As they run to the beach, Tory feels compelled by the silver dagger she stole from Darius. It guides her to a cliff wall, where she uses it to reveal a hidden cave. Inside, she and Darcy secretly watch Orion teaching Darius a forbidden form of magic. They learn that Orion and Darius are using the bones of dead Fae to absorb and amplify their elemental power, which Darius intends to use against an unspecified person. 

Darius successfully channels this dark power, creating a massive fire cobra. Orion gives him a box containing more Fae bones and an identical silver dagger. Orion mentions that he gave Darius a dagger previously, which has gone missing, and they vow to punish whoever took it. As Orion and Darius perform another ritual by cutting their palms and dripping blood on the bones, Tory is involuntarily compelled to mimic them. She cuts her own arm with the dagger and then collapses from severe blood loss, leaving Darcy to panic.

Using blood magic, Orion pulls himself and Darius into a vision of the recent past to spy on Lionel. They witness him meeting with a man named Alejandro, who reluctantly hands over the Vega twins’ confidential personal file containing details of their birthright. As the exchange happens, Orion is shocked to see Tory also present within the vision, having been drawn in as a side effect of cutting herself with the magical dagger.

Orion’s reaction shatters the vision, and he’s violently awakened by Darcy slapping him in a cave. He discovers that Tory is with them, bleeding profusely from wounds that she involuntarily inflicted upon herself with Darius’s dagger. Panicked, Darius holds Tory in his arms, but Orion uses the last of his power to heal Tory’s life-threatening injuries. When Orion confronts Darcy about how they obtained the dagger, she turns the tables, making it clear that they also saw the vision and now know about his plan to spy on Lionel.

Tory awakens on the beach, still in Darius’s arms. Darcy stands next to Orion, who’s holding the silver dagger that compelled Tory to cut herself. Recognizing the dagger as one stolen from his room, Darius’s concern turns to rage as he realizes that Tory was responsible for the fire. He pins her down and demands the truth. Tory defiantly confesses to stealing the dagger and burning his room, declaring that he deserved it for his cruelty. When Darius threatens her, Darcy attacks him with magic, and Orion is forced to restrain him. 

Orion brokers a tense truce: Both sides will keep mutual silence—Orion and Darius will not expose Tory for the fire and framing of Milton, and Tory and Darcy will not expose the dark blood magic ritual or what they witnessed in the vision. Still furious, Darius shifts into his dragon form and flies away with Orion. The encounter leaves Tory resolved to never forget that Darius is cruel.

Darius flies away from the Academy in his Dragon form. He and Orion land on a secluded island, where Darius vents his rage. Orion reveals that the Vega twins were trying to escape the Academy and likely stole from them to fund their departure, explaining their past poverty in the mortal world and how they need their inheritance to survive. Darius initially remains dismissive, but Orion’s reasoning begins to quell his anger. Orion confronts him, comparing his violent rage to Lionel’s. This comparison causes Darius to feel shame and guilt. He admits that Tory’s constant defiance makes him furious, but he feels conflicted about making her hate him. Darius struggles with these new feelings, trying to recapture his simple hatred for Tory.

Furious with Orion for restraining her while Darius attacked Tory, Darcy wakes to find messages from him. After reading a horoscope predicting conflict, she’s confronted by Seth, but Orion intervenes, using the altercation as a pretext to drag her to his office. There, they argue fiercely about the fight. Darcy confronts Orion, accusing him of drinking too much instead of actually dealing with his emotions, leading to a desperate and angry kiss. She stops him from going further, still hurt and demanding a genuine apology.

Orion asks for her help, revealing that he needs her to investigate Diego’s uncle Alejandro, who he suspects is criminally conspiring with Lionel. Orion says that he overheard Lionel at a party and believes that he’s planning something bad around the time of the Lunar Eclipse, though that’s all he knows. Reluctantly, Darcy agrees due to the threat Lionel poses. On her way out of his office, she runs into Seth. His wolf pack, led by a she-wolf named Alice, confronts him for choosing Darcy over them. Seth defends Darcy, asserting his Alpha authority. He then confesses to Darcy that he doesn’t want to let her go from the pack, leaving her unsettled by his growing feelings.

Haunted by whispers from the shadows she was exposed to, Tory runs to her Water Elemental Trial. She accidentally collides with Darius, who then shoves her into the mud. Caleb arrives and confronts Darius for lashing out in such a childish way, leading to a tense argument between the Heirs. She and Darcy arrive just in time for the trial, which requires them to collect three keys from different water sources. Cheered on by Geraldine and their friends, they’re the first to succeed, retrieving keys from the bottom of the lake, a block of ice, and a powerful waterfall before reaching the finish platform.

That night, unable to sleep due to nightmares, Tory goes looking for Caleb. After a hostile encounter with Darius in the Ignis common room, she sneaks into Caleb’s room in Terra House. She initiates sex, finding that being with him provides a much-needed distraction and keeps the shadows at bay. They spend the night together, and Tory views him as a perfect escape from her problems.

Consumed by rage at the possibility that Tory spent the night with Caleb, Darius flies to the Heirs’ sanctuary, King’s Hollow. He summons Max, Seth, and Caleb, becoming violent when Caleb’s dismissive replies confirm his suspicions. Max uses his Siren power to calm Darius’s fury while Seth heals a wound that Darius inflicts upon himself. When Caleb finally arrives, Darius reveals that he accessed Tory’s emails after snatching her Atlas the previous night, finding proof that she and Darcy were behind the humiliating Pegasus sex-doll prank and the other rumors circulating about the Heirs. 

Darius admits that Tory started the fire in his room. Max realizes that Darcy sabotaged his uniform, and Seth speculates that they used an Aquarius Moonstone—an advanced piece of sophomore-year magic that the group is uncertain the twins could access—to cause the flea infestation that alienated his pack. United in their anger, the Heirs initially want immediate, revenge. Darius, however, proposes a new, more calculated plan. They decide to let the Vega twins attempt The Reckoning; if they survive, the Heirs will make their lives hell afterward. They agree to use the upcoming Hell Week to begin terrorizing the sisters as a prelude to their ultimate revenge.