Chapter 36

Feyre is forced into a deadly arena trial by Amarantha, where she must fight a blind, carnivorous worm creature in a muddy labyrinth. Using cunning and the bones of the creature's previous victims, she constructs a trap and kills the beast, proving her defiance despite sustaining a severe injury to her arm.

Feyre is escorted into a massive underground arena filled with faeries betting on her life. Amarantha reveals that Rhysand has informed her Feyre is a huntress, and she orders Feyre to hunt—then releases a gigantic worm-like creature called a Middengard into the trenches. Feyre initially flees in panic through the muddy maze but discovers the creature is blind and relies on scent. After nearly becoming trapped in the creature's bone-filled den, she realizes she can use the bones as tools. She constructs a bone ladder to escape the pit, then coats herself in mud to mask her scent, rendering herself invisible to the creature. Lucien shouts a warning when the worm hunts her again, and Feyre uses embedded bones as pivot points to navigate the trenches at speed while driving the creature forward. She leaps into the pit where she has planted bone spikes, and the worm impales itself on them, dying. Though victorious, Feyre sustains a severe injury—a bone shard pierces clean through her left forearm. Amarantha dismisses her with feigned indifference but is visibly displeased, noting that only one person bet on Feyre's survival. As Feyre is dragged away, Amarantha summons Rhysand, leaving Feyre unable to thank Lucien or look back at Tamlin before pain overwhelms her.