Jude wakes the next afternoon still tasting poison and clutching Nightfell. Wanting to repair matters with Taryn before events worsen, Jude goes to Taryn’s room, but Taryn is gone. Jude then seeks Oriana, who says Taryn is at Locke’s house and that the family is expected at Balekin’s feast the next day.

In Oriana’s room, Jude notices a golden acorn matching the one found in Liriope’s dress. The sight connects several clues: Liriope’s hidden message, Dain’s sonnet, Oriana’s old warning about Dain, Oak’s sudden arrival, and Madoc’s support for Balekin. Jude realizes Oak is not Madoc’s son but the child of Prince Dain and Liriope.

Oriana panics when Jude says this aloud and begs Jude never to repeat it. Oriana confirms the truth and explains that Liriope was her beloved confidante. Liriope became pregnant after an affair with Dain, was poisoned with blusher mushroom, and sent Oriana a final message asking her to protect the child. Oriana saved the baby from Liriope’s body and named him Oak after Liriope’s acorn.

Oriana says she did not know at first who poisoned Liriope, but Madoc later discovered that Dain had obtained the poison. Madoc’s fury and Oriana’s need to protect Oak led to their marriage. Jude concludes that Oak’s lineage explains why Madoc backed Balekin and wanted Dain dead: Oak is a hidden heir who could be used as a claim to the High King’s crown.

Jude realizes Madoc may intend to put Oak on the throne and rule as regent. Oriana is horrified, insisting that child kings do not survive and that Oak is too frail and unprepared. Jude sees that she herself could use Cardan to crown Oak, gaining enormous power, but recoils from imagining Oak beneath a bloodstained crown and remembers how carelessly Oak once used glamour on her. When Oriana asks whether Jude can stop Madoc, Jude can only answer, “Maybe.” Leaving, Jude sees Oak innocently gathering poisonous foxgloves in the garden.