Chap­ter 32 begins with the pro­tag­o­nist return­ing to the estate, only to find it rav­aged by destruc­tion. The once-beau­ti­ful grounds are now in ruins, the signs of a fierce bat­tle etched into the shat­tered walls and scorched earth. Though there are no bod­ies, the absence of Tam­lin and Lucien sends a chill through her, leav­ing her grasp­ing at the hope that they may still be alive. Each step through the wreck­age is heavy with dread, her mind rac­ing to piece togeth­er what might have hap­pened in her absence.

In the midst of her search, she encoun­ters Alis, whose ini­tial shock at see­ing her quick­ly shifts to a somber under­stand­ing. Alis con­firms her worst fears: Tam­lin and Lucien have been tak­en by Ama­ran­tha, the High Queen of Under the Moun­tain. The curse that has haunt­ed Tam­lin has reached its break­ing point, and Amarantha’s iron grip over Pry­thi­an has tight­ened. As Alis explains the depth of the sit­u­a­tion, the pro­tag­o­nist lis­tens intent­ly, her heart sink­ing with each rev­e­la­tion about the pow­er and cru­el­ty of the ene­my she must now face.

Through Alis’s account, the his­to­ry of Amarantha’s rise to dom­i­nance unfolds. Once a gen­er­al for the King of Hybern dur­ing the bru­tal war between humans and faeries, Ama­ran­tha became infa­mous for her ruth­less­ness and cun­ning. After the war, she charmed her way into the courts of Pry­thi­an, using her wits and charis­ma to manip­u­late and even­tu­al­ly over­throw the High Lords. By steal­ing their pow­ers and sow­ing divi­sion among the faerie courts, she solid­i­fied her posi­tion as a tyrant feared by all.

The curse that binds Tam­lin is revealed to be an act of vengeance—a cru­el pun­ish­ment for his refusal to become Amarantha’s lover. Instead, she devised a twist­ed chal­lenge for him: to find a human who despised faeries yet could fall in love with him, there­by break­ing the curse. The weight of this rev­e­la­tion crash­es down on the pro­tag­o­nist as she real­izes her own role in the events that led to this moment. Her fail­ure to see through the curse and act soon­er now feels like a betray­al, not just to Tam­lin but to the entire faerie realm.

Deter­mined to make amends, the pro­tag­o­nist declares her inten­tion to go Under the Moun­tain and con­front Ama­ran­tha, despite Alis’s warn­ings. Alis, though vis­i­bly reluc­tant, can­not help but admire the resolve in her voice and the deter­mi­na­tion in her eyes. “Because I must,” the pro­tag­o­nist says sim­ply. “Because I love him.” For a fleet­ing moment, Alis soft­ens, acknowl­edg­ing the courage it takes to embark on such a dan­ger­ous jour­ney.

Alis warns her of the per­il that lies ahead, paint­ing a grim pic­ture of the tri­als she will face. “Ama­ran­tha is cru­el beyond mea­sure,” she says, her tone heavy with sor­row. “The jour­ney will test you in ways you can­not imag­ine.” She urges the pro­tag­o­nist to be wary, to avoid mak­ing deals, and to guard her heart against the tricks and manip­u­la­tions of the faeries who dwell in Amarantha’s court. These words, though daunt­ing, only strength­en the protagonist’s resolve to con­front the High Queen and free Tam­lin, no mat­ter the cost.

As the chap­ter unfolds, the protagonist’s jour­ney becomes more than just a mis­sion to res­cue Tamlin—it is a path of redemp­tion and self-dis­cov­ery. Her courage to face the dark­ness of Under the Moun­tain is dri­ven not by the promise of glo­ry but by love, by a desire to right the wrongs that have been done. The rev­e­la­tions about Amarantha’s cru­el­ty and the intri­ca­cies of the curse add lay­ers of com­plex­i­ty to the sto­ry, set­ting the stage for an epic con­fronta­tion that will test the lim­its of her strength and resilience.

Chap­ter 32 is steeped in his­to­ry, emo­tion, and the weight of impend­ing con­flict. It mas­ter­ful­ly weaves togeth­er the protagonist’s per­son­al growth with the broad­er nar­ra­tive of Prythian’s strug­gle against tyran­ny. With each step toward her deci­sion, the stakes grow high­er, leav­ing read­ers both anx­ious and exhil­a­rat­ed for the chal­lenges that lie ahead. This chap­ter serves as a turn­ing point, set­ting the stage for a bat­tle where love and courage will be pit­ted against insur­mount­able odds.