Chapter 19

Briony awakens to a gray fox savaging her throat and arm. Toven bursts in, commands “Vesper” to stop, and the familiar obeys and leaves. He gathers Briony into his lap and meticulously heals her wounds, his tenderness and gaze exposing charged desire. In their strained conversation, Toven admits Vesper’s jealousy and implies Briony’s Rosewood power could make other magic sources obsolete, revealing he has not bonded her as a heartspring.

The next days, Briony recuperates, studies Mind Barriers for Beginners, and practices nonmagical meditations. She spots an albatross and Orion Hearst’s hawk familiar circling, confirming Orion’s presence at the hall and heightening her anxiety.

Toven visits and, after a brief discussion about succession politics and Del Burkin’s death, notices her disguised mind-barriers text. When Briony hints she needs “practical application,” he leads her to a blank meditation chamber. Inside, the featureless space triggers her old panic; she begs out, and Toven immediately releases her, saying other techniques exist. Briony infers someone at Hearst Hall is secretly practicing outlawed mind magic.

As Toven escorts her back, a hall-wide flare signals Mallow’s urgent summons, and Toven departs. The next morning, Serena’s note reports Toven is injured and the household may falter. Finding her door unlocked, Briony searches the kitchen’s Journal page and reads the headline: the Castle Javis rebellion has been crushed and Finola Rosewood is dead. Shock and grief overwhelm her.