Elspeth walks with Ione toward the yard while Ione pointedly mentions that Hauth was attacked by highwaymen the night before. Ione sounds cold rather than concerned, and Elspeth is unsettled by the change in her cousin. In the yard, Ravyn has gathered Hauth and the Destriers for training, using their failed encounter in the Black Forest as the lesson.

Hauth arrives with visible claw-like wounds from the Nightmare’s attack, though Hauth claims a masked man injured him and boasts that he broke the highwayman’s wrist. Elspeth realizes Hauth is concealing that the attacker may have been a woman, likely out of pride. Ione notices Elspeth’s hidden injured wrist, increasing Elspeth’s worry that Ione suspects something.

Ravyn turns the training into a public sparring match with Hauth. As Ravyn instructs the Destriers on how to handle highwaymen, Ravyn repeatedly humiliates Hauth, mocking Hauth’s failure and forcing Hauth to rely on the Black Horse while avoiding the Scythe, which Elm explains would not work against Ravyn. Elm and Ione both enjoy watching Hauth lose control.

The sparring escalates when Hauth throws a dagger close to Ravyn. Ravyn responds by knocking Hauth down and stomping on Hauth’s hand, breaking it in revenge for Elspeth’s wrist. The Destriers pull Ravyn away, and Elm later explains the act as balance: Hauth broke Elspeth’s wrist, so Ravyn mangled Hauth’s hand.

Later, Elspeth avoids Ione after hearing Hauth in Ione’s room and spends dinner without Ravyn, Elm, or Jespyr. On the way to her room, Elspeth overhears Elm warning Ravyn that Elspeth’s abilities in the wood are unknown and possibly dangerous. Elm suggests using Ravyn’s Nightmare Card to investigate her, but Ravyn refuses because Elspeth has not consented.

Ravyn then comes to Elspeth’s door and acknowledges that he knows Elspeth overheard him. Ravyn apologizes for the day and explains that Hauth’s cruelty toward infected people is personal: Hauth told the King about Ravyn’s infection and later did the same when Emory caught the fever. Ravyn says he came for another reason and invites Elspeth to see something he had meant to show her earlier.