Tory wakes up in Darius’s bed with a severe hangover and no memory of the previous night. Darius explains that she got drunk, lost control of her magic, and had a nightmare about drowning under ice. He brought her back to his room to make sure she was okay. He attempts to explain his own past cruelty by framing the pool incident as a Fae practice of forcing others to face their fears to make them stronger, describing the brutal training that his own father put him through. Tory rejects his attempt at justification, calling him a “monster” just like his father, and storms out. When she gets back to her room, she finds that he has left her clothes and shoes outside her door.

Later, Tory goes to The Orb for coffee. As a prank, she plants a purple Pegasus-horn vibrator and a whip personalized with Caleb’s name on the Heirs’ couch. When the Heirs arrive, Max and Caleb find the items, leading to their public humiliation as the other students laugh. The Heirs leave in anger.

In Cardinal Magic, Professor Orion announces a lesson on Fae sexual education, explaining that the approaching Lunar Eclipse will heighten everyone’s libidos. He uses fruit to demonstrate a magical contraceptive spell. The class is interrupted by FIB agent Francesca, who needs to review Orion’s memories of the Nymph attack. Her presence makes Darcy jealous.

Professor Washer takes over the class and makes the students deeply uncomfortable with an explicit discussion of sexual fetishes. He uses his powers to forcibly extract and share students’ private sexual memories. Orion returns and angrily dismisses Washer. He then makes Darcy practice the contraceptive spell under his direct observation, standing close to unsettle her. After class, Orion keeps Darcy behind to clean up. During a tense and flirtatious confrontation, they almost kiss but are interrupted by Principal Nova, who calls Orion to a meeting.

Tory arrives at lunch hungover. Caleb appears and uses his magic to cure her hangover on the spot. When he proposes a hunt, Tory accepts and wins by hiding in the Wailing Wood, where the wind masks her scent and heartbeat. Furious at his loss, Caleb confronts Tory. She holds him to the rules, refusing to let him bite her as a prize. Instead, Caleb insists that she should get a prize for winning and initiates a sexual encounter, performing oral sex on her.

Tory arrives late to Tarot class to find that Professor Washer has been intimidated into adopting more docile behavior by Caleb. The professor excuses her absence and announces that he will no longer be teaching Tarot, noting that his replacement, Professor Nox, is young and recently qualified with the gift of true sight. During the lesson, Darcy draws another of the special Tarot cards, The Empress. On the back of the card, she finds a message: “In the Palace of Souls, rests a secret untold. Find the light who burned on after the fire” (234). Sofia reveals that the Palace of Souls is the Vega family palace that the twins now own. They resolve to visit it after The Reckoning. After class, Tory runs into Caleb and Darius in the hallway. It’s the first time that Tory has seen Darius since she spent the night in his room, and the sight of him unsettles her.

After Professor Orion violently intervenes in a playful moment between Darcy and Diego at the post office, he uses his Vampire power to compel Diego to speak his own private feelings about Darcy aloud, revealing his jealousy in the process. To cheer Diego up, Darcy gathers their friends to break into Orion’s classroom and retrieve Diego’s enchanted hat. They discover a magical shield protecting it, which can only be broken by a Fae’s blood. Diego bites his own hand, dripping blood on the shield to deactivate it and reclaim his hat.

Later, inspired by the adventure and her feelings for Orion, Darcy dyes her hair blue—a color that he once said meant she liked him. Acting on impulse, she sneaks out after curfew to Orion’s private chalet and reveals her blue hair to him. After they both acknowledge the serious risks of their relationship, they give in to their mutual attraction and have sex. They agree to keep their affair a secret to prevent Orion from being arrested and Darcy from being expelled.

Darius summons Tory for a motorcycle race—if she wins, she gets to choose one of his motorcycles to keep. On her way to his room, Tory is confronted by a jealous Marguerite, whom she easily overpowers with her magic. Darius transports them via stardust to the Acrux manor, where they plan to race on the family’s private track. While Darius is occupied, Tory and Xavier bond while playfully sliding down the grand staircase on trays. The excitement causes Xavier to lose control and shift into his true Celestial Order, revealing that he’s a Pegasus, not a Dragon. Tory reacts with kindness, and a relieved Darius asks her to keep this a secret from his father, which she agrees to do for Xavier’s sake.

Darius and Tory race motorcycles in a violent thunderstorm. Tory is about to win when a lightning strike fells a tree, causing them to crash. Tory instinctively uses her air and earth magic to save them both, and Darius heals her injuries. Back at the Academy, Darius asks her to stay the night, but she refuses. After returning to her own room, she receives a text from him suggesting that they call the race a draw, which makes her smile.

Orion’s intimate evening with Darcy is interrupted when Darius arrives unexpectedly at his chalet. Orion quickly helps Darcy leave in secret before letting Darius inside, managing to conceal the evidence of her visit. Darius reveals that he has stolen a paperweight from his father and also that Tory now knows that Xavier is a Pegasus. Using the stolen item, Orion and Darius travel to a hidden cave and perform a dark-magic blood ritual to spy on Lionel. The resulting vision shows them a recent meeting between Lionel and Orion’s mother, Stella. Stella reveals that an astrologer confirmed that their unknown Eclipse plan requires someone “truly pure,” noting that Stella’s own daughter was used in a prior failed attempt. Lionel proposes using Xavier for this purpose. Darius is horrified, and Orion swears that they will protect Xavier and stop Lionel.

After her night with Orion, Darcy is confronted by Seth, who demands to know where she was, as she was missing during a Hell Week prank. He reveals that Darius told Caleb about Tory’s night at the manor and that Caleb came to Seth furious. Darcy lies to cover her tracks and rejects Seth’s confusing advances and his hint that his feelings for her are genuine. At breakfast, Max fights and humiliates the twins’ friend Geraldine Grus using his Siren power. In retaliation, Darcy, Tory, and their friends concoct a sludge from leftovers and use their combined magic to dump it all over Max, publicly embarrassing the Heirs.

Later, the freshmen gather for their Air Trial at the beach, which requires them to cross a wide expanse of water to a platform using only air magic within an hour. Getting wet sends them back to the start. The Heirs and their supporters loudly taunt the twins throughout the trial. During one attempt, Darcy and Tory nearly succeed by running on a bridge of air, but a pointed taunt from Seth breaks their concentration, causing them to fail just 10 feet from the platform. Deciding to help a struggling Diego, the three of them form a solid sphere of air and roll across the water, successfully reaching the platform together and passing their first trial.