Book 3 in Pierce Brown’s Red Rising saga. Choose the last book you have finished above.
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Morning Star: the story so far
Morning Star begins with Darrow in captivity after the destruction of his coalition at the Triumph. His return brings the Rising into open war while forcing him to confront what victory will cost the people fighting beside him. This recap follows all sixty-five chapters from his rescue to the end of the first trilogy.
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Chapter-by-chapter recap
Full spoilers for Morning Star. This recap does not reveal events from later novels.
Chapter 1: Only the Dark
Darrow has endured three months of interrogation followed by nine months alone in a lightless stone box beneath the Jackal’s fortress. Emaciated and hallucinating, he does not know which of his friends or family are still alive and believes Adrius may be holding his family hostage.
After refusing the Jackal’s demand that he admit he is broken, Darrow decides to kill himself rather than remain Adrius’s prisoner. Before he can finish, machinery begins moving around the box.
Chapter 2: Prisoner L17L6363
The floor opens beneath Darrow, revealing that his prison is actually a table in the Jackal’s private meeting room. The Jackal displays him before Cassius, Aja, Antonia, and others, explaining what Darrow has endured over the past year.
Adrius discusses his increasingly brutal campaign against the Sons of Ares and demonstrates his methods by tormenting a young Pink named Calliope.
Cassius shows Darrow unexpected compassion by covering his naked body with his cloak
Chapter 3: Snakebite
Darrow is taken to a processing room, where Grays torture and examine his weakened body. Two Praetorians reveal themselves to be Holiday and Trigg Nakamura, siblings working with the Sons of Ares. They kill the guards and free Darrow, returning the razor Mustang once gave him.
Because Darrow can barely move after months of starvation, Holiday injects him with a dangerous stimulant that temporarily restores his strength.
Chapter 4: Cell 2187
Disguised as a prisoner, Darrow travels through the fortress with Holiday and Trigg. Their escort Vixus reveals that Victra survived the Triumph and is being held in Cell 2187, so Darrow forces him to lead them there before killing him.
Victra is alive but has been subjected to months of sensory torture. Darrow refuses to abandon her, and they tranquilize her so they can carry her out.
Chapter 5: Plan C
The original extraction route has been compromised, forcing Trigg to activate Plan C and summon a Sons assault force. Holiday detonates an electromagnetic pulse that disables most of the fortress’s technology, allowing them to fight their way through with older weapons.
They fight toward an exterior bridge, but the Jackal’s forces close in before they can reach safety.
Chapter 6: Victims
Aja catches the fugitives on the bridge, kills Trigg, and badly wounds Holiday. Darrow drags Holiday and Victra toward the edge while Cassius urges him to surrender rather than die.
Refusing to become the Jackal’s prisoner again, Darrow throws himself from the bridge while holding Holiday and Victra, trusting that the Sons have prepared an escape below.
Chapter 7: Bumblebees
Darrow and the others fall toward the city until Sevro and Ragnar catch them with gravBoots. Howlers erupt from a clawDrill below the bridge, and Ragnar carries Darrow and Holiday into the escape tunnel while Sevro saves Victra.
Overwhelmed by his injuries, Darrow loses consciousness.
Chapter 8: Home
Darrow awakens in Tinos, the hidden Sons stronghold, and reunites with his mother, Uncle Narol, Dancer, and the rest of his surviving family. The Jackal publicly executed a body double while secretly keeping Darrow alive, but Sevro never believed that Darrow was dead and continued looking for him.
Dancer explains that Harmony betrayed Darrow and the Sons to the Jackal, helping set up the massacre at the Triumph.
Darrow also meets Kieran and Dio’s children and sees the ordinary family life that continued while he was gone.
Chapter 9: The City of Ares
Sevro and Ragnar visit Darrow as he begins recovering. Sevro now has replaced his golden eyes with Darrow’s original red eyes and has reluctantly taken over leadership of the Sons, while Ragnar shows Darrow the new teeth Mickey gave him and reveals that he has learned to read.
