Jude attends a meeting of the Living Council in Cardan’s place, aware that the ministers’ collective authority can constrain even a king. Randalin sits in the High King’s chair, signaling the Council’s assumptions about Cardan’s absence and Jude’s limited legitimacy. Jude remains standing and tries to assert that she speaks for Cardan.

The ministers question Jude about rumors from the previous night: that Cardan shot a courtier, that the wounded girl received rubies in apology, that a guard shot Cardan, and that the girl might be carrying a royal heir. Jude deflects with irritation rather than diplomacy, while the Council frames Cardan’s behavior as politically dangerous because the High King is a symbol whose actions affect all Elfhame.

Baphen explains that the High King is tied to the land and its people: storms sharpen, ancient things stir, subjects feel echoes of the king’s drunkenness, and blood spilled by the king makes things grow. Jude panics inwardly as she remembers Cardan’s blood on his bed and the white flowers beside it, realizing that Cardan may be far more bound to the kingdom than Jude has allowed herself to believe.

Randalin shifts to broader political anxieties: changeling rulers who never swore to the Blood Crown, wild Folk outside royal vows, and Grima Mog’s uncertain movements. Jude warns that Queen Orlagh of the Undersea is planning to move against Elfhame and that Balekin has been meeting with her representatives, but the Council dismisses Jude’s information and suggests consulting Baphen’s charts instead. Jude concludes that no one will help Jude act against Orlagh.

The Council then discusses making the legendary smith Grimsen welcome and notes that a representative from Lord Roiben’s Court of Termites will attend the Hunter’s Moon revel, reminding Jude of an unresolved favor she owes. As Jude leaves under Randalin’s implied threat to reach Cardan by other means, Madoc walks with Jude and needles Jude about Taryn, Cardan, and Jude’s isolation. Madoc admits he underestimated Jude’s ambition and cruelty, says he remains bound to serve Cardan, and suggests that if Jude regrets her move, there are still more games to play.