Elm rides through a rain-soaked forest road toward Stone with Ione Hawthorn in custody. Ione asks whether Elspeth is all right, but Elm does not know; when Elm presses Ione about Elspeth having mutilated Hauth, Ione answers coolly, showing little of the open warmth Elm remembers from court.

As Elm reflects on how the Maiden Card has made Ione unnervingly perfect and difficult to read, three masked highwaymen block the road. They demand Elm’s Providence Cards, including the Scythe and Black Horse, and threaten Ione. One highwayman touches Ione’s leg, provoking Elm’s rage, but the archer keeps Elm pinned by aiming at Ione.

Ione secretly steals Elm’s Scythe from his pocket and uses it to command the archer to loose his arrow. The arrow strikes the highwayman touching Ione, and Elm and Ione fall from the horse. Elm then uses the Black Horse to overpower the swordsman with brutal force, while Ione uses the Scythe’s command again to drive the terrified archer into killing himself.

After hiding the bodies and searching them, Elm does not recognize the attackers and concludes they died for Providence Cards. Elm demands the Scythe back, but Ione refuses until Elm gives her payment for saving his life. Using the Scythe on Elm, Ione freezes him in place and exploits his panic at being controlled.

Ione forces Elm to promise that he will convince the King to grant her free rein of the castle. Once Elm agrees, Ione releases him and returns the Scythe, though using it has made her bleed. Elm warns Ione never to do that again, but Ione insists she only wants balance: she saved Elm’s life, and now Elm must save hers.