As the coronation approaches, Jude is increasingly sick and exhausted from dosing herself with poison, training with Madoc, and working for Dain’s Court of Shadows. Madoc drills her in strategy, while the Roach, the Bomb, and the Ghost teach her stealth, structural weakness, pressure points, and weapons work. Jude also completes two more missions, stealing a letter meant for Elowyn and a ring from Taracand’s chambers, though she is not told why either object matters.

At school, Jude refuses to withdraw after the faerie-fruit humiliation, even though Cardan’s circle remains a threat. Locke continues courting Jude, which worries Taryn and provokes Nicasia. Jude overhears Nicasia warn Locke that Cardan will not forgive him, and Locke hints that Nicasia once chose him over Cardan; Jude antagonizes Nicasia in return but keeps silent about Queen Orlagh’s suspected poison plot.

Later, Jude falls asleep during a lecture and wakes on the tower floor after Valerian pushes her from her chair. Valerian has stolen Jude’s rowan necklace and uses glamour to command Jude to call down to Cardan, admit defeat, and jump from the tower. Dain’s bargain protects Jude from the command, so Jude resists. When Valerian blocks Jude’s escape and begins choking her, Jude stabs Valerian in the side with her cold iron knife, wounding him badly enough to stop the attack but not killing him.

Jude flees and runs into Taryn, then crosses the lawn and confronts Cardan with the bloody knife. Cardan seems either unaware of Valerian’s murder attempt or unconcerned, and Jude threatens that she could cut Cardan too. Taryn sends Locke over, and Locke leads Jude away. In the Crooked Forest, Jude tells Locke what happened; Locke says Valerian will not report being defeated by a mortal and suggests Cardan probably did not know about the attack, because the group is driven by Nicasia’s desire for power, Locke’s love of drama, and Valerian’s taste for violence.

Locke takes Jude to his estate instead of walking her home. He reveals that his father left Court and that his mother died after becoming involved with the High King and carrying his child, poisoned by blusher mushroom. Jude connects this uneasily with the poisoning plot she found in Balekin’s household. Locke shows Jude a tower balcony overlooking Elfhame and the distant mortal world, kisses her, and later invites her to stay for a gathering. Though Jude mistrusts the situation, Locke argues that Jude can study Cardan, Nicasia, and the others outside school, and Jude agrees.

Before the party, Locke lets Jude borrow one of his dead mother’s old gowns, and Jude chooses a dress decorated with dancing fauns. The intimacy of the room unsettles Jude, but Jude also imagines a future in which Dain is king, Locke is beside her, and Jude spies on the Court from within. In the hedge maze, Jude finds Cardan drunk and being kissed by others, notices Valerian is absent, and endures Nicasia’s insults. Locke pulls Jude away from Nicasia and kisses Jude publicly before the fire.