Years pass after the girl is taken into Atroxus’s service. On her sixteenth birthday, her ceremony of commitment formally makes her a bride of the sun, raising her status within the Citadel. The girl responds by working harder at magic, traveling farther on missions, finding lost souls, and healing broken hearts.

Atroxus continues visiting every few months and remains affectionate, approving of the girl when the girl completes his tasks well. Even so, the girl never forgets the power imbalance between them or the divine danger behind his kindness. As the girl grows older, the girl senses something ominous approaching and wonders what is coming.

The answer arrives when acolytes, including the girl’s sister, capture a living vampire and bring the vampire to the Citadel as an offering to Atroxus. The vampire is bound in silver chains blessed by Atroxus and strengthened by Srana’s machinery; the chains burn the vampire constantly. Curious, the girl visits the vampire in his cell and notices that the vampire clutches a wilted flower, which reminds the girl of the golden feather from the girl’s own past.

The girl begins returning to the vampire’s cell and brings the vampire small yellow flowers. Though the girl and the vampire cannot understand each other’s language, the girl senses complexity and humanity in the vampire, which conflicts with everything the girl has been taught. The girl concludes that if every damaged heart contains some light, then vampires may not be beyond redemption.

When Atroxus next visits, the girl asks whether vampires can be redeemed. Atroxus rejects the idea, calling vampires tainted products of their goddess’s betrayal, and grows angry when the girl says no living creature deserves to be killed for fun. The girl quickly retreats into obedience, but while Atroxus keeps the girl occupied for hours, the priests proceed with the vampire’s sacrifice.

Near dusk, the girl finds the vampire hanging upside down in the courtyard, burned by the sun and pierced with a gold arrow. The girl gathers the wilted flower petals that fell from the vampire’s pockets, becomes enraged, and climbs above the courtyard despite her sister’s warnings. The girl cuts the restraints holding the vampire’s corpse, and when the body falls, the girl’s protected life at the Citadel symbolically falls with it.