Kingdom of Ash

Aelin’s fire is completely gone; the only magic that she has is a tiny sliver of water magic from her mother’s bloodline. The gods appear and demand that Aelin release them from this realm, which is their prison. Aelin opens a portal to their peaceful realm full of rolling green hills, but before they leave, she offers a bargain: If they leave Erawan in Erilea, they must return the soul of Elena, the first Queen of Adarlan, whom they’ve held captive for centuries. In response, the goddess Deanna destroys Elena’s soul out of spite and crosses through the portal instead of fulfilling the gods’ earlier promise to remove Erawan from the world.

In the waking world, Rowan feels his mating bond with Aelin grow weaker.

The gods cross the gate into their own world, but the fire-goddess Mala stops to gift Aelin a piece of her power. To avenge Elena, Aelin opens a portal to a hell-realm inside the gods’ peaceful world before closing off their only exit. Mala’s power allows Aelin to seal all gates in and out of her world, and pay the price to return home. The new tattoos Rowan inked on her back include a Wyrdmark-map back home to him, which she follows.

Aelin falls through various worlds. She passes through Crescent City, “a world where a great city had been built along the curve of a river, the buildings impossibly tall and glimmering with lights” (800). She also passes through Prythian, “a world of snowcapped mountains under shining stars” (800). This is the Night Court, where a pregnant Feyre and Rhysand stargaze. Rhysand sends a blast of his power to slow Aelin’s rapid descent and she eventually falls into her own world. Aelin wakes with only a sliver of her former power. She is now immortal after sacrificing her mortality to forge the Lock and survive.

A week after the Thirteen sacrificed themselves to save Terrasen’s armies, Queen Ansel of the Western Wastes offers to share her territory with Manon and the witches, should they break their curse.

Aelin’s allies are not happy with the outcome of forging the Lock, as Erawan has not been banished as promised. In permanently closing all Wyrdgates, however, Aelin has ensured Erawan’s brothers can never return. Dorian’s magic was depleted by the Lock, but he still possesses more than Aelin. Elide gifts Aelin Silba’s ring, which offers immunity from the Valg.

Aedion’s forces at Orynth are running low on soldiers and weaponry. Older generations enlist; the elderly Lord Murtagh dies fighting against the Valg. With a maximum of four days of firepower left to wield against Morath’s armies before they’ll be forced to surrender, Lysandra and Aedion let go past grievances and embrace their love for each other.

As fierce storms impede Aelin and her allies from trekking north to Orynth, the legendary Dryad of Terrasen, a white stag called The Lord of the North, appears with the Little Folk and beckons for Aelin’s armies to follow them, promising a swift and stealthy path to the capital.

Aedion’s forces have managed to stretch their resources for five days, but now they finally run out of arrows and firelances. Darrow returns the Sword of Orynth to Aedion and restores his title. Darrow also formally recognizes Lysandra as the Lady of Caraverre and names Evangeline his heir.

Morath, which has saved its arsenal for this final day, slaughters Aedion’s forces. They retreat behind the city’s walls as Morath’s armies push forward. When they are mere hours away from defeat, a horn blares, announcing the arrival of Aelin, who rides the Lord of the North, with her massive army following behind.

After six days of marching, Aelin and her army arrive at the Terrasen capital city and charge into battle.

When Aelin’s fire magic wanes, Lysandra, in the form of a wyvern, saves Aelin from another wyvern’s attack. Aelin, Ansel, and Lysandra team up to destroy Morath’s siege towers just as the remainder of Morath’s Ironteeth host arrives. Gavriel joins Aedion in defending Orynth’s western gate, which has been breached by Morath.

Gavriel and Aedion join forces to reseal the western gate, but Gavriel fights through it and shuts the gates behind him instead. Aedion witnesses Gavriel die protecting the gate.

Maeve and Erawan arrive with more reinforcements, including the six stygian spiders containing Valg princesses. Everyone in Orynth sees Aelin standing guard at the southern gate, flaming sword in hand.

Aelin buys her friends behind Orynth’s walls time to prepare by putting doubt in Erawan’s mind about his alliance with Maeve. Aelin tells Erawan that Maeve plotted to expel him from the world, allied with Dorian in Morath, and will likely turn on him if they defeat Aelin. She also reveals the healers waiting in Orynth, ready to use their power to destroy the Valg. Though she has only an ember of magic left, Aelin readies to fight.

Rowan, Lorcan, and Fenrys sense Aelin burning out her powers and make haste to the southern gate.

