Alone and frightened while the household searches for the missing Chris, Maddie is approached by a woman she believes is Cora. The woman claims that Prince Noctorno has found Chris and that Chris will only come out for Maddie, so Maddie follows her into the forest. As they travel farther from Karsvall, Maddie notices several wrong details: the woman speaks and behaves unlike the real Cora, has no guard, keeps calling her husband "Prince Noctorno," and leads Maddie well beyond the protected area. Maddie realizes too late that this must be Cora's missing twin.

When Maddie tries to turn back, the false Cora presses forward and uses magic to erase their tracks. Two huge armed men appear from the trees, and a massive flock of ugly magical birds swoops in. Maddie runs, but the danger closes in until two warriors intercept the attack. One keeps Maddie moving toward safety while the other fights the birds, whose magic throws blue sparks. Their actions prevent Maddie from being captured.

Dax Lahn then arrives on horseback, sweeps Maddie onto his horse, and rides her hard toward the edge of the witches' enchantments. Circe waits at the boundary, and once they cross into protected ground, the birds vanish. After Zahnin and Bain rejoin them, the group escorts Maddie back to Karsvall. On the ride, Maddie worries both about Chris and about Apollo's reaction, while Lahn bluntly confirms that Apollo will be furious because Maddie ignored orders and walked into danger.

At Karsvall, Maddie sees that Chris has already been found safe. Circe explains that Maddie was deceived by Cora's twin, but Apollo remains focused on Maddie's reckless choice. He pulls her into a crushing embrace of relief, then immediately rebukes her for disobeying him and risking death, torture, or being used against him. When Maddie asks to continue the conversation inside, Apollo instead orders Achilles to take her to the dower house and leads Chris away, leaving Maddie shaken by both his anger and his distance.

Late that night Apollo visits the dower house, but he does not come to reconcile. He tells Maddie that Chris ran away and now needs his father's attention, and he says he will not be "attending" her while he thinks over his own mistakes. The conversation turns cruel when Apollo compares Maddie to her father, suggesting that, like her father, he may be right to give up trying to keep her safe. He refuses to retract the wound, tells her to avoid doing anything unwise, and leaves again, isolating Maddie emotionally at the end of the chapter.