Tinos is a vast settlement built inside abandoned mines beneath Mars and now houses hundreds of thousands of refugees. Though Overcrowding, disease, and limited supplies have pushed the city close to collapse.
Chapter 10: The War
Dancer explains what happened after the Triumph. Roque and the Jackal seized Mars’s orbital fleet, then Roque defeated Mustang’s remaining Augustus and Arcos ships at Deimos. In the Rim, surviving heirs of House Raa joined Mustang’s forces in declaring independence.
Roque now commands the Sword Armada and has retaken Callisto, leaving only Ganymede and Io in rebellion. On Mars, the Sons remain effective saboteurs but cannot hold territory, while the Harmony’s Red Legion’s atrocities and the Jackal’s propaganda have damaged their support.
Sevro admits that he broadcast footage of Darrow’s Carving, transforming him into a symbol and helping ignite open rebellion. Darrow says that he is ready to return to the war.
Chapter 11: My People
Darrow visits the refugees and wounded soldiers of Tinos. Seeing how much hope people place in the Reaper forces him to confront the responsibility he now carries.
Darrow asks the Sons to send Evey as an emissary to Mustang and bring Mickey to Tinos so he can restore Darrow’s body. He mentions a third request that Dancer will dislike, but does not reveal it yet.
Chapter 12: The Julii
Darrow finds Victra recovering under guard. She is furious that he lied about being a Red and questions whether he ever truly trusted her, but tells him she would have protected him if he had told her the truth.
Darrow asks her to join the Sons and promises that this new family will not abandon her as her own did. Victra accepts, choosing the Rising and revenge against the family members who betrayed her.
Chapter 13: Howlers
After Mickey repairs much of their physical damage, Darrow and Victra train with Ragnar and begin joining Sons raids. The missions succeed, but Darrow is disturbed by the rebellion’s growing dependence on assassination and terror.
Sevro formally inducts Darrow, Victra, and Holiday into the Howlers, making them part of the unit that has remained loyal to him since the Institute.
Narol and Dancer report that Quicksilver, has been secretly financing the Jackal so The Howlers plan to kidnap him on Phobos and bomb the moon’s docks and refineries, in order to crash the Society’s economy.
Chapter 14: The Vampire Moon
Darrow, Sevro, Victra, Ragnar, and the Howlers travel to Phobos, an industrial moon whose crowded lower levels are known as the Hive. LowColors live in poverty beneath the wealthy Silvers and Golds who control the moon’s corporations and infrastructure.
Smuggled inside a helium-3 shipment, the team meets Rollo, a local Sons leader, and distributes explosives for the planned attack before moving toward Quicksilver.
Chapter 15: The Hunt
The Howlers approach Quicksilver’s tower and infiltrate his residence but find it strangely empty. Darrow suspects they have walked into a trap or that someone else reached him first.
Chapter 16: Paramour
Sevro begins torturing a Pink servant for Quicksilver’s location, but Darrow recognizes him as Matteo, the man who taught him how to behave like a Gold before the Institute. Matteo tries to sound an alarm, so Sevro knocks him unconscious.
The Howlers storm Quicksilver’s meeting room and discover him with Mustang, Cassius, Kavax and Daxo au Telemanus, and others.
Chapter 17: Killing Golds
Darrow tries to prevent a battle, but the distrust between the two groups and Sevro’s aggression ignite a fight. The Howlers kill Moira and the Death Knight, while Cassius escapes and both sides suffer heavy casualties.
Darrow confronts Mustang and realizes she already knew he had survived.
Mustang orders her people to retreat after revealing that Orion is alive and that she controls the Pax. She and Daxo escape, leaving Quicksilver, Matteo, and the wounded Kavax in the Howlers’ custody.
Chapter 18: Abyss
Sevro wants to kill Quicksilver and Kavax, but Darrow refuses and retakes command of the Howlers. He decides that Kavax, Quicksilver, and Matteo must all be taken with them rather than abandoned or executed.
