Later, Daniel and Jasmine take a walk and are confronted by the Cray brothers once again. With just Jasmine beside him, he erects another shield, which surprises the brothers and Daniel. But Daniel can still feel the other girls and draw from their strength and power. When the brothers cast fire orbs at the shield, Daniel feels an immediate attraction to the fire.
Unexpectedly, an immense pressure descends on Daniel and Jasmine and Quinten appears, using the power of his One God to suppress them. Quinten declares that Daniel and his circle will no longer be tolerated and that they will be tried and executed in the morning. It has been Quinten that has been attacking Daniel all this time, surprising literally no one. Suddenly the pressure from the One God is gone, and Jennifer appears and exposes the true power of Syn. Jennifer reveals that the One God is a false god, and that Syn has sent her to the school to protect her newest followers. Jennifer announces that Syn has sent Glenda Gables to the school to teach the witches. Glenda is known throughout the Realm as the one good witch, and she was instrumental in stopping the Witches' War decades ago. Jennifer is then called away by Syn to visit Yanwey.
The next day, Daniel and the witches are finally tested. Unfortunately, Quinten changes the testing parameters and the test they are given instead tests their morality and ethics. After the horrible ordeal where Daniel and the girls face unimaginable horrors, Quinten declares them failures. Grace intervenes and the King sides with her and declares Daniel and the witches successful and welcomes them into the Academy as students.
Grace meets with the King and Quinten and is delighted to find her adventurer party members, Jason, and Brian, following a calling by Syn. Quinten defends himself by explaining he can only do as his One God directs and that he has no choice in the matter. Brian defends this saying that one must always follow the direction of your chosen god and faith.
Grace later explains to Brian and Jason what she saw in Yanwey. Brian says he ran into Jennifer on their way to Whitehaven and that Syn had sent her to Yanwey. Grace is deeply concerned. The male phoenix is missing, and the female phoenix egg is now with Arbuckle. It is also interesting to Grace that Quinten, King Arbuckle, and Sylvan, all knew that Eric had been killed by a tree; something Grace hadn't mentioned before.
Grace meets with Daniel and the witches and explains how Amber's mother, Amanda, had clashed with Gwydion over the same spell caster. Thousands died as collateral damage in the Witches' War, until Glenda, and her often forgotten husband, Roger, stopped it.
Grace recognises that Amber has not fully joined the circle. Something Jennifer had said about Amber comes back and they realise she needs to dominate Daniel. Bitty, the resident expert of sex, arranges a special session.
Left alone with Amber, and tied limbs askew to crossed pieces of lumber, Daniel finally sees the dark malignant power embedded in Amber. He goads her into mounting him and in the thralls of her pleasure he separates Amber from the malignant presence and protects her and feeds her the love of the circle to strengthen her. Together they free her of the evil and it flees, heading back to its creator, Gwydion.
Amber has finally seen Daniel, and free of the evil and still mounted to him, they make love; she bites his chest next to the marks left by Jasmine and Amy, and in a moment, fully joins the circle with an explosive ethereal bang. This leads to a massive ten-hour orgy with Grace and Bitty involved.
Glenda Gables and Roger Rockstone arrive at the Academy and start the true training of the circle. Glenda extracts oaths from them and reveals she is a seer, and not a true witch, and because of that, they can tell no one since seers are often the captured, unwilling tools of powerful people. She reveals a vision of Daniel standing with his three witches as the world burns around them.
Glenda, Roger, Jason, Grace, and Brian start training them. A montage follows. It ends when Glenda announces she has nothing left to teach them. Grace announces she wants to form a new party with everyone except Glenda and Roger. She wants to head to the Wilds.
Sadly, Quinten puts a stop to them leaving. Glenda hadn't taught any of the more mundane topics the school requires, and compulsory courses are compulsory courses, never mind how many electives you've managed to complete. Glenda then provides a seer vision and speaks in the languages of all those present, which shakes up Grace for some unknown reason. Hmm.
Walking the school grounds, Daniel is once again accosted. This time by two men who demand the return of Eric Garcia's spell book to the Lancashire family. They also accuse Daniel of murdering Eric. Refusing to comply with the men, they attack Daniel and his witches. Now trained by the best, the circle and Daniel react instantly. Daniel, remembering the fire orbs and his affinity to fire, tries something similar. In his hands, he condenses his fire to a small white ball, fed by his anger. He launches it at the two men, and it expands into a large bubble and instantly, with no noise, completely vaporises the two men and a portion of the stone corridor.
Quinten appears immediately and sentences them to death for killing the legal authorities of the Garcia family. He strides forward to kill them right then and there, an evil smile crossing his face, when Grace is suddenly there, fighting Quinten with grace and beauty. Daniel can feel Grace through the circle bond and feeds her massive power. With the added strength, she disarms Quinten, an impossible feat against a paladin.
Quinten tells them they will be tried in court, under his authority. The trial is a mockery of justice and laws. Grace, defending Daniel, exposes the truth and exposes that Quinten knows details of exactly how Eric was killed. Details no one but the murderer would know. Exposed, Quinten rises in anger, sword drawn.
Glenda interrupts and removes the glamour over Quinten. His armour is rusted and dented. His sword cheap and fragile. Glenda announces that the One God Quinten follows is none other than Loki the Trickster. Quinten strikes unexpectedly and plunges his sword into Daniel's chest.
The healing attempts from his circle wash through Daniel and ignite his internal flames. He starts to burn hotter and hotter. He feels the need to unleash his inner fire when Glenda reaches out and touches his forehead and he blacks out.
As Daniel lies comatose in the Academy Infirmary, Gwydion sneaks in to try to claim him once again. The last time something within Daniel had blocked her efforts. She performs a ritual on Daniel, a ritual learned from Amanda Aine, Amber's mother. One that steals a bound spell caster from his circle.
She rides Daniel and waits for Amber to arrive. For her ritual to work the heart of the circle is required. When Amber arrives, she draws her into the ritual circle and casts the Heart Freezing Spell, a spell to steal a bound spell caster from the heart of a witches' circle.
Unexpectedly, the spell rebounds and slams into Gwydion, freezing her heart solid. Gwydion is killed instantly. The others arrive and Glenda explains Gwydion thought Amber was the heart, not knowing Amy had taken that honour. The spell turned on the caster of the spell and found Gwydion.
The dust settles, and Grace is named the interim headmaster of the Academy by King Arbuckle. Quinten has escaped and run off somewhere. Glenda tells Daniel he has the power of the female phoenix inside him, and it shouldn't be there.
Jennifer arrives back and speaks of her visit to Yanwey and seeing the horror there. The goddess Syn spoke to her and told her the male Phoenix had been betrayed and destroyed the city in his rage. Syn has tasked Jennifer to join the adventurers and to discover the truths about Yanwey and the phoenixes. Together they form a quick plan of action. First, Grace will see the King and get the female Phoenix egg back, and two, they will all head to the Wilds to speak with Maeve, Queen of the Wild Fae, and seek answers to what has happened with the phoenixes.