After Andarna's departure, Violet spends three days in bed, barely eating or speaking. Brennan reads at her bedside in the mornings, her squadmates visit in the afternoons, and Xaden holds her at night. Tairn keeps their bond wide open, letting Violet hear his conversations with the elders, Sgaeyl, and Xaden. Outside the room, Aretia celebrates its safety, but Violet is unable to join in. She learns the atmosphere shifts on the third day but lacks the energy to ask why.

On the fourth morning, Mira arrives after flying through the night, summoned by Brennan's missive about Violet's near-catatonic state. Mira climbs into bed with Violet and coaxes her to speak and eventually get up. Violet learns that Xaden opened the border to let thousands of refugees climb the Medaro Pass into Aretia—an act of treason against the Senarium—and that the western front is crumbling, with venin pushing Navarre's forces back after the raising of the wards provoked them. Violet is stricken with guilt for being absent during these events but resolves to rejoin the fight.

Xaden helps Violet bathe, and she reflects on why riders die when their dragons do—not just from power loss, but from an existential annihilation of identity. She asks Xaden to help her with rune instruction, something she'd never previously allowed. Choosing to have him push her rather than coddle her, she dresses and returns to the bedroom.

There, Mira and Brennan are arguing fiercely about their parents. Mira reveals she visited their grandmother Niara and discovered that their parents once took the infant Violet to be dedicated to the goddess Dunne at a temple—something illegal in Navarre since the two hundreds. Violet connects this to her own experience at the Unnbrish temple in Poromiel, realizing it was her father, not her mother, who arranged the dedication, likely hoping the touch of a god would help Violet's frail body. The priestess refused to complete the dedication, saying Violet still had paths to choose, but warned that "the heart that beats for you" would do the wrong thing for the right reason, reach for unspeakable power, and turn dark.

Mira interprets this as a prophecy that Violet will turn venin. Xaden interrupts and reveals that the prophecy describes him: his heart beats for Violet, he reached for unspeakable power, and he has already turned. Mira draws her alloy-hilted dagger in shock, but Violet steps between them. Brennan's calm reaction reveals he already knew Xaden's secret, which deepens Mira's sense of betrayal. Xaden confirms he is stable but that they can only slow the progression. Mira, furious at being kept in the dark by both siblings, sheathes her blade and storms out, telling Violet "Good luck keeping her alive."