The day of the royal wedding arrives bright and clear. Guests from across the Nenavar archipelago descend on the capital city of Eskaya in luxurious airships, ferried by skiffs to the Starlight Tower—a building made entirely of emerald-green metalglass. While the guests are served refreshments and wait for the sunset ceremony, Talasyn is in her chambers at the Roof of Heaven, overwhelmed with nerves and nausea as her lady-in-waiting Jie applies finishing touches, including diamond-tipped artificial eyelashes. Talasyn half-jokingly considers escaping through the window or turning to piracy with Ossinast, but Jie keeps her grounded.

When Talasyn is fully dressed and veiled, Prince Elagbi meets her in the solar and is moved to tears at the sight of his daughter. He expresses grief over the years stolen from them and laments that her mother Hanan Ivralis cannot see her, and that this is not a wedding born of love. Talasyn, unable to fully process the depth of his emotion, smiles tentatively and lets Elagbi escort her to the schooner that will carry them to the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Alaric waits in a secluded alcove adjacent to the Hall of Ceremonies. He reflects on the horde of aethergraph correspondents gathered behind the pews, contrasting Queen Urduja's tolerance of newssheets with his father Gaheris's practice of suppressing them in conquered nations. Alaric's thoughts drift to his mother, Sancia Ossinast, recalling a childhood memory in which she described the romantic Valisan marriage proposal tradition—"The stars guide me home to your heart"—and how Gaheris's proposal to her had been nothing like that. Commodore Mathire interrupts to inform him that his bride has arrived.

Alaric enters the grand Hall of Ceremonies beneath the Starlight Tower's belfry, a glass-walled chamber with stained-glass ceiling panels casting jewel-toned light across the guests and pews. The altar is carved in the likeness of a crouching dragon with sapphire eyes, flanked by banners of the Night Empire's silver chimera and the Dominion's gold dragon. The crowd—including Kesathese officers, Queen Urduja, Prince Elagbi, and Nenavarene aristocrats—looks uniformly grim, a detail even the officiant wryly comments on.

When the orchestra begins playing and the doors open, Talasyn walks in wearing an elaborate lotus-silk gown embellished with diamonds, gold, and silver thread, a diamond-and-gold tiara, and a gossamer veil that evokes a starry sky. She carries white peonies and moves down the aisle in the fiery light of sunset. Alaric is stunned into breathlessness at the sight of her, unable to see anything else in the room. The chapter ends with his singular, overwhelming awareness that Talasyn is about to become his wife.