Chap­ter 17 plunges the pro­tag­o­nist into a night marred by ter­ror, both with­in her dreams and in the wak­ing world. Star­tled awake by the rem­nants of a night­mare, she is drawn from her bed by the sound of screams echo­ing through the manor. Fol­low­ing the com­mo­tion, she stum­bles upon a grim scene—Tamlin car­ry­ing an injured faerie into the estate, his usu­al­ly com­posed demeanor replaced with urgency and despair.

The injured faerie, his blue skin glis­ten­ing faint­ly under the dim light, presents a hor­ri­fy­ing sight. Where majes­tic wings once adorned his back, there are now only jagged, bloody stumps, the rem­nants of his tor­ment glar­ing­ly evi­dent. The pro­tag­o­nist hes­i­tates, over­whelmed by the scene’s raw bru­tal­i­ty, but the weight of the moment com­pels her to act. As Tam­lin and Lucien scram­ble to sta­bi­lize the faerie, the protagonist’s pres­ence shifts from that of a mere observ­er to a reluc­tant par­tic­i­pant in the unfold­ing tragedy.

Through ragged breaths, the faerie reveals he hails from the Sum­mer Court, hint­ing at the iden­ti­ty of his tormentor—a cru­el, unseen force that has stripped him not only of his wings but also of his dig­ni­ty. The act of sev­er­ing his wings is not just a phys­i­cal muti­la­tion but a sym­bol­ic act of pro­found loss, one that rever­ber­ates with a cru­el­ty beyond com­pre­hen­sion. Tam­lin, wield­ing his fae mag­ic with pre­ci­sion, tries des­per­ate­ly to mend the wounds, but the mag­ic, though pow­er­ful, fal­ters against the enor­mi­ty of the injuries.

The pro­tag­o­nist, moved by an unfa­mil­iar yet unde­ni­able sense of com­pas­sion, steps for­ward to assist. With trem­bling hands, she applies pres­sure to the wounds, her efforts insignif­i­cant yet dri­ven by the hope that even a small ges­ture might make a dif­fer­ence. Her prox­im­i­ty to the suf­fer­ing faerie and the weight of his pain bring a sharp clar­i­ty to her perspective—a real­iza­tion of the fragili­ty that lies even with­in those she once deemed invin­ci­ble.

Despite their com­bined efforts, it becomes heart­break­ing­ly clear that the faerie’s life is slip­ping away. His breaths grow shal­low­er, his voice fal­ter­ing as he whis­pers frag­ment­ed words of despair and long­ing. Sens­ing the inevitable, the pro­tag­o­nist kneels beside him, grasp­ing his hand in a ges­ture of solace. Though she knows her assur­ances may ring hol­low, she speaks soft­ly, offer­ing words of com­fort she hopes will ease his pas­sage into the unknown.

In those final moments, she feels the faerie’s hand go limp in hers, the weight of his death set­tling over the room like a shroud. Grief lingers in the air, min­gling with the metal­lic scent of blood and the ten­sion of unspo­ken emo­tions. The pro­tag­o­nist remains by his side, her gaze lin­ger­ing on his still form as she grap­ples with the enor­mi­ty of what she has just wit­nessed.

After­ward, Tamlin’s grat­i­tude for her actions pierces through the haze of sor­row. His voice car­ries an edge of dis­be­lief as he ques­tions why some­one who has har­bored such dis­dain for faeries would show such com­pas­sion. Her reply is qui­et but res­olute, reveal­ing a depth of empa­thy she her­self had not ful­ly rec­og­nized. She admits that no one deserves to die alone, regard­less of who they are, and that in those final moments, offer­ing pres­ence and com­fort is the least one can do.

The encounter leaves an indeli­ble mark on the pro­tag­o­nist, stir­ring reflec­tions on mor­tal­i­ty and the frag­ile threads that con­nect all beings, mor­tal and faerie alike. It forces her to con­front not only the human­i­ty with­in those she once regard­ed as ene­mies but also the capac­i­ty for com­pas­sion and regret with­in her­self. The weight of the faerie’s death lingers in her thoughts, a reminder of the cost of cru­el­ty and the uni­ver­sal­i­ty of suf­fer­ing.

This chap­ter mas­ter­ful­ly inter­twines themes of empa­thy, mor­tal­i­ty, and the com­plex rela­tion­ships that can emerge in the face of shared pain. The raw­ness of the faerie’s demise and the protagonist’s unex­pect­ed role in his final moments lay bare the emo­tion­al depth of her jour­ney. Against the back­drop of a world steeped in mag­ic and bru­tal­i­ty, the nar­ra­tive explores the pos­si­bil­i­ty of redemp­tion and the pro­found impact of even the small­est acts of kind­ness in the face of over­whelm­ing loss.