In Janua 1787, Helena returns to the Outpost to find the room padded for close-combat practice. Kaine explains that he is not training Helena for battle but for escape, especially if an Undying tries to capture her. He stresses that Helena's only real advantage is being underestimated, then repeatedly demonstrates how quickly he can disarm, pin, and disable her.

During the sparring, Kaine teaches Helena to fight without honor: stomp, knee, use elbows, exploit anger, and aim to disable rather than win fairly. Helena grows frustrated and exhausted, but Kaine is unusually good-humored, which unsettles her because Ilva's deadline is approaching and Helena still cannot see a reliable way to bind Kaine's loyalty. Helena studies combat books and reviews Kaine's behavior, but Kaine's motives remain unclear to her.

At a later session, Helena admits that she is tired of the war, tired of saving people only to lose them later, and unsure whether she can keep paying the price demanded of her. Kaine notes that even martyrs have limits, and Helena observes the desire he keeps buried beneath cruelty. As the fight resumes, Helena begins reading his patterns and finally pins him against the wall with a knife at his throat and her resonance against his chest.

Kaine tells Helena that all she has to do is push in, and Helena realizes with horror that Kaine has been waiting for her to betray him. Instead of killing or controlling him, Helena kisses him, wanting him to know that her desire has been real. Kaine gives in, and they have sex on the training-room floor; afterward, Kaine is shaken when he realizes Helena was a virgin, while Helena is consumed by shame, guilt, and the knowledge that his attachment may now be exploitable.

The encounter collapses into confrontation. Kaine bitterly admits that his demand for Helena was originally a misdirection meant to trick Crowther: Kaine never meant to betray the Resistance and only wanted to avenge his mother. When Helena challenges his explanation, Kaine reveals that Morrough tortured Kaine's mother after Kaine's father's treason, forcing Kaine to become Undying and kill Principate Apollo to spare her further suffering. Afterward, Morrough and Bennet's experiments left Kaine's mother broken, and she died of a heart attack after seeing Kaine injured by other Undying.

Helena is horrified by the truth and apologizes sincerely. Kaine breaks down, admitting that he cannot bear to care for someone again, and Helena holds him while he sobs. For the first time, Helena sees Kaine as fully human beneath his cruelty and grief, but the chapter ends on the chilling realization that she can use his broken heart.