After leaving the great hall, Ione brings Elm wine in the yard and tears open the restrictive collar of her dress. Their banter turns tense and flirtatious as Elm admits that he has been angry all his life, while Ione challenges whether he ever noticed her before she took the Maiden Card. They make a wager: if Elm can prove he remembers her before Equinox, Ione will kiss him; if he cannot, Ione will get one minute with Elm’s Scythe.

Elm leads Ione through servants’ passages to a private cellar, where he gathers a Chalice Card, wine, bread, and an hourglass. Elm explains that the Chalice may help test Ione’s unreliable memories of Equinox night and possibly reveal where her missing Maiden Card went. Ione insists that Elm also submit to the Chalice and answer questions in turn, making the exchange equal.

Under the Chalice, Ione recalls that Hauth kept giving her wine on Equinox, scorned her liveliness, and later used his Scythe on her after making sure she was drunk. Ione woke in Hauth’s room still under the Maiden’s influence but without the Card; Hauth refused to tell Ione where he had made her hide it and implied that keeping Ione emotionless would make her easier to manage as his betrothed. Elm apologizes for what Hauth did, and Ione connects Hauth’s cruelty to the rumors about what Hauth had done to Elm.

Elm admits that Hauth beat him and used a Scythe on him until Elm eventually told Ravyn, who helped him get away. Elm also reveals that when Elm inherited his mother’s Scythe, Elm learned to protect himself and became better with the Card than Hauth. In another important revelation, Elm tells Ione that the Rowans do not possess all four Scythe Cards as they pretend; they only carry three, and the fourth is missing from the royal vault.

Ione’s memories of the Maiden Card remain incomplete, limited to salt, cracked stone, spinning torchlight, and a garden scene where Hauth and other men mocked her after she fell. As the Chalice’s time runs out, Ione admits she can still feel physical desire despite the Maiden locking away her emotions. Elm then proves he remembers Ione from before Equinox by describing her childhood, her solitary dancing, her former smile lines, freckles, and happiness, winning the wager.

After severing the Chalice’s hold, Elm claims the kiss, urging Ione to use him and feel something. Their kiss becomes heated, and Elm deliberately softens his touch because he wants the moment with Ione to last. Before their intimacy can go further, Filick Willow opens the cellar door despite having knocked; embarrassed, Filick leaves, but the interruption breaks the moment, and Ione flees despite Elm calling after her.