At Stone, Elm endures the seasonal court celebration while waiting for Ione, who has not appeared in the great hall. After several dances and awkward attention from courtiers, Ione arrives dressed as spring, drawing the room’s gaze. Elm goes to her, and Ione explains that she was in the dungeon visiting her father, Tyrn, who is alive but frostbitten and admits he saw her too drunk with Hauth on Equinox and did nothing.

Elm asks Ione to dance and secretly gives her the stolen Nightmare Card. Ione urges Elm to use the Nightmare on her mind to find the Maiden Card. Elm uses the Scythe to make the orchestra louder so no one can overhear, then enters Ione’s memories through the Nightmare.

In Ione’s memories, Elm sees Tyrn present Ione to the King as payment for the recovered Nightmare Card, leading to a badly worded marriage contract. Elm then witnesses Hauth’s cruelty on Equinox: Hauth mocks Ione, forces wine on her, drags her through the crowd, and uses the Scythe while hiding the Maiden Card behind a cracked pale stone in an ashy hearth. Ione insists Elm see more, and Elm witnesses Hauth later refuse to return the Maiden, strike Ione, accuse Elspeth of infection, and throw Ione from Spindle House’s tower.

After leaving Ione’s mind, Elm is shaken by the pain and horror of what Ione survived. Ione explains that the Maiden numbed her only after she healed from the fall, leaving her without fear, grief, or despair. When Ione says she could never be a Rowan queen who permits infected people like Elspeth to be killed, Elm realizes what he wants to do and leads Ione to the throne room.

In the throne room, Elm identifies the hearth from Ione’s memory. Ione lifts the cracked stone and finds the Maiden Card hidden with a chain, whip, and club, which Elm grimly identifies as tools from his own painful upbringing. Ione takes back the Maiden, and Elm sits on the throne to offer her a final barter: because the Equinox contract binds her to Blunder’s heir rather than specifically to Hauth, Ione can still become queen by marrying Elm.

Elm argues that Ione could use the crown to change Blunder, and that the King’s own secrets about infected relatives would stop him from challenging the marriage. Ione questions Elm’s motives, but Elm says he wants to know the real Ione and would be her servant, not her keeper. They kiss, but Elm refuses to bed her while the Maiden still blocks her feelings. Ione takes Elm to her room, asks whether Elm truly wants to witness the pain of her feelings returning, and then taps the Maiden Card three times to release herself from its magic.