Chapter 64

Feyre approaches the Cauldron in the Under and begins a spell using both halves of the Book of Breathings to control it, but becomes dangerously entranced by the combined power of the artifacts. Azriel forcibly pulls her back before she can complete the spell, and a mysterious human male with familiar eyes appears at the bottom of the stairs—revealed to be Jurian.

Feyre, Mor, Azriel, and Cassian reach the chamber containing the Cauldron, a horrifying dark iron artifact with three thorned legs. Feyre feels an irresistible pull toward it and, climbing onto the dais, touches its lip and experiences overwhelming sensations of power and creation. She retrieves both halves of the Book of Breathings from her pocket, and as she holds them together with one hand on the Cauldron, the two halves commune with her through incomprehensible voices. The combined power of the two halves proves far more potent than when separate—Amren's assessment that they were weak apart was incorrect. Feyre realizes she can master them together and speak the spell to control the Cauldron, but the artifacts' voices and power consume her consciousness until she loses sense of self, becoming a conduit rather than the wielder. Resisting this loss of agency, she attempts to reclaim her identity by reaching for the spell's first word from memory. Azriel, recognizing the danger, forcibly wrenches her away from both the Book and Cauldron. Feyre comes back to awareness bleeding from her nose. Footsteps descend the stairs, and a brown-haired human male with distinctive eyes—eyes Feyre recognizes from an eye she kept encased in crystal for three months—arrives. He identifies himself as Jurian.