Jude returns to Madoc’s tent after discovering the Ghost’s imprisonment and finds Oriana awake. Oriana has dismissed the guard and reveals that she knows Jude is not Taryn. Jude admits Madoc abducted her by mistake and begs Oriana not to expose her, arguing that she only wants to escape.

Oriana agrees to keep Jude’s secret and send a message to Vivi, but refuses to work against Madoc. Oriana makes Jude promise not to oppose him, and Jude lies. Their conversation shifts to Oak, Madoc’s hopes for the crown, and Lady Asha, leading Oriana to reveal more about Asha’s selfishness, Cardan’s neglectful childhood, and the prophecy surrounding the youngest prince.

After Oriana releases a snowy owl with a letter for Vivi, Jude plans to steal Grimsen’s key, free the Ghost, and use her knowledge of Madoc’s army and allies to force Cardan to rescind her exile and protect Taryn. The next day, however, Oriana keeps Jude close with household tasks, preventing Jude from reaching Grimsen.

In the evening, Oriana sends Jude to Madoc’s generals’ tent with tea. Jude sees maps and model ships showing forces moving by sea toward Elfhame. Madoc, still believing Jude is Taryn, rewards her supposed loyalty by granting her a tent of her own and assigning the goblin knight Alver to furnish it.

Once Jude moves into the new tent, Oriana tells her that Vivi will arrive near dawn at a rocky outcrop outside camp. Jude begins preparing drugged wine with deathsweet to incapacitate the Ghost’s guards, but Madoc interrupts and invites her to dine. Jude cannot risk suspicion, so she joins him for what she expects to be their final meal together, briefly accepting the illusion of him as the father who shaped her.