Gerald admits that he stole the key to the diary and arranged for it to come into Kestra’s hands. Kestra confronts her father in his library. Henry reveals that creating the Olden Blade weakened Endrick, and his magic requires constant replenishment in the Blue Caves.

Seeing his lack of response when she reveals that she knows of his plot, Kestra recognizes that Henry Dallisor is truly evil. Kestra claims she will marry Basil if Henry frees the new prisoners. Henry says they will be executed that night. He accuses Kestra of reading Lily’s diary. Gerald claims that he moved the book from its place, not Kestra. Henry sends Gerald to the dungeon and Kestra to her room. Henry tells Kestra, “You are no Dallisor” (213). Kestra turns to Gerald for help.

Kestra returns to Lily’s room and finds a burlap sack containing the Olden Blade beneath the bed. She wonders what to do next. She feels the urge to touch the knife and wonders if it could belong to her.

When she touches the handle, she feels the magic flowing through her, painfully. She forces herself to let go before the magic reaches her heart. The handle leaves a mark on her palm. She realizes, “I was not the Infidante. But I was alive” (221).

Simon talks with Gerald, wondering what has happened to Kestra. Gerald warns Simon to protect Kestra, “but do not give her your heart. That is too dangerous for you both” (223).

Simon, Trina, and Kestra meet in Kestra’s room. Kestra says they have to help the prisoners escape. Trina insists they must find the Olden Blade. Kestra has questions about what happens when the Olden Blade is found, but Trina doesn’t know the answers. Simon sees the mark on Kestra’s hand. Kestra suggests that Risha might have been held in the lowest cell in the dungeon, the one that contains the Pit of Eternal Consequence (227), the same pit Simon used to escape.

As they prepare to depart her room, Kestra reflects that she and Trina have both been judged by who their fathers were. Simon informs Kestra that Basil wants to meet her in the gardens. As they walk together, Simon warns Kestra that Woodcourt can no longer be her home. She answers she will have no home anywhere in Antora.

Simon offers to continue as her protector, but Kestra insists they’re not on the same side and can never be. She rejects his offer and goes to meet Basil. Basil tells Kestra she cannot marry him and begs her to leave Woodcourt that evening. He tells her where he has left a horse so she might escape.

Simon wants to know what Kestra talked about with Basil. Kestra recalls what Gerald said about the traitor’s game and realizes she has no hope of winning.

Trina has a necklace for Kestra that came from Lily Dallisor. Trina wonders why Kestra isn’t excited about finding the Olden Blade and Kestra says, “Everything I’ve known and believed is changing” (242-43). She shares her dinner with Trina.

Trina asks about Kestra’s kidnapping. Kestra reveals that she was drugged and smuggled out of Woodcourt in a small box. Several of the Halderians wanted to kill her, but Thorne prevented them. After four days, Darrow rescued her. Simon arrives.

Kestra reflects that while she broke the rules as a child, she never betrayed her family. Simon disarms the guards in the dungeons and locks them in a cell. Trina begins to free the prisoners. Rosalie hugs Kestra and says she knows Kestra will save Antora.

They tie a rope around the pillar in the cell and lower people into the pit one by one. Tenger is one of the first to enter the pit and demands they begin looking for the blade. The pillar breaks, and several of the prisoners are stranded. Simon says he will climb up the wall, while Kestra insists that she will go. Kestra orders Gerald to leave through the tunnel. Simon suspects Kestra is hiding something and tells her, “Give it to them” (256). Kestra hands Tenger a burlap sack. Simon climbs up the wall.

Kestra insists she cannot go into the tunnel and fights with Tenger to let her go. She tells him that if the Olden Blade chooses him, she will take it back. Above, she can hear Simon being beaten by the escaped guards after helping the last of the prisoners escape.

Kestra climbs the wall and defeats the guards with the knife she stole from Tenger. Simon notices a bump on the back of Kestra’s neck where Endrick touched her with the grip glove. They leave the dungeon and encounter Henry Dallisor. Simon holds the knife to Kestra’s throat and pretends he is holding her hostage and forcing her to go with him. Henry vows to destroy them all. Kestra and Simon find the horse Basil left and ride away.

Simon says the Corack rebels are hiding in Silven. He suggests they enter the All Spirits Forest to be safe.

Simon asks how Kestra found the Olden Blade, and she reveals that Gerald gave her the diary. She explains that Anaya had the power to make herself unnoticeable and used that power to steal the blade. When her magic weakened, she passed the blade to another.

Simon thinks she means Risha Halderian, but when Kestra is silent, he guesses that Lily took the blade. He also guesses that Anaya was Kestra’s mother. Kestra confirms she is Endrean, and Simon is bound by Corack oath to kill her.

Simon reflects that he has never questioned the commitment he made to the Coracks until now. Kestra reminds him of the belief that magic turns all Endreans corrupt, but Simon says she has not shown any magical ability, so she might be safe. They see condors searching for them and hurry into the forest for safety. Simon, in pain from his injuries, faints.

Simon wakes to find himself sitting in a pool of water. His wounds are healed. He reflects on how, during the War of Devastation, Halderians fled into the forest, and Endrick burned it. Souls are said to still haunt the barren ground. Kestra can sense them.

As they walk through the forest, Simon begins to guess at Kestra’s actions and motives. He guesses that Darrow is Halderian and arranged for Thorne to deliver Kestra the key so she could find and read the diary. Kestra says the Halderians told her when they kidnapped her that she was not a Dallisor. Simon guesses that Kestra wants Darrow to be the Infidante. Then he guesses that the dagger she gave Tenger was a fake.

Simon looks at the burn on Kestra’s palm and guesses she found the real Olden Blade. He asks if she claimed it, and if she is the Infidante.

Kestra tells Simon that Lily hid the Olden Blade in her room, and Kestra attempted to claim it, but failed. They hide inside a covered wagon that is passing on the road. Simon asks where the Olden Blade is now, and Kestra says she intends to keep it a secret. If Tenger kills her, he will never find where the Olden Blade is.