Days pass with no sign of Kaden, Isaiah, or Miska. The group takes refuge in a cave. Reggie, also known as Roccurem, reflects on the destruction Nismera has caused. A sudden cold alerts Reggie to the arrival of Death. He teleports to a cliff’s edge to meet the ancient being. Death tells Reggie they are losing. Reggie confirms that his vision of an impending darkness has not changed; he has not told the others the details. Death reveals that he resurrected Kaden because Nismera is close to acquiring a powerful medallion, and Death needed to correct the split in fate’s path.

Reggie questions involving the innocent Miska. Death explains that balance must be maintained. Death warns that Samkiel will be angry when he discovers their alliance. He states that his goal is to force Samkiel and his brothers to reconcile, warning they must mend or all shall break. Death vanishes in a rush of dark wings.

Camilla, Vincent, and Elianna hide in a tavern. Camilla brings food to an armed and anxious Vincent on the roof. They kiss, and Vincent expresses his fear that Nismera’s brand will allow her to command him to hurt Camilla. Camilla refuses to leave him.

Suddenly, a fleet of Nismera’s warships appears. They rush to wake Elianna as guards storm the hallway. Camilla insists that Elianna escape out the window first, then magically seals it, trapping herself inside to create a diversion. She casts an illusion to hide as three of Nismera’s warriors search the room. Vincent pulls Camilla through the window after they leave, and they escape into the sewers. Vincent makes Camilla promise never to endanger herself again. Elianna argues that they should get rid of the medallion. Camilla calls her a coward, saying she would rather die for what is right.

Miska is a prisoner in Nismera’s palace. Handmaidens roughly bathe and dress her. She resolves to be strong like Dianna.

Nismera brings Miska to a war room and demands that she create poisons. Miska refuses to hurt her family. Nismera slaps her across the room. Miska defiantly tells Nismera that she is the true monster.

Queen Milani, an ally of Nismera, arrives and reports that they may have located Vincent and Camilla. Nismera plans their capture, wanting Camilla alive to torture. Milani presses Miska with questions about Samkiel. Miska defies them, stating that Dianna will kill them both. Nismera promises Milani a mysterious surprise to use on Samkiel. Realizing she needs to escape to warn her family, Miska agrees to help Nismera.

Kaden is tormented by the fear of returning to Oblivion. Death appears in his room, wearing Dianna’s form. Death explains his fascination with Dianna, calling her the one being that truly terrifies him. Death reveals that he took Dianna’s soul in exchange for her holding off Death’s specters when they tried to take Samkiel’s soul.

Death states that his price for resurrecting Kaden is Nismera’s death. Kaden refuses. Death tortures Kaden with his frigid touch and tells him Nismera’s palace is built on lies. He instructs Kaden to ask Nismera why the medallion needs the blood of the sons of Unir and where she was on the date 47 DU. Death vanishes.

Annoyed, Kaden storms to Miska’s room to silence her crying. He is struck by her scent, which reminds him of Dianna. He sees her bruised face and learns that Nismera hit her. This plants seeds of doubt about Nismera. He brings Miska his blood to heal her. She is suspicious but drinks it, and her bruises vanish. When she asks why he would help her, Kaden leaves, claiming he only did it so he could sleep.

After three days of tracking, Samkiel, Dianna, Cameron, and Reggie capture a small war camp belonging to Nismera. Samkiel analyzes reports showing that Nismera is secretly searching for something. Cameron drags in a badly burned general who reveals that Nismera has an armada. A massive sonic boom incapacitates everyone, and the general escapes. Samkiel convulses in pain, triggering Dianna’s protective instincts. Gathrriel’s voice calls her. Dianna transforms into her Ig’Morruthen form and destroys a massive golden warship overhead. Samkiel flies them to a mountain. Three more warships descend. From each ship, several powerful, angelic-looking warriors disembark. Their leader is an armored woman. The woman beheads the escaped general. Samkiel confirms that she is Milani, his former lover.

