After the Maiden Card is tapped three times, Ione Hawthorn’s unnatural perfection disappears and her real self returns: freckled, tired, expressive, and human. Elm recognizes the warmth and life in her face, but the return of her feelings also restores the pain Hauth stole from her. Ione collapses into Elm’s arms and screams as the memories of Hauth’s abuse, manipulation, and attempted murder finally reach her.

Ione, overwhelmed, pushes Elm away and asks him to leave. Elm goes to Hauth’s sickroom, where Linden is sitting beside Hauth, and fights the urge to take revenge. Instead, Elm throws the Nightmare Card back into the chest and tells Linden, or perhaps himself, that Hauth is not worth any more of their time.

Elm returns to Ione’s door and listens to her cry, forcing himself to face the harm done to her. Holding the Scythe, Elm reflects on how much the Card has shaped him, his father, and Hauth. When Ione opens the door, she pulls Elm inside, holds him in bed, and assures him she does not hate him. They sleep together, and in the morning they speak tenderly about how they noticed and envied each other from afar before truly knowing one another.

Ione admits anger, spite, ambition, and the disturbing comfort she once found in the Maiden’s emotional numbness. Elm accepts these truths and tells Ione he is not leaving. Wanting to give Ione something joyful and free, Elm takes Ione riding beyond Stone. Ione laughs openly while racing through the mist, and Elm sees the restored, unguarded person Hauth and the Maiden had hidden.

Elm and Ione stop in a copse of trees, where their intimacy becomes a deliberate act of trust rather than violence or pageantry. Afterward, Elm tells Ione the truth about his childhood, Hauth and the King’s cruelty, Emory’s infection, Providence Cards, Elspeth’s hidden magic, the Shepherd King’s presence in Elspeth’s mind, and Ravyn and Jespyr’s mission to the Twin Alders. Elm also reveals that he helped get Ione’s family and the Spindle girls away from danger and vows to change Rowan law when he becomes king.

Ione chooses to stand with Elm, and they decide to announce their marriage contract that night, ending the courtly pageantry early. When they return to Stone, a bell is tolling and familiar attendants are absent. Elm first thinks Ravyn may have returned, but when Elm and Ione enter Elm’s chamber, they find Hauth waiting in the shadows.