At Locke’s estate, Jude and Oak avoid the first trap by hiding in the carriage while the decoy exits with the family. The Bomb helps Oak and Jude climb through a window, reports that nothing has happened yet, and gives Jude ointment for the wound Jude has been hiding. Jude sends Oak onward, hoping the real danger will reveal itself in the maze.

Cardan finds Jude alone, and their tense exchange exposes Jude’s confused feelings for him. Because Jude fears the Undersea may target Cardan, Jude commands Cardan not to be alone from sundown to sunup. Madoc overhears enough to realize Jude is secretly controlling the High King, and Madoc reframes Jude as an equal political opponent who stands between him and the crown.

Jude enters Locke’s enchanted maze and becomes lost until Jude threatens the hedges into guiding her. Inside, Jude finds Heather cursed with catlike features after Heather apparently admired a faerie boy’s ears. Jude forces the boy to undo the spell by threatening him, but Heather is traumatized and wants to leave Faerie forever.

Vivi tries to soothe Heather, then uses glamour to erase Heather’s memory of the curse and replace it with a harmless explanation. Jude is furious because Jude believes Heather needs the truth in order to protect herself. Before Jude can argue further, the Ghost, Vulciber, and the Bomb arrive with urgent news: the Undersea has made its move at the Tower of Forgetting.

As Jude prepares to leave, Jude sees Taryn wearing the moon-and-star earrings Jude lost during the ambush. Locke’s limp confirms that Locke was one of the riders who attacked Jude, but Jude has no time to confront him. Jude orders the Bomb to alert Madoc and guard Oak and Cardan, then rides with the Ghost and Vulciber to the prison.

At the Tower of Forgetting, Jude finds drowned knights with pearls replacing their eyes. Jude frees Asha for Cardan’s sake, then descends and discovers Balekin’s cell broken open and empty, realizing Orlagh has taken him as a political weapon. When the Ghost appears beside three sea Folk, Jude understands that the Ghost has betrayed Jude; the Ghost says he served Prince Dain, not Jude, and Jude is struck from behind into unconsciousness.