Chapter 8

Maevyth wakes to stabbing pain and finds her self-inflicted cut oozing black fluid laced with silver, reeking and ringed with angry red flesh. Startled by pleas for help, she searches the house but finds only silence—until she stumbles upon Aleysia and Uncle Riftyn in the viewing parlor, horrified and retreating unseen.

Back in bed, Maevyth is confronted by the skinless, half-faced man from the Banishing, who silencers her with a wet hand. Aleysia enters, seemingly oblivious, passing through the specter as it dissipates in black smoke. The wound flares again, and Maevyth deflects Aleysia’s concern, fearing discovery and amputation if a physician is called.

When Maevyth reveals she saw Aleysia with Uncle Riftyn, Aleysia apologizes but admits she loves him. Maevyth condemns the danger and impossibility of their union under Vonkovyan law and Agatha’s rule. Aleysia counters with a plan: flee with Riftyn beyond civilization and take Maevyth along.

Maevyth refuses, mistrusting Riftyn and dreading life on the run, yet she offers no safe alternative to an arranged marriage with Mr. Moros or Agatha’s control. The sisters’ quarrel cools into fragile intimacy; at Aleysia’s plea, Maevyth sings an old dirge their father once favored, calming her sister while the pain and corruption in Maevyth’s arm persist.