Nine: Guards and Bonds

At dawn, Fitz basks in memories of Molly but resolves to keep distance. He visits Patience and discreetly inspects her chamber’s security. Patience reflects on strong queens of Buckkeep, then gravely warns Fitz that Regal envies and fears him, urging vigilance with food, drink, and isolation. Lacey abruptly demonstrates lethal skill, revealing herself as Hod’s apt pupil, humbling Fitz’s assumptions.

Seeking Kettricken, Fitz tracks rumors through the keep, stables, and kitchens. He learns Burrich is drinking and building a pyre for his dead hound, Vixen, but holds to his duty. Gate guards admit a hooded woman in royal colors passed to town; Fitz rebukes their negligence and follows in a snowstorm.

Fitz finds Kettricken striding to Buckkeep Town to see Verity. He warns of Regal’s threat and her public risk; she insists on agency and duty to conceive an heir. Their blunt exchange exposes Kettricken’s loneliness and Verity’s absences. A glimpse of Cub in the trees unsettles Fitz, and Kettricken mistakes him for a wolf. At last, Fitz persuades her to return, leading her back on a mule.

Back at Buckkeep, Molly sees Fitz arriving with Kettricken and turns away, hinting at strain. Fitz honors Vixen by adding a lock of his hair to Burrich’s pyre and speaking a memory, while Burrich grieves in silence. Fitz then brings leftover meat to Cub.

Playing rough in the snow, Fitz and Cub’s Wit-bond erupts into shared exultation. Fitz tries to assert separation, but Cub floods his mind with the lure of the wild, nearly drawing Fitz to abandon human life. Shaking free, Fitz chooses Buckkeep, leaves food for Cub, and returns to the castle despite the pull.