Feyre regains consciousness in a dank cell, her face shattered and nose broken from Amarantha’s beating. She fights panic and guilt over Clare Beddor’s fate while screams echo through the dungeons. Lucien slips into her cell, scolds her for returning, then swiftly sets and partially heals her nose to avoid detection. He reveals Amarantha has summoned all High Lords and none may leave until Feyre’s trials end, and recounts Jurian’s torment. Hearing guards approach, Lucien vanishes.

Later, red-skinned guards drag Feyre to the throne room. She maps exits, avoids looking at Clare’s corpse, and notes Spring Court faeries among the crowd. Amarantha, charming and cruel, demands Feyre’s name. Rhysand is called; he feigns ignorance and boredom while Feyre remains silent.

Amarantha escalates by having the Attor seize Lucien and orders Rhysand to hold his mind. With Lucien’s red-haired brothers watching, Lucien braces for obliteration. To stop it, Feyre shouts her name. Rhysand steps back without lifting a finger, revealing how much power he still wields under Amarantha.

Amarantha then gives a riddle that, if solved, will free them immediately. Feyre, rattled and uncertain, cannot find an answer and is returned to her cell, shaken by Tamlin’s continued silence and the court’s games.

Over what she counts as two days, Feyre obsesses over the riddle and dreads the tasks. When the door opens and guards announce the full moon, she is taken to face the first trial.