Alaric spends a sleepless night tormented by guilt over nearly killing Talasyn with his shadow-spear during the duel, and by the memory of their charged encounter in his chambers when he accidentally called her beautiful. He ruminates on how his feelings have shifted, struggling to reconcile his role as Night Emperor with his growing attachment to Talasyn. His restless night is interrupted when Gaheris, his father and Regent, forcefully summons him through the Shadowgate into the In-Between now that the sariman cages have been removed.

In the In-Between, Alaric reports everything to Gaheris—the treaty, the marriage, and the Lachis'ka's identity as the Lightweaver. Gaheris is furious at Alaric's failure to contact him sooner and accuses him of being infatuated with Talasyn, calling him weak and comparing him disparagingly to his mother. Gaheris forbids any further merging of Lightweave and Shadowgate magic beyond what is needed for the Voidfell barriers, and promises punishment upon Alaric's return. However, Gaheris orders the marriage to proceed, seeing strategic value. He instructs Alaric to remain vigilant about the Sardovian remnant and to try extracting their location from Talasyn after the wedding.

The next day, treaty negotiations conclude with the formal signing of the contract. Alaric is in the darkest mood Talasyn has ever seen, cold and hostile, refusing even basic courtesies. When Talasyn's fingers brush his gauntlet while taking the stylus, he recoils. Despite her humiliation, Talasyn signs, officially becoming engaged. Alaric then announces a new demand: Kesath will conduct an aerial sweep of Dominion territory to confirm no Sardovian forces are hiding there. Talasyn must remain in the palace during the search and accompany Alaric on the Deliverance for the final day of sweeps. Prince Elagbi insists on joining them aboard the ship. Alaric also suspends their aethermancy training until they reach the Belian shrine.

That evening, Talasyn is summoned to Urduja's salon, where she meets with the queen, Niamha Langsoune, and Enchantress Ishan Vaikar. Ishan demonstrates a remarkable piece of Dominion technology: an amplifying configuration that combines sariman blood suspended in Rainspring magic with the planar-shift ability of spectrals—small primates that can vanish into another dimension of aetherspace. The device renders people and objects completely invisible by shifting them into a neutral pocket dimension. Niamha volunteers as a demonstration subject and disappears entirely before being safely returned. Ishan confirms this technology has been successfully tested on warships.

Urduja reveals that envoys have already been sent to coordinate with Vela's Sardovian forces. The amplifiers will be positioned throughout the isles of Sigwad—a territory not shown on the older map provided to Kesath—to hide all Sardovian shelters and vessels from aerial reconnaissance. Additionally, Urduja reminds Talasyn that she must convincingly maintain ignorance of the Sardovians' whereabouts at all times. Talasyn, awed by the technology and the Dominion's ingenuity, has a moment of sharp clarity: the Hurricane Wars are not over, and with Nenavar as an ally, Sardovia could one day reclaim the Northwest Continent. She resolves to find a way to make that happen.