With security forces closing in, the Howlers blast open the tower and launch themselves into space with their prisoners, hoping their ship can recover them before their suits fail.
Chapter 19: Pressure
Darrow, Victra, Ragnar, and the others spin uncontrollably through space and become separated. They start freezing and suffocating before a Sons garbage ship finally reaches them.
Darrow awakens aboard the ship and learns that Ragnar and the other survivors have also been recovered.
Chapter 20: Dissent
At a Sons safehouse, Kavax explains that after learning Darrow was a Red, Mustang secured several ships against Roque’s betrayal, placed Orion in command of the Pax, and later tried to negotiate peace that would remove the Jackal and reform the Society. She also contacted Sevro months earlier, but he ignored her.
Rollo warns that abandoning Phobos will condemn its Sons, while Sevro wants to escape and detonate the bombs already planted across the moon. Darrow challenges his willingness to sacrifice people without a larger plan.
Their argument is interrupted when Quicksilver reveals that he was one of the Sons’ founders and Fitchner’s secret partner.
Chapter 21: Quicksilver
Quicksilver proves he was a founding Son and Fitchner’s first partner, revealing that Matteo is his husband. He financed the Sons, helped build their communications network and Tinos, but stopped supporting Sevro because his violent campaign was wasting resources and alienating the population.
Quicksilver wants to destroy the Society’s caste system because it suppresses economic and scientific progress. With Darrow alive, he agrees to commit his companies, money, ships, weapons, and intelligence back to the Rising.
Chapter 22: The Weight of Ares
Sevro tries to proceed with plans to detonate bombs across Phobos, but Darrow jams his detonator. Sevro blames Darrow’s mercy for the deaths of their friends, while Darrow recognizes how badly leadership has damaged Sevro.
Sevro also admits how much he resents being left to lead after Darrow’s capture and how afraid he is of losing everyone else.
They reconcile and agree that the Rising needs more than vengeance and terrorism. Instead, they will build alliances and offer people a better alternative to the Society.
Chapter 23: The Tide
Darrow and Sevro agree to share leadership and They contact the Jackal, publicly threatening Quicksilver to preserve the Silver’s cover while baiting Adrius into committing more forces to Phobos.
Darrow then broadcasts Eo’s forbidden song, displays his sigil-less hands, and calls every Color to rise together. Rebellion spreads through the Hive as workers seize the moon.
Chapter 24: Hic Sunt Leones
As the uprising succeeds, Darrow, Ragnar, and Holiday prepare to leave aboard Quicksilver’s yacht. Mustang unexpectedly appears and though She believes in the world Darrow promised, she wants proof that he can build something better instead of merely destroying everything.
Chapter 25: Exodus
Phobos erupts in open rebellion as lowColors seize ships and infrastructure. Darrow’s group uses the exodus of wealthy refugees as cover to leave for the Valkyrie Spires, where they hope to win an Obsidian army, though Ragnar warns that his people may reject him.
Holiday remains suspicious of Mustang, but Darrow insists they need her if the Rising is to govern what it liberates. A pursuing ship attacks, and they crash near Mars’s South Pole.
Chapter 26: The Ice
The wreck sinks beneath the polar sea, forcing Darrow, Mustang, and Holiday to escape through the flooded cabin and cut their way through the ice. They reach the surface with few supplies and realize Ragnar is missing.
Darrow and Mustang dives beneath the ice to search for him.
Chapter 27: Bay of Laughter
Darrow follows Mustang beneath the ice and helps her recover Ragnar, who is being dragged down by parasitic sea creatures. They free him and revive him on the surface.
With most of their weapons and equipment lost, the group takes shelter and considers how to continue across the Antarctic.
Ragnar explains that he fired a missile at their pursuer before the crash. The second wreck likely carried Cassius and Aja, meaning the enemies who attacked them may also have survived.
