Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass, #6)

The next morning, Chaol is in severe pain and can barely move. Yrene notes the darkness has come creeping back. Finally, Chaol, too, realizes the strength of the infestation in his wound correlates to his negative thoughts and feelings. Yrene becomes determined to defeat the entity once and for all. Yrene throws her magic into Chaol and tunnels down.

Chaol is faced with many memories. An image of Aelin sitting on a chase lounge appears. At first, he feels hatred toward her temper and viciousness, the vows he made that she so easily dismissed, and for walking away after he left his heart on the dock the day she sailed for Wendlyn. An image of Rowan Whitethorn appears. Aelin glows in his presence, their love for each other clear, but they do not make a move toward each other. Deep down, Chaol hates Aelin for wrecking his life and leaving him behind in Adarlan while the rest of his life crumbled around him.

However, now Chaol understands the decisions Aelin made. Aelin’s path strayed from Chaol, and she’d fallen in love with Rowan yet refused to act on it until she returned to Adarlan and gave Chaol closure. Chaol now faces the same dilemma with Nesryn and Yrene. Though he and Nesryn are growing apart, he has pursued a relationship with Yrene without honoring Nesryn by waiting to have a conversation first. Aelin’s character shows through to Chaol in this moment, allowing him to forgive her and let go of that hatred. Chaol remembers his promise to serve Dorian—one promise he has not yet broken—and holds fast to it like a lifeline. Yrene finds him in the darkness and pulls him out.

Chaol comes back to consciousness and can move his entire body with no pain, numbness, or exhaustion. Chaol and Yrene have sex and profess their love for each other. Chaol offers her a place on his ship when she returns to the Northern Continent.

The rukhin Council of Clans meets upon Nesryn and Sartaq’s return. Nesryn informs them of the Valg threat. Sartaq asks for their support in fighting against Erawan, and they agree. Nesryn speaks with Falkan about Lysandra, whom she believes might be his niece. He agrees to return north with them. Nesryn receives a message from Chaol requesting their immediate return to the palace.

Chaol tells Yrene about Aelin’s past as Celaena Sardothien. Chaol tells Yrene how Aelin burned the Valg out of the King of Adarlan, who survived just long enough to tell them the truth of how he became possessed and how Erawan returned. The recounting gives Yrene a theory—that Valgs are parasites, and she can successfully treat people who have been infected by them without losing human lives.

Yrene decides to seek out Hafiza. They need to look at the books to discover what the Fae healers might have learned in that long-ago war. Before they can leave, Hasar barges into Chaol’s bedroom with the news: Queen Maeve’s armada found and attacked one of Aelin’s gathering hosts.

Hasar reveals that Maeve’s armada was defeated. A third of her armada, all those bearing Whitethorn flags, turned against her and joined Terrasen’s fleet. After her victory, Aelin was seen moving northward with her armies. The spies also brought word that the Silent Assassins of the Red Desert, Galan Ashryver’s forces from Wendlyn, and Manon Blackbeak with a host of witches have joined Aelin. Hasar reveals that Aelin sent her a letter weeks ago, asking for help and promising a better world.

Yrene and Chaol find Hafiza missing from her office. When they find her key left beneath the door to Yrene’s private chambers, they begin to worry. After searching the Torre grounds to no avail, they decide to search the tunnels in the library.

Nousha gives them directions to the tunnels beneath the library. The tunnels lead them to a chamber filled with gold and housing sarcophagi. They find the pregnant Duva holding Hafiza hostage. They recognize immediately that a Valg has possessed Duva.

The Valg possessing Duva reveals that Perrington sent a Wyrdstone ring as a wedding present to Duva, which she’s been wearing for months. Tumelun suspected her, which prompted the Valg to push her from her balcony. The Valg calls Yrene Silba’s Heir, possessing a power capable of adding human hosts of the Valg. She implies that this is why Maeve surrounds herself with healers in Doranelle—a barrier against the Valg kings and any other Valg who might attempt to reach her. The Valg intends to return to Erilea with Yrene in tow, as she serves a special purpose for Erawan. She threatens Hafiza’s life if Yrene doesn’t put on the Wyrdstone ring she offers. When the Valg aims a blast of her dark magic at Yrene, Chaol jumps in front of her, taking the brunt of it.

The Valg repeatedly uses her powers to shatter Chaol’s spine. He loses movement in the lower half of his body once again, and his wounds are fatal. The Valg in Duva’s body chases Yrene. Yrene uses the self-defense she’s learned to overcome her opponent. However, when she has the dagger to Duva’s throat, she cannot kill the princess and her baby, not even to end the Valg threat.

She yields just as Nesryn and Sartaq arrive with multiple healers. Hafiza uses magic to place the Valg in a deep sleep. Nesryn rushes toward Chaol, who is too close to death to be healed. She bargains with Silba for his return, agreeing to pay any cost. The healers aid Yrene by channeling their power to her. Chaol is healed, and even the scar on his face, which Aelin gave him after Nehemia’s death, disappears.

The cost of Yrene’s deal with Silba is revealed afterward. Yrene’s life is now tied to Chaol’s; if one dies, so does the other. Additionally, Chaol’s ability to walk correlates to the strength of Yrene’s magic; when she becomes tired, his injuries will creep back, and he will need a cane or his chair. Chaol is grateful to pay the cost of such a gift. Chaol and Nesryn have a mutual understanding upon seeing how the other behaves with Yrene and Sartaq, respectively, and are happy for each other.

Sartaq calls the Khagan and his siblings to see Duva. At first, Arghun refuses to believe Duva has been possessed by one of the Valg. The other siblings who knew her better, however, believe it is true. Chaol reveals that the Valg killed Tumelun while possessing Duva’s body. The Khagan permits Yrene to try healing Duva. Yrene successfully removes the Wyrdstone ring and kills the Valg parasite. When Duva comes to, Yrene also shares the news that the baby is alive and healthy.

In return for saving his daughter, the Khagan offers Yrene anything she desires. Yrene asks for a favor—his aid in the war. Sartaq reveals that he will be bringing 1,000 of his rukhin to aid in the war, and Hasar agrees to bring her armadas. In private, Sartaq and Nesryn tell Chaol and Yrene that Maeve is a Valg queen. They also recount the story behind the kharankui and mention Falkan, who might be Lysandra’s uncle.

Nesryn claims a ruk for her own named Salkhi. When she receives word from her aunt and uncle in Antica, she rushes to their home to greet her father, sister, and nieces and nephews who’ve made it to the safety of the Southern Continent. Sartaq finds her there. He tells Nesryn that he’s spoken to his father about his plans to lead the rukhin against Erawan regardless of his consent. When Sartaq told his father his reasoning—doing so for the woman he loves—the Khagan advised against an heir marrying a common-born woman. Sartaq told his father that if that’s what is expected of his heir, then he would not want to be it. In response to that claim, his father named him heir. Sartaq and Nesryn agree that after they banish the darkness from their world by winning the war against Erawan, they will return to the Southern Continent to live out the rest of their days together.

Two weeks later, Yrene and Chaol sail for Erilea with 300 healers, 1,000 of the Khagan’s ships filled with Kashin’s foot soldiers and horse-lords of the Darghan cavalry, and 1,000 rukhin.

While sailing up the coast of Erilea, far from the sight of the shore, Yrene shows Chaol the note she now carries in the locket he gifted her. Chaol recognizes the handwriting as Aelin’s, and it brings him to tears. When Yrene requests an explanation for his reaction, Chaol agrees and tells her everything.

Maeve entombs Aelin in an iron coffin. She’s released to one of Maeve’s cronies for a bout of torture.