Chaol and Yrene rush through Antica’s bustling streets, dri­ven by a renewed sense of pur­pose after learn­ing of Aelin’s army. Chaol is deter­mined to con­vince the kha­gan to join their cause, see­ing it as a cru­cial oppor­tu­ni­ty to turn the tide of war. Despite the daunt­ing odds, he resolves to make one final appeal, even if it means crawl­ing before the ruler. Their imme­di­ate goal, how­ev­er, is to seek out Hafiza, the Heal­er on High, and access the Torre’s hid­den knowl­edge, which they believe could be a more pow­er­ful weapon than any army.

As they ascend the Torre’s end­less stairs, their play­ful ban­ter reveals their deep con­nec­tion, with Yrene proud­ly claim­ing Chaol as her own. Yet, the real­i­ty of leav­ing Anti­ca weighs on her, stir­ring bit­ter­sweet emo­tions about the life she’ll leave behind. Chaol’s reas­sur­ing touch reminds her that while she’ll miss this place, their future togeth­er holds its own promise. Their light­heart­ed moment is cut short when they dis­cov­er Hafiza’s work­room emp­ty, despite wit­ness­es insist­ing she nev­er left. Yrene’s unease grows as she search­es near­by rooms, find­ing no trace of the Heal­er on High.

Yrene’s anx­i­ety peaks when she finds Hafiza’s iron key slipped under her own door—a delib­er­ate act sug­gest­ing the Heal­er on High antic­i­pat­ed dan­ger. Chaol, alert and armed, rec­og­nizes the urgency of the sit­u­a­tion and insists on noti­fy­ing the guards. Yrene bat­tles pan­ic, fear­ing her actions may have endan­gered Hafiza, but she forces her­self to stay com­posed. Togeth­er, they race down the Torre, ques­tion­ing every­one they meet, only to receive the same frus­trat­ing answer: Hafiza was last seen in her work­room, yet she has van­ished with­out a trace.

Chaol’s instincts tell him some­thing sin­is­ter is unfold­ing, and Yrene’s dread mir­rors his sus­pi­cion. Despite orga­niz­ing a search par­ty, they know time is of the essence. The chap­ter ends on a tense note as they scour the Torre’s vast com­plex, their hope dwin­dling with each unan­swered query. The mys­tery of Hafiza’s dis­ap­pear­ance looms large, hint­ing at dark­er forces at play and set­ting the stage for a per­ilous inves­ti­ga­tion.