Chapter 9

Veya flees through a lava-filled cavern in Arithia, only to be cornered by her brother Tyroth and his captive dragon Bharon. Tyroth violently forces suppressed memories into her mind, revealing that she—not her father—murdered the Neván family under magical compulsion, and that she killed her childhood friend Mior. As Bharon approaches to kill her, the dragon instead rescues her and flies her north.

Veya navigates a treacherous magma cavern after removing an iron bolt from her foot, discovering it is a magical cage holding Tyroth's Sabersythe, Bharon. She realizes escape is necessary to protect a diary and spots an exit, but Tyroth emerges and impales her shoulder and hand with obsidian spears, preventing her from calling on stone magic. He retrieves a bangle from her cloak and cuts her hair as proof of death to send to Kaan. Tyroth then forces his way into her mind with a brutal technique, shattering her mental walls. The recovered memories flood back: she was magically compelled by her father Pah and the Mindweft Runi Mior to poison the Neván family, sparing only Elluin. She carried out the poisonings while disguised, then attempted suicide when her emotions were restored by a second mental wipe—but Pah forced Mior to repeat the procedure. The final recovered memory reveals Mior was killed, her head severed, and Veya realizes she herself committed this murder under compulsion. Devastated by the truth that she caused Elluin's family's deaths and destroyed Mior, Veya awaits death as Tyroth commands Bharon to feed. Instead, the injured, matte-scaled dragon—itself a victim of Tyroth's cruelty—grasps her and launches into flight northward.