One: Gravebirth

Fitz, newly raised from his grave by Burrich and Chade’s desperate plan, lives animal-minded under Burrich’s strict dominance. Burrich feeds, disciplines, and retrains Fitz in small tasks, keeping him indoors and away from Nighteyes’s hunting to rebuild human habits and speech amid seizures and fragmented thoughts.

Chade arrives secretly, bringing food, herbs, and a scrying bowl. Burrich resists drugging Fitz; Chade tries water-scrying without result. Over brandy, Chade Skill-coaxes Fitz to say, “Verity’s alive,” which Fitz blurts before fleeing outside. Through spring, memories stitch back; Fitz names people again and wrestles with nightmares, shame, and loss.

Burrich recounts the failed escape night: Farrow guards watched the stables, so he sent Kettricken and the Fool away on Sooty and Ruddy. Pressed by guilt, Fitz reveals the true betrayal: Rosemary overheard his plans, and Galen’s coterie—Serene, Justin, with Will spying—leeched Shrewd’s Skill. At Shrewd’s final request, Fitz lent strength; the coterie drained the King, killing him. Fitz then killed Serene and Justin by Skill in grim reprisal.

Burrich and Chade accept Fitz’s confession, recognizing Regal’s wider treachery. They discuss Patience’s growing influence at Buckkeep and signs she prepares a child’s blanket—likely for Kettricken’s unborn heir—as Regal tightens control and Red Ship threats loom. Burrich and Fitz resume a fragile normalcy, haunted by trauma, scarcity, and fear.

As summer nears, they remain hidden in the shepherd’s hut. Fitz’s humanity reasserts itself, but his nightmares and self-loathing persist. When Chade returns again, Fitz greets him as himself, though he withholds that their “rescue” left him irrevocably scarred.