Five Dark Fates

Check out our episode here! (and the bonus with Kendare here)

Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

Arsinoe is making concoctions using the healing side of her Poisoner gift to calm Jules and her crazy war gift and trying to write a letter back home to Wolf Spring about Madrigal’s death and what has happened to Jules. How can she write this letter? Emilia is upset with Arsinoe for choosing to burn Madrigal's body near the water as is the way for those from Wolf Spring, seemingly thinking she's making queenly declarations, but seriously, Arsinoe doesn't want to be Queen! She needs to talk to Mirabella though because they really need to figure out what they are going to do so they can leave Fennbirn. Unfortunately, Emilia comes in with a letter signed B and E about supporting Katharine as the true Queen and offering a space with them. Bree and Elizabeth, Mirabella's best friends. Emilia says Mirabella has defected. Oh shit.

Mirabella is on her way to see Katharine, sure that her leaving Sunpool will be well known now. She worries about what she'll say to Arsinoe when she sees her again, but she's got to focus on Katharine for the time being. One sister at a time. She arrives at the gates to the Volroy and crackles her lightning to get the guards to take her to see the Queen.

Katharine is sitting by Pietyr’s bedside, feeling miserable because the Undead Queens attacked him after he tried to send them away using low magic. Katharine realizes now that the Undead Queens are using her as a puppet and she's not super happy about it, especially since they are speaking to her now. She's asked the best healers to see to Pietyr but without actually knowing what happened to him, they can't heal him. He's breathing though, so they assure the Queen that is a good sign. Katharine excuses herself for a moment and gets word of Mirabella's arrival. Genevieve is upset that she would come, and maybe more so when Katharine shares that she and Luca invited her. 

Mirabella waits in the throne room for Katharine. When she arrives, Katharine is rude to her and talks badly about her clothes. Mirabella is angry at Katharine for killing Madrigal, but really just because it unleashed Jules's bound war gift. Mirabella doesn't think Jules should be Queen. Katharine sends her to the King-Consort’s apartments to stay since Nicolas never got to use them, on account of the caustic cunting and all. With Mirabella gone, the Undead Queens speak to Katharine. She knows that they are itching to get out of her and into Mirabella, a much more powerful Queen, but they assure her they are she. Are they though? Ever since they went momentarily into Pietyr, they've been more difficult to control. Maybe she knows what to do with them now, she just has to be more clever than they are.

After Madrigal's funeral, Arsinoe reunites with Grandpa Ellis, Grandma Cait and her old friend Luke. So much has happened since she last saw them. Matthew is there, too, Joseph's older brother, Madrigal's baby’s father, and Caragh, Madrigal's sister's, former lover. Arsinoe realizes that none of them will know that Joseph is dead, but Billy will help with that. Jules's Aunt Caragh arrives with Baby Fenn and gives Arsinoe a jar with lengths of bloodied rope and a note written by Madrigal in the hope that Arsinoe would be able to figure out how to use it to help Jules. A messenger arrives, asking Arsinoe where to board the Naturalists that have come to stay, but Emilia wants all questions directed to her instead, still afraid that Arsinoe wants to be Queen.

Mirabella spends some time with her friends Bree and Elizabeth in the King-Consort's apartment before being summoned to dinner with Katharine. She confronts Katharine for inviting her but then making her feel unwelcome and threatened at every turn. She flares her elemental gift, which is exactly what Katharine wanted. She takes Mirabella to the Black Council, hoping they will agree to use Mirabella to fight the Mist. They do agree and send for other powerful Elementals from Rolanth as well. Genevieve questions why Katharine would give Mirabella such power. If she conquers the Mist, the people will love her. She's going to use Mirabella as a symbol of power and, preparing for war, believes that two Queens are better than one. Katharine later goes for a walk and ends up at the Port near the Mist. Thinking she'll be strong enough with the Dead Queens inside, she reaches her hand inside the Mist and pulls back a mangled bloody mess. Good idea, Katharine. 

