Back in Morthryn, Asar and Mische reunite with a kiss but quickly realize that not only is Mische slightly incorporeal, but touching one another physically burns them: Mische is a wraith, and wraiths cannot touch the living. When Mische begins fading, Asar tolerates the pain so that she can feed on his blood. It strengthens her but leaves him significantly weakened.

Mische wraps Asar in a sheet so that she can lift him without skin-to-skin contact and follows Luce, who leads them to Asar’s bedroom in Morthryn. There, she places him in a magical bathtub so that he can heal in its special waters. When Asar wakes, he and Mische each observe how the other has changed in the time they’ve been apart. Though Mische has the transparency of a wraith and Asar has the ethereal essence of a god, their cores remain the same.

Mische and Asar change into the clothes Morthryn provides for them before sharing their versions of what has transpired since they separated. Mische tells Asar about her interactions with Vincent, while Asar shares details about the mission Acaeja has given them. Morthryn supplies black gloves that extend past Mische’s elbow to hide her semi-transparent state. Mische somberly mentions how she used to wear similar gloves to hide the burns she received attempting to wield sunlight after becoming a vampire. However, she appreciates that she’s able to painlessly touch Asar with them on.

Asar and Mische roam Morthryn, and Asar mourns its state of decay. He reminisces about meeting Esme, “a wraith who had refused to move on to the Descent” (117). Esme showed him around Morthryn and taught him that while many view it as a prison, it is actually a “bridge to endless possibilities” (117). They reach Asar’s study, which has been ransacked; when they look out the window, they find the bay filled with the House of Shadow’s warships. In the distance, Asar notices the faint red ring of an eclipse behind the moon. Luce brings forth Asar’s sword, but it feels different when he holds it. He offers it to Mische. He also inscribes glyphs on Mische’s jacket hood that craft an illusion to make her look more alive. Shadowborn soldiers then break into Morthryn. Mische is stabbed through the shoulder with a sword, and Asar is apprehended by Elias, the trusted guard of Asar’s half-sister, Egrette.

Vincent visits Mische in her unconsciousness. Vincent informs Mische that Asar’s sister, Egrette, likely plans to execute Asar in front of the subjects she’s failing to control. He advises Mische to use this to her advantage because she will need access to the House of Shadow for her tasks. He reminds Mische of the powers at her disposal and urges her to start thinking like a vampire rather than an acolyte.

Mische wakes surrounded by the Shadowborn and Bloodborn in the ballroom of the Shadowborn castle. Mische sees that Egrette also has an heir mark for the House of Shadow. She goads Egrette into resolving to execute her first, believing this is the only way to motivate Asar to use his full power.

Asar commands Egrette to unhand his wife. Though it is a lie, the shocked court believes it. His anger stokes his magic, which shakes the room, and his compulsion convinces Elias to drop his blade at Asar’s command. Mische speaks with Asar telepathically, urging him not to start a war but to make tentative peace by offering his sister something she wants. Everyone knows Egrette’s power is no match for Asar’s, but Mische believes that his mercy will get him further than his wrath. Asar makes an oath where he declares his loyalty to Egrette, forfeiting his claim to the throne in favor of supporting hers. In exchange, he asks for a role in building the kingdom alongside her; he also requests safety and positions for himself and Mische. Though wary, Egrette accepts the oath and grants them mercy.

Mische and Asar are given a suite in the castle. There, Mische privately scolds Asar for giving up the throne. Asar, meanwhile, is angry with Mische for putting herself in danger to draw out his power. He admits that the memory of her death replays in his mind. Mische tells Asar that she cannot be his sole reason for becoming a god because living on grief only “festers into bitterness and hatred” (145).

