work on a new rift for Lavinia.

Francesca brings a memory loop ring with her to store evidence on Lionel. She seduces him enough to gain his trust while her partner makes a distraction outside. When Lionel goes to investigate, Francesca uses her Cyclops gifts to compel a palace butler to lead her to Orion. When she finds Orion and Darcy, she breaks the tracking spells placed on them. Orion, however, refuses to escape with her, saying that he is bound to Darcy’s curse and must remain. Francesca pleads with him and asks if he ever loved her, and he tells her no. Lionel then storms into the throne room, furious at her betrayal. Francesca uses her powers to invade Lionel’s mind and extract his secrets, including his murder of his brother and his manipulation of the Savage King, Hail Vega. Lionel’s butler then stabs her, breaking her concentration, and Lionel beats her. In a last act of defiance, she hides the memory loop ring near Orion and Darcy. Lionel then kills her in a burst of dragon fire.

As Francesca burns, Orion swears that Lionel will pay. Lavinia enters the chamber, and Orion and Darcy watch in horror as she consumes Francesca’s corpse. Lavinia then turns on Lionel, whom she suspects of infidelity. She uses her shadow magic to make him hit himself and demands again that he provide her with an heir before dragging him away.

Once they’re gone, Orion collapses in grief and guilt over Francesca’s death. Darcy comforts him and tells him that they must honor her sacrifice. Orion then finds Francesca’s memory ring containing the evidence of Lionel’s atrocities. They give the ring to Eugene for safekeeping.

Lavinia and Lionel have sex and finally conceive the heir she wanted. After leaving Lionel behind, Lavinia transforms into shadow and ascends to her private lair in the palace’s north tower. Her pregnancy proceeds at an unnatural rate, and as she prepares for the birth, she prepares a ritual using the severed heads of four powerful Fae and a sliver of malachite, which she stabs into her stomach. One by one, she consumes the souls of the dead Fae, fusing their abilities into her monstrous offspring, ensuring that it is born as the most powerful creature Solaria has ever seen.

Tory, Geraldine, the three remaining Celestial Heirs, and Xavier infiltrate the Palace of Souls to rescue their imprisoned friends and, if possible, assassinate Lionel. As they discuss their strategy, Dante says that he received a secret message from Juniper, a woman whom Lionel forced into an arranged procreation attempt. Her triplet sons are not Dragons, so Lionel will have them executed. In exchange for the children’s rescue, Juniper offers intelligence on Lionel and the Dragon Guild. The group divides into two teams: Tory, Xavier, and Max will search for Darcy and Orion, while Geraldine, Caleb, and Seth will hunt for Gabriel.

Mildred prepares to offer herself to Lionel, imagining herself as his rightful consort. She bumps into Vard, who taunts her and invades her mind, forcing her to relive the memory of what was supposed to be her wedding to Darius from Gabriel’s perspective. To her horror, she discovers that Gabriel ambushed her in her bridal suite and used his magic to subdue her and erase her memory. He then impersonated her to sabotage her wedding. As the vision ends, Vard tells her that he already shared the memory with the entire Dragon Guild at a dinner the previous night. Mildred punches a wall in frustration before refocusing on the ceremony ahead of her.