Diem dreams herself back on the road where she has often relived her mother's mysterious meeting with a Descended man. This time the man's face is clear: Prince Luther. Diem hears Luther invoke a Crown bargain and threaten that if Auralie refuses to serve, "the boy" must pay the life debt instead.

The nightmare changes when Diem is no longer hidden. Diem pulls at Auralie, but Auralie's body turns to reveal Diem's own face with terrified silver eyes. Luther demands that Diem choose which life belongs to him, turning the memory into a direct threat.

Diem wakes naked beside the sleeping Henri and walks away from camp to steady herself. The dream leaves Diem shaken because Luther's identity answers one mystery while raising worse questions about Auralie's bargain. In the woods, Diem realizes Henri is still asleep and that something else is approaching.

A wolf emerges and stalks Diem while Diem discovers she left her weapons at camp. As the wolf prepares to attack, the world narrows into darkness, an inner voice urges Diem to fight, and Diem's hands glow with silver light. When the wolf lunges, Diem's power flashes; the animal vanishes into ash and glittering black fragments.

Terrified that Diem has relapsed into the hallucinations she once treated with flameroot, Diem races back to camp and searches desperately for the powder. Henri wakes and helps, but Diem remembers she threw away every dose. When Diem explains the wolf, Henri says the animal was real because Henri heard it too, but Henri concludes Diem merely scared it off and frames the episode as stress from recent events.

As Henri comforts Diem, Diem notices an illegal tattoo on Henri's back: the Everflame, a symbol of the outlawed Old Gods. Henri says he got it to honor them and reacts with bitter defiance when Diem warns the Descended could torture him for it. Before Diem can press further, Henri kisses Diem fiercely, and Diem lets desire distract from Auralie's disappearance, Luther's threat, and the power that may have destroyed the wolf.