Kaden dreams of childhood. In a flashback, Zasyn tends young Isaiah’s wound. That night, Kaden eavesdrops as Unir questions whether the boys are real children, while Zasyn defends them. Kaden wakes to find Death urging him to look deeper. Isaiah announces that Nismera sold someone to Milani. Days pass with Death haunting Kaden. At a council meeting, mention of Oblivion triggers terrifying memories, making Kaden realize he fears Samkiel more than Nismera. That night, following Death’s guidance, Kaden kills two royal guards. Isaiah affirms his loyalty. They enter Nismera’s forbidden west wing.

In a tavern, Samkiel explains that he never took Milani’s armada ideas seriously. Cameron reveals that Samkiel and Milani had a sexual relationship defined by mutual hostility. When Dianna questions why Samkiel’s heart sped up upon seeing Milani, he claims fear. Reggie cryptically says all roads lead to one. Samkiel follows Dianna and kisses her under a staircase, confessing that her jealousy excites him and admitting he once wanted to kill Cameron. They become intimate. In the washroom, his father Unir’s ghost manifests, grabs Dianna’s head, and declares that he needs Gathrriel. Samkiel blasts the door apart. Unir rips off Dianna’s ring, severing their connection, and teleports her away.

Kaden and Isaiah split up while exploring Nismera’s forbidden west wing. Kaden finds Nismera’s hidden quarters and, feeling Death’s presence, frantically searches her bedchamber. He discovers a vault containing love letters revealing Nismera’s secret marriage to Nydmjir. Among the documents is a decree from Unir, dated before the boys’ birth, stating that he and Zasyn were leaving Rashearim. This means Unir was not present to imprison them, contradicting Kaden’s memory. Nismera appears, and Kaden confronts her with the decree. She smiles and admits it never reached the council.

Nismera says she no longer has to pretend to care about Kaden or Isaiah. She viciously attacks Kaden, confessing that her betrayal was for power. She stabs him through the gut. When she removes the sword, his blood is black. She accuses him of being Death-marked. Isaiah arrives, horrified. Nismera cruelly tells him she never loved them. Heartbroken, the brothers don armor and fight. Nismera breaks free, screams for guards, and knocks Isaiah through a wall. She overpowers Kaden, mocking him as a mere tool. As she prepares a killing blow, Isaiah tackles her in the form of a beast. They crash through the wall and fall from the balcony.

Kaden transforms and dives after them. He finds Isaiah’s battered beast facing Nismera, who wields a silver shield. When she wounds Isaiah again, Kaden rages. As they corner her, Nismera’s legion attacks, providing a distraction. She escapes while the brothers kill the soldiers. Three riders wielding anti-Ig’Morruthen weapons intercept them. They dispatch the riders and continue the pursuit. Nismera leads them through a forest as they rain fire. Kaden’s vision blurs, and he weakens from his wound. His body gives out, and he falls. Isaiah dives after him.

After two weeks in captivity, Miska is rushed out by a guard as the castle shakes. She overhears guards mention Kaden and Isaiah’s return. Resolving to be strong, Miska attacks her two guards with a stolen blade, killing one. She runs to her room, grabs her stashed herbs, and climbs out the window. A guard spots her, and she flees into the forest. At a cliff edge, she sees two Ig’Morruthens fall from the sky. A midnight bird appears, urging her toward the fallen beasts. Recalling her duty as a healer, Miska crosses a fallen tree toward the crash site.

Kaden awakens in extreme pain in a ruined cabin, hallucinating that Miska, tending him, is Zasyn. In a flashback, young Kaden argues with Zasyn after Nismera tells him that they were created as weapons. Zasyn insists she and Unir love all three children. Nismera later convinces Kaden that their parents will replace them once their new baby is born. Kaden awakens at night with a clear head, seeing Isaiah bandaged and sleeping nearby before losing consciousness again.

Unir transports Dianna to a hillside, explaining that Samkiel’s attachment hindered his efforts to get Gathrriel’s knowledge. In a town, Unir grabs Dianna’s head to force Gathrriel forward. She shifts into her beast form and breathes fire, incinerating part of the town. The widespread fear allows Gathrriel to possess Dianna. Gathrriel confronts Unir’s ghost. As a shadow, Unir evades fiery attacks while striking with light. The town suddenly empties. Shadowy figures bait Gathrriel into a trap. Silver chains bind him while black mist weakens him. Unir apologizes for what happened to Vvive and Dhihsin. Gathrriel loses consciousness.

