The Throne of Broken Gods

Samkiel tries to kiss Dianna. She pushes him away. He speaks with care and worry, but she uses a light, breezy tone that feels wrong. Though naturally enemies as a demigod and an Ig’Morruthen, the two had formed a blood pact that required Samkiel to keep Gabby safe. With Gabby dead, the magic broke, and so did their agreement. Samkiel senses a numb, armored Dianna who is preparing for war. She states her plan to kill many people and offers a bargain: If Samkiel and his people do not interfere, she will spare them. He refuses. He smells mortal blood on her, something she used to avoid. Dianna smiles and admits that she feeds regularly now. He tells her that he cannot find Gabby’s body. Her mask cracks, and he offers help with her grief. She claims this ruthless self is her true self, though he insists the Dianna he loves still lives.

When Gregory, Samkiel’s new advisor, enters, Dianna flicks a pen into his skull and kills him. She warns Samkiel to stay out of her way. Alarms scream, and anti-Otherworld defenses rise (the Otherworld, also called the Netherworld, is home to the series’ various monsters). Dianna shapeshifts and vanishes.

Camilla Antonius, the head of a witch coven, prepares to flee. Her coven packs and leaves. She tells them that Dianna will not come for them but then admits that nowhere is safe for her. She remembers warning Drake Vanderkai, a vampire who once saved Dianna and Gabby but later betrayed them to Kaden, that Dianna would hunt them all after Gabby’s death. Drake answered that he must protect Naomi, the mate of his brother Ethan, whose life Kaden threatened.

Camilla feels the world shudder when Dianna screams and fears that nothing will stop Dianna. Thunder cracks, and Dianna arrives. The house still shows damage from Dianna and Samkiel’s last visit, when Camilla betrayed them to Kaden as they (and he) searched for the Book of Azrael. For a heartbeat, Camilla sees Dianna’s rage waver when she mentions Samkiel. Then it hardens again. Camilla needles Dianna more about Samkiel. She believes that Kaden sensed Dianna’s feelings and killed Gabby to break Dianna. Dianna threatens to eat Camilla but then calls her the smartest witch, asking why Kaden keeps Santiago, another witch, in charge. Dianna says that she will not kill Camilla. She wants more power and needs Camilla’s help.

Camilla says feeding already strengthens Dianna, but Dianna says that she needs help with the celestials. She assumed that Samkiel would act like Kaden, but his stubborn care unsettles her, especially since they have never been lovers. Camilla answers that care does not require sex and argues that Samkiel will not abandon Dianna. Torn, Camilla reveals that she has Gabby’s body. She took it to deny Kaden another weapon. Dianna strokes Gabby’s face and repeats her people’s belief that the body is a shell and that the soul goes to light and love. She admits that she hoped Gabby’s death was a cruel illusion, but it is real. She burns the remains. Camilla says everyone feels Dianna’s change and agrees to help her. Dianna says that she needs two things from Camilla before she can overthrow “an empire.”

Dianna travels to the Sandsun Isles, a seaside sanctuary, with Gabby’s urn. She remembers Gabby asking for a vacation there and blames herself for focusing on Samkiel and failing to protect her sister. Memory carries her back to Eoria, a desert region where Gabby was born. Dianna’s name was Mer-Ka, and Gabby’s was Ain. After the sky fell and a plague struck (the results of Samkiel’s destruction of Rashearim, the realm of the gods), Mer-Ka begged the gods for help. Drake appeared and promised a friend who could save Ain. He compelled Mer-Ka to wait, but she followed him to the friend—Kaden. Kaden called Ain weak and useless, and Mer-Ka cut his cheek with her father’s dagger. He healed at once and forced his blood down Dianna’s throat, promising power if it took. He then snapped her head aside.

Back in the present, Dianna burns Gabby’s ashes and scatters them to the wind. She asks if she is like Kaden because she took away Gabby’s choices when she allowed Kaden to transform her into an immortal. Camilla asks what comes next. Dianna mocks her fear.

