Graves picks Kierse up and is furious that she smells like Lorcan. Back at the brownstone, he carries her to his bedroom and puts her to bed. When Kierse asks him to stop reading her, he does. To explain his possessiveness, he tells her about his first love, Lorcan’s sister Emilie, who was fated to be with a Druid named Tadhg. Graves and Emilie were in love and petitioned to be married, but they were denied because of the soulmate bond. He compares that hopeless situation to his current one with Kierse and Lorcan. Kierse reassures him that their circumstances are different because they have the freedom to choose. Graves tells her that she’s his choice.

While attempting to recharge her magic, Kierse discovers a Men of Valor logo spray-painted where a subway troll used to guard, confirming that the anti-human monster group is active. She then goes to Brooklyn to visit Ethan, who shows her a new sacred tree that grew from the magic they shared during their triskel training. Kierse confides in him about her memory block and the psychiatrist’s theory that her mind is shielding her from the trauma of her parents’ deaths. During their conversation, Kierse senses Lorcan’s magical presence return to the compound through their soulmate bond and decides to confront him.

Kierse finds Lorcan on the Oak Throne. He magically creates two golden crowns, places one on her head, and calls her his queen. He informs her that the Men of Valor orchestrated a city-wide troll revolt that day and are consolidating their power. He also confirms that he knows about the cauldron heist but promises not to interfere. He then kisses her, and Kierse feels their soulmate bond trying to initiate a binding even though she hasn’t agreed to perform the formal ceremony. Using a mental technique that Graves taught her, she resists the magic and breaks away. As she leaves, Lorcan tells her that Graves killed Emilie.

Kierse returns to the brownstone for the final heist meeting and discovers an unexpected guest, Lyra. She has figured out their plan to steal the cauldron and demands to be included. Graves agrees, making her part of the team. The group also learns that two seats are open at an upcoming convocation, and Nate agrees to put himself forward for one to counter the Men of Valor. The meeting is abruptly interrupted by the unannounced arrival of Graves’s former mentor, Kingston.

Graves reluctantly allows Kingston to stay for the Monster Conference. Once Kingston is settled, Graves confronts Kierse about her visit with Lorcan. She confesses that Lorcan kissed her and that she had to magically resist an impromptu soulmate binding. She then tells Graves that Lorcan accused him of killing Emilie. Graves admits that this is true. At Emilie’s request, he tried to remove her memories of the bond and then kept pushing with his power even when the magic began to go awry. He admits that he’d decided that he would rather she be dead than be with someone else. Enraged by the memory, Graves grabs a gun to kill Lorcan. Kierse blocks his path, confesses that she loves him, and kisses him.

While they kiss, Kierse lets her magical defenses down, allowing Graves to see her memories and feel the depth of her love for him. Graves tells her that a weapon is only as powerful as its weakness and that she is his, making her the most powerful thing in the world. They have sex in his office and then his bedroom. Afterward, Graves tells Kierse that he loves her, too.

Graves gives Kierse her father’s hunting knife. Holding the knife gives her the strength to face her repressed memories. With Graves’s help, she breaks through the magical block and remembers the night her parents died. She witnesses them being murdered by the Fae Killer and his female companion. She also recalls her mother, Shannon, giving her the wren necklace and telling her that a wren would one day lead her home to faerie. The memory confirms that the Curator’s spell was designed to erase her past and her magic. Kierse resolves to find him and get answers.

The heist begins during the Monster Con at the Plaza Hotel. Kierse and Lyra go undercover as performers. Graves’s private chef, Isolde, delivers a cake to the venue, and Laz takes possession of it inside. A separate, smaller cake box holding the decoy is kept in cold storage for later. The event is interrupted by a speech from Amberdash, who is introduced as the new leader of the Men of Valor. Amberdash announces his candidacy for a seat at the upcoming Monster Treaty Convocation. As the speech continues, Kierse feels Lorcan arrive at the conference through their bond.

Walter activates magical wards, trapping the conference attendees in the main ballroom. Gen reports over their comms that she has disabled the security system but was badly injured by guards in the process. She then falls silent. Walter attempts to hack the Curator’s security system to move the guards but takes too long, so Kierse acts herself, incapacitating two guards to clear the path to the secure room. Inside, she swaps the real cauldron for the decoy but discovers a weight-sensitive alarm on the pedestal. Thinking quickly, she leaves a hairpin on the sensor to maintain the weight and escapes just as the security system reactivates.

Kierse exits the secure area and hands the box containing the cauldron to Laz, who’s disguised as a bellhop. As soon as the exchange is complete, Kierse is ambushed by two men. She recognizes one of them from her visit to Sansara. They use a drugged cloth to knock her unconscious, with one of her captors telling her that the Curator has been waiting for her.

Laz recalls first meeting Graves years ago in Romania on a mission for the Central Intelligence Agency, where he witnessed magic for the first time. In the present, he completes his part of the heist by loading the cauldron onto a luggage cart and bringing it to Graves, who then drives away with the prize. Shortly after he leaves, Walter reports that he has been locked out of the hotel’s security system and that Kierse is no longer on their communications channel. The team realizes that she has been captured.