Odessa presses Ransom on King Margot’s alleged aim to kill the Voster. Ransom argues Margot could leverage Quentis’s single Genesis border, wealth, and navy to outlast other kingdoms, then seize power. Odessa questions why Margot would not ally with the Voster, and Ransom explains their magic comes with allegiance to their own choices, not to mortal kings.

Odessa infers the Voster likely back Turah and suspects Ransom knows their location; his silence confirms it is Allesaria. She wonders whether Ramsey moved the capital to protect or hide the brotherhood. When she asks what happens if Margot strikes the Voster, Ransom vows Ramsey would defend them and expresses certainty in his father’s loyalty, hinting at possible secret oaths.

Odessa connects Ramsey’s book burnings to shielding knowledge from Margot and to concealing Lyssa, while Ransom admits confusion about Ramsey’s current motives and reveals Ramsey torched the queen’s library, possibly to provoke her. They discuss the militia build-ups before the crux migrations; Ransom explains Ramsey is prioritizing city defenses and siege engines after past devastations, while Odessa condemns leaving outlying towns exposed amid Lyssa’s spread.

After a quiet walk home, Ransom admits he cannot share every truth but offers what he can, asking for forgiveness. Their tender kiss is interrupted by screams from the courtyard where the High Priest had been entertaining children. Ransom vaults from Odessa’s balcony toward the chaos while Odessa arms herself and rushes to help despite warnings to stay safe.

In the courtyard, numerous bariwolves pour through the gates. Ransom fights but is slowed, weakened by the High Priest’s earlier siphoning. The High Priest wields formidable ice magic, skewering monsters with massive icicles. Zavier and his rangers, including Vander, push to close the gates as soldiers evacuate civilians.

Odessa rescues a wounded soldier and then runs for a boy beside his dead mother. The one-eyed bariwolf—Ransom’s infector—locks onto her, signals the pack toward Odessa, and personally beheads the child before fleeing toward the gates with a subset of the pack. The rest swarm Odessa, but the High Priest appears, interposing himself and annihilating the pursuing bariwolves with volleys of ice, despite the painful chill his magic inflicts on Odessa.

With the gates closed and the courtyard stilled under rain of green bariwolf blood, Odessa confirms with Ransom that the one-eyed monster escaped. Devastated by the child’s death, she is briefly comforted before Ransom arms himself from a fallen soldier. The Guardian immediately orders the gates reopened, intent on pursuing and killing the one-eyed bariwolf.