After Sel carries Bree out of the Lodge, Bree objects to being thrown over his shoulder, so Sel switches to a piggyback carry and races across campus. Sel brings Bree to the house where Nicholas and Sel grew up, explaining that Lord Davis raised Sel from age ten and that the house may contain Southern Chapter archives. Bree hesitates because entering feels like a betrayal of Nick, but Sel argues that Lord Davis’s Oaths may force Lord Davis to lie if the Regents are hiding the truth.

Bree follows Sel inside, and the two move through the dark house without lights to avoid alerting neighbors. On the stairs, Bree sees childhood photos of Nick and Sel, deepening Bree’s sense that Bree is violating Nick’s privacy. When a neighboring car startles them, Sel grabs Bree’s hand, and Bree feels a painful electrical current; Sel questions Bree about the strange sensations Bree feels when Sel looks at Bree, and Bree admits Sel’s gaze feels prickly or sparking.

Sel uses aether and silver rings to form a thin blade and open Lord Davis’s locked office. Inside, Sel and Bree search filing cabinets for records about past campus attacks and Bree’s mother. While searching, Sel tells Bree that Bree has given Nick focus and explains the roots of Nick’s resentment: Nick felt abandoned by his mother and competed with Sel for Lord Davis’s approval after Sel was taken in. Sel also reveals that Sel once loved Nick, though Sel insists that crush is long over, and speaks bitterly about the sacrifices Sel has made to protect Nick.

Sel finds a confidential Regents-stamped file about demon attacks twenty-five years earlier, and Sel carries Bree back to the Lodge through Sel’s window before Nick and Lord Davis return. In Sel’s room, they begin reading a handwritten affidavit by Martin Davis. The document describes a 1995 incident in which a Gate opened near ogof y ddraig, cŵn uffern killed multiple Unanedig, the Order hid the deaths as a gas explosion, and surviving witnesses were mesmered with help from the Regents.

The affidavit then reveals the chapter’s official conclusion: Sel’s mother, Natasia Kane, allegedly opened the Gates herself using an arcane ritual and Cysgodanedig blood. The Regents imprisoned her rather than execute her because of her power, later released her under probation to produce an heir, then returned her to containment after a relapse. The document states that her young son would be sent to a Merlin academy and groomed as the next Kingsmage for Arthur’s line, leaving Sel devastated by a hidden history that rewrites Sel’s understanding of Sel’s mother, Sel’s childhood, and Sel’s role in the Order.