Content Warning: This section of the guide describes the source text’s depiction of graphic violence and its treatment of sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

Dorian wears the obsidian Wyrdstone collar and is being possessed by a Valg—a parasitic demon. He can’t remember his name or the names of his loved ones. All he remembers is a woman he cared about being beheaded. Though he does not know what the woman meant to him, he does know that “he deserved this darkness” (2), and cannot hold on to awareness much longer.

Aelin has returned to the continent of Erilea; she disguises herself by cutting her long, golden-blonde hair to her shoulders and dying it auburn. She hypothesizes that the King of Adarlan is on the lookout for her—Celaena, “the King’s Champion [that] had failed in her task to assassinate Wendlyn’s royal family and steal its naval defense plans” (7). Aelin has instead spent several months training with Fae warrior Rowan Whitethorn in the Wendlyn stronghold of Mistward to master her fire magic. Since returning to Erilea, her magic has vanished, like all magic does on this continent. Though Aelin misses Rowan, she believes it’s for the best that he remained on the Fae continent.