A week later, Samkiel remembers a quiet talk with Gabby. She teased out his feelings for Dianna and clarified that Dianna and Drake had never been intimate. In the present, Samkiel collects himself in the abandoned Vanderkai estate and finds a photo strip of him and Dianna making faces at a festival. He meets Ethan, Naomi, and Drake and declares their holdings forfeit. They will face trial in Hadrameil for kidnapping Gabby and a member of the Hand. Ethan pleads that saving Naomi left them with no other path, but Samkiel erupts and says there were other ways. He orders the vampires bound and taken from the room.

Ethan continues to argue with Samkiel as Drake and Naomi are led away. Suddenly, Dianna appears holding Naomi’s severed head. She incinerates it in front of Ethan and asks if Naomi was equal to Gabby’s life. Samkiel asks where she has been. She says that she held a funeral. When she adds that Camilla found Gabby’s body, jealousy stings him. Dianna tells him to stop saving those she plans to kill, and he says that he is trying to save her. However, she mocks the history of the celestial kings and his television appearances. She shifts into her wyvern form and burns the forest, along with most of the vampires on the estate. Samkiel grabs Logan and jumps to safety. Logan then blocks Samkiel from running back to Dianna and offers another plan.

Dianna finds Drake among the flames and beats him. She says that she wanted to believe Gabby’s death was a trick because she trusted Drake too much. He refuses to fight. She drinks his blood and falls into his memories. She sees Drake test Samkiel and learns that Drake believes Samkiel loves Dianna, rather than treating her like a possession (as Kaden does). She then sees Drake luring Gabby and Rick, Gabby’s boyfriend, into a coffee shop. Kaden, the head of the Ig’Morruthens, and Tobias, his partner, intervene. Neverra, a celestial protecting Gabby and tied to Logan, tries to shield them. However, Tobias kills Rick, Kaden seizes Gabby, and Neverra falls through a flaming portal. Dianna returns to herself with Drake near death. He apologizes. She scoffs.

Samkiel searches the ravaged mansion. Dianna admits that she fed from Drake to learn the truth; she blames herself because Gabby trusted Drake on her word. She reveals the names they used and explains that Gabby chose new names for a fresh start. Samkiel keeps her talking while Logan moves, seizing Drake. Dianna chases and slams into a light-rune prison. She claims that she cannot be contained and breaks through the bottom. She portals the whole group to the forest. The mansion implodes behind them. Dianna leaves, and Drake reveals that there is a forsaken blade, a weapon that can kill celestials, in his chest. He tells Samkiel that Samkiel is Dianna’s last tether to her humanity. He also says that Neverra lives and that Kaden holds her. Drake then dies.

Back in Silver City, Vincent scolds Samkiel and Logan. Logan observes that Dianna kills evil creatures, which eases public pressure. However, Samkiel says that her path will not stop there: If Dianna keeps consuming to fight Kaden, she may tip into the Ig’Morruthen’s worst state. When Ig’Morruthen overfeed, they cause devastation and lose all mortal feelings. Samkiel forbids revealing the truth of what happened to the vampires to the Council of Hadrameil, the governing body of celestials. He believes that Kaden wants Dianna to overfeed and lose herself so that he can pull her back to his side.

Dianna wakes from a warm memory of Gabby and a warning to beware the blood-red moon. She lies beside the mutilated body of Webster Malone, one of Kaden’s henchmen. Camilla appears and warns her about carelessness and how her “presents” for Samkiel read like flirting. Dianna rejects the word. She showers, faces the monster in the mirror, and searches Webster’s files. She finds one strong lead: Kaden buys large amounts of iron. Samkiel’s voice on television triggers grief, so she hurls a fireball at the screen.

Dianna disguises herself as Webster and enters a bar full of his crew, who are waiting for their handler, Santiago. They gossip about Dianna and praise Kaden. One man sneers that Dianna probably slept with Samkiel while Gabby died. Dianna kills everyone except the leader, Edgar. She drinks his blood to read his memories and finds little about Kaden or Santiago. She does see tender images of Edgar’s wife, who died of cancer. Edgar unlocks his phone for her and says her violence finally makes sense: Guilt and grief drive it, as Dianna feels responsible for Gabby’s death.

