Chaol and Nesryn arrive at the Khagan's palace in Antica and are formally presented to the Khagan and his children.

The Khagan permits Chaol to receive treatment at the Torre Cesme while he considers their request for military alliance.

Hafiza overrules Yrene's refusal and assigns her to heal Chaol, warning that declining would be a heartless choice.

Yrene's healing magic detects a cold, dark parasitic presence lodged deep within Chaol's spinal wound.

Yrene discovers a dead healer resembling her in the Torre library; the ancient Valg texts she was researching are stolen.

Chaol whispers to Yrene the truth about the Valg, Erawan, and the parasitic demons threatening the Northern Continent.

Nesryn leaves Chaol a farewell note and departs with Sartaq for the rukhin's encampment in the Tavan Mountains.

Chaol begins daily combat training with the palace guards, working from his wheelchair each morning.

Houlun returns to the rukhin camp and reports that the kharankui—Valg spider creatures—have been raiding ruk nests and stealing eggs.

Chaol interrupts the Khagan's private trade meeting and doubles a firelance order to make the case for a wartime alliance.

At the Aksara Oasis, Chaol and Yrene find a Fae burial site and theorize that Torre healers are Fae descendants capable of fighting the Valg.

Trapped by kharankui in the Dagul Fells, Nesryn and Sartaq are freed when Falkan poses as a spider and lures the guards away.

Yrene and Chaol find Hafiza held hostage in the tunnels beneath the Torre library by a Valg-possessed Princess Duva.

The Valg shatters Chaol's spine repeatedly, leaving him near death; Yrene bargains with the goddess Silba and heals him, binding their lives together.

Yrene purges the Valg from Duva; the Khagan pledges military aid in gratitude; the allied fleet sets sail for Erilea.

Chaol and Nesryn travel to the Khaganate seeking healing for Chaol's paralysis and military allies against Erawan. Yrene Towers is assigned to heal Chaol, discovering a dark parasitic presence tied to his emotional wounds deep within his spine. While Nesryn journeys into the rukhin mountains with Prince Sartaq to investigate Valg activity, Chaol slowly regains movement through painful and emotionally demanding sessions with Yrene. The Valg threat becomes shockingly immediate when Princess Duva is revealed to be possessed and holds Hafiza hostage in the tunnels beneath the Torre, nearly killing Chaol in the confrontation. Yrene bargains with the goddess Silba to save his life and then purges the Valg from Duva, prompting the grateful Khagan to pledge his armies to the war. The novel ends with a massive Southern Continental force setting sail for Erilea to join the fight against Erawan.

The headline events of Chaol and Nesryn's mission to the Southern Continent.

Prince Kashin privately tells Chaol he believes Tumelun was murdered rather than died by suicide and asks for his help.

Nesryn visits her aunt and uncle in Antica and learns her family successfully escaped Rifthold.

Yrene conducts a cold, detached initial assessment of Chaol's injuries before deciding whether she will agree to treat him.

Sartaq takes Nesryn for her first flight on his ruk Kadara, and she shares what she knows about the Valg threat.

Chaol rides to the Torre on horseback for the first time and is used as a teaching subject for the healers, humiliating him.

Yrene gives Chaol a tour of Antica after he accompanies her on patient visits, forming the beginning of a genuine friendship.

At the Tahome feast, Chaol secretly gives Yrene the false location of Skull's Bay when Hasar presses for information on Aelin's whereabouts.

Sartaq and Nesryn descend into the Watchtower of Eidolon and find a cache of ancient Fae blades hidden in a dungeon.

Falkan reveals to the rukhin that he traded twenty years of his life to a stygian spider in exchange for rare silk.

Yrene maneuvers Hasar into hosting a birthday party at the Aksara Oasis as cover for her and Chaol's search for Valg knowledge.

Yrene flips Princess Hasar's chair into the pool behind her after Hasar makes a demeaning joke about Chaol at dinner.

The rukhin Council of Clans votes to support the war against Erawan after Sartaq and Nesryn address the assembly.

