Chapter 57

Feyre sends Mor to reinforce the failing battle lines below, then secretly seeks out Elain to use her newfound powers to locate the Suriel. Elain senses the creature is headed to the Middle, an ancient forest near the Weaver of the Wood. Feyre winnows to that forest to intercept the Suriel, where she is confronted by an ancient, rasping voice.

Feyre convinces Mor to abandon her post at the camp overlooking the battle and join Cassian and Azriel on the front lines, where Cassian's Siphons are failing and reinforcements are desperately needed. Feyre's true intention is to slip away unobserved. She enters Elain's tent and asks her sister to use her newfound supernatural abilities to locate the Suriel, a creature Feyre has spoken with before. Feyre carefully enters Elain's mind—finding it protected by sealed flower buds—and plants an image of the Suriel there. Elain's eyes move beneath their lids as she senses the creature's location; her finger traces the map to the Middle, an ancient forest south of the current battleground, near the dwelling of the Weaver of the Wood. Feyre winnows five times to reach the forest, nearly exhausting her power. The ancient woodland is heavy with moss and gnarled trees, filled with threatening silence. As Feyre draws her blade and searches for the Suriel, a rasping voice speaks to her from behind, asking whether she has come to kill or to seek help from the speaker.