The Hero and the Crown

Aerin’s mental health worsens as her body heals. She continues to dream of the blond man but cannot figure out how to find him. She asks Tor to remove Maur’s head and put it far away; he anxiously complies. Her condition continues to deteriorate until she has a particularly vivid dream about the blond man, who scolds her for not finding him. She writes a note for Tor, explaining her disappearance, then finds Talat and rides away. Aerin and Talat wander for many days with no clear direction. Talat eventually finds a hidden trail leading into a valley and a mountain, and they ride until they suddenly they come upon a courtyard and a grand stone building. The blond man appears and lifts Aerin off the saddle, saying, “May all the gods listen—there’s nothing left of you” (144). He carries her into the building, gives her water, and introduces himself as Luthe.

Aerin regains consciousness days later. Her fever is gone, and she finds herself happy and hungry. She goes to find Luthe, who feeds her and confirms that she is dying but promises to do his best to cure her. He gets angry when she speaks poorly of herself and says, “They do not know how lucky they are to have had you. To have had you at all. And I am fool enough to want to give you back to them” (146). He admits to knowing Aerin’s mother. Aerin falls asleep soon after this, and Luthe watches over her protectively and fondly.Aerin’s mental health worsens as her body heals. She continues to dream of the blond man but cannot figure out how to find him. She asks Tor to remove Maur’s head and put it far away; he anxiously complies. Her condition continues to deteriorate until she has a particularly vivid dream about the blond man, who scolds her for not finding him. She writes a note for Tor, explaining her disappearance, then finds Talat and rides away. Aerin and Talat wander for many days with no clear direction. Talat eventually finds a hidden trail leading into a valley and a mountain, and they ride until they suddenly they come upon a courtyard and a grand stone building. The blond man appears and lifts Aerin off the saddle, saying, “May all the gods listen—there’s nothing left of you” (144). He carries her into the building, gives her water, and introduces himself as Luthe.

Aerin regains consciousness days later. Her fever is gone, and she finds herself happy and hungry. She goes to find Luthe, who feeds her and confirms that she is dying but promises to do his best to cure her. He gets angry when she speaks poorly of herself and says, “They do not know how lucky they are to have had you. To have had you at all. And I am fool enough to want to give you back to them” (146). He admits to knowing Aerin’s mother. Aerin falls asleep soon after this, and Luthe watches over her protectively and fondly.

Aerin wakes up and immediately asks after Talat, so Luthe carries her out to see the horse in the pasture. He puts her on Talat’s back and walks them both to the edge of a silver lake. She drinks the lake water from Luthe’s hands and immediately enters another dream-state, in which a tall man in a red cloak and hood beckons her to drink from a goblet. She refuses, but he forces it to her lips. She hears Luthe’s voice screaming for her; he tells the red-cloaked man that he “shall not have them both” (152). Aerin sees a vision of the city burned and barren, then regains consciousness and finds herself soaked in lake water. She can breathe properly for the first time since facing Maur, and she immediately interrogates Luthe about the vision, but he says that it has not happened yet; she must focus elsewhere until the time is right.

Aerin delights in being able to breathe again and explores the world around Luthe’s house, delighting in the intricate details of nature. He introduces her once more to the surka, and to her surprise, it does not harm her when she touches it. He explains that the surka responds to the kelar, or magic, in the royal bloodline. He insists that the surka would have killed Aerin as a child if she hadn’t inherited her mother’s powerful kelar. Aerin insists that she does not have any Gift, and he retorts that her family has just forgotten that powerful Gifts manifest late in life. Aerin asks if her mother was human, and he says that while she was not a demon, she was, like him, not fully human, either. He later tells her that because she has imbibed the lake water, she is no longer quite mortal herself. The lake water was the only way to save her life, and Luthe admits to making a bargain in their shared dream so that he could bring her back. She forgives him easily and comes to terms with her new immortality.

Luthe explains that the northern demons and the royal bloodline share a common ancestor, which enables them to continue their war against each other without defeating each other. He is bitter that Tor will inherit the throne instead of Aerin, but she insists that Tor would be the better ruler.

Aerin’s grasp of time is weaker due to her immortality. Luthe teaches her as much as he can about magic and the world over the next few months. She eventually protests this instruction because she does not genuinely want to know it, but he reveals that he is trying to prepare her to confront Agsded, the man in their shared dream by the lake. He promises to send Aerin out in spring to fight Agsded, who is revealed to be her uncle. Agsded is also a powerful wizard and the source of the chaos in Damar. Luthe reveals that Aerin’s mother was sure she could not defeat her brother because she was a woman, which is why she died of despair when she had a daughter instead of a son. Aerin grows numb and realizes that in a way, “Maur had killed her, for the time she lived now was not her own” (165). Luthe apologizes and tells her that he thought she had a clearer idea of her calling and fate from the beginning; he would have told her more directly if he had known that she did not realize that she has always been destined to fight Maur and Agsded and save Damar. He then says that while she is much like her mother, she is “to be preferred.”

Winter passes, and Aerin prepares to set out on her journey. Luthe gives her a great sword named Gonturan that features a blue gem in its hilt. He advises her to ride northeast but says that she will be able to find her way. Aerin is unable to properly say goodbye to Luthe; he holds her face and tells her not to forget that he exists. She manages to meet his eyes and promises to come back to him.

Aerin and Talat travel for miles. Aerin eventually realizes that they are being followed. One night, while she camps, she sees eyes staring at her from the dark; she is terrified, but soon, a folstza, or giant mountain cat, emerges from the darkness and rubs against her. Dozens of others join her as well, but the large black cat stays close by her side. She reclaims her bedding from the cats, but when she wakes up, the large folstza is cuddling with her.

The next day, the giant wild dogs, or yerig, join them, journeying alongside Aerin and guarding her. Aerin increasingly hears hostile voices in her head increase as she nears her uncle’s stronghold, but the yerig queen, the folstza king, and Talat all help to reassure and stabilize her. They arrive at Agsded’s domain, which is set within a tower that resembles a giant black crag. Aerin draws Gonturan and has a vision of being attacked by a black dragon; this makes her cry out in pain and fear. She falls against Talat and recovers herself. She is suddenly unable to find an entrance to the tower and circles it desperately. Talat and the other animals attack the tower and dig at the rocks and surka vines until the plant collapses, giving Aerin access to stairs winding up the mountain.