Elm leads Ione into Stone’s catacombs and toward the King’s private vaults, a place tied to Elm’s childhood fear and Hauth’s cruelty. Ione notices Elm’s unease, and their conversation turns from her ugly borrowed dress to the Maiden Card’s emotional numbness. Ione explains that she once felt everything intensely, then welcomed the Maiden’s dulling effect before realizing she had lost even relief; now she tries to act like her former self so she can live with her choices when the magic ends.

Elm and Ione also confront trust between them. When Ione asks again whether Elm knew Elspeth was infected before Elspeth’s arrest, Elm finally admits he has known since Equinox and did not turn Elspeth in. The admission shows Ione that Elm is not simply like Hauth, though her trust remains guarded.

In the vault, Elm opens the King’s locked Providence Card box with his key, hoping one of the three Maiden Cards in the castle is Ione’s hidden Card. Ione draws out a Maiden Card and taps it, but nothing changes, proving it is the wrong one. Disappointed but controlled, Ione follows Elm out after Elm takes the Prophet and Mirror Cards; Elm later also has the Scythe with them.

Ione brings Elm to the library, where Elm calms himself by sketching. Their conversation grows intimate as they discuss Elm being made Hauth’s replacement as heir and the encounter between Elm and Ione in the cellar. Their flirtation is interrupted when Baldwyn arrives with the King’s paperwork formally naming Elm heir to Blunder, and Elm insists Ione remain as witness.

While Elm signs the documents, Elm and Ione notice Yvette Laburnum among a group of watching women. Yvette’s unnaturally perfect beauty reveals that she, too, is under a Maiden Card’s magic, accounting for the second of the three Maiden Cards in Stone. After Baldwyn completes the formalities and Elm becomes heir, Elm and Ione discuss next steps: if the Prophet cannot find Ione’s Maiden, Elm plans to steal Hauth’s Nightmare Card and search Ione’s mind with it.

Ione uses the Prophet Card and sees a snowy meadow outside a small stone chamber. In the vision, the Yew family carries the frail Emory, while Elm, Ione’s father, and Uncle Erik are also present. A tall yellow-eyed man like the changed Elspeth guards Ione with a sword, opens Ione’s hand, and reveals three Cards in her palm: the Maiden, the Scythe, and the Twin Alders.