Manon enters the aerie with Asterin and Sorrel and immediately detects Elide hiding near Abraxos. Elide explains that someone was in her room, and Manon, noting Elide’s nerve and awareness, decides to use her. Manon orders Elide to get into the sealed chamber beneath the castle where Yellowlegs witches are being used to create demon offspring, threatening Elide with a Valg marriage if Elide betrays her or refuses.

After Elide leaves, Asterin and Sorrel question Manon’s decision. Sorrel worries Elide could go to the duke, while Asterin challenges the morality of risking Elide’s life. Manon admits she deliberately frightened Elide and argues that only a servant girl can get close enough to the chamber, because the duke bars witches from it. Manon has not decided what she will do with the information, but she refuses to follow the duke blindly.

Elide spends the next days living in Manon’s tower while continuing her duties and secretly planning. She sees the assignment as another way to spy for her own eventual freedom. In the laundry, Elide waits until blood-soaked clothes from the hidden chamber arrive, observes which laundress handles them, and follows that woman to learn how deliveries reach the guarded stairwell.

On her way back, Elide hears Vernon speaking possessively to Kaltain on a stairway. Elide starts to retreat, then chooses to intervene when she realizes Vernon has cornered Kaltain. Making her chains clank loudly, Elide approaches, claims Manon sent for Kaltain, and places herself between Kaltain and Vernon despite the danger.

Vernon reveals that he knows about Elide’s witch heritage by referring to her fangs and iron teeth, but Elide refuses to bow or retreat. Elide leads Kaltain away, sees Kaltain’s bruises and scars, and recognizes the woman’s emptiness, rage, and suffering. Kaltain walks off alone, leaving Elide sickened by Morath’s cruelty.

Elide returns to Manon’s tower and finds Manon reading a letter. When Manon asks whether Elide entered the chamber, Elide instead says she needs Manon to get her poison, showing that Vernon’s threat and Kaltain’s abuse have changed what Elide is willing to do.