Chapter 55

A figure who claims to be Raeve—but with black eyes and an ancient, inhuman voice—awakens and compels herself toward the nesting grounds despite the daylight. The narrator realizes this is a moonbeam (a supernatural entity) who has taken control of Raeve's body, and they are powerless to stop her as she vows to return Raeve unharmed.

The narrator waits by a window overlooking a pink Moltenmaw's nest, internally wrestling with the obsessive need to collect the final moonshard despite the danger and despite now having someone—Raeve—whose death would devastate him. He observes the mating rituals of the Moltenmaws and spots a luminous silver shard in the pink dam's nest. Suddenly Raeve appears beside him, but her eyes are entirely black, pricked with thousands of luminous specks. She moves with inhuman grace down the stairs, retrieves an exit vial, and ventures out into the forest toward the nesting grounds, moving too fast and too loud. When the narrator grabs her arm, she pins him against the tree with predatory strength, her breath cold enough to burn. As he speaks to her, trying to reach her through the strangeness overtaking her, she pulls back slightly and reveals a blue flame in her throat. In a voice that is Raeve's but also ancient and otherworldly, she declares: "I will bring her back to you when I am done," and identifies herself as a moonbeam—calling him "mate of my Precious One." She then prowls toward the bog, leaving the narrator devastated and helpless.