Nesryn rushes to her aunt and uncle's home and finds her father, sister, and their children have arrived safely in Antica.

Sartaq tells Nesryn that after declaring his love for her to his father, the Khagan named him heir to the Khaganate.

Yrene and Chaol marry before the fleet departs; Falkan joins the voyage hoping to meet his niece Lysandra.

Behind the main mission, a web of smaller but crucial moments shaped the outcome of Chaol and Nesryn's journey. Kashin's early suspicion that Tumelun was murdered plants the first seed of a Valg presence inside the palace, while Nesryn's emotional reunion with her family deepens her connection to the Southern Continent. Yrene's slow thaw toward Chaol unfolds through shared patient visits, city tours, and moments of unexpected boldness, including a memorable confrontation with Princess Hasar at the Aksara feast. Nesryn and Sartaq's partnership takes shape through ruk flights, watchtower raids, and the rukhin council's vote to join the war against Erawan. The personal victories woven through the conflict—Sartaq's recognition as heir, Nesryn's family reunited in safety, and Yrene and Chaol's marriage before the fleet departs—give the larger struggle a deeply human foundation.

The supporting moments that shaped alliances, relationships, and the path to victory.

Arghun reveals his spies have confirmed that Rifthold has been seized by Perrington's forces, leaving its people behind.

Yrene attempts brute magical force on Chaol's wound and realizes the dark entity feeds on his emotional trauma, not just the injury.

A Valg creature stalks Yrene through the city streets at night and breaks into Chaol's suite before palace guards drive it away.

During a healing session, Chaol relives his father's abuse and Nehemia's murder; Yrene shares her mother's story; Chaol regains movement in both feet.

Chaol and Yrene return from the Aksara Oasis to find his suite ransacked and every hidden scroll and text stolen.

Yrene finds her ancestor Yafa Towers's bell in the Torre cavern and realizes her own inner hatred mirrors the entity feeding on Chaol's wound.

Chaol pushes himself out of his wheelchair and takes his first steps across the room toward Yrene after their bitter argument.

Houlun reveals that a Wyrdgate once opened in the Tavan Mountains, allowing the kharankui and other Valg to enter the world long ago.

After Kadara escapes the kharankui's web, Falkan transforms from a wolf into a man, revealed as a shapeshifter whose gift awakened on the Southern Continent.

A kharankui tells Nesryn how Maeve traveled between worlds, broke into Fae minds, and rewrote herself into history as the third Fae sister queen.

During a deep healing session, Chaol finally forgives Aelin for leaving him behind; Yrene pulls him from the darkness and Chaol regains full mobility.

The Valg in Duva reveals that Perrington's Wyrdstone ring wedding gift enabled her possession and that it caused Tumelun's death.

Yrene's bargain with Silba is revealed to have permanently tethered her life to Chaol's, his ability to walk tied to her magic strength.

Hasar announces that Aelin's forces defeated Maeve's armada and that Aelin had already written to Hasar weeks earlier asking for the Khaganate's help.

Sailing home, Chaol recognizes Aelin's handwriting on the mysterious note Yrene has carried for years and tells Yrene the truth about her benefactor.

Tower of Dawn is built on revelations that shift the ground beneath its characters at every turn. Early healing sessions expose that Chaol's wound feeds on his guilt and shame, making emotional healing inseparable from physical recovery, while a Valg creature stalking Yrene confirms the enemy has already reached the Southern Continent. Pivotal turning points accumulate as the story deepens: Chaol takes his first steps out of his wheelchair, Falkan is unmasked as a shapeshifter, and a kharankui captive exposes Maeve as a Valg queen who rewrote Fae history from within. The Valg-possessed Duva's confession unravels the mystery of Tumelun's death and reveals the full scope of Perrington's infiltration of the Khagan's own family. A bargain with a goddess, a permanent life-bond, and a handwritten note finally identified as Aelin's bring the novel to its emotional and revelatory close.