The Night Prince

Fiona rushes in and hugs Aurora, explaining that James kept her confined to her chambers, but she is otherwise unharmed. She asks about the tension in the room. Callum’s expression softens, and he asks Aurora if she is okay. Blake moves to a prisoner, Kai, and Aurora and Fiona follow. Kai is severely injured, with missing fingers and a twisted ankle. Blake reveals a fresh brand on Kai’s chest bearing Night’s mark.

Blake informs Callum that they encountered Alexander. He confirms the ambush was a trap and Kai is threat, but Lochlan refuses to allow them to kill Kai. The room grows cold, the fire flickers out, and Kai awakens with solid black eyes. Speaking in a strange voice, he says he knows Aurora’s scent and someone is looking for her. The phenomenon ends, and Kai’s normal eyes return.

Kai recounts his torture by Alexander at the Grey Keep. He describes a creature caged with the prisoners called the Dark Beast, rumored to be one of Night’s escaped prisoners. Alexander threw Kai to it. Kai remembers only darkness and obsidian eyes before blacking out. He reveals he carries a message from Alexander: The Wolf King must prepare for a massive battle or give Aurora over.

Callum orders silence about what they have heard. He restrains Lochlan while Blake sedates Kai. Callum asks to speak with Aurora privately and leads her to James’s bedchambers. Inside, Callum picks up a white stone from the desk—the one Sebastian gave James in exchange for Aurora. He confirms the stone is fake and not the Heart of the Moon, as it doesn’t awaken his wolf.

Callum suddenly breaks, falling to his knees before Aurora and embracing her waist. He apologizes for not reaching her sooner and confesses he is furious, jealous of Blake, and relieved she is safe. Aurora asks about James, assuming he is dead. Callum reveals James forfeited the challenge and escaped while Callum fought the southerners. He sent Ryan after him, as James considers the boy a brother.

Callum tells Aurora he has prepared her old tower room for her. He explains he has too much to deal with and thought she would be more comfortable alone. When she tries to discuss Blake, he says his wolf is not in control and he needs time. He kisses her forehead and leaves her alone. Furious and hurt, Aurora remembers James mentioning a book in Blake’s chambers. She realizes it must contain information about their bond and decides to steal it to find a way to break their connection.

Aurora goes to Blake’s ransacked bedchambers. Blake is inside, having just changed and appearing mostly healed. Aurora lies that she came to check on him. She spots a single blue book on his desk that he seems to be guarding. She offers to examine his wounds to distract him, then they grapple briefly over the book.

Aurora snatches it and tries to flee, but Blake laughs and tells her to keep the book, saying he no longer needs it. Seeing she is bleeding badly, he insists on treating her wound. Aurora warily agrees.

While removing glass shards, Blake correctly guesses Ian kidnapped her from Lowfell. Aurora asks him not to kill Ian, who acted to save his brother from Alexander, but Blake must to maintain his authority and protect his clan.

Aurora asks Blake why he fears storms. Blake reveals his traumatic childhood: His mother hated him as a reminder of his wolf father, who sexually assaulted her. When his wolf first manifested, she gave him to a priest. The priest beat him and threw him down a well, where he was trapped as a storm raged and the water rose, overwhelming his newly awakened senses. He says her feelings when trapped in the carriage with Sebastian before killing her betrothed felt like his did in the well.

Aurora confesses how Sebastian disarmed her and tried to sexually assault her. Ashamed, she admits that she chose to marry Sebastian to please her father and would have submitted to him if James had not intervened, and she is upset with her mother for being similarly helpless when being knowingly poisoned by her father. Blake tells her that coercion is not consent and suggests her mother was protecting her, saying wolves guard things of high value to them.

They acknowledge their enmity, and Aurora takes the book and prepares to leave. She’s not ready to discuss the kiss or him taking a bullet for her, though he’s open to when she’s ready.

In her tower room, Aurora examines the stolen book, titled Testing the Lore of Wolves, recognizing it as one of Blake’s experiment write-ups. She falls asleep while reading and has nightmares about Night’s prison. Fiona knocks and tells her a feast is being held for Callum. Aurora is hurt that Callum did not invite her himself. On the way to the Great Hall, Fiona explains that Callum is struggling to unite the clans against Alexander, with some alphas undermining him.

Aurora enters the Great Hall alone and sees Callum on the throne with a sullen Lochlan beside him. The hall quiets as the wolves, many hostile as she is a Southlander, turn to stare at her. As she walks toward the alpha table, she passes Blake with a group of men. She overhears Blake telling them he took a bullet for her and is waiting for her to thank him. Aurora ignores him and sits beside Callum.