Chapter 28: Feast
The group reaches the enemy wreck and is attacked by cannibal Obsidians called the Eaters of Men. Ragnar saves Mustang after she is struck by an arrow, and the group drives the attackers away.
The wreck’s surviving crew have been eaten, but Cassius and Aja left on foot.
Chapter 29: Hunters
Darrow’s group tracks Cassius and Aja across the mountains. They ambush the survivors, badly wound Cassius, and scatter his remaining soldiers.
Ragnar insists on confronting Aja despite Darrow’s warnings about her skill with a razor. He fights her long enough to protect the others but is mortally wounded.
Under renewed fire, Aja falls into a crevasse and disappears.
Chapter 30: The Quiet
As Ragnar lies dying, griffin riders led by Sefi the Quiet arrive from the Valkyrie tribes. Sefi is Ragnar’s sister, though years of separation and Gold manipulation have made them strangers.
Ragnar tells Sefi that the Golds they worship are not gods and urges her to live for more than obedience. He then asks Darrow to end his suffering so he can die among his friends.
Darrow grants him a merciful death and promises to free the Obsidians.
Chapter 31: The Pale Queen
The Valkyrie capture Darrow, Mustang, Holiday, and Cassius and bring them before Alia Snowsparrow, Ragnar and Sefi’s mother and queen of the southern Obsidians. Darrow explains Ragnar’s rebellion and death, hoping Alia will honor his wish to free their people.
Alia reveals that she already knows the Golds are mortal but believes their power makes resistance suicidal. She refuses to honor Ragnar’s rebellion and orders the prisoners delivered to the Golds at Asgard.
Chapter 32: No Man’s Land
Sefi then secretly frees Darrow, Mustang, Holiday, and several loyal Valkyrie. Quicksilver has already disabled parts of the installation’s defenses, allowing them to climb the sacred Way of Stains.
Sefi’s faith has been shaken by Ragnar’s sacrifice, but she needs proof. The group uses a captured Violet as bait to summon the beings her people worship as gods.
Chapter 33: Gods and Men
Inside Asgard, Darrow and his companions meet the Golds posing as the gods Freya and Loki.
Darrow kills Freya, while he and Mustang mortally wound and capture Loki. Loki is revealed as Proctor Mercury, one of the Institute’s former instructors.
Sefi tastes Freya’s blood and accepts her razor, finally believing that the beings her people have obeyed for generations were only golds.
Chapter 34: Godkillers
Darrow, Mustang, and Sefi return in the gods’ armor with captured Golds,
Alia still refuses to risk rebellion and tries to preserve the old order so
Sefi then beheads Alia, executes the captive false gods, and takes command of the Valkyrie, calling the tribes to war.
Chapter 35: The Light
Darrow spends a week traveling among the tribes while Sefi unites the Obsidians and her warriors learn to use modern weapons. Mustang coordinates a mass migration away from the Gold-controlled poles and into the safety of the Martian tunnels.
They return to Tinos with Cassius as a prisoner and with Ragnar’s body.
Sevro reports that the Phobos uprising and Quicksilver’s resources have allowed the Rising to seize a large portion of Mars’s defense fleet.
Chapter 36: Swill
Back in Tinos, Darrow reunites with his family and finds Mustang already building trust with his mother.
Darrow proposes using enormous clawDrills and the Obsidian army to break into sealed Martian cities and let the population rise from within. Daxo and Kavax fear the plan will unleash uncontrolled violence and demand to know what government will follow victory.
Their debate is interrupted when hearing that Cassius requests a meeting.
Chapter 37: The Last Eagle
Cassius is brought from the infirmary and reveals that the Jackal stole five hundred nuclear warheads from a deep-space depot and concealed the theft by falsifying Sons attacks.
Cassius learned about the theft while serving the Sovereign and believes Adrius may use the weapons if his position becomes desperate.
Chapter 38: The Bill
Darrow’s war council debates whether Cassius is telling the truth and what the Jackal intends to do with the warheads. The possibility of a nuclear attack makes a direct assault on Mars more uncertain.
