Flying west, Raeve observes that Kaan is injured and sustained by his bond with Rygun. They are intercepted by a pregnant Moltenmaw rider who leads them through an illusory barrier into a hidden village called Beluhn, a dragon-rearing sanctuary. The rider is Chieftess Siharna Farjór. She’s suspicious of Raeve’s name, stating that she has only heard that name twice before, but she doesn’t explain what it means to her. Kaan explains to Siharna that Raeve doesn’t remember the rest of her name or who she is, and Siharna’s demeanor softens.

Kaan is greeted by Siharna’s young daughter, Korie, then collapses from his injuries. Siharna confronts Kaan about the danger he poses as a fugitive from the Tri-Council. When Kaan calls himself a liability, Raeve declares that the Council will have to get through her to reach him. Siharna reveals that this is where they are to meet the Moonplume and offers them protection at the family roost.

Raeve is disturbed by the five wounds in Kaan’s back. Inside, Korie cries inconsolably for her absent father, Zior. Despite his pain, Kaan offers to comfort her. Siharna gives him Zior’s lute, and Kaan plays and sings to Korie. Witnessing his tenderness overwhelms Raeve with the realization that she loves him. She flees outside, expecting her Other to emerge as it usually does when she is overwhelmed by emotion. Instead, she is struck by a memory: As Elluin, she tearfully left Kaan a parchment lark and his málmr—a traditional pendant signifying romantic devotion—believing that abandoning him was the only way to protect him. The vision confirms her past identity and reveals that her suppressed memories are resurfacing.

Kaan arrives at his mother’s former home with Pyrok and Roan, feeling her absence. Weakened, he blocks his connection to Rygun. While Roan and Pyrok bicker over whether Raeve has fled with the book, Kaan remains certain she will return. Raeve soon does return, leaving the book downstairs. She appears distant, drinking heavily and ignoring a silver thread wrapped around her hand. When Kaan insists Roan treat her thigh wound first, Raeve rips the pin out herself and stitches the gash without flinching. After Roan removes the last pins from Kaan’s back, Kaan orders the brothers out.

Kaan dismisses help and commands Ignos to cauterize his wounds. Alone with Raeve, he expresses admiration for her courage. She washes blood from him, and he reaffirms his devotion. Raeve warns that if he died protecting her, she would “wreck the world” to avenge him (134). Kaan insists he will always put her life first. As he cleans a cut on her face, the tension shifts. Raeve admits that his touch unravels her and initiates intimacy. Kaan challenges her to tell him to stop if she truly thinks he is bad for her. Instead, she pulls him into a fierce kiss.

Raeve and Kaan have sex, expressing their devotion to each other and promising to protect each other from those who would harm them, including the tri-Council pursuing Kaan. The sight of snow triggers a traumatic memory for Raeve, and her perception shifts into a flashback of a past assault in a cold room. Her consensual moment is mentally warped into a remembered violation, and she is left trapped in quiet panic.

Kaan wakes to find Raeve holding a knife to his throat, believing he is the unidentified person who sexually assaulted her in the past. He calms her by stating his name; horrified, she drops the blade and retreats to the washroom. There, she tells him that Elluin loved him with her whole heart. When Kaan asks if she remembers, Raeve dismisses it as a fleeting feeling, but Kaan recognizes that she is lying to protect him. He brings her back to bed and comforts her by singing “Song of the Silent Sun” (145). Kaan concludes that when Elluin rejected him, it must have been a lie to spare him from a worse truth.

Kyzari fails to charm a guard who slides a moldy meal through the bars of her prison cell. She has befriended the parchment lark Nee, which she keeps hidden in her cell. After reciting a personal mantra—“I will survive” (147)—while touching an Aether Stone on her brow, she forces herself to eat. She finds a bone shard in the meat, which she views as a treasure. Taking grim satisfaction in how her feral state would horrify her father, she uses a sharp stone and her shackle to split the bone, beginning to fashion lockpicks for escape.

Unable to sleep, Raeve contemplates the memory. She concludes that Elluin must have been coerced into leaving Kaan. A distant screech compels her to investigate the snowy village. On a bridge, she sees Líri, the Moonplume, emerge from the clouds. Líri spots her and attacks, unleashing flame that obliterates the bridge.

Rygun intercepts Líri as she tries to attack again. After a tense confrontation, Rygun herds the enraged Líri into a burrow. Raeve realizes that Líri, who had previously trusted her, now wants her dead.

Raeve ascends to find Líri. Three injured riders warn her that Líri is aggressive and that they couldn’t remove her saddle. When Raeve approaches, the exhausted dragon charges. Kaan pulls Raeve to safety, explaining that Líri feels abandoned and heartbroken after Raeve left Dhomm. He reveals that Raeve’s kindness was the only reason the gravely injured Líri clung to life.

Líri flies down to the village and uses her flame to build a tall hexagonal nesting perch, placing herself out of Raeve’s reach. Realizing that Líri has never had freedom to choose, Raeve resolves on a dangerous new course, telling Kaan she needs food and soft-soled boots.

As Raeve prepares to free-climb Líri’s pillar, Kaan is anxious. He warns her that bonding with a mature dragon can cause a rider to lose sanity, but Raeve dismisses his concerns. When she can’t find suitable boots, Kaan takes her to his late mother’s room and gives her Mah’s old climbing boots. Raeve extracts a promise that he will not intervene. He reluctantly agrees. After leaving her, Kaan’s suppressed fear becomes overwhelming, and he vomits.