Arsinoe has been working tirelessly trying to figure out what to do with Madrigal's bloody ropes and the note, which was instructions on how she bound Jules's curse when she was born. She's made a new tonic, mixing some blood rope with the tonic she's already been using to soothe Jules and she comes to a little while everyone is discussing what Arsinoe should do next. She decides that she might be able to tether Jules's curse to someone else to try to temper it and Jules weakly agrees. Arsinoe will of course use herself as the tether, but Emilia steps in, declares her love for Jules, and takes the burden. 

Meanwhile, Katharine has asked Mirabella and the other summoned Elementals to push back the Mist. Mirabella notices something is wrong with one of Katharine's hands, it's immobile, but she doesn't say anything about it. Katharine brings a snack and tells her sister that she’ll have to get used to eating meager portions if they can't get the Mist to cooperate. They're going to go through lean times since they won't have food from outside the island. The Elementals are sent out on a barge in the middle of the water when the Mist starts murdering people. Not Mirabella though. She manages to push the Mist back and retreat without them all being Misted, though she did lose two and another was badly hurt. Katharine can't stop the Dead Queens reaching out for Mirabella, but she won't let them have her.

Arsinoe goes to visit Braddock the Bear before working low magic on Jules. She wants to make sure he was not and has not been hurt by the magic tethering because she's about to do the same thing to her best friend. Assured he's fine by his pleasant attitude and desire to eat more fish, Arisone prepares to bind Jules’s war gift and tether her curse to Emilia, though she is maybe a little jealous of what this will mean for her own close relationship with Jules. She wants to tie herself in, too, but Emilia convinces her that she can handle it. Using Madrigal's original spell and lots of blood, hers, Jules's and Emilia's, Arsinoe is successful in her magic and Jules and Camden are back to normal. Meanwhile, many of the rebels who had gathered to aid them in their war against Katharine have decided to leave and Billy is upset by it. Mathilde is sure that Katharine's spies that Billy has no clue about will send word to their Queen and the legion rebellion will only be better for it, especially as Emilia announces the triumphant return of their Two Queens, Jules and Arsinoe.

After some time with Bree and Elizabeth in which they share their reasons for their allegiance with Katharine, basically because the Queen Crowned is the Queen Crowned, Katharine takes Mirabella out to the cliffs where Queen Illiann made the Mist, revealing that she's had some research done about it. What kind of Queen would she be if she didn't? She says she's definitely a better Queen than Mirabella would have been anyway. Mirabella knows that Katharine tried to face the Mist and it mangled her arm and that's probably why she has researched it so much.

Along the way, Mirabella shares some old memories and then talk turns to where she and Arsinoe went while they were away, to Billy Chatworth’s. Katharine is angry about that because of his father killing Natalia and she vows to kill his whole family who definitely don't deserve it. Well, Billy does because he's a rebel now and Katharine is going to have to kill him and Arsinoe and Jules and Mirabella will have to be okay with it. Mirabella also shares why they came back, because of Arsinoe's dreams about the Mist. Katharine decides to grant Mirabella more freedom after this, and after she declares that she, the Undead Queen, and Mirabella Mistbane, her new nickname, are fighting together against the rebels.

As soon as Jules is back to herself, the rebellion council meets to discuss Mirabella's defection. Arsinoe has no idea why she would leave and wonders if she was taken, but Mathilde says all of her things are gone and it wouldn't be easy to take her if she was unwilling to go. Arsinoe then asks Billy if maybe Mirabella overheard what they heard when they were in the cave with Daphne, that Illiann was killed to create the Mist and she would need to be killed to stop it. Emilia is furious that Mirabella has gotten away, especially if her death ending the Mist is true. Jules shuts everything down, ending the meeting and telling Emilia that no harm will come to Mirabella. Arsinoe hangs back and Jules tells her that Mirabella should have been Queen. Even if she never wanted to be, she would do it if it's the right thing to do. 

Mirabella speaks to Luca about Madrigal telling her Katharine is full of dead and Luca says she's got an idea about that but will not speak ill of the Queen, though she suggests Mirabella should speak to Pietyr if she wants to know what it means. Since he's still incapacitated, Mirabella goes to the library to research, but most of the books she needs, the ones about Illiann, have been taken out, to Greavesdrake by Genevieve. A young initiate priestess mentions the original Temple to the Goddess being here in Indrid Down, but lost. Mirabella wonders what is kept there and where it is. Would there be information there on the very first Queen, the nameless one who is thought to be the Goddess herself? What could she learn if she went there?

