On a busy night at Marivent, Elsabet uses magic to fly above the palace grounds. She despises the nobles below and briefly sees Prince Conor in the library watching a red-haired girl read, but Elsabet continues toward the North Tower because the crowded palace gives her an opportunity.

Elsabet enters King Markus’s dark room, where Markus sits motionless, barely breathing and no longer eating or drinking. Wearing black and carrying an Arkhe, Elsabet confronts Markus as the man she believes nearly ruined her country by destroying the source of House Belmany’s power.

Elsabet reveals that Fausten was secretly loyal to House Belmany while serving Markus. According to Elsabet, Fausten gave Markus a potion that quieted the screaming in Markus’s head and slowed the transformation caused by the magic Markus stole when he spilled the lifeblood of the phoenix-like source of magic.

Elsabet also reveals that the stolen magic now runs in Markus’s blood and has passed to Conor. She believes Markus may have insisted on Conor having a Sword Catcher because Markus understood some of the danger. Elsabet plans to make Conor hers, enslave him through magic, use his power to restore Belmany magic in Malgasi soil and in herself, then discard him and bring Castellane under Belmany rule.

When Elsabet threatens to take everything from Markus, Markus slowly opens his eyes. Elsabet sees a vanished golden fire in them and thinks she sees the shadow of wings behind him, confirming to Elsabet that Markus’s transformation is advancing. Elsabet draws on the weakened but still potent Source-Stone and flies away, confident that Markus will soon be changed.