In Chap­ter 25, Gre­gor and Ares face the grim real­i­ty of being tried for trea­son after refus­ing to kill the Bane. Ares reveals that their fate rests in the hands of a tri­bunal and Queen Ner­is­sa, whose cur­rent state of mind is uncer­tain. Over­whelmed by the prospect of exe­cu­tion, Gre­gor grap­ples with guilt and despair, while Ares blames him­self for bring­ing Gre­gor back to Regalia. The bat devis­es a des­per­ate plan to take full respon­si­bil­i­ty, hop­ing to save Gre­gor, but Gre­gor refus­es to let Ares sac­ri­fice him­self, insist­ing on shar­ing the con­se­quences of their actions.

The ten­sion esca­lates as Ares describes their poten­tial exe­cu­tion: being thrown off a cliff, a method that hor­ri­fies Gre­gor due to his recur­ring night­mares of falling. Despite their dire sit­u­a­tion, they attempt to eat the mea­ger food pro­vid­ed, cling­ing to hope for an escape or a fair hear­ing. Gre­gor ques­tions Ares about Nerissa’s abil­i­ty to spare them, learn­ing of her trou­bled gift of fore­sight and her strug­gles with san­i­ty. Their con­ver­sa­tion is cut short when guards arrive to escort them to the tri­bunal, bind­ing their hands and wings as if prepar­ing for exe­cu­tion.

Upon enter­ing the tri­bunal room, Gre­gor is shocked to see Howard and Androm­e­da also bound and accused of trea­son for aban­don­ing their mis­sion. Gre­gor feels respon­si­ble for their plight, but Howard insists he act­ed of his own free will. The for­mal set­ting, filled with hos­tile spec­ta­tors, under­scores the sever­i­ty of their tri­al. Three judges take their seats, and the head judge inquires about Queen Nerissa’s pres­ence, hint­ing at her poten­tial role in deter­min­ing their fate.

The chap­ter ends on a cliffhang­er as the tri­bunal awaits Nerissa’s arrival, leav­ing Gre­gor and his allies in sus­pense. The stakes are unbear­ably high, with Gre­gor torn between his loy­al­ty to Ares and his fear for his fam­i­ly. The Under­lan­ders’ harsh jus­tice sys­tem and the uncer­tain­ty of Nerissa’s deci­sion cre­ate a pal­pa­ble sense of dread, set­ting the stage for a piv­otal moment in the sto­ry.