Nashias introduces Shera to their captor, Lord Graham, as his private assistant-slash-lover. He pretends to be sympathetic to Graham's point of view in order to get as much information about Woll as possible. Graham reveals that he turned the king over to the Pallast forces, where he believes Woll will be treated well until he can be ransomed by Delfinia surrendering control of the Tau Mountains.What he doesn't realize is that the king of Pallast is desperate to learn the locations of the gold mines that are on his side of the mountain range. Woll is left in the hands of King Orlon's younger brother, a sadist. He is kept chained in an underground cell and tortured, but since he was never told the locations of the gold mines, he can't spill information he doesn't have. His consciousness escapes from the reality of his humiliation and pain to memories of happy times with Lee.
Meanwhile, messengers from Pallast and Tanga arrive in Coral with their ransom demands. Tanga wants the East Tau Mountains with their silver and the fertile Policia Plain. Pallast wants the West Tau Mountains. Brooks, negotiating the ransom, can't understand why Pallast would form an alliance with its long-time enemy for the sake of the lesser amount of silver. Jil comes to Coral and shows Brooks the map of the gold mines, explaining that Orlon is fooling his ally and keeping the best part of the treasure for himself. While Jil is at the castle, he meets Rosamond, who gets the feeling she has seen him before.
Rosamond is in charge of the Policia Plain. She makes up her mind to use her family's troops to defend the land from Tanga, even though she knows the government must officially disavow her actions to protect the peace of the negotiations. She invites Baluro over to spend the night with her at her estate before she leaves to prepare for a siege. Sharmian joins her, all the while trying to convince herself she doesn't miss Even as much as she does.
Even is attempting to persuade the leaders of the West Tau Mountains to join him in rescuing Woll, but they don't believe it's worth the risk. He nearly takes off on his own, but they tie him up to stop him from throwing his life away. His father had been Jil's best friend, and no one wants to be put in the position of telling Jil they let Even die. They wait until their attack can be most effective.
Orlon can't let Woll go free, because then everyone would know he dared to torture Delfinia's king, and Baluro will promptly invade Pallast with all his forces. He concocts a plan to deliver Woll's head to Baluro, the messenger loudly proclaiming, "We executed the king just as you asked." He figures that will solve both of his problems at once. When he gives the order to execute Woll, however, his brother decides it would be a shame to do it in secret. He arranges to have Woll taken to a huge arena to be devoured by lions in front of thousands of spectators.
Lee has been busily searching all of Pallast for Woll, but she lost a lot of time following false trails. The sorcerers who want to eliminate her--and who set up the whole situation by telling Orlon about the gold--construct an elaborate trap. They form a powerful illusion of the arena to draw her to them, then they impersonate her partner Rufa, even calling her by her secret name, Eddie. The illusion Rufa opens a portal to her home dimension and urges her to step through. She believes it for a moment, but then she sees through the trick and takes out all the sorcerers.
She runs toward the real arena, throwing her sword ahead of her to aid Woll. He is doing his best to hold off a starving lion, but he's chained and weaponless. When the sword lands in the middle of the arena, he hears Lee's voice in his head telling him not to give up and has a vision of her as a powerful beast with golden fur racing to help him. By begging the sword, he convinces it to allow him to draw it to use against the lion.
Finally Lee arrives and disrupts the "entertainment" by throwing the remaining lions into the bleachers. Soon Baluro and the West Tau forces show up to scatter Pallast's army. Their fury at what was done to their king gives them the drive to punch through all defenses and lay siege to the capital city. To save himself, Orlon gives them the head of his younger brother. Delfinia gains official control of the Tau Mountains as well as the previously shared Teba River. With Woll no longer in danger, the negotiations are unnecessary and Tanga's forces are pushed back out of the Policia Plain.
Everyone returns home triumphant. Strangely, Lee seems uncharacteristically depressed. She hates herself for being fooled by the illusion of her partner, though only for an instant. She's also concerned that Rufa might be distraught--even crying--due to her absence, which isn't far off the mark. She descends into her private gloom, refusing to eat or sleep for days. Worried about her, Woll gives her a drugged drink to make her sleep. When she awakens, she's furious, reverting to a beastlike state and sinking her fangs into Shera's neck. After lapping up a bit of Shera's blood, she calms somewhat, but then she heads straight to the main castle to confront Woll.