Apollo leaves Maddie sleeping at the dower house and rides to Karsvall, thinking about how fiercely she defended Christophe and Élan and how quickly his feelings for her are overtaking his grief for Ilsa. At Karsvall, he finds Derrik preparing to ride alone to Specter Isle, where Minerva and her allies may be hiding. Their argument turns violent when Derrik crudely refers to Apollo sleeping with Maddie and then suggests Maddie may only want Apollo because he resembles the husband from her world. Apollo punches Derrik, refuses to abandon his children for a reckless mission, and orders Draven to have Derrik followed because Derrik seems unlike himself.

Afterward, Achilles privately warns Apollo about moving so fast with Maddie, and Apollo admits that adela tea first pushed matters between them but insists he now cares for her greatly. Achilles then reassures him that Maddie would never willingly take the other Apollo to her bed again, easing the doubt Derrik planted. Apollo goes to breakfast with his children, where Élan eagerly asks when she will see Maddie and Christophe shows more guarded interest. When Apollo learns Christophe heard from Nathaniel that Maddie stabbed an assassin, Apollo explains that Maddie reacted from grief and love because, in her world, she lost the children she carried and the children she sees in Christophe and Élan.

That evening Apollo returns to the dower house and finds Maddie has spent the day with Remi, Alek, and Draven, making snow figures and playing tuble. During dinner and strategic discussions, Maddie is warm with the men but avoids Apollo, which confuses and then irritates him. Once they are alone, Apollo makes her face him and learns she has spent the day terrified that stabbing a bound man and witnessing Apollo kill and interrogate enemies makes her seem monstrous or unstable. Apollo tells Maddie the assassin was never truly defenseless, admits he should have protected her from more of the violence, and explains that the attack, while frightening, gives them useful knowledge because their enemies did not use magic and have now revealed the war has truly begun.

Maddie confesses she is overwhelmed by the brutality, the danger to Apollo's children, and how calmly everyone else discusses war. Apollo promises to shield her from what he can, while also asking her to trust him to tell her what she needs to know as she adjusts to this world and gathers courage to meet his children. Their tension breaks, they go to bed, and their lovemaking becomes gentler and more affectionate. After Maddie tells Apollo that if he meant to give her a better life, he is succeeding, Apollo finally rests secure that she sees him as himself, not as the man from her world; yet when he wakes in the night holding her, his thoughts return to strategy and he wonders why the enemy chose not to use magic.