Chapter 10

Ravaged by cold and delirium, Maevyth overhears Agatha, Uncle Felix, and Aleysia debating her infected arm, with Felix warning amputation may be necessary. She falls into nightmares of a girl cast from a cliff, then wakes days later to find her bandage soaked in black blood but the wound inexplicably sealed into a silver-edged, feather-shaped scar. Her left iris now shows duoculos—an icy silver segment—while her fever and pain have vanished.

Aleysia reveals Maevyth was nonresponsive for days and declared dead for eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds before reviving. Reeling, Maevyth glimpses two boys by Witch Knell seemingly tormenting something near the winterberry bush where she buried a raven. She witnesses a colossal raven that bursts into a flock and watches one boy dragged into the woods, though Aleysia hears and sees nothing. Outside, Maevyth finds the grave undisturbed—yet a glint in the soil draws her to dig.

She unearths a black-and-silver, scaled, melon-sized egg; the raven’s body is gone. The Crone Witch confronts her, calling the egg Maevyth’s penance—“a life for death”—and implying Maevyth can see and hear the dead. The witch speaks cryptically of many gods and Maevyth’s origin as the “black rose,” and warns against being swept away like the two boys, confirming she “sees everything.”

Aleysia catches up, unsettled by the witch and suspicious of the “rock” Maevyth hides. A carriage arrives with Mr. Moros, who has checked on Maevyth during her illness. Back inside, Agatha, eager to satisfy Moros’s purchase, orders Maevyth to wash and suggests an invasive “examination,” underscoring Maevyth’s vulnerability as she conceals the ominous egg.