In Greavesdrake, Katharine visits Pietyr, kissing him in the hopes that he would wake. She fights off the Dead Queens who long to touch Pietyr, too, and threatens to get rid of them herself, but the Dead speak back, telling her she would be nothing without them. Genevieve arrives then and tells Katharine she thinks she knows why Mirabella joined their side so readily. Her spies in Sunpool with the rebels have told her that to stop the Mist, they should sacrifice an Elemental Queen. Genevieve believes this would work because she found a diary in all the old books about Illiann that seems to be from Henry, her King-Consort, apologizing to Illiann for her death and telling her about Daphne. Genevieve has realized that Daphne is Roxane, the Blue Queen’s Elemental sister who was sent away as a newborn on a raft to sea to die. She easily took her sister's place as Queen when she died creating the Mist and reigned in her place and birthed the next set of triplets. Katharine doesn't want anything bad to happen to Mirabella, especially since she promised Mirabella would be kept safe. She also reveals that she hopes that Mirabella will bear the triplets for her in secret, but she can't do that if she's dead. 

With Jules basically back to her old self, Matthew and Baby Fenn are going back to Wolf Spring, but Caragh tells Jules that she and Cait and Ellis are staying. As Mathilde says goodbye to the baby, she suddenly calls him Cursebreaker, which the Milones say is true because normally, the Milone family only has two girls, one of which is always barren, but now Madrigal’s son has broken that. Mathilde also says that he will have a red fox for his familiar when he is older. 

Emilia meanwhile has gone to get Braddock, thinking she's got a touch of the Naturalist gift now that she is tied to Jules, but is that so? Soon, someone comes to greet them. It's war-gifted Margaret Beaulin, who went back to her hometown of Bastian City after being released from her place on the Black Council. She has come to declare Bastian City and the war-gifted will join the rebellion. They aren't sure they can trust her until she says she's doing it because she loved Emilia's mother.

At a meeting with the Black Council, they mostly discuss Mirabella either being kept in hiding only to burst out as savior when the Mist comes to devour them or being paraded through town and shown off as an ally. Katharine wants to show her off in custom-made armor, so that's what they're going with. They also talk of spies. Giftless Renata says her spies in Bastian City report that Margaret Beaulin and the rest of the city have joined the rebels. Rho wants to attack Bastian City as well as Sunpool and march on Bastian first, now, because they can get there even though winter is falling. Katharine disperses the Black Council and has a private chat with her Interior Council, the Dead Queens. She has a plan.

In Sunpool, the Oracles have seen some things: a battle at the Volroy, Mirabella in armor at a parade, and a chance to reclaim her. Emilia briefly mentions Mirabella being out of the way would mean their safety from the Mist but Jules and Arsinoe refuse to kill Mirabella. Arsinoe decides she's going to sneak into Indrid Down and rescue Mirabella using Daphne's dream knowledge of the Volroy and its secret passages. Billy and several warriors will create a diversion in the parade that they will be having to show off Mirabella so they can sneak away.

Preparations for the parade are underway but Mirabella seems distracted. She still wants to figure out what Madrigal meant when she said Katharine was full of dead. She takes a chance and asks Katharine about Pietyr, saying she'd like to visit him and Katharine approves. They also discuss Rho moving from priestess to captain of the Queensgard and they agree that she definitely has loyalty to the line of succession and the Goddess and that she will be useful against the rebellion.

Arsinoe sneaks into the capital city in disguise as merchants line up to be chosen for the parade and makes her way into the secret passageways and up to Mirabella's room. She tries to convince Mirabella to leave with her but she refuses. She's got to figure out what is going on with Katharine and it seems like she's starting to piece things together, like how she has a lot of similarities to people with all sorts of gifts and sometimes acts like she's two completely different people. Arsinoe leaves, but tells her sister there will be a diversion during the parade and she should try to escape then if she won't leave now. Katharine meanwhile has taken Rho down into the cells beneath the Volroy. She questions her loyalties and offers her a chance to become invincible. Rho kneels before Katharine and she shares the Dead Queens with her. 