Darrow refuses proposals to torture Cassius or ally with Octavia against the Jackal. He abandons the planned assault on Mars and orders the fleet toward Jupiter to destroy Roque’s Sword Armada before it can return to the Core.
Chapter 39: The Heart
As the fleet prepares to leave Tinos, Darrow’s mother gives him a small box containing dirt from Lykos so he will remember who he is.
She tells Darrow and Mustang that they deserve happiness and should return home together. The newly formed Red Armada then leaves for the Rim.
Chapter 40: Yellow Sea
The Rising lands on Io near the Yellow Sea and waits for representatives of the Moon Lords. Vela au Raa, sister of Romulus, arrives with escorts and question whether Darrow’s delegation can be trusted.
Vela grants Darrow and Mustang guest-right on Romulus’s honor but excludes Sefi from the formal delegation. Sevro remains with the fleet under orders to act if Darrow and Mustang do not return within six hours.
Chapter 41: The Moon Lord
At Romulus au Raa’s estate, Darrow meets Romulus’s young daughter Seraphina.
The Moon Lords live more simply than the Golds of the Core but still rule over enslaved Colors. Romulus is exhausted by war and is suspicious of Darrow, who confirms how Antonia murdered one of Romulus’s daughters at the Triumph.
Romulus explains that he is considering a peace agreement with Octavia.
Chapter 42: The Poet
Roque arrives as the Sovereign’s emissary and offers the Moon Lords greater autonomy and reforms if they unite with the Core against the Rising. Darrow promises the Rim permanent independence and gives up the Sons operating there, sacrificing his own allies to secure Romulus’s support.
Mustang then presents falsified evidence suggesting that Roque’s fleet visited a secret nuclear depot and intends to use its weapons against the Rim. Roque denies taking the warheads but admits the depot exists, confirming enough of the deception to awaken Romulus’s fear.
Romulus declares a blood feud against the Sovereign and allies with Darrow.
Chapter 43: Here Again
Darrow and Mustang attend the Rim’s blood benediction before returning to their ships for battle.
Mustang admits she does not want to lose him again and They kiss finally renewing the relationship that seemed like it may have been lost.
Chapter 44: The Lucky Ones
Darrow then assumes command of his new fleet alongside Orion while the Moon Lords prepare their own forces. Sevro, Victra, Mustang, Sefi, and the Howlers take positions across the allied ships.
And Before battle, Darrow addresses the lowColors serving under him, telling them they are fighting together as one people and orders the fleet to prepare to break the chains.
Chapter 45: The Battle of Ilium
Darrow drives the Pax into the heart of Roque’s formation while Orion leads the main assault. But Roque anticipates this attack, and Antonia’s Pandora destroys much of Darrow’s escort.
With the Pax crippled and Darrow’s flagship trapped, Roque offers him a chance to surrender. Darrow refuses, so Roque sends boarding parties to capture him alive.
Chapter 46: Helldiver
Darrow evacuates the Pax’s bridge crew, then joins Sefi, Victra, Holiday, thousands of Obsidians, and Red Helldivers aboard enormous clawDrills hidden inside the dying ship.
Darrow launches the drills into the Colossus and they begin tunneling through its hull toward the bridge.
Chapter 47: Hell
Darrow broadcasts an appeal for the Colossus’s lowColor crew to help the Rising, but Roque locks down the ship and disables its gravity to slow the attackers.
Victra, Holiday, Sefi, and Darrow reach the bridge antechamber, but the reinforced door resists their drills. Just as they are about to be trapped, the bridge door unexpectedly opens.
Chapter 48: Imperator
A Pink valet named Amathea opens the bridge for Darrow’s party, allowing them to seize Roque’s command center. When three destroyers threaten Mustang’s flagship, Darrow deliberately detonates the crippled Pax, destroying them to save her.