A commotion erupts as Fiona drags a well-dressed, red-haired man in a headlock into the hall. The man speaks with a Southlands noble accent and flirts with Fiona. Aurora recognizes her brother Philip, who greets her.

The Great Hall erupts as the wolves recognize Philip as the Southlands prince and call for his blood. Philip taunts Aurora, unfazed by the angry mob. At a nod from Callum, Blake injects Philip with a sedative, knocking him unconscious. Callum orders Philip to be taken to the infirmary and tells Lochlan to search for his entourage.

In the infirmary, Philip is revived, tied to a chair, and threatened. Philip remains arrogant, asking to speak privately with Callum. Aurora is angered, as he used to bully her terribly. Blake and Philip seem to know each other. Blake sees the tip of his little finger is missing and asks if it’s from torture or frostbite.

Isla enters and insults Philip for being a southerner. Philip taunts and flirts with her. As he does, his pupils dilate and his irises turn silver. Aurora realizes he has wolf eyes.

Aurora processes the shock that Philip is a wolf who has survived the change. This confirms she is also a wolf, intensifying her confusion about why she has not shifted. Isla leaves, flustered. Blake suspected Phillip was a wolf after meeting Aurora and knows the wolf who bit Philip. Blake reveals he sent Jack to track Philip, who was rumored to have abandoned the war and gone to the Snowlands.

Philip admits he went to the Snowlands to learn about their mother and got frostbite there. He did not come for Aurora but for Callum. He was sent by Ingrid Erickson, the queen of the Snowlands. Ingrid believes an agent of the God of Night, called the Night Prince, seeks to free the God and is looking for a key in the Northlands. To unite the wolf kingdoms against this threat, Ingrid Erickson proposes a political alliance with Callum by marriage.

Callum and Aurora are stunned. Philip explains their mother was part of a previous alliance between the Snowlands and Southlands against a pack devoted to Night, led by the Shadow Wolf. That pack has returned stronger, seeking to free the God of Night. Philip argues the match is politically wise, since an alliance with the Southlands is impossible. Callum rejects the proposal.

Philip counters that a true king must make such sacrifices and that an alliance would solidify Callum’s contested rule. Callum firmly says no, declaring he will give his wife his whole heart and expect the same. Philip reveals Ingrid will not marry him because a past alliance with his kingdom ended badly for the Snowlands.

Jack and Lochlan enter. Lochlan pulls aside Philip’s collar, revealing a large tattoo that he associates with deadly Snowlands warriors. Philip’s demeanor becomes dangerous for a moment before he dismisses the tattoo as the result of a drunken night. Callum tells Blake to interrogate Philip and then get rid of him. Philip refuses to leave until Callum agrees to meet with Ingrid. Callum tells him he will not be protected if he stays and then offers to escort Aurora to her chambers. Torn, Aurora chooses to go with Callum to finally talk with him.

In her room, Callum confesses he cannot stop thinking about Blake kissing her. Aurora confronts him, reminding him that he watched her be humiliated and ordered Blake to do it. Callum claims he did it to create an opportunity to free her, which Aurora doesn’t believe.

He asks if she has feelings for Blake, accusing her of dishonesty when she denies it. He confesses that his wolf is out of control around her, and he fears becoming like his abusive father, who always blamed the wolf for his jealousy and rage. He says he must know what she truly felt during the kiss to understand if his jealousy is justified. Pushed, Aurora admits she felt a confusing glimmer of something, a mix of her anger at Callum and Blake’s own intense emotions.

He says he needs time to calm down and moves to leave. Aurora tells him he is not his father, but he must get past his jealousy or their relationship cannot continue. As he leaves, though conflicted, she admits Philip is her blood, and Callum agrees to protect him by claiming he is a hostage. He says he will post a guard at her door, and she reflects that he once would have stood guard himself.

Aurora finds herself dreaming that she is in Night’s prison with Blake. He shows her a hole in a prison cell where a prisoner has escaped, likely on the night she killed Sebastian due to the magically bright moon then. Aurora connects this to Kai’s story of the Dark Beast. Unsettled, Blake finds a piece of black, scaly skin that dissolves into shadow.

The dream shifts to Aurora’s recurring nightmare of being a marionette with hooks in her skin, controlled by an invisible puppeteer in the palace throne room. In a new development, Blake appears, sitting on her father’s throne. He questions if she might be binding herself and says she could be a queen. He suggests she could kill Philip with wolfsbane to secure the throne for herself, even offering to do it for her.

Aurora jolts awake from the nightmare. She lights a candle and begins reading the book she stole from Blake. At dawn, she reads a specific page and is struck by a powerful realization. She grabs the book and rushes out of her room, finding her guard, Fergus, asleep. She wants to speak to Blake.