Fireworks interrupt their conversation. When Mische notices the red ring around the moon, Asar informs her that the Night of the Melume is approaching. This legendary House of Shadow event marks the thinning of the boundary between past and present, allowing ghosts to walk amongst the living. Asar claims that the event will present them with a perfect opportunity to get the mask. He tells Mische about Vathysia, the heart of Alarus’s kingdom—The House of Death—that existed before Alarus died and before Nyaxia. The mask is at the House of Shadow—but only in the past. When Mische mentions seeing shadows around the edges of the room, Asar theorizes that she’s seeing the shades of the dead since she’s one of them.

Asar visits Egrette’s office, which contains the evidence of how hard she’s been working to build her kingdom. Egrette reveals that Nyaxia appeared to her and the rulers of the House of Blood, seeking their help in seizing the world. Meanwhile, Shiket has been preparing Atroxus’s human followers for a war. When Asar asks about the House of Night, Egrette claims that they’ve displeased Nyaxia. Asar tells Egrette that he wants to travel to Ryvenhaal in search of spells from its archives that he can perform during the Melume, which will give their soldiers access to more powerful magic, help them forge stronger weapons, and protect their ships. Egrette believes that Gideon will be happy to see Asar, which he’s not thrilled about, and grants Asar’s request.

Mische, Asar, and Luce sail for Ryvenhaal. She is unnerved by the castle’s archives, which feel more like a prized prison than a respected collection. She correctly assumes that this is where Asar grew up. Asar states that this is where his father cultivated tools to help him create the strongest kingdom in the world. Eventually, they reach a room warded against the dead, so Mische cannot enter. Asar begrudgingly leaves Mischa and Luce alone while he enters the room. A disoriented bird flies into a window and falls at Mische’s feet. A man appears and compels Mische to bring him the bird. Luce growls, but Mische sets the bird in the middle of the necromancy circle near the man. He compels her to help him bring it back, but Mische erects the barriers around her mind to shut him out and asks who he is. He brings the bird back to life regardless and tucks it into his breast pocket. Asar enters the room, coldly addressing the man as Gideon.

Gideon takes them deeper into the archives, and Asar tells him that they’re looking for Alarus’s mask, eye, and heart. Gideon informs them that the mask they look for is a crown and that the eye is contained within the axe the goddess Srana forged to dismember Alarus. He states that some believe the White Pantheon can no longer wield the axe because it was cursed after it was used. However, it might remain where Alarus was murdered in the deadlands—the realm between the mortal and divine worlds that is accessible only through the House of Blood’s lands. Gideon claims that the heart has not been written about in any books he’s scoured. When asked how to find the mask, Gideon states that they must navigate the Palace of Vathysia at the height of the Melume. He presents them with maps of Vathysia prior to its fall.

With a storm making the waters too dangerous to traverse, Asar and Mische stay in Asar’s old chambers. Asar visits Gideon’s chambers, where Gideon informs Asar that he knows the relics he searches for are the keys to ascending to godhood and that he recognizes that Mische is a wraith. Gideon warns Asar that his heart will be his downfall and that his anger is far more valuable.

Asar knows that Gideon withheld information earlier. The Shadowborn have a long history of keyforging—embedding spells needed to access powerful objects or information inside a person’s mind and body. Asar has correctly determined that Gideon is the keyholder for the mask. When Gideon offers to disclose the information in exchange for permission to study Mische, Asar declines and instead takes what he needs by force. To extract the combination of spells he needs, Asar carves glyphs on Gideon’s skin and bones and scours his mind before scrambling his memory and leaving him for his maid to find. Gideon’s parting words to Asar claim that Asar will ruin Mische.

After leaving Gideon, Asar roams the halls lost in thought until he crosses paths with Mische in the atrium. She is perusing the bookshelves while wrapped in a thin bed sheet because her clothes are dirty. Though the reminder of Gideon’s words almost convinces Asar to keep his distance from Mische, he can’t resist her. They become intimate, and he pleasures her through the blanket.

