Chapter 23

The protagonist is returned to her cell in Gore's prison after an encounter with the king, brutally kicked by a guard despite her severe injuries. She learns she will be offered to the dragons at the next aurora rise, and comes to terms with her impending death while reflecting on what she loves about the world.

The protagonist is escorted through the prison's twisting tunnels, passing emaciated inmates. She recognizes a yellow-eyed boy with golden curls whom she once helped by offering an Elding orb; he had refused her assistance, choosing to help himself instead. Upon reaching her cell, a guard savagely kicks her while she is shackled, causing her to collide with the wall and scream in agony as her already-whipped back scrapes against the rough stone. The guard leaves, locking her in with a new padlock after her original lock was broken by the king. Wrook, her fellow prisoner, expresses concern about how her meeting went. When the slop cart arrives with food, the protagonist learns from Wrook's reaction that she is to be offered to the dragons at the next aurora rise. Accepting this fate, she declines to eat and offers her bowl to the starving male in an adjacent cell. She reflects on her love of life—the kingdom's colors, the changing clouds, the untethered dragons, snow, cold breezes, and particularly the wonky moon she fears she will never see again. The male prisoner accepts her food and her resignation to death.