In the library during a snowstorm, Medra sees a silver wolf on the cliffs and wonders if it is the same one from the ambush. Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of Professor Hassan angrily searching for her. Kage appears and pulls Medra into a hidden alcove to hide, but they trip and fall, landing in a compromising position. Blake arrives, growls at Kage to get his hands off Medra, then lunges forward and attacks him in a jealous rage. Medra breaks up the fight and asks Kage to leave. Alone with Blake, Medra explains that what he saw was an accident. Privately, she reflects on the bond-severing ritual Kage told her about, conflicted over whether to use it. She fears it could kill Blake and also questions if she even wants to sever the bond. Meanwhile, Blake tells Medra he has something important to discuss with her.

Blake leads Medra to a secluded study room in the library and tells her about his discoveries from Viktor’s diary. 

When Medra confesses that she already knows that Viktor may be planning to use the soul-binding ritual on her, Blake accuses her of keeping secrets and not trusting him. Medra argues that he broke their trust first by feeding on her without her consent, prompting Blake to kneel in contrition and sincerely apologize for the feeding. Medra accepts his apology, and the two share a passionate encounter in the study. Afterward, she resolves to tell Nyxaris the truth. As Blake walks her to the cliffside where she can summon him, they share personal histories. Blake discusses his first kiss, and Medra reveals she is a fae princess from another world (See: Background). Blake leaves her there as she waits for Nyxaris.

Medra summons Nyxaris and tells him the true history of the Dragon Wars while they fly over the sea. The revelation that he was used to frighten and enslave mortals and fight his own kind sends Nyxaris into a state of anguish and fury. He lands on a rocky outcrop, overwhelmed by the return of his memories and the horror of his past actions. Though enraged at the world, he tells Medra she was right to tell him the truth. He vows he will never be used by the highbloods again and warns her not to summon him back to the dangerous vicinity of the school unless it is absolutely critical. He then flies off into the night.

In his Sanguine Rites (blood magic) class, Blake sees his brother, Marcus, speaking with their professor, Alastor Vane. After Marcus leaves, Blake sits Theo, who is alarmed to see red, iridescent scales manifest on Blake’s hands and wrists. Blake quickly hides them, dismissing it as an illness, and makes Theo swear not to tell anyone. Visha joins them, excitedly discussing her new romance with a dwarven scout, Lace Ironstride. In a moment of decisiveness, Blake formally names both Theo and Visha as his Seconds.

Blake arrives for a private lesson with Professor Rodriguez, only to find Kage is also present. Rodriguez reveals he is the last member of the Emberwatch, a secret order dedicated to protecting blightborn, even if it meant killing dragons and their riders. To prevent Medra from being subjected to the soul-binding ritual, Rodriguez plans to use an ancient Emberwatch rite to turn Nyxaris back into stone. He asks for Blake and Kage’s help, explaining that Blake must lure Medra and Nyxaris to the Dragon Court on the night of the solstice.

After the meeting, Kage confronts Blake, revealing he knows about the physical transformations Blake is experiencing. He hints that he has gone through something similar himself and warns Blake he may not survive the process. He advises Blake that if he cannot control the transformation he will be a danger to Medra, and suggests he ask his uncle Viktor about the true circumstances of his father’s death.

Florence attends her first self-defense lesson with Medra, determined to learn how to protect herself. Neville follows her to the training room, where they meet the dwarven instructor, Professor Stonefist. Stonefist is fond of Neville, noting that fluffins were once loyal companions to dwarves. During their warm-up, Medra confides in Florence about the escalating tension between Blake and Kage and her own deepening ties with Blake. She also reveals she turned down Blake’s invitation to the Dance of the Longest Night because she had already promised to go with Florence.

While getting dressed on the night of the solstice ball, Blake suddenly undergoes a horrific and painful transformation. Red scales erupt across his skin, his nails become claws, and skeletal wings burst from his back, tearing through his robes. He is overcome by a monstrous rage before he manages to regain control and change back to his highblood form. Theo and Visha, arriving to fetch him for the ball, find Blake shaken and his clothes shredded, but he brushes off their concerns.

As Medra and Florence prepare for the ball, Blake arrives with Theo and Visha, suggesting they all attend together. He gives Medra an onyx pendant carved in the shape of Nyxaris and gives Florence a silver pendant of a fluffin on a stack of books. Touched, Medra takes his hand as they walk to the ball, signaling a new level of intimacy between them.

