Ferron’s kiss becomes forceful and overwhelming. Helena freezes and responds physically before both characters abruptly stop, horrified by what has happened. Helena flees to her room, ashamed that captivity and deprivation have made the absence of cruelty feel like tenderness, and she apologizes aloud to Luc while trying to reassert loyalty to the dead and to herself.

Unable to bear the idea that her mind might form attachment to Ferron, Helena tries to injure herself by smashing her head against the barred window. Ferron intervenes, restrains her, uses resonance to strip away her emotions, and heals the wounds and slight fracture in her skull. The intervention leaves Helena hollow rather than calm.

Ferron demands to know why Helena went so far. Helena explains that she fears she is developing a trauma-based attachment to him, recalling a research proposal about conditioning subjects into dependence on their captors. She says she would rather endure Central than feel anything for Ferron, but when he turns to leave, Helena clings to him because she cannot bear the isolation.

Ferron reacts with sudden cruelty, accusing Helena not of survival but of loneliness. He argues that the Resistance exploited her need to be useful and loved, especially through Luc Holdfast, and he claims Helena is trying to make Ferron Luc’s replacement. Ferron then tells Helena he does not want her, never wanted her, is not her friend, and only wants to be finished with her.

Two weeks later, Stroud returns to examine Helena and confirms that Helena is pregnant. Helena collapses into panic and terror. Ferron steadies her breathing, then turns on Stroud for springing the news on Helena and for torturing her psychologically.

Under pressure, Stroud admits she hates Helena because the High Necromancer says Helena bombed the West Port Lab, killing Bennet and destroying their work. Ferron rebukes Stroud, dismisses her rank and repopulation program as hollow and self-serving, and orders the butler to remove her and never admit her again without his escort. Afterward, Ferron decides Helena cannot safely remain conscious, sedates her with resonance, places her in bed, and apologizes.