QUICK LINKS: When the Moon Hatched Recap by Chapter P–12 | 13–27 | 28–43 | 66–84 | 85–E // Moonfall Book 2 Summary
When the Moon Hatched Chapters 44–65 Summary
This chapter-by-chapter summary of When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker contains spoilers.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 44
Slátra refuses to abandon Elluin as they cross the Boltanic Plains. The sun shreds Slátra’s silver skin and tears holes through her wings until she falls. She crawls through the dunes nearly blind before reaching a shelter near the Imperial Stronghold.
King Ostern gives Elluin permission to stay by Slátra’s side under heavy guard. Elluin won’t leave Slátra in that state, but escape is off the table. The Aether Stone has stripped Elluin of her ability to summon clouds, and without them, there’s no safe way home. She feels trapped and guilty for dragging Slátra into this fate.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 45
Kaan arrives at the Imperial Stronghold in Dhomm and takes Raeve to a healer named Agni. Veya and Pyrok are stunned when they see her. They knew Raeve as Elluin Neván and believed she died many cycles ago. Kaan tells them that Elluin now goes by her middle name but remembers nothing.
Veya is worried. Raeve’s royal blood and missing Aether Stone will draw Tyroth straight to them. Kaan understands but won’t force Raeve into an identity she doesn’t remember. He wants her to learn her history at her own pace and choose her own future.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 46
Kaan heads to the training area beneath the Stronghold. He hasn’t slept in cycles and has anger to burn. He meets Grihm and warns him that he won’t go easy. Grihm pulls off his shirt, shows his scarred back, and they charge at each other. Both men use the pain to release what’s built up inside them.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 47
Agni pulls Veya aside and describes a silver wound on Raeve, right over her heart. It’s the kind that usually means instant death. Veya tells Agni to keep it from Kaan. Neither notices Pyrok in the hallway, where he hears everything.
Over cards, Veya and Pyrok talk through what they know. Veya remembers that Elluin kept a diary hidden in a wall at her old residence in The Shade and decides to go find it. She hopes the diary will explain who Elluin really was and why Elluin left her life behind.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 48
Elluin is resting with Slátra when a massive dragon enters the hutch. A tall, scarred man climbs down and catches Elluin off guard with his striking appearance. He asks about Slátra’s injured eyes, whether Elluin has eaten, and if Elluin is staying permanently. Elluin doesn’t answer. She’s too drained from her recent losses and her struggle with the Aether Stone to speak with a stranger.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 49
Raeve wakes up in Dhomm. Her head injury is gone, and she’s still wearing the málmr from the trial.
While Raeve explores the room, a sudden vision hits her. She sees herself pulling a hidden book from behind a mirror. Raeve moves the mirror and finds the hollow spot, but it’s empty. The memory unsettles her.
Veya walks in, eating a piece of fruit, and wastes no time. She warns Raeve not to hurt Kaan again. As Veya turns to leave, Raeve calls out Veya’s name without thinking. Veya spins around and demands to know if Raeve remembers her. Raeve denies it and slams the door. She steps onto a balcony and takes in the view of Dhomm below.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 50
Raeve pulls on a black hooded robe and boots, grabs the gold candlestick she pocketed earlier, and heads to the common area. She finds two men playing cards, helps herself to their snacks, and gets a bag of gold along with directions to the city center.
Outside, Raeve trades a guard’s dagger for a heavy sword and learns that Dhomm treats the nulls with surprising respect. Pyrok catches up and points Raeve to a shop called the Curly Quill, where she can get a fair price for the candlestick. Raeve plans to sell it, buy weapons, find a high vantage point, and locate the carter hutch so she can figure out how to leave for good.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 51
Pyrok takes Raeve to a shop called the Curly Quill and waits by the door. Inside, Raeve meets Vruhn, who can read thoughts. Before Raeve says a word, Vruhn identifies her, lists everything she needs to track down Rekk Zharos, and picks up on her plan to use a sharpening tool to break her restraints. He suggests something more effective.
Then, Vruhn brings up Raeve’s grief over Essi and Nee and hints at something missing within her that Raeve doesn’t yet understand. Raeve tells him to stop. Vruhn also tells her she has the potential to wield Rayne’s power if she’d stop burying her grief, but Raeve ends that conversation abruptly too.
Vruhn accepts the candlestick as payment and hands Raeve a leather bag of ordinary items as cover. He tells Raeve he’ll send word when her weapons and clothing are ready.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 52
The scarred man carries Elluin out of the hutch and dumps her into a warm bath at the Imperial Stronghold. Veya Vaegor helps Elluin wash and apologizes for her brother’s behavior. While they’re together, Veya offers to give Elluin combat lessons. Elluin agrees. It’s the first real sense of purpose she’s felt in a long time.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 53
Raeve sits in a tavern trying to break her iron cuff. Kaan replaces Pyrok in the booth and helps Raeve get it off.