At the ball, Blake dances with Medra but is preoccupied with the plan to betray her. He tells himself that he is doing the right thing in the larger interest of his world. He takes her to an outdoor terrace and asks her to summon Nyxaris, claiming he wants to apologize to the dragon and share important information. A reluctant Medra finally agrees to summon the dragon to the Dragon Court at midnight. Before Blake can return to the party, Theo informs him that his uncle, Viktor, has summoned him.

In Viktor’s chambers, Viktor reveals that Aenia escaped during a transfer he ordered after giving the castle in which the child was hidden to Regan as part of her dowry. He then orders Blake to bring Medra to him that night to perform the soul-binding ritual. Blake grows extremely angry with Viktor, the rage triggering Blake’s transformation. As an unsurprised Viktor mocks the changes in Blake, Blake realizes Viktor wanted him to transform. In fact, Viktor orchestrated his relationship with Medra so that her rider blood could awaken this latent power, just as he had done with Blake’s father, Alexander. Alexander had begun to transform after feeding from his wife, Desdemona, a half-blood with rider ancestry. The full transformation overcomes Blake. A panicked guard wounds him, destroying his left eye, before Blake, now a dragon-like monster, kills the guards and attacks a terrified Viktor with fire, killing him.

Medra goes to the Dragon Court at midnight and summons Nyxaris. As Nyxaris alights, he senses a trap. Before Medra can react, she and Nyxaris are ambushed by Professor Rodriguez and Kage, who are armed with crossbows. Kage restrains Medra while Rodriguez shoots Nyxaris with two bolts tipped with a special poison designed to penetrate dragon hide. The poison weakens Nyxaris, preventing him from using his fire. Rodriguez reveals that he needs the dragon’s blood for the ritual to turn him back to stone. As Medra fights Kage, Rodriguez asks Kage where Blake is, and at that moment the truth of Blake’s betrayal becomes clear to Medra.

At the now-emptying ballroom, Florence, Theo, and Visha grow concerned about their missing friends. While searching for Visha’s girlfriend, Lace, they discover her murdered body in a corridor. They are immediately confronted by Aenia Drakharrow, who is covered in blood. As Aenia lunges at Florence, Theo kills Aenia with a blade. A horrifically wounded Blake arrives, his left eye destroyed. Devastated to see Aenia dead, he wordlessly picks up his sister’s body and walks toward the Dragon Court, with a shocked Florence and Theo following.

Blake arrives at the Dragon Court to find the ambush in progress. However, matters are complicated further when Marcus, Catherine Mortis, and a vacant-looking Lunaya Orphos appear on the scene. Marcus taunts Blake over Aenia’s death and fires the crossbow he is carrying; Florence, moving forward on her own toward Medra, takes the bolt to the chest. 

Watching Marcus move, Blake is reminded of one of the masked attackers and realizes Marcus and Catherine orchestrated the attack to steal Medra’s blood from the knife with which she was stabbed. Their plan is to use the blood from the knife, and blend it with Lunaya’s blood to reanimate the Orphos dragon Molindra. As Blake faces Marcus, Kage transforms into the giant white wolf they have been spotting and attacks. Meanwhile, Catherine uses necromancy, along with Lunaya’s blood and the stolen rider blood, to reanimate the golden stone dragon Molindra. The dragon awakens as a corrupted, zombie-like creature. Marcus and Catherine climb onto its back as it prepares to attack Nyxaris.

As Florence bleeds out, the corrupted Molindra attacks the still-poisoned Nyxaris. He uses his wings to shield Medra and the others from the dragon’s fire but is badly wounded. On Orcades’s encouragement, Medra stabs the unscaled flesh between Molindra’s claws with her dagger, and this act allows Orcades, to enter the corrupted dragon. Unable to save the beast, Orcades forces it to fly away, carrying Marcus, Catherine, and Lunaya with it. Medra rushes back to Florence, who has stopped breathing.

Rodriguez finds a faint pulse and suggests a legendary cure: A mixture of dragon and rider blood. Nyxaris, furious over the betrayal, refuses, knowing the ritual will bind him to a new rider. Blake steps forward and offers his life to Nyxaris as punishment for his betrayal of the dragon. Medra casts herself before Blake, asking the dragon not to kill Blake as he is “mine.” The standoff is broken by Neville, whose appearance triggers Nyxaris’s memories of the ancient bond between dragons and fluffins. Swayed by Neville’s loyalty and calmed by his presence, Nyxaris reluctantly agrees to the ritual.