After a night without sleep, Odessa simmered with anger at the revelations that Ransom had engineered her sham marriage and that Zavier had been unfaithful with Jocelyn. She also wrestled with humiliation and a troubling sense of relief. A knock at dawn revealed Jocelyn, who entered contrite and tearful, offering apologies and to accept any punishment.

Odessa refused to mete out punishment but demanded the truth. Jocelyn admitted she had begun a sexual relationship with Vander in Treow, and that Zavier later joined them. Jocelyn believed Zavier was truly Odessa’s husband, confirming to Odessa that Jocelyn had also been deceived. Jocelyn said the sex was an escape from sadness and homesickness, not a matter of feelings.

Recognizing Jocelyn’s loneliness and her own preoccupation with Turah, Lyssa, and Ransom, Odessa asked what Jocelyn wanted; Jocelyn confessed she wanted to go home. Odessa agreed to try to send her back, but tasked her with delivering a message to King Margot. Odessa instructed Jocelyn to tell her father that Odessa had failed to find a way into Allesaria and that the Turans suspected his search, making them unlikely to trust Odessa with their routes.

Odessa composed a message blending fact and fiction: warn the king that the Turans are more cunning than assumed and are amassing a militia; the Ellder barracks are full; and both Zavier and the Guardian treat Ellder as home. She permitted Jocelyn to share events like King Ramsey’s visit to Treow and the burning of books, while claiming she had no secrets from her father. Odessa withheld any mention of Lyssa, Ransom’s identity, or his cuff potentially holding a route.

When Jocelyn asked if she should remain to learn more, Odessa insisted she leave, framing it as necessary because Jocelyn had become her husband’s lover and because winter was approaching. She urged Jocelyn to return to Roslo and embrace her mother. Jocelyn departed, still apologetic.

Left alone, Odessa questioned whether her father would believe the message and decided it did not matter. She reaffirmed her mission to uncover Turah’s secrets, now for herself and her freedom rather than for her father, and concluded that her best ally in this effort would be her “husband.”