Outside Erawan’s tower, the guards withdraw, leaving Maeve to attempt the distraction she and Dorian planned. Maeve reveals her sheer gown and asks whether she is welcome, but Erawan resists because Maeve is, by Valg law or custom, his brother’s wife.

Maeve changes her appearance first into Aelin and then into Manon, using both forms to tempt and provoke Erawan. Dorian, hidden nearby, is horrified by Erawan’s possessive interest in Aelin’s pain and enraged by Erawan’s genuine desire for Manon. Erawan ultimately rejects Maeve’s offer, sends her away, and shuts the tower door, preventing Dorian from entering.

The next morning, Maeve brings Dorian to a meeting with Erawan while Dorian hides as a field mouse in Maeve’s cloak pocket. Erawan taunts Maeve for rejecting the enslaved man he had sent to her chambers after the failed seduction. Maeve answers with calculated disdain, and Erawan shifts to discussing the terms of their alliance.

Erawan demands that Maeve bring the rest of the kharankui through a portal, not as hosts but as soldiers, because he refuses to risk a prolonged war. Maeve warns that Aelin’s power at Anielle proves Aelin might still be capable of destroying him on the battlefield, but Erawan insists that Maeve’s spiders will be essential to the northern campaign.

Maeve argues that she and Erawan together could defeat Aelin without sacrificing the kharankui, revealing an unexpected reluctance to spend her ancient spider allies. Maeve then hints that she knows more than Erawan about walking between worlds and offers, after preparation, to show him a brief vision of his brothers, Orcus and Mantyx, though she claims they are too powerful for her to fully summon into the world.