Elide spends a smoky, muggy evening working as the carnival’s oracle while the troupe travels east instead of north toward Terrasen. The nearby smoke is explained as farmers burning fields, but Elide remains uneasy and knows she must eventually leave the carnival to continue her journey. Business is poor for Elide until the crowd rushes away to watch Lorcan perform.

Lorcan draws the whole village by juggling and throwing blades shirtless, earning far more attention and coin than Elide. Molly remarks that Lorcan’s looks could make anyone pay, and Elide privately worries about what place someone illiterate and seemingly powerless could have in Aelin’s court. After Lorcan comes to Elide’s tent, their banter turns sharper and more personal, touching on desire, trust, and Elide’s trauma in Morath.

When Lorcan asks whether anyone in Morath hurt Elide sexually, Elide says it never went that far, though memories of humiliation and threat still haunt her. Elide admits she has never been with anyone and does not know what she wants. Elide considers telling Lorcan more about her life, Vernon, her parents, and why trust would matter to her, but screams interrupt the moment.

The point of view shifts to Lorcan, who realizes he has been distracted by his attraction to Elide. Lorcan orders Elide to hide under a wagon and uses his magic to scan the camp. Lorcan senses death and discovers four winged ilken descending on the carnival; the field smoke was not from farmers but was set to mask the creatures from magic and scent.

Lorcan understands that the ilken are hunting Elide. In the center of the camp, the creatures slaughter a fleeing young man while Ombriel and Nik arrive armed but terrified. Lorcan explains that the beasts are soldiers from Morath, resistant to most magic, and that beheading is the only sure way to kill them. Lorcan mercifully ends the dying man’s suffering and faces the ilken as if he is in charge.

The ilken say they seek a small, limping girl who killed their kin and offer gold for Elide Lochan, niece of the Lord of Perranth. Lorcan is struck by the revelation that Marion is truly Elide and that she successfully concealed the lie from him. Lorcan denies knowing anyone by that name, but the ilken respond that if they cannot take Elide, they are hungry enough to feed on the carnival instead.