Esme takes her place as queen:

• A visit from Jaime (Orianna’s sister) eludes to a possible mastermind behind Orianna’s actions
• Tearlach gifts Esme a set of protective, fitted garments with fine copper chainmail woven into the fabric
• Nightmares from her battle with Orianna plague Esme 
• Esme narrowly survives her first council meeting
• Killian provides Esme with various distractions as mounting obligations threaten to overwhelm
• A letter arrives from a secret sect of unordained priestesses who claim to be keeping the rivers flowing in the mountains 
• Needing a better understanding of raw magic and the origins of the Order, Esme and Tearlach search the royal library and discover that sites where raw magic reaches the surface (like the five temples) once existed in the hundreds across the kingdom

Threats:

• Esme uses her connection with Tearlach (formed by the Lifeblood Oath) to summon him when Lord Torin (Lord of Isloran and Tearlach’s father) threatens her 
• As the barrenness spreads and rivers run dry, Esme worries that Periwen (and its abundant resources) may come under threat

Scheming councilors & the uncovering of secrets:

• Tearlach’s mother arrives at the palace to meet with her son in secret
• Esme sneaks out to visit Beglan’s bookshop and finds a register of the Order’s first ordination dated one-thousand years ago, and an even older children’s book written in the Old Language and illustrated with scenes depicting seasons—which don’t exist in Tremaene
• Esme, Tearlach, and Cadwyn reason that seasons existed long ago, until the hundreds of channels across the kingdom were somehow damaged, prompting the gods to intervene, giving rise to the Order
• Recalling a rather specific detail from a childhood story, Esme uncovers her mother’s journal, which contains spells, entries about her time during the Dark War, and recountings of unnerving visitations from the creature she imprisoned
• While out with Killian, Esme finds the entrance to the caves her mother noted in her journal (which she used to practice volatile spells)
• Lady Audris somehow learns about the letter from the unordained priestesses (though not its contents)
• Lord Torin suggests they force the unordained priestesses to perform the summoning ritual throughout the kingdom
• Winifred (the council secretary whose magic allows her to recall everything) offers to assist Esme in making sense of the many requests she receives daily—one of which is from Lord Torin about lumber from the ungoverned Tamslo Mountains

A man who calls himself Dougal & the infamous seer of Meallán:

• In a premonitory dream, Esme watches a man who calls himself “Dougal” visit the “infamous seer of Meallán”
• After identifying the seer as Athdara, Esme and Tearlach visit her in secret, learning that the man in Esme’s dream sought help for his barren farmland nearly a thousand years ago and inquired about the identity of a person who could wield all elements
• Given the timing, Esme and Tearlach suspect that the hundreds of channels weren’t damaged a thousand years ago, but destroyed by “Dougal”
• Without knowing why or how he destroyed the channels, they’ve little hope of restoring them, but the Sacred Pool of Navlin (referenced in a book of legends) is said to hold the memories of all Faekind, guarded only by a person’s true name

Love & the Regent Decree:

• Lord Torin brings forth the Regent Decree, an outdated statute which requires a regent to rule in a young queen’s place until she marries—while later abolished (with the assistance of Lord Lennox), the council compromises by adopting a rule that grants them final approval over any person the queen chooses to marry
• Killian steps aside and tries to help Esme see that her heart calls out to another
• When she later understands who Killian was referring to, Esme thinks about the distance and secrecy between her and Tearlach during their years in Debarrow, and knows their relationship will never be anything more than a queen and her guard

Esme does as she pleases:

• Esme stumbles across the name of a man and a place that are both stricken from Tremaene’s history, and trusts her instincts that Lord Luxovious of Kearney is the true identity of the man who called himself “Dougal”
• Esme makes plans to travel into the mountains (where she believes the Sacred Pool of Navlin is located), but claims the purpose of the journey is to meet with the unordained priestesses—though they’ve yet to respond to her letter
• Cora (Tearlach’s former betrothed) arrives at the palace, and Esme overhears a conversation in which Tearlach confesses having feelings for someone Esme assumes is Sheridan (the palace maid who’s been friendly with him)
• Esme ventures down to the kitchens in search of distraction the night before they’re set to leave, and ends up making a few new friends
• Before they depart, Esme instructs Keelin (the Minister of Communications) to extend invitations for the upcoming ball to the entire kingdom, not just the nobility

Journey into the mountains:

• Raw magic tries to use Esme’s body as a conduit as they travel across the barren countryside, and she’s forced to ask Tearlach to siphon her magic from her
• Wanting to strengthen her relationship with Hazel, Esme asked her to be one of her ladies-in-waiting—Hazel doesn’t give an outright answer
• After making camp in the mountains, Esme has a dream that reveals Tearlach’s true feelings toward her
• Tearlach wakes Esme and uses his sleep magic on the others, allowing them to sneak off and find the Sacred Pool of Navlin
• Once they reach the oasis amid the rocky terrain, Esme realizes that she needs her magic to enter the cavern beneath the ancient tree, and is surprised to discover that Tearlach held onto some of her magic when he siphoned it
• Unable to follow her in, Tearlach is forced to let Esme go alone, not knowing what she’ll encounter or when she’ll return

Memories:

• Locked inside the cavern, with magical waters swirling around, Esme discovers that the cost of seeing another’s memories is sacrificing some of her own
• Esme witnesses Lord Luxovious’s memories, and learns:
  • Raw magic was funneled into four orbs, which Lord Luxovious then imbued with dark magic (visibly corrupting him) in order to gain control over the channels
  • The orbs were used to close off every channel across the kingdom, save five (the temples), effectively holding hostage the raw magic that keeps their world alive
  • The orbs were broken into slivers, then cast into silver
  • Lord Luxovious fabricated the existence of the gods and created the Order as a means to control the world’s magic, and the kingdom itself
  • The silver pieces were hidden in the adornments priestesses would later wear to perform summoning rituals
  • Lord Luxovious triggered the uprising of those who believed the Order should rule Tremaene
  • When the conflict didn’t go as intended, he sent his underlings (wielding dark magic) to annihilate the population (the Dark War), before facing Esme’s mother in the end
  • Though he was spelled into an eternal sleep, and locked in an iron box, Esme fears that if Lord Luxovious discovers her relation to Erena, he’ll come for her

Repercussions:

• Esme finds herself in Tearlach’s strong embrace the moment she returns to solid ground
• She explains to Tearlach that the man who destroyed the channels and the creature who wielded dark magic during the war are one and the same
• Lord Luxovious senses a visitor in his mind and pieces together who Esme is—who her mother was