Arsinoe makes it out of the city and back to Jules and Emilia. She says she should have just killed Katharine while she was in there and also that Mirabella refused to leave with her because she's definitely up to something. They decide to call off the parade diversion and bring Billy and the warriors who went with him back. They send up a signal of black smoke and the warriors see it, but they also see the Queensgard as they come to attack. Somehow they found out about their ambush. 

Rho takes Billy hostage, but before she knocks him out, he seems terrified of her and asks “what are you?” Rho meets back with Katharine who knew she was coming, thanks to the Dead Queens inside both of them. Katharine takes the few she sent into Rho back and they go see the prisoners. Katharine is pleased to see that Billy has been captured and tells him that Rho killed his father who was perhaps there on his behalf, helping when they escaped to the Mainland. Billy knows that's not true. His father would never help him.

Katharine and Mirabella prepare for the parade. Katharine is suspicious of Mirabella, thinking she sent for rebels to help her, but when she questions Rho, the warrior priestess says she's seen no sign of Mirabella being untrustworthy. Mirabella is nervous and keeps waiting for something to happen during the parade, some diversion to allow her to escape, but she won't. Luckily, no diversion occurs. Jules, Emilia and Arsinoe meanwhile wait anxiously for Billy and the warriors to return after sending up the black smoke signal, but they never do. Arsinoe plans to go back for Billy but Jules and Emilia won't let her. Mathilde comes to tell them that some will return, but not all. 

Katharine and Genevieve bicker about Mirabella. Did she know what the rebels were doing? Was she in on it? Genevieve thinks yes, Katharine hopes no. When Mirabella sees Billy, trussed up like a human table serving Katharine snacks, she is appalled. She demands he be released and decides to come clean about what she knew of the rebels being inside the city, but lies that she has been communicating by bird and mentions nothing of Arsinoe and her secret passages. She tells Katharine that she told the rebels not to come because she doesn't want to leave, and her sister believes. Billy is allowed to ask about his father and Rho succinctly retells how she killed him. He promises to kill her when he gets away, but… is that going to happen? Mirabella convinces Katharine to release the other rebels so people will not fear her and will think the rebels are weak for not doing anything at the parade. She suggests they keep Billy as leverage for Arsinoe.

Arsinoe is anxiously waiting for Billy and the other Warriors to return, but mostly Billy. Jules leaves her tent with Emilia to sit with her friend who questions the situation Jules just left. She doesn't quite know how to feel about it, her and Emilia being a thing, but Arsinoe, trying to make her feel better? says that Joseph would have liked Emilia. Meanwhile, Genevieve and Rho see off the rebels, but Genevieve insists on gagging them before letting them go. She has of course poisoned the gags and they vomit blood just as they meet back up with Jules, Arsinoe and Emilia. Arsinoe is furious and wants to kill everyone but Jules takes her away while Emilia goes back to Indrid Down for revenge. She kidnaps Pietyr in retaliation.

Katharine is furious when everyone realizes that Pietyr is gone, and so are the Dead Queens inside her. Mirabella insists that Arsinoe won't hurt Pietyr, though. She goes to see Billy who is still chained up next to the throne where he has been Tabling. She doesn't let him go because it will be obvious that she's the one who did it, but she tries to clean him up a little bit. He's obviously mad at her, but is still kind because he's Billy and he's great. He asks about Arsinoe coming to see her but she keeps things quiet, not sure who will be lingering around listening. Mirabella wants Billy to know that she is still on their side, though she can't say anything really about the Dead Queens she knows are inside Katharine, nor can she let him escape.

Katharine wants to believe Mirabella about Arsinoe not hurting Pietyr, but at the Black Council meeting she has just called, she's clearly going bonkers with the Dead Queens constantly chattering away inside her head. She shouts for everyone to be quiet, but the Council tells her no one was speaking. Yeah, obviously! No one was speaking because no one ever has anything meaningful to say! (Insert shifty eyes by everyone here.) Katharine sends everyone but Rho away after declaring that they are going to march on Bastian City right now. She gives most of the Dead Queens to Rho who accepts them graciously. Luca, knowing something fishy is going on, catches Rho right after this and tells her she was chosen for her position because of her duty to the Goddess, but Rho brushes this off, full of anger and Dead Queens.

