Dorian avoids Aedion and sees little of Chaol while trying to manage his restless anxiety by sparring with guards each morning. The injuries give Dorian an excuse to visit Sorscha in the healers’ catacombs, where Dorian is drawn to Sorscha’s kindness, steadiness, and quiet vulnerability.

During one visit, Sorscha treats Dorian’s hurt wrist and asks careful questions about Celaena, Fleetfoot, and the strange killings in the castle months earlier. Dorian admits that two creatures were involved and that Celaena dealt with one before Dorian and Chaol faced the second. When Sorscha realizes the king would kill Celaena and Chaol if the truth came out, Dorian panics, remembers the danger in the tunnels, and loses control of his magic.

The narration shifts to Sorscha after the incident, as Sorscha is reprimanded by Amithy for supposedly knocking over her worktable. Sorscha remembers the blast of ice and wind, Dorian’s glowing eyes, and Dorian’s terror afterward. Instead of exposing Dorian, Sorscha quickly staged the destroyed room as an accident and promised Dorian she would keep Dorian’s secret.

Sorscha tells Dorian that after they pretend nothing unusual happened, Sorscha will research ways to stop or suppress Dorian’s magic, possibly through a tonic. Amithy warns Sorscha about professionalism and implies that Dorian’s interest in Sorscha is inappropriate, but Sorscha endures the insult because invisibility has helped Sorscha survive. Sorscha remains committed to helping Dorian because Sorscha sees Dorian as frightened and in need, not as an enemy.

The narration then shifts to Chaol, who follows Aedion after Aedion slips away from a tavern party while pretending to be drunk. Chaol tracks Aedion into the slums, where Aedion meets a cloaked, armed figure and enters a guarded, crumbling building near the Avery’s docks. Chaol recognizes signs that the place may be connected to the rebels and hopes the rebels might know how to free magic and help Dorian, but before Chaol can act, a dagger presses into Chaol’s side.