Diem returns home furious after the day’s events, and Andrei immediately recognizes her mood. Instead of demanding an explanation, Diem’s father takes her outside with dull sparring swords, returning to the nightly combat training he once gave Diem and Teller. Their familiar practice begins with tactical lessons about conserving energy, exploiting size differences, and avoiding predictable movements.

As the sparring intensifies, Diem’s anger makes Diem careless, and Andrei disarms her. Pressed to explain herself, Diem finally asks how Andrei endured serving the Descended in the army. Andrei rejects that framing, insisting he served Emarion and all its people, but Diem challenges the legitimacy of the Crowns and names the Descended conquest, destruction of holy sites, and killing of mixed-blood children as betrayals.

Andrei warns Diem that her words sound like treason and argues that the Descended’s strength cannot be ignored. When Diem asks whether mortals should simply accept oppression, Andrei reminds Diem of his core battlefield lesson: when an opponent is stronger, survive by being smarter, choosing battles carefully, and knowing when to flee. Andrei does not forbid Diem from fighting back, but urges Diem above all to survive, then tells Diem he and Auralie would be proud of her.

Later, Diem and Teller lie in their shared room. Teller asks whether Diem told Andrei about the flameroot or the Descended, and Diem avoids answering. Watching candlelight on the ceiling stirs an old memory of visions or hallucinations, but Diem forces the memory away rather than confront it.

Diem then asks whether Teller is being careful with Princess Lilian. Teller insists they are only friends, but Teller’s blush and defensiveness reveal deeper feelings. Teller lists the barriers between them: Lilian’s royal status, her likely arranged marriage, and the law forbidding mortal-Descended marriage and children. Diem tells Teller she would support Teller even if Teller and Lilian broke those rules, but Diem also repeats that Teller must be careful.