Katharine summons Mirabella to Greavesdrake and Mirabella notices that she is different than she usually is. She is not threatened by her or afraid of her, which is Katharine's usual way of ruling. In her old rooms, the rooms where Pietyr was staying, Mirabella notices a rug that looks out of place and sees a stain underneath. Katharine then tells Mirabella everything: how Pietyr pushed her into the Breccia Domain, how the Dead Queens helped her out, how they have taken over, that they want Mirabella and that most of them are currently in Rho. Well, now Mirabella understands what Madrigal meant, she's literally full of Dead Queens. Katharine asks Mirabella for help in getting rid of the Queens and tells her she needs her for another reason, to bear the triplets. Mirabella can't give Katharine an answer yet.

Arsinoe wakes after a party celebrating the capture of Pietyr and decides to go visit him. The Oracle guarding him of course saw Arsinoe coming… through the window, not with his gift. Arsinoe looks over Pietyr's body, thinking that he was somehow poisoned, which she should be able to heal with her own poisoner gift, but then she sees something she knows even more about: scars from using low magic. She knows exactly what she needs to do to wake him: even more low magic. After gathering a few supplies, she does just that.

While Katharine goes to see Billy, at first to be nice to him because Mirabella told her she was treating him badly, but he stands up to her so she angrily ties him back up, Mirabella goes to see Luca. She tells the old High Priestess about Katharine and the Dead Queens, her plan to make her bear the triplets, and the fact that she already knows that Luca knows. Luca has had her suspicions for a while. Mirabella thinks she knows a way to get rid of the Dead Queens and it will be Arsinoe with her low magic who has to do it. Luca is at first offended, but then suggests Mirabella write to Arsinoe. Mirabella then asks what Luca knows about the original Temple.

Meanwhile, Pietyr tells Arsinoe, Jules and Emilia about the Dead Queens and that he does not want to go back to Indrid Down. Then they find out about Bastian City and Jules and Emilia rush off. Pietyr tells Arsinoe that he wants to see Katharine again but he also doesn't at the same time. He then tries to describe the Dead Queens. While they are having this conversation, Mirabella, fighting off her silly friends who already want her to be pregnant with the triplets, writes her letter to Arsinoe.

Jules, Camden and Emilia arrive in Bastian City, or what is left of it. All they see are dead Warriors everywhere. They wonder what could have happened. How did a city of Warriors fall? It doesn't even look like any of their weapons have been used. They see body parts shorn off and heads smashed in. No Queensguard could have done this much damage, especially to the Warriors. Emilia finds Margaret Beaulin, her sword clean of blood. She would not have died without at least making one strike. As they wander around taking in the carnage, they hear Camden scream. She is not hurt, but she has found something important. All the Warrior children, unharmed, hiding. They decide to send them all to Wolf Spring to keep them safe. 

Mirabella, Luca and Katharine set off to find the place that Luca knows to be the first Temple. Inside, they find carvings of the first Queen, who was a Legion Queen, and when they touch the drawing, they get a flash of the beginning with that Legion Queen and of the end, with the new Legion Queen, Jules. They don't really know what to do with this information, but upon leaving the temple, the Dead Queens return to Katharine. They are angry and make her stab Mirabella to weaken her, to take her over. Katharine comes to herself and fights them off, and Mirabella pleads to her to not let the Queens take her. So Katharine slits her throat and throws her off the cliff. 

When Katharine gets back home, her Queensguard tries to tell her of finding Rho collapsed, but she doesn't care. She wants to be alone, but oh no, she's never alone. The Dead Queens tell her We are you now. Do not fight us anymore. When Luca makes it back to the Volroy with Mirabella's body, she tells Billy what happened and sets him free to tell Arsinoe and Jules to come ready to fight. She gives him Mirabella’s body to take back with him. 

