84. The One You Can Save

Kaladin leads a desperate rescue mission to the royal chambers to retrieve the king's son, only to discover that Queen Aesudan has bonded with the Unmade Yelig-nar and become a conduit for ancient spren power. As they attempt to escape with Prince Gavinor, a catastrophic battle erupts in the palace's grand hall, culminating in Moash—now serving the enemy—killing King Elhokar before Radiants Drehy and Skar arrive to extract Kaladin from the chaos.

Kaladin charges up the palace stairs with Elhokar and fifty soldiers, using Stormlight to move faster while Syl scouts ahead. They pass statues of the Heralds and reach the royal chambers, finding Queen Aesudan singing softly at her vanity. She appears composed until Elhokar demands to know where their son Gavinor is. Behind a dressing screen, Kaladin discovers the young prince tormented by red spren; he kills one with his Shardblade, driving the others away. Aesudan then reveals she has bonded with Yelig-nar, one of the Unmade, and claims to have succeeded where Gavilar failed in creating ancient spren bonds. Her eyes glow red as she initiates an attack. Kaladin's men retreat down the stairs while he uses Stormlight to deflect crossbow bolts and maintain the escape. However, parshmen troops emerge from below, blocking their descent. The grand hall becomes a chaotic melee as Azure's soldiers, the Queen's Guard, parshmen, and Elhokar's defenders clash indiscriminately. Kaladin recognizes friends among the parshmen—including Sah and Khen—and becomes paralyzed by the moral impossibility of the carnage. He freezes, unable to fight, and begs the soldiers to stop. Elhokar begins chanting the Radiant oath and glows faintly as he clutches his son. Moash emerges from the battle in a brown parshman uniform, makes the Bridge Four salute, and systematically kills Elhokar with his spear—first through the chest, then through the eye—until the king's fledgling glow extinguishes. The battle collapses as Kaladin's forces scatter. Drehy and Skar arrive moments later with Stormlight blazing, and Adolin pulls Kaladin from the corpse. In a parallel sequence, Shallan confronts a figure in a mirror at the Oathgate control building that claims to be Sja-anat, an Unmade, warning that Ashertmarn's departure is a trap and that the device has been sabotaged.