Jude wakes in the Undersea with cramps, dizziness, and shivering from poison withdrawal. Because Jude has spent nearly a year dosing herself with poison to build resistance, captivity without it weakens Jude further. Alone for days, Jude drinks seawater, tries to convince herself she will survive, and thinks about Cardan’s unloved royal childhood and her own unresolved feelings for him.

When Jude’s captors finally return, Jude is too weak to maintain much control over the performance of being glamoured. Jude gives them real and painful information, including details about Madoc’s strategy room, Madoc’s view of Orlagh, Jude’s parents’ murders, Jude’s lost finger, and whatever lies the captors command. Jude must also pretend to accept false memories and illusions of food and drink, while enduring humiliation and abuse without crying or fighting back.

Later, Balekin questions Jude alone in a coral chamber. Jude observes the guards, the cages of drowned-looking mortals, and the impossibility of escape, so Jude focuses only on endurance. Balekin asks why Cardan took the crown, and Jude suggests possible motives involving Eldred, Balekin’s violence, and Cardan’s fear of being murdered; Balekin reacts sharply when Jude implies his responsibility for his family’s deaths.

Balekin then tests the supposed glamour by making Jude declare that Balekin is more worthy than Cardan and asking whether Jude would stab Cardan to death. Jude agrees, hoping that being sent back to the surface might create a chance to escape. Balekin pushes the test further by ordering Jude to kiss him, then to kiss him as though he were Cardan, forcing Jude to comply while hiding revulsion and fear.

Afterward, the Undersea gives Jude fresh water and begins preparing Jude for return to the surface. Jude learns that High King Cardan has made a bargain to get Jude back, though Jude does not know whether Cardan acted from politics, convenience, or something more personal. Before Jude leaves, Balekin reinforces the false glamour, tells Jude to meet him at Hollow Hall if signaled by a red cloth, and commands Jude to regain Cardan’s trust, get Cardan alone, and kill him.

Jude asks whether Balekin has the crown, and Balekin reveals that Grimsen has not finished it because Grimsen needs Cardan dead first. Jude realizes Balekin is now willing to sacrifice his brother for power. Nearly broken by hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and wine, Jude eats raw food brought by a servant, listens as Balekin orders Jude to avoid protective charms, and finally collapses on the cold cell floor, almost able to believe it is a bed.