Odessa arrives at Ellder’s training center armed with knives, intent on confronting Ransom. Passing Zavier’s hunting warriors, she exchanges a terse greeting with Vander and proceeds to the central square where Ransom and the man known as Zavier await. Pressed by Odessa, the supposed prince quietly admits his real name is Dray and withdraws at Ransom’s order, after which Odessa instructs that Jocelyn be sent back to Quentis immediately; Ransom authorizes it and Dray departs.

Odessa launches into a furious interrogation of Ransom, slashing with her knives as he evades. She demands names and truths, and Ransom states his full name is Zavier Ransom Wolfe, explaining he has always gone by Ransom. He reveals Dray has acted as his royal double for eleven years. Ransom details Turah’s century-old practice of using doubles for princes and princesses until they come of age, born of an assassination a hundred years earlier; Dray is Ransom’s cousin and long used silence as a tactic when doubling.

When Odessa presses why the facade continues, Ransom refuses full explanation but confirms the deception is ongoing and rare few know the truth. Goaded, he admits the bride prize scheme was his idea, not King Ramsey’s: with King Wolfe preparing to invade Turah and seeking Allesaria, Ransom needed to bind the Sparrow to Turah on terms he could control, choosing a different Sparrow than the spy-schooled sister. Odessa, wounded by being treated as the “weaker daughter,” accuses him of using her as a pawn; Ransom counters that she is his wife, the Sparrow, and future queen of Turah.

Odessa challenges the broader lies and demands full disclosure to the people. Ransom restrains her wrists, arguing he cannot reveal that the heir carries the same infection as the monsters without panicking Turah on the eve of the migration. He declares that the people need a leader, not a dying prince, and that Dray will become crown prince publicly. Odessa asks why he told her at all, and her fury collapses into grief at the prospect of loving and then losing him.

When Odessa questions why he would make her suffer, Ransom steps close, his eyes shifting to gold like Odessa’s and he growls, “You are mine,” claiming her openly. She shoves him back to where she had dropped her knives and attacks again, but an inner resistance keeps her from wounding him; she realizes the treaty’s Voster clause binds them so that a Sparrow cannot kill her king nor he her, without both dying. Furious at being magically trapped, she throws her knives aside and pounds at his chest; he absorbs the blows and holds her as she weeps and calls him a coward and a fake.

Ransom refuses to let her go until she sags against him, apologizes, and calls her his queen. He asserts that this—what they share—is worth fighting for. Their anger turns to desire; his eyes shift to green, and they kiss deeply, Odessa finally yielding despite weeks of restraint. Pulling back in fear that the kiss could be another lie, she sees the training ground is empty, hears him speak her name, and leaves before he can use it to sway her again.