Billy meets up with Jules, Emilia and Camden as they all reach Sunpool. Arsinoe rushes out to greet them, but it is not a happy reunion when they realize what Billy has brought back. Arsinoe is devastated. Billy tells them about Luca setting him free and telling Arsinoe to come fight, letting them know that the Temple will not stand in their way. He, though, will need to return home to care for his mother and sister since he found out that his father was killed. Arsinoe is shocked, but understands. When he tells her he'll come back and they'll run away together, neither of them really believe it.

Katharine is furious, or the Dead Queens are. She and Genevieve discuss what they will do next after learning that Luca set Billy free with Mirabella's body. She is arrested of course. Genevieve suggests telling everyone that Katharine tried to sacrifice Mirabella to fight the Mist, but no one is going to be pleased to find out that their strongest Elemental is gone. Katharine knows that Arsinoe and Jules and the Mist are coming and that there will soon be an ending. 

Before Mirabella's funeral, Pietyr helps Arsinoe prepare her body, surprised to find her handling it alone, but who else knows Mirabella as well as she does? Who else knows how she would prefer to wear her hair? Arsinoe asks Pietyr if he will try to stop her from killing Katharine and he says no, he tried to help her once and won't do it again. After, Arsinoe and Jules stare into the Mist, no longer afraid of it because Mirabella is part of it now and has come to say goodbye. 

Bree and Elizabeth take soup to Luca who is confined to her rooms. They all discuss how they came to trust Katharine, and Mirabella did, too, and now she is dead. Bree is angry, but Luca assures her that when Arsinoe and Jules arrive, they will know how to fight Katharine. They wonder how it could be possible that they would support the rebellion, but they do. 

As they are making their battle plans and getting suited up with armor, Arsinoe receives the letter sent by Mirabella before she died, begging her to come take care of the Dead Queens with low magic. Arsinoe has a plan. She wants to fight Dead Queens with Dead Queens, or one other at least. She plans to seek out Daphne again and get her help, knowing she is strong and that she has already fought, won and reigned. Unfortunately, when she arrives in the cave where she met Daphne after returning from the Mainland, Daphne is not there. They are on their own. Meanwhile, as everyone prepares for battle, Genevieve seems worried but Katharine is not. She knows her army will best the Elementals, Naturalists, Warriors, Oracles and probably even some Poisoners who will fight against her. 

Jules is anxious because Arsinoe hasn't caught back up with the rebel army yet. She sends her Aunt Caragh back home to Wolf Spring to care for anyone who might come for them after the war is over, no matter who wins. Jules tries to send a scout to look for Arsinoe but Emilia won't let her. She doesn't want Arsinoe to come back at all, which is upsetting to Jules, but then they almost kiss. Jules stops Emilia, not quite sure what she feels for the Warrior, but still feeling love for Joseph even though he's dead. 

Arsinoe meets back up with the rebel army after trying and failing to find Daphne. She sneaks into their camp and finds Billy, who is unfortunately sharing his tent with Pietyr. Neither of them trust Pietyr, but they know that Emilia will have her use for him, probably as a distraction for Katharine. She and Billy sneak away to spend one last night together. He plans to go back to the Mainland after the war to take care of his mother and sister, but Arsinoe doesn't belong there. She doesn't really belong in Fennbirn either. If only she and her sisters had behaved like the Queens they should have been, none of this would have happened, but it's clear that the island is ready for a change.

The rebel army approaches and Katharine prepares for battle. There are many more rebels than any of the spies let them believe, but Katharine is not afraid. She speaks to Rho, who she once resented and now only feels regret for, about feeling sorrow at sending soldiers out to die. Katharine asks what it feels like when she gives her the Dead Queens, and she says there is no greater honor. It feels like they were sent to help them from the Goddess, but Katharine knows that's not Her will. She sends more Dead Queens into Rho than ever before.

The Queensgard army marches toward the rebels and they put on their armor and prepare to move out. Billy and Pietyr are both afraid and Billy asks if Pietyr will switch sides when he sees his Katharine. Yes, he would immediately if that were his Katharine, but she is gone. Arsinoe meanwhile goes to find Jules and Emilia who are also arming themselves. Jules is excited to see that Arsinoe has returned but when she finds out that Daphne is not with her, she is disappointed. Emilia is not concerned though, that was a desperate ploy that they do not need. Before they head out, Arsinoe asks Emilia to try to protect Billy who is dead set on going after Rho for killing his father. She says she will try, but there are never any guarantees in battle.

