A week later, they are in the far north. The Darkling is looking for another amplifier to further amplify Alina’s summoning. Mal must track the sea whip, a legendary ice dragon, or the Darkling will torture Alina.

Alina knows the Grisha believes that no one should combine amplifiers. In response, the Darkling brings out a small red book, The Lives of the Saints—the same book the priest known as the Apparat gave Alina at the Little Palace, the Grisha’s headquarters in Ravka’s capital. She has not read it. The Darkling insists Mal is not her equal and accuses her of being afraid of her own power.

A week later, as Mal worries he cannot find the sea whip, the monster breaches the waves.

Alina prays the sea whip will win against the men trying to harpoon it, but it’s fatally wounded. As it dies, a heavy mist grows, but the Darkling orders his Squallers (Grisha who can control wind) to clear the sky. Just then, a strange boat with a flag featuring a red dog with the Ravka double eagle below it pulls alongside Sturmhond’s ship. Chaos ensues as its men swarm the Darkling’s ship.