Dianna regains awareness but lacks control of her chained body. She recognizes Faye and her brother. Using Dianna’s body, Gathrriel breaks the chains and begins choking Faye. Faye’s brother pleads for his sister’s life. Dianna fights internally and regains control. She releases Faye and tells her and her brother to leave. Outside, Dianna discovers that her eyes are crimson, frightening the townspeople. Unir appears and admits that his assassins fed her a substance that allowed Gathrriel to take over. As she warns that he will damn the world, Gathrriel re-emerges in his own form. Golden runes draw Unir’s spirit into the ground. Gathrriel walks away with Dianna trapped inside.

Samkiel, Cameron, and Reggie investigate the destroyed town. Cameron finds a device suggesting recent use. Realizing his father is involved, Samkiel manifests Oblivion in a rage. Reggie stops him, explaining that Dianna’s true power comes from light inherited from her mother, Victoria. This light is key to freeing her. Samkiel calms himself. As he prepares to portal to Whitcliff, a hand grabs his throat. An attacker he did not sense throws him across the street. A man with burning orange eyes confronts him.

That night, Miska gathers ingredients for salves. She reflects on rescuing the brothers after their fall, finding their broken bodies and dragging them to a cabin. Approaching, she overhears them arguing. Isaiah insists that Nismera’s betrayal means their father did not imprison them, but Kaden argues that Unir still abandoned them. Feeling empathy, Miska enters and tends their wounds silently. They fall asleep. Tending the fire, Miska sees the midnight bird watching from the window. Before vanishing, it looks at the brothers, then at her, and seems pleased.

Samkiel recovers and confronts Gathrriel, who possesses Dianna’s body. Gathrriel is a firstborn Ig’Morruthen, a seamless fusion of man and beast. Samkiel asks for Dianna’s return, but Gathrriel attacks, and Samkiel realizes he cannot defeat Gathrriel without harming Dianna’s body. When Dianna manages to twitch her arm, hope surges through Samkiel. He pushes Gathrriel off and notes that his power, Oblivion, will not rise against Dianna.

They grapple, Gathrriel’s strength slamming Samkiel down. Samkiel speaks to Dianna, provoking Gathrriel. He asserts that Dianna is his. Gathrriel hurls him through a building; emerging, Samkiel sees Gathrriel arguing with himself as Dianna briefly controls one hand.

Samkiel challenges the texts that paint Gathrriel as a hero. Gathrriel calls the gods liars who write history, claiming they use and discard heroes and their loved ones. When Samkiel mentions Vvive, Gathrriel’s former lover, Gathrriel erupts, insisting that the gods taught him that everyone is expendable. He sprouts wings and horns, transforming into a massive hybrid form, then lunges at Samkiel.

Days after healing Kaden and Isaiah, Miska travels with them through the forest as they remain hostile toward each other. When Miska scrapes her knee, the blood triggers their predatory instincts. Kaden stops Isaiah from feeding on her and reveals his plan to sell Miska for money to disappear. Isaiah argues that they should fight Nismera instead, but Kaden warns that they must also worry about Samkiel. Kaden takes Miska’s heavy basket, saying she is slowing them down.

Isaiah reveals that he wants to rescue Imogen, Dianna’s friend who is with Milani, an ally of Nismera. Kaden calls the plan impossible and mocks Isaiah’s feelings for Imogen. Isaiah retaliates by mentioning Kaden’s feelings for Dianna, and Kaden punches him. Isaiah then reveals that Kaden has returned from the dead, saying he has become worse.

They arrive at a cliff overlooking a dock. After guards depart, Kaden and Isaiah disguise themselves as crewmen and sneak aboard a ship with Miska. A transparent dome seals around the ship as it prepares to depart. Kaden tells Miska they are heading to Whitcliff.