The battle begins and it is fierce. Rho is terrifying and full of Dead Queens. She is frightening on the battlefield and Jules knows she does not stand a chance against her. Emilia knows this, too, but she thinks the entire battle is worthless. She saw what happened in Bastian City and she knows it will happen here as well. Arsinoe plans to go directly to Katharine and Pietyr wants to follow. Billy tries to stop him, thinking he's just going to go back to the other side, so Pietyr stabs him, but not with a poisoned blade at least. Jules watches as Rho fights and knows the only way she will stand a chance against her. 

Jules unleashes her tether and unbinds her War Gift and the battle begins with a sonic boom of Jules and Rho’s powers colliding. Everyone around them is thrown back in the blast. Waves of darkness seep out of the Warrior priestess, and Jules seems like the only Warrior capable of facing off against her. 

Arsinoe meanwhile approaches the Mist that has also joined the fray. Pietyr catches up to her and demands to go with her to face Katherine. Together, they enter the Mist and it is terrifying to say the least. They look around them and see bodies piled up, bodies ripped in two, arms skinned to the muscle and bone. A Queensguard soldier calls out to them and is almost immediately ripped in half vertically. Arsinoe convinces herself that she is a Queen, not only a Poisoner and a Naturalist, she is also skilled in low magic and she will no longer be ashamed of it. She cuts her hand and slams it to the ground and the Mist swirls away. They have arrived at the Volroy and they are still in one piece. Katharine is inside, waiting, with a few Dead Queens left to help. 

Emilia and Mathilde send a wave of reinforcements to fight the Queensguard when they spot Billy, bleeding from a wound but still fighting. Emilia rushes to him as the Mist begins to curl in, devouring more fighters. Jules and Rho continue their fight, matching each other blow for blow. Rho manages to hit Jules, driving her back and breaking her leg. Then the Mist arrives. The Dead Queens shriek and flee from Rho back toward Katharine as Jules flies through the air and slashes through the empty husk of Rho, the Mist ripping the rest of her to shreds.

Arsinoe and Pietyr make their way through the Volroy until they encounter Katharine on the battlements. She wants Arsinoe to end the Dead Queens, and so she does. Arsinoe carves a rune into her palm and into her sister's palm as well. They clasp hands and the few Queens that were left inside Katharine fly out. They merge into a cloud of darkness, an amalgamation of body parts with the Dead Queens that left Rho as the Mist tattered her. 

Unfortunately, though, it's not all of them. A handful stayed behind and reanimated Rho’s corpse. It climbs up the side of the Volroy, but, terrifying as it is with an ax in its dead hand, they are able to kill it, though Arsinoe does take a slash to her hip. The Dead Queens left in Rho and the rest of them try to get into weakened Arsinoe, but Katharine jumps in between them and flies over the side of the battlements into the Mist. It devours her and the Dead Queens, and then it disappears.

The Mist disappears from the battlefield as well. One moment it is there and the next it is gone. Emilia finds Jules, alive and not crazed by her unleashed legion curse. Her leg is so badly broken that, between bouts of consciousness, it has to be removed, but her curse is gone, though both Naturalist and Warrior gifts remain strong. Emilia and Mathilde ask what they've done, what they made Jules do, but it seems like she did exactly what she was meant to do. Arsinoe and Pietyr leave the battlements and meet back up with everyone else and learn that Jules is free from her curse. Arsinoe then sees Billy, but they both know if they speak to each other, he will not be able to leave. They wave goodbye.

In the days and weeks after the Queens’ War, most return to their homes, the Naturalists back to Wolf Spring, the Elementals to Rolanth. Jules doesn't take up residence in the Volroy just yet, but either Emilia or Mathilde are always in Indrid Down, at least for now. Things are changing in Fennbirn. The Mist is gone, so travelers are free to journey between the island and the Mainland with Billy hopefully becoming the new ambassador between the two. Jules and Arsinoe are about to set sail to see him because now they can come and go as they please.