After returning to the Shadowborn castle, Asar works with Egrette to prepare for Melume. Meanwhile, Vincent visits Mische through the reflection of a mirror. He urges her to go to the House of Night. He claims he possesses a vial of Alarus’s blood. He believes that the Nightborn kingdom likely houses the heart and that the blood can lead them to it. However, Mische refuses to bring her friends, King Raihn and Queen Oraya (the latter of whom also happens to be Vincent’s daughter), into the conflict.

Later, Mische and Asar chart the path to the mask using the maps given to them by Gideon. While Asar and Egrette conduct the spell to begin the ceremony of Melume, Mische will go alone to find the mask during the scant few minutes the veil is thinnest. They are unsure what will occur when they find the mask but hope that they can take it and escape before Egrette notices and captures them.

While Asar is in more meetings with Egrette, Mische encounters Septimus, from the House of Blood, in the castle halls. Septimus knows that they need to go to the deadlands; his cousin is capable of giving them passage. He asks for nothing in exchange, calling it a favor he grants because their interests align. He allows Mische to look into his mind to confirm that he’s being truthful.

Mische convinces Asar to dance with her at the celebration of Melume. Just as Asar is drawn away to conduct the ceremonial opening spell with Egrette, Mische is approached by Raihn.

After not hearing word from Mische in nearly a year, Raihn has come to save her from the House of Shadow, which he believes has been holding her prisoner. Though she has always eagerly received Raihn’s hugs, Mische must reject this one to keep him from realizing that she’s not alive. She pleads with him to go and rushes off, already behind time on her mission.

The past and present merge after Asar and Egrette’s ceremonial spell. Vathysia and the spirits of the dead become more corporeal. Asar rushes to find Mische but is intercepted by Elias and his guards, who have discovered what happened to Gideon.

A battle ensues, in which Asar slaughters all of Elias’s men. He saves Elias for last, ripping open the veil more to let the dead feast on him.

Mische reaches an ornate silver door protected by glyphs, which she uses her magic to unlock. Asar reaches her, informing her that they must hurry to collect the mask before Egrette discovers that he killed Elias and his men. They enter a circular room with a pool of water and a shark circling the mask at its center. They walk through undisturbed, and Asar enters the sigils he took from Gideon into the seal protecting the mask. Mische then seizes the mask and throws it at Asar just as a souleater appears and dives for Mische. Asar’s spell collapses, and the door between the living and dead closes between Mische and Asar.

Asar desperately slams against the barrier between life and death, fracturing it. He puts on the mask, using Alarus’s power to compel the shark to help. The shark battles the souleater while Asar breaks open the veil and retrieves Mische.

Asar, Luce, and Mische rush to escape the palace. When they reach the ballroom where the celebration is being held, they hear fighting coming from within. They enter once the commotion stops, discovering countless dead Shadowborn within. They continue toward the castle exit but run into a group of Shadowborn soldiers, who order them to surrender. Before they can, they are interrupted by a Sentinel killing their way through the soldiers.

More Sentinels arrive, including the one who captured Mische at the veil. Mische wonders how they’re able to enter Nyaxia’s territory when they’ve never been able to in 2,000 years. She gives Luce the bag with the mask, urging her to run to safety.

The same Sentinel who formerly captured Mische is glad to see Mische no longer has the tattoo that symbolized her loyalty to Atroxus; the Sentinel intends to deliver justice by making Mische suffer. Mische opens the veil to receive aid from the dead in fighting the Sentinels.

Egrette finds Asar, determined to kill him for murdering Elias, but becomes distracted fighting against the dead whom Mische lets into the castle.

Asar and Mische escape the castle and are found by Raihn, who is determined to bring Mische back to the House of Night, where she will be safe. Instead of telling Raihn the truth, Mische compels him to go home and not come looking for her. Asar and Mische reunite with Luce and then meet with Septimus, who hands them vials of liquid that will knock them unconscious for their boat journey to the House of Blood. There, his cousin will be waiting to escort them to the deadlands.