Chapter 1

Feyre, enslaved by Amarantha, is forced to murder innocent Fae with an ash dagger. When the next victim is revealed to be a corrupted version of herself, she turns the weapon on her own heart.

Feyre stands in Amarantha's throne room, covered in blood after slaughtering a High Fae youth with an ash dagger. She is broken and trembling, struggling to comprehend what she has become—a murderer of innocents forced to commit these killings to free Tamlin and the land from Amarantha's rule. The queen orders her to kill again, presenting another ash dagger and a hooded female Fae kneeling before her. Feyre recognizes the prayer the female will recite and knows she will commit this murder as she has the last. When the guards remove the hood, the victim is revealed to be a corrupted, immortal version of Feyre herself—perfected into an immortal form but hollow and despair-filled. Rather than kill this twisted reflection, Feyre takes the ash dagger and plunges it into her own heart.