Sevro then springs a hidden ambush from tunnels beneath Thebe, flooding Roque’s ships with Obsidians and Reds. Darrow asks Roque to surrender but
Roque refuses and Unable to live with his defeat, he kills himself
Chapter 49: Colossus
After Roque’s death, Victra takes command of the Colossus.
Darrow then secretly uses the Colossus to destroy the great dockyards of Ganymede and makes it appear to be part of Roque’s attack.
The destruction cripples the Rim’s ability to threaten the Core after their alliance ends. Darrow orders the evidence erased, and Sefi renames the captured flagship Morning Star.
Chapter 50: Thunder and Lightning
With the Sword Armada shattered, Darrow sends Victra to pursue Antonia and rescue Kavax, who was captured during the battle. Romulus accepts Darrow’s lie about Ganymede but warns him that the Rising must never return to the Rim.
Darrow later watches recordings from the Institute with Cassius where two speak honestly about Julian, Quinn, Roque, and the war that destroyed their friendship
Chapter 51: Pandora
Victra engages Antonia’s forces in the asteroid belt and uses her legal claim to House Julii to make most of Antonia’s fleet defect. She captures the Pandora, frees Kavax, and takes command of the Julii ships in her own name.
Antonia and Thistle are then imprisoned and Darrow wants to determine whether either woman can be turned against the Jackal.
Chapter 52: Teeth
Thistle offers to tell Darrow everything but Antonia reaches through the bars separating their cells and kills her by smashing her head in.
Victra then brutally beats Antonia after witnessing the murder.
Chapter 53: Silence
Darrow and Holiday discuss the absence left by Trigg’s death and the grief of Trigg’s fiancé, Ephraim. Their conversation is interrupted by a transmission from the Jackal showing the execution of Uncle Narol, who was captured while sabotaging communications.
The broadcast ignites violence between highColors and lowColors throughout the fleet. Though Darrow orders the ships to reunite and begins searching for Sefi.
Chapter 54: The Goblin and the Gold
Darrow finds that Sefi’s Obsidians have already hanged seven captured Golds and are preparing to execute Cassius, while Mustang is being held in chains.
Sevro appears as Ares and claims Cassius as his blood debt. He pushes Cassius from the platform with a noose around his neck, then hangs himself beside him; Sefi cuts both ropes rather than let Sevro die. Sevro publicly forgives Cassius putting an end to the uprising.
Chapter 55: The Ignoble House Barca
Sevro recovers from the hanging while Darrow and Mustang assess the fleet’s continuing tensions. Sefi’s command of the entire Obsidian force has been strengthened by the crisis, making her both a powerful ally and a potential danger.
Victra then proposes to Sevro and
The two marry seven nights later in a small Howler ceremony with Victra takes the Barca name.
Chapter 56: In Time
Darrow grants the Jackal a live holographic audience.
Mustang joins the conversation and rejects her brother’s claim that Darrow is alone and that she cannot forgive Adrius for arranging Claudius’s death.
Darrow promises to break the Jackal’s power and hang him.
Chapter 57: Luna
Two months later, the Red Armada approaches Luna and confronts the Ash Lord’s defensive fleet.
Darrow, Mustang, and Sevro secretly release Cassius because he cannot safely remain among soldiers who hate the Bellonas. But as they prepare to place him aboard a shuttle, Cassius seizes Sevro’s pistol and shoots him repeatedly.
Chapter 58: Fading Light
Sevro collapses and appars to die in Darrow’s arms. Cassius frees Antonia, and together they capture Darrow and Mustang, hide the prisoners and Sevro’s body in a cargo container, and escape toward the Sovereign.
Aja answers Cassius’s distress call, confirming that she is still alive and Cassius reports that he has captured Darrow, Mustang, and Sevro’s body, and secures her promise that Mustang will not be harmed.
Chapter 59: The Lion of Mars
Darrow and Mustang are delivered to the Jackal and dragged before them. Adrius examines Sevro’s body, takes Sevro’s pistol, and reveals armor decorated with Fitchner’s ribs.
