Elide remains imprisoned in a dungeon long enough to lose track of time. She remembers feeling a strange ripple in the world and hearing panic above, but no one explains it, and isolation makes Elide fear that Vernon is deliberately breaking her will before handing her over to the creatures he serves.

Vernon enters Elide's cell and reveals that magic has returned. Because magic may lie dormant in the Lochan bloodline, Vernon says he and the duke want to discover what Elide's blood can do. Elide begs Vernon to let her vanish and leave Perranth to him, but Vernon refuses because cruelty and control are his true motives.

Vernon summons Cormac, a beautiful red-haired young man wearing a black collar. Darkness leaks from Cormac, and when Cormac looks at Elide, Cormac forces memories of pain and terror into her until Vernon orders him to stop. Vernon explains that Elide will be cut open and altered, then placed in Cormac's care to see whether the process works; Elide realizes Cormac is both a demon prince and her betrothed. After Vernon leaves, Elide throws herself against the locked door and begs for anyone to remember her, but no help comes.

Elsewhere in the Keep, Manon returns exhausted and hopes the young queen has understood her message. Manon enters her room expecting to find Elide, but Elide's pallet is untouched, Elide's scent is stale, and the fire has not been lit for days. Manon realizes Vernon may have taken Elide while Manon was gone, especially now that magic has returned and might have awakened power in Elide's blood.

Manon searches the Keep with growing urgency. The head cook has not seen Elide, and the head laundress insults Elide, prompting Manon to slash the woman's face. A laundry worker then risks approaching Manon and reveals that Elide is locked in one of the Keep's dungeons, with no one allowed in except her uncle. Rather than rush blindly into one of three possible dungeons, Manon tells the woman to keep silent and runs to gather the Thirteen.