Once the cuff is gone, Raeve confronts Kaan about Tyroth’s cruelty toward elementals and nulls and warns him she might have to kill him if he’s complicit. Kaan says he’s building an army to fight his brothers but fears a full war would cost the lives of many conscripted younglings.
Raeve decides she’s heard enough. She turns down Kaan’s offer to share a meal, tries to return his málmr pendant, and when he refuses, Raeve leaves it on the table and walks out.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 54
Raeve decides to leave the city before her weapons are ready, but a sudden rainstorm stops her cold. Without her iron cuff, Raeve has no protection against the magical song of the rain, and it overwhelms her. She breaks down in the street.
Kaan finds Raeve, pulls her into his arms, and hums a melody that brings her back. When the rain stops, Raeve realizes it was the exact song she uses to comfort herself in her own mind. She asks how Kaan could possibly know it. He says he has something important to show her, and Raeve follows.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 55
Kaan leads Raeve down a massive staircase into a hidden cavern where she sees the fossilized remains of a Moonplume named Slátra, painstakingly pieced back together by Kaan.
A hollow near the dragon’s head stirs a buried memory from the day Raeve first woke up in a cage. Kaan believes the dragon carried her broken body until they both fell from the sky. He tells Raeve she is Elluin, reborn.
Raeve denies it, tells Kaan that Elluin is dead, and she owes him nothing. Then Raeve walks out alone.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 56
Grabbing several blades from the shelves, Raeve heads for the exit. Kaan intercepts her, gives her a satchel of bloodstone, and says she has long screamed for Slátra in her sleep. He pieced the dragon back together, hoping to bring her peace. He kisses her temple and walks away.
Raeve leaves, but instead of finding a Moltenmaw out of the city, something draws her toward the western tip of the cove.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 57
Elluin finds the dragon’s hutch locked. Kaan is outside with a tray of food and a key, but he won’t hand it over until she finishes her meal. She rushes through the spicy stew and gets sick. When she returns, the door is open and Kaan is gone. He comes back the next night with a milder meal, and they’ve kept up this routine every night since.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 58
Veya finds Kaan at the dragon hutch, preparing to leave on Rygun to hunt a rabid beast attacking local villages. She confronts him for showing Raeve the shrine too soon, afraid their enemies will use Raeve to destroy the kingdom.
Kaan points out that Raeve didn’t try to leave the city and walked toward the western point of the cove instead, which suggests part of Elluin still lives inside her. He plans to stay away for thirty aurora cycles while Veya travels to Arithia to find Elluin’s old diary.
Just before he flies off, Kaan says enough for Veya to realize their father murdered Elluin’s family, and he never told her.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 59
Raeve follows her instincts to the western point of the bay, finds a stone carving of Kaan’s málmr hidden in a tree, and takes a path to a secret home built into the cliff face. Everything inside points to a couple who once lived there.
Guided by her elemental Clode, she steps into a second room where a vision hits her. Raeve sees herself and Kaan together, intimate and loving. When it releases her, she realizes the home belonged to the two of them.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 60
Kaan plays a tune Elluin remembers from her childhood. She sings along but breaks down in tears, grieving for her lost family, for Slátra, and for everything stolen from her. Kaan sets his instrument aside and holds her.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 61
Kaan arrives at the ruins of Rambek shortly after the battle, having been forced to kill Blóm, Chief Thron‘s dragon. Despite losing Blóm, Thron thanks Kaan for protecting the village and admits he could never have ordered the death of his own companion. Before leaving, Kaan promises to send grain and other supplies to help with the recovery.
Thron heads off once he spots Kaan’s second‑in‑command, who requests a leave of absence. Grihm wants to travel to Gondragh to find the nest of the Great Silver Sabersythe, since being near Inkah’s grave has become too painful. Kaan understands and agrees to fly him there.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 62
Veya and Noeve travel the Path of Daes, heading east to stay out of Cadok’s reach. Noeve mentions that she used to smuggle people for the Queen but quit after the Queen interfered with a Guild execution.
Later, Veya shares her plan to go to Gore and retrieve a bangle she threw down a trash chute phases ago. Noeve warns her about a dangerous velvet trogg at the bottom of those chutes, but Veya is determined to face it to recover Elluin’s diary.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 63
A full week has passed since Elluin last saw the scarred man. He still leaves food and a small carving outside her door every night but never stays to talk. Elluin pours her frustration into combat training, and Veya says she’s improving.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 64
Veya climbs down the garbage chute and finds a velvet trogg wearing her silver bangle as a crown. She trades the creature for a carved dragonscale medallion that belonged to her late father, along with the bangle’s small catch chain. The trogg accepts, and Veya walks away with her bangle.
When the Moon Hatched Chapter 65
Kaan eventually comes back and plays a song while Elluin watches. When the music stops, Elluin finds him staring at her, and she leans in to kiss him. She admits she wants him. As she moves toward the door, Kaan pulls her back and kisses her with real passion. Their moment ends abruptly when a messenger runs down the hall looking for Kaan, nearly catching them together.