The day after the difficult eclipse test, Elagbi leaves Iantas for Eskaya despite worrying about Talasyn being alone with Alaric in his foul mood. Talasyn reassures Elagbi, but after the schooner departs she admits to herself that the castle will be harder without Elagbi, because Alaric has been avoiding Talasyn and sleeping in his study since their magic and feelings became more complicated.

At the beginning of the new sennight, Belrok, the royal tailor, measures Alaric for a masquerade costume and refuses to let Alaric wear something plain beside Talasyn’s lavish outfit. Their meeting turns into a series of insults before a design is settled. Irritated, Alaric looks for Talasyn to complain, but finds Talasyn in the garden having tea with Jie and several Dominion noblewomen, so Alaric awkwardly asks permission to spar in the courtyard instead.

After Alaric leaves, Talasyn recognizes that the noblewomen have come partly to gossip about the Night Emperor. Their teasing about Alaric’s clothes and attractiveness shifts into a joking lesson on flirtation, but Niamha makes clear that charm can be politically useful if Talasyn needs Alaric to become more malleable. The talk also makes Talasyn wistful about affection and romance, especially as Talasyn recalls couples and admirers around her who seem to have what Talasyn has never experienced.

Later, restless and curious, Talasyn watches Alaric and Sevraim spar from a tower room. Seeing Alaric fight without restraint reminds Talasyn how dangerous Alaric is, but also intensifies Talasyn’s attraction to him and brings back memories of their wedding night. Overwhelmed by desire, shame, and loneliness, Talasyn retreats from the window and privately seeks relief while thinking of Alaric.

During the eclipse that night, Talasyn and Alaric practice forming the light-and-shadow shield without the modified amplifiers while Iantas’s warship fires void cannon shots at their yacht. They repel the attacks, but afterward Talasyn burns with fever and Alaric is freezing again, proving that the dangerous aftereffect can happen even without the amplifiers. Holding hands eases the imbalance, but both realize they do not know whether the reaction is tied to the shield, the eclipse, or permanent damage from the amplifiers.

Alone on the yacht afterward, Talasyn uses the moment to ask Alaric to stop interrogating the captured rebels because they are low-ranking soldiers with no useful information. Alaric resists, arguing that mercy looks like weakness, but Talasyn challenges him by invoking his abusive father and his own promise to change Kesath for the better. Alaric finally agrees to send word to stop the interrogations, then reveals through his sore neck that he has been sleeping uncomfortably in the study. Talasyn persuades him to sleep in the bed for the sake of their next eclipse work, and they return to shore with their tense, fragile intimacy still unresolved.