Erawan catches sight of Yrene in a nearby tower and realizes that Aelin's threat about the healers gathered within Orynth is real. He breaks his alliance with Maeve, whom he no longer trusts, and flies off to confront Yrene.

Yrene has purposefully drawn Erawan to the tower, leaving Aelin alone to battle Maeve. Maeve attempts to distract Aelin with illusions and once again offers her the blood oath. Rowan, Lorcan, and Fenrys arrive, but Maeve attacks them with her power as they scream.

Erawan tells Yrene that healers exist in his world, too—they could unheal, or unbind the Wydrgate and make the keys. Yrene is powerful enough that he needs her to do so again. However, this isn’t actually Yrene: It’s Dorian. Dorian shifts back into himself just as Erawan realizes that he’s been trapped in a Wyrdmark he’s written on the tower floor. Lysandra arrives in wyvern form, carrying the real Yrene, who uses her healing power, combined with Dorian’s raw magic, to destroy Erawan. Before Erawan dies, Dorian demands to know his father’s erased name, which was also Dorian.

Maeve shows Rowan, Lorcan, and Fenrys illusions of their greatest fears and deepest pain: Rowan experiences Aelin’s death, Fenrys is trapped in wolf form while Connall blames him for his death, and Lorcan is rejected by Elide and refused a home in Perranth.

Aelin burns the Cadre with her flame to release them from Maeve’s illusions. Aelin writes a Wyrdmark she learned from the books Chaol and Yrene brought from the southern continent in the snow, opening a portal to an ancient tribe of wolf-riding Terrasen Fae who have long been victimized by Maeve and her spiders. These Fae attack the spiders, while Aelin, Rowan, and Lorcan throw their power at Maeve. Fenrys teleports for the first time since Connall’s death and stabs Maeve from behind, plunging Aelin’s sword Goldryn into Maeve’s heart.

Aelin places Silba’s ring on Maeve’s finger, which “rip[s] her apart from within” (924), and beheads Maeve. Following Erawan and Maeve’s deaths, the Valg armies collapse, and the surviving Ironteeth witches flee.

A victorious chant of Yrene’s name begins. Aelin and the Cadre enter the gates of Orynth, where her people welcome her home.

Falkan reveals to Lysandra that he is her uncle and bequeaths his mercantile fortune.

Darrow and Evangeline greet Aelin at the gates of Orynth, where he formally pronounces Aelin Queen. Aelin reunites with Aedion and offers Gavriel the blood oath in death, to honor his memory.

Lorcan agrees to stay with Elide in Perranth and marry her. He also plans to tie his life to hers—to live a mortal life and die together.

Yrene plans to stay with Chaol in Erilea and start her own Torre Cesme in Adarlan. Crochan messengers reach Manon with a kingsflame flower spotted growing in the Wastes, signifying the official end of the witches’ curse. Manon, Petrah, and Bronwen agree to bring their clans home together, “as one people” (946).

Aelin gathers her court and suggests a more representative government. Aelin visits Manon and offers to build a monument for the Thirteen in the place where they sacrificed their lives.

Rowan’s cousin, Sellene Whitethorn, is crowned Queen of Doranelle.

Everyone attends Aelin’s coronation as Queen of Terrasen. Aelin offers Aedion the blood oath. At the ceremony, the Little Folk deliver Mab’s crown to Aelin, crowning her Faerie Queen of the West.

Dorian meets with the khaganate royals, who reveal that their rukhin have found abandoned wyvern eggs in the Ferian Gap. They request that a few dozen rukhin remain in Adarlan to raise and train them. Dorian says goodbye to his Captain of the Guard, Nesryn, who will be returning to the Southern Continent to wed Sartaq and become Empress. Chaol receives a letter from his mother, who renounces her relationship with his abusive father and wishes to reconnect with Chaol. Chaol agrees to house his mother and brother Terrin with him and Yrene. Manon accepts Dorian’s offer to be involved in training the wyverns, which will become his new aerial legion.

All of Aelin’s allies depart for home, though Falkan wishes to stay to learn more about Lysandra, potentially rebuild his merchant empire in Terrasen, and assist with foreign trade agreements. Dorian, Chaol, and Aelin exchange teary goodbyes, during which Aelin tells them she loves them.

After a winter of rebuilding Terrasen, spring comes and kingsflame blooms as far as the eye can see. Elide and Lorcan are married and Aedion and Lysandra plan their upcoming nuptials.