From his moonshard throne above the Pits of Khindard, the Scavenger King, Arkyn, hosts Tri-Councilor Einar. Einar reveals that the council has outlawed Arkyn’s half-brother, Kaan Vaegor, and intends to use Kaan’s twin brothers to seize The Burn in order to exploit its vast reserves of bloodstone. Arkyn counters with knowledge of an impending moonfall, which he will use to force people to accept his claim to the throne of the Burn as King Ostern’s first-born son. Einar dismisses Arkyn’s ambition, noting that Arkyn’s mother was not the queen but a null woman—that is, a member of the oppressed class of people unable to hear the songs of the Creators. Sensing that the council is in a difficult financial position, Arkyn proposes a new deal: He will deliver Kaan for public execution and give the council all the northern bloodstone if they will support his claim to the throne. Einar believes that capturing Kaan will prove impossible, but he agrees that if Arkyn accomplishes this feat, the council will deem him worthy.

With the village watching, Raeve prepares to climb the ice perch. Kaan appears. Raeve openly wears the málmr he gave her. Kaan uses his power to magically rebuild the broken bridge, warning that he will destroy the world if she dies. Raeve climbs to the summit just as Líri awakens and leaps into the air; Raeve jumps after, grabbing the saddle ropes as they plummet. Dangling, Raeve reveals that her intention is not to ride Líri but to free her. She unbuckles the girth strap of the saddle—a remnant of Líri’s torture by Rekk. As the final strap releases, Raeve tells Líri to be free and falls away with the saddle into the clouds as the dragon cries out.

Plummeting, Raeve unsuccessfully commands Clode, the air goddess, to rescue her. Just before she hits the ground, Líri swoops in and tosses her into a snowbank. Their landing is interrupted by an aggressive male Moltenmaw standing over a fresh kill. Líri places herself protectively in front of Raeve and urges her to mount. Raeve climbs on just as the male calls his mate and fledgling. His aggression was protective. The sight causes Líri deep pain; distressed, she flees, carrying the unprepared Raeve.

On a mountain peak with a grieving Líri, Raeve sings her calming song, soothing her. As Raeve comforts her, Líri accepts her, coiling around her protectively. A bond forms; their heartbeats synchronize, and Líri’s essence settles into an empty space in Raeve’s soul.

The new bond causes immense agony, confirming that a previous bond was broken. Retreating into her mindscape, she discovers a luminous silver splinter. Believing it the source of her suffering, she violently cuts it out, discarding the “tender stuff” of her soul. She drops the piece into her internal lake, where her Other pursues it. The process leaves Raeve feeling harder, filled with feral, protective strength.

Moments from completing the bone lockpicks she intends to use to escape imprisonment, Kyzari is interrupted by the Scavenger King. He brings a parchment lark from Tyroth, revealing that her failure to his last message caused the death of her maid, Marci. The new message threatens her dragon, Suri.

Having overheard her talking to Nee, the Scavenger King guesses her escape plan and forces her to surrender the lockpicks. He declares hope a weapon he cannot afford for her to have and demands Nee. When Kyzari begs, he threatens to destroy Tyroth’s lark. Resigned, she sings a lullaby to Nee. The Scavenger King snatches the companion and rips it in two. He leaves Kyzari screaming, clutching Nee’s lifeless halves.

Exhausted from forging underground bunkers in preparation for the predicted moonfalls, Kaan tries not to think about Raeve’s revelation that Elluin still loved him. His heavily pregnant cousin Siharna comes down with bread and cheese and encourages him to eat, though his anxiety about Raeve’s safety means that he has no appetite. Kaan details preparations across his kingdom; they share their fear of losing their ancestral homes. Siharna praises the king he has become, but Kaan is haunted by the destructive rage he felt after killing his father. When he asks about Raeve, Siharna confirms that she is still with her Moonplume but has made no contact.

Operating on primal instinct, Raeve and Líri hunt. Raeve reflects on her simpler existence, finding freedom in savage urges. After Líri kills a bear-like mammal called a bhar, Raeve joins her in eating raw meat. Her primary motivation is to remain near Kaan and protect him. As they eat, she hears Kaan singing and sees him bathing in a nearby spring. His scent overwhelms her. Taking some meat to offer him, she charges toward him. After warning growls between Líri and Rygun, Líri submits, allowing Raeve to enter Kaan’s space.

Kaan is bathing when Raeve appears, feral, covered in blood, carrying the meat. She joins him and initiates a carnal encounter. Kaan realizes she has suppressed her humanity to escape the pain from bonding with Líri. He denies her advances, insisting that he won’t be intimate until she uses her words. After a struggle, he walks away. Just as he is about to leave, Raeve speaks his name. She admits the bonding awakens grief. Kaan challenges her to stay and fight through her pain, and she pledges not to run. The chapter ends with a lucid Raeve possessively telling Kaan he is hers.

After having passionate sex with Kaan and exchanging promises of devotion, Raeve sees Líri fly away. The sight triggers deep panic connected to past trauma she thinks of as a “silver splinter” in her mind. She buries the pain while aware of a powerful presence within her. Kaan senses her terror and comforts her, insisting that Líri is not truly leaving. Raeve reassures him that she is with him.