Kingfisher carries Onyx through the palace to Saeris’s rooms, frustrated that his own magic is weak in Ammontraíeth and that Tal’s wards, not Kingfisher’s, protect Saeris’s chambers. Kingfisher conjures stolen smoked trout for the fox, then prepares to leave. Onyx responds by giving Kingfisher a tiny pine cone, a gesture that quietly moves Kingfisher.

Kingfisher goes to the deserted library, where a black shadow cat emerges from his own shadow. The cat, later identified as Guru, leads Kingfisher through the stacks to a hidden sanctuary with a fire, bed, orrery, and ladder leading to the roof. Kingfisher follows and finds Foley writing beneath the stars, withdrawn and unwilling to face an old friend.

Kingfisher sits with Foley and lets the silence ease between them. Foley admits Tal told him about Kingfisher’s suffering, and Kingfisher says that trauma is over, though Saeris helps make things feel better. Foley questions whether Kingfisher’s bond with Saeris is real and whether her half-vampire nature or rule of Ammontraíeth matters; Kingfisher answers that Saeris is simply Saeris and that Kingfisher loves her.

When Kingfisher tells Foley to return to Cahlish, Foley refuses, breaking down over his shame and fear as a vampire. Foley describes the hunger, his altered teeth, and the degrading animal blood he has survived on. Kingfisher challenges Foley’s self-condemnation by asking when Foley last killed or lost control around Fae, revealing that Foley has not fed on Fae blood since Ajun and has resisted the hunger for centuries.

To prove Foley’s control, Kingfisher bites his own wrist and lets blood fall on the table. Foley panics and retreats, but Kingfisher pushes Foley to judge himself by his restraint, not his fear, while Guru laps at the blood. Kingfisher then distracts Foley with the wooden box containing the remaining piece of Joshin, explaining the bargain that won Kingfisher and Carrion the demon’s venom and bound Kingfisher to release it eventually, though not immediately or in any specific place.

Kingfisher explains that he brought Joshin to Ammontraíeth because the demon cannot safely remain at Cahlish or with Kingfisher. Kingfisher asks whether Foley is still Lupo Proelia in his heart and insists Foley is still good, still his brother, and still a wolf. Foley slowly returns to the table despite the blood, accepts the box for safekeeping, and asks Kingfisher to tell him the demon’s secret.