On the Jackal’s orders, Cassius severs Darrow’s right hand with a heated razor. Adrius keeps the hand as a trophy before the prisoners are transported to the Citadel.
Chapter 60: Dragon’s Maw
The prisoners are taken through the Dragon’s Maw, a hidden route beneath Luna, and brought before the Sovereign. Octavia, Aja, the Jackal, and their closest allies gather while the Ash Lord’s fleet fights above the moon.
Mustang claims that Sefi and thousands of Obsidians have already landed on Luna in grain ships, convincing Octavia to send most of her guards to defend the surface.
Octavia then accuses Antonia of abandoning Roque and lying about the battle. When Antonia protests, Aja strangles her on the Sovereign’s orders.
Chapter 61: The Red
Octavia begins a live broadcast intended to justify Darrow’s execution and restore confidence in the Society. When the Jackal tries to shoot him with Sevro’s pistol, the weapon fails, and Cassius reveals his deception by killing the Praetorians and freeing Darrow and Mustang.
Cassius’s betrayal and Sevro’s apparent death were staged so they could enter the Sovereign’s bunker. Darrow immediately stabs Octavia repeatedly, helps Cassius kill the Truth and Joy Knights and then pins the Jackal to the floor.
Darrow reaches Sevro’s body and injects him with haemanthus extract, reviving him from the drug-induced death.
Chapter 62: Omnis Vir Lupus
Sevro awakens and joins Darrow, Mustang, and Cassius against Aja. Together they finally kill her
Then Cassius confronts the dying Octavia with holographic proof that she enabled the Jackal’s massacre of the Bellona family.
Octavia dies from the wounds Darrow inflicted and warns them to stop Adrius. The Jackal begins to laugh.
Chapter 63: Silence
And Adrius reveals that hundreds of nuclear weapons are hidden throughout Luna and that Lilath will detonate them from the Lion of Mars unless Darrow publicly kills himself. After several bombs explode, Darrow refuses to give Adrius what he wants and tears out his tongue.
Mustang broadcasts Octavia’s death and the truth about the Jackal’s weapons to the Ash Lord and the remaining Praetors. Lysander presents Octavia’s scepter to Mustang and recognizes her as their conqueror, giving the Gold commanders reason to accept her authority and turn on Lilath.
Chapter 64: Hail
The Lion of Mars is destroyed after Lilath detonates more than a dozen nuclear weapons, leaving millions dead and Luna devastated.
Mustang leaves the bunker carrying Octavia’s severed head and the Dawn Scepter. She enters the Senate with the captured Jackal and offers the Golds a choice between accepting a new order or being destroyed. Darrow kneels first, followed by Cassius, Sevro, Lysander, the Praetorians, and the senators, who hail Mustang as Sovereign.
The Jackal is publicly hanged one week later. And when no one else will end his suffering as he hangs, Mustang pulls on her brother’s legs and breaks his neck.
Chapter 65: The Vale
Mustang dissolves the Senate and Board of Quality Control while prosecuting thousands for crimes against humanity. The Ash Lord retreats toward Venus, and the Rim, food shortages, and other hostile Gold warlords remain serious threats. Mickey reattaches Darrow’s hand, and Sefi returns to Mars with Holiday to free the remaining enslaved Obsidians.
Cassius leaves Luna with Lysander, intending to raise him away from Octavia’s influence. He returns the Bellona ring he took from Darrow, but Darrow tells him it belongs with Julian’s brother and asks him to keep it.
Mustang then takes Darrow to a secluded coast on Earth.
A landing craft arrives with their friends and family, and Darrow’s mother emerges carrying a young boy who is introduced to Darrow as his son, Pax.
Pax was born nine months after the Lion’s Rain, while Darrow was imprisoned by the Jackal. Mustang concealed the pregnancy and entrusted their son to Kavax’s wife in the asteroid belt, fearing their enemies would use him against them.
Looking at Mustang, Pax, and their friends, Darrow imagines one day telling his son about Eo and everyone who made the Rising possible.