Jude spends the morning in her bedroom with Madoc's sword across her lap, guarding Cardan while he sleeps in her bed after the previous night's attack. Nicasia's warning keeps troubling Jude: Orlagh wants Nicasia to marry Cardan and become queen. Watching Cardan vulnerable and unguarded unsettles Jude because she is used to his beauty as armor, not as helplessness.

Jude reflects on the five months of her secret control over Cardan. She has tried to anticipate every danger by commanding Cardan never to refuse her an audience, never to imprison or harm her, to meet her nightly to discuss policy, to warn her of threats, to hide the fact that she controls him, and to act as though he wants to be High King.

In the remembered conversation, Cardan reveals that he does not always hate ruling. This unnerves Jude because Cardan's disinterest in power had made him seem easier to manage. Cardan also reminds Jude that her control lasts only a year and a day and that she cannot think of every command she might need, leaving Jude aware that her advantage is slipping.

Late that afternoon, the Roach arrives with Snapdragon, the hob-faced owl messenger of the Court of Shadows. The Roach reports that the Living Council wants to see Cardan, but since Cardan is asleep, they will summon Jude instead. Jude leaves the bedroom quietly and prepares to attend the meeting.

The Roach updates Jude on the Ghost, who is resting, and warns that rumors about the attack are spreading through the palace. Jude asks about the secret passageway connected to Cardan's rooms, and the Roach explains that it is separate from the mapped passages and may have been built at another time. Jude realizes the room was likely used for the High King's lovers who were not consorts, which makes Cardan's choice to sleep there more mysterious; the Roach urges Jude to go to the Council meeting.