Samkiel ends another interview, worrying because Dianna has stayed silent for a month. A fire at a hotel breaks the silence. Vincent pushes Samkiel to call the council, but Samkiel refuses. Vincent needles him about Imogen, a celestial and Samkiel’s former lover, returning as advisor. However, Samkiel’s real fear runs deeper: Summoning the Hand would mean surrendering Dianna as lost.

They review hotel footage of a disguised Dianna seducing Webster. Samkiel’s jealousy rises when he watches her kiss another man. He rewinds the wrecked room with his power and finds a pair of Dianna’s underwear that they once discussed together. Vincent explains that intel ties Webster to Donvirr Edge, a shipping yard.

Rain pours over Donvirr Edge. Samkiel senses someone hidden and watches boxes move before alighting on one of the loaded ships. He then seizes Santiago and slices off the witch’s hands to block spellwork. Santiago taunts him, saying that Kaden will never release Dianna. Samkiel threatens Oblivion, his power to unmake beings. Santiago spits out one clue: Kaden builds something with the iron that Samkiel has discovered in the boxes. Samkiel retorts that only Azrael, the god of death, can create from nothing and that Azrael is dead. However, Santiago claims that Azrael lives and that Alistair’s illusion faked his death. Samkiel realizes that Alistair is a King of Yejedin, a legendary ruler of the Netherworld, and suspects that traitor gods freed not only Ig’Morruthen but also the last Yejedin kings during the war that led to Unir’s death. Thunder rolls, and Dianna arrives. Santiago begs to flee, but Samkiel keeps him as bait.

Dianna lands on the ship in her wyvern form. For a heartbeat, her gaze softens. She then needles Samkiel by comparing him to her mortal flings. He thanks her for the clues she leaves. She says that is not her intent and, when he asks for honesty, claims that their relationship was a waste that led to Gabby’s murder. He hears the wound behind the words and reaches for her, but she manifests a forsaken sword from a ring that Camilla made. They fight. She mocks his television presence, accusing him of playing the hero. He finally understands that his public posture feeds her rage.

Samkiel grabs Santiago, who he claims knows where Kaden and Azrael are hiding. She says that Samkiel only cares about Azrael. He attempts to devise a plan to extract a confession from Santiago and conduct a trial in Hadrameil. She vanishes, reappears, bites Samkiel, and bottles his blood. He realizes that she trapped him.

Dianna hunts Santiago. He hits her with a powder that attacks the nervous system and cuts her power in half. He then pins her with magic and mocks Gabby’s death, but she manages to get the upper hand. However, when Dianna drinks Santiago’s blood, immense pain washes over her, and he boasts that Kaden spelled every Otherworld creature so that she cannot use their blood to find him. He also claims that Kaden will open all realms by killing Samkiel; the iron is one “ingredient” in this plan. Dianna strikes with her ring blade, but the magic holds.

Samkiel arrives and cuts Santiago in two. Dianna yells at him to stop saving her and to stop following her. He refuses: He knows that she feels for him. She rejects that truth because she believes those feelings led to Gabby’s death. The beast inside her urges her to drive him away, and she screams at him to leave. The ship shudders and explodes. Dianna throws herself over Samkiel and shields him as the sea swallows the wreck.

Samkiel wakes half-drowned. Dianna drags him to shore and disappears. Back in Silver City, he tells Vincent that he will not conduct any more interviews and orders Vincent to handle them instead. He admits that he, not Dianna, killed Santiago. Vincent again urges him to summon the Hand. Samkiel refuses, hiding the full extent of Dianna’s strength. Vincent confirms that Logan has gone out alone to search for Neverra.

Alone under the night sky, Samkiel speaks to Gabby. He asks for a sign that he is walking the right path. A star seems to brighten. Taking that small light as a vow to keep trying, he promises that he will not give up on Dianna.