Lin follows Aron after his public confrontation with Mayesh and accuses the Exilarch of humiliating her grandfather before the malbushim. Aron says he once trusted Mayesh and cannot forgive what he sees as Mayesh’s failure to do enough for Asher Benezar. Lin defends Mayesh as someone who chooses the survival of the Ashkar over any one person, but Aron unsettles Lin by saying he sees fire in her, possibly the fire of the Goddess, and darkness around her.

Jolivet interrupts Lin and brings her to Marivent while Conor, during his public blessing with Anjelica, watches Lin from afar. Meanwhile, Kel goes alone to House Alleyne, hoping to repair matters with Antonetta after the events on Tyndaris. Instead, Liorada Alleyne confronts Kel bitterly and reveals that Antonetta has left home, leaving only a note claiming she is staying with a friend because Artal humiliates her. Kel realizes Liorada does not know Antonetta’s true involvement at Tyndaris and is alarmed because Antonetta has no real friends on the Hill who would naturally shelter her.

At the Palace, Lin is taken to examine King Markus. The King speaks coherently but mistakes Lin for Fausten and talks of stealing the House of Belmany’s greatest treasure, something caged and crying for freedom, connected to the source of their power. When Lin shows her Source-Stone and asks whether it was a Source-Stone, Markus cries out in Malgasi, seizes Lin’s lancet, and stabs his own palm. His blood triggers Lin’s Source-Stone to burn hot, and Lin experiences a vision or illusion of the room consumed by fire before losing consciousness.

Lin wakes in Fausten’s former room with Conor beside her. Conor says there was no fire when he found Lin unconscious, but Lin insists the King’s illness is magical and tied to Malgasi trauma. Conor reveals Lin had been repeating the Malgasi words meaning “the fire, the fire, the blood and the cage.” Terrified that he endangered Lin by involving her, Conor rescinds any royal order requiring her help, but Lin refuses to abandon Markus and asks Conor to trust her and himself.

Their emotional confrontation turns intimate when Lin kisses Conor, and Conor kisses Lin back passionately. Conor then breaks away, anguished because he has just been publicly sealed to Anjelica, and begs Lin to leave. Lin flees to the carriage and notices that her long-dormant Source-Stone now contains a small flicker of light.

Later, Kel returns to the rooms he shares with Conor and finds Conor drinking for the first time in months. Conor speaks of feeling bound by blessings, treaties, contracts, promises, and expectations after the ceremony with Anjelica. Kel nearly tells Conor everything about the conspiracy, Malgasi, Tyndaris, and the Ragpicker King, but Conor deflects before Kel can speak and turns the conversation toward his Solstice Ball costume.