Queen of Shadows

Aelin refuses Lysandra’s help and orders her and Evangeline to leave the city for safety. While buying breakfast at a local market, Aelin sees one of the messages Manon has written on buildings throughout Rifthold in Valg blood: “WITCH KILLER—THE HUMAN IS STILL INSIDE HIM” (530), thus notifying Aelin that Dorian is still battling the Valg prince for dominance. This is Manon’s payment for her life debt.

After carrying the hellfire urns into the sewers, Aedion gives Aelin the Sword of Orynth. Chaol and Aelin split from Aedion and Rowan.

Aelin pretends to be the king’s loyal Champion, Celaena Sardothien, bringing a pretend-chained Chaol to the castle as an offering. As Chaol and Aelin approach, they’re stunned to find the bodies of Chaol’s loyal guards hanging from the castle fence.

Aelin enters the castle, finds the King of Adarlan, and provides replica rings from the King and Crown Prince of Wendlyn, both of whom Celaena Sardothien was sent to kill. However, the ruse fails: The king immediately reveals that he knows her true identity.

Rowan and Aedion make it to the Wyrdstone tower, set up the hellfire urns, and begin unspooling the long fuse necessary for avoiding the blast. They’re interrupted by seven Wyrdhounds. Rowan realizes that Lorcan lied about killing them, and instead gave them Rowan’s scent to hunt.

Rowan and Aedion are unable to destroy the tower by noon, delayed by the attacking Wyrdhounds.

Aelin distracts the king with a replica of the Eye of Elena—an artifact capable of unlocking Erawan’s tomb—and runs from the throne room. Dorian pursues her, leaving Chaol with the King of Adarlan. Aelin jumps from an open window to escape Dorian’s deadly ice magic, landing on a glass bridge a level below.

Chaol plans to sacrifice his life to buy Aelin time alone with Dorian, so she may have a chance at freeing him. The king levels all his dark Valg power at Chaol.

Dorian cannot remember Aelin; he can only sense how much the Valg prince wishes to kill her.

Dorian follows Aelin to the glass bridge, where he stabs her in the side with a dagger of ice.

Lorcan suddenly appears to help Aedion and Rowan. Together, they dispatch the Wyrdhounds, light the fuse, and destroy the tower, returning magic to Erilea. Just then, they are confronted by 100 Valg soldiers.

Aelin slips the immunity ring on Dorian’s finger. The Valg inside, unable to remove the ring, lashes out with Dorian’s ice. Aelin counters with her fire.

Aedion and Rowan are both injured. Even with Lorcan’s help, they’re losing against the Valg forces. Suddenly, Lysandra appears in a ghost leopard form and kills the remaining Valg soldiers before running for the castle.

The king joins Dorian and Aelin on the glass bridge and reveals that he’s killed Chaol. The news brings Dorian back to himself; enraged, he seizes control of the Valg prince possessing him and snaps off his Wyrdstone collar.

Rowan transforms into a hawk to fly to Aelin.

Aelin and Dorian join forces against the king, pummeling him with magic. His humanity breaks through for a moment, and the king tenderly calls Dorian, “My boy” before asking Aelin if she’s finally come to save him.

The king’s Wyrdstone ring has broken, freeing him from Valg control. The king tells Aelin and Dorian that when he was young, he found a Wyrdkey, which he and Duke Perrington used to accidentally release Erawan. Perrington was possessed by Erawan, who implanted another Valg in the King of Adarlan. The king claims that everything he’s done was to keep Dorian safe from Erawan: He had the towers built to banish magic and prevent the Valg from noticing the strength of Dorian’s power, which would mark him as a strong host. The king adds that Chaol is still alive: There was “a light around him” that saved him (581)—the real Eye of Elena, which Aelin had slipped into his pocket.

Dorian shatters the glass castle with his magic and kills his father. Aelin uses her fire magic to protect the city from glass shards as she and Dorian fall. Rowan’s wind magic whisks Dorian, Aelin, and Chaol to the ground safely.

Dorian and Chaol remain unconscious while Aelin addresses the city, informing them of the king’s death and Dorian’s survival. She will rule until Dorian is ready to lead. She orders every enslaved person freed.

Vernon visits Elide in the dungeons after magic is freed, curious what magic she might have inherited from her bloodline. She doesn’t display any, but he plans to breed her with the Valg nonetheless. Manon returns to Morath and notices Elide’s absence.

Manon slaughters her way through all three of Morath’s dungeons until she finds and rescues Elide. News arrives of the king’s death and the events that unfolded in Rifthold.

Kaltain offers to help Elide and Manon escape. She slices open her arm and removes a Wyrdkey from the wound, which she orders Elide to deliver to “Celaena Sardothien.” Kaltain then disguises herself as Elide and is taken to the breeding catacombs, where she unleashes her shadowfire, killing all the Valg, witches, and demon offspring. Manon, Elide, and the Thirteen barely escape.

Aelin sleeps for three days with Rowan guarding her chamber.

Lorcan reveals that he returned to aid the Wyrdhounds because he discovered that Aedion was Gavriel’s son. Lorcan leaves after stealing back the immunity ring from Dorian.

Dorian is by Chaol’s bedside when Chaol wakes. The king broke Chaol’s spine, paralyzing him from the waist down. With no skilled healers left in Erilea, Dorian wants Chaol and Nesryn to travel to the magical healers of the Torre Cesme in the Southern Continent. Dorian makes Nesryn his Captain of the Guard and Chaol the King’s Hand.

Manon drops Elide off in Oakwald Forest. She and the Thirteen will return to Morath and inform Vernon, if he survived, that Elide died in the breeding catacombs shadowfire. Manon informs Elide of the King’s death at Aelin Galathynius’s hand, adding that some members of the old Terrasen court—Aedion Ashryver and Ren Allsbrook—are still alive. Manon unlocks the chains from Elide’s ankles and Elide heads north to Terrasen.

Aelin offers Lysandra property in Terrasen and the title of Lady. Dorian signs a decree freeing all the kingdoms conquered by Adarlan.

Duke Perrington and Vernon both survived Kaltain’s shadowfire. Perrington’s men fruitlessly search for the missing Wyrdkey as the Ironteeth prepare for battle.

Aelin and her court, who are leaving for Terrasen, say goodbye to Dorian, Chaol, and Nesryn. Aelin requests that Chaol strike an alliance with the Southern Continent on Terrasen’s behalf, to prepare for the war Duke Perrington will wage.

Manon visits Rifthold, where she sees Dorian from afar, free of the collar.

After three weeks of travel, Aelin, Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra, and Evangeline arrive in Terrasen.