Elspeth wakes in her untouched childhood bedroom after being poisoned by Hauth’s Chalice. Ravyn has stayed beside her, exhausted, while Filick’s antidote has stopped the bleeding. Elspeth overhears Ravyn tell Elm that Hauth likely suspects their role in the night in the wood, and Ravyn confesses guilt for using his Nightmare Card on Elspeth despite promising not to.

When Elspeth reveals she is awake, Ravyn apologizes and asks about the voice that forced him from her mind. Elspeth decides that Ravyn needs the truth and invites him to use the Nightmare Card again. Inside her mind, Ravyn hears the presence speak directly, and Elspeth explains that her magic absorbs what the Shepherd King paid to create Providence Cards when those Cards touch her skin.

Elspeth reveals that, as a child, she touched her uncle’s Nightmare Card and absorbed the Shepherd King’s soul. Elm is horrified and angry, realizing the entity has been helping Elspeth locate Cards, fight, survive attacks, and display yellow eyes. Ravyn sends Elm away, then privately asks why Elspeth hid the truth.

Elspeth tells Ravyn that the Nightmare has been trapped in her mind for eleven years and that her degeneration is the Nightmare growing stronger each time she asks for help. The Nightmare explains that Rowan stole his life, his soul remained sealed in the Card, and he protected Elspeth because the world would have killed her. When Ravyn asks what happens if the Nightmare becomes too strong, the Nightmare refuses to answer; Elspeth also reveals that the ruined castle was his and that he is buried beneath Castle Yew.

Jespyr interrupts to summon Ravyn downstairs because the King wants the Destriers for patrols and Physician inspections after the escaped infected family. After Ravyn leaves, Erik visits Elspeth, carrying the sapphire Well Card. Erik warns Elspeth about Hauth, awkwardly asks about Ravyn, then gives Elspeth the Well Card that her mother once gave him, apologizing in his restrained way for how he treated her.

Elspeth dresses despite her weakness and watches the Destriers prepare to leave. She tells Ravyn that Erik gave her the Well Card, and Ravyn plans to have Filick retrieve it. Elspeth apologizes for hiding the Nightmare because she feared losing Ravyn’s trust, while Ravyn says he was the one who broke his promise. Their tenderness remains strained but intact as Ravyn leaves on patrol, and Elspeth’s farewell is shadowed by the realization that these are the last words she will speak to him aloud.