In revolutionary Paris, two weeks after the Bastille falls, Addie moves only at night to avoid danger. Disguised in a dead man’s clothes with a saber at her hip, she navigates new barricades and burning streets, trying to blend in as the city turns volatile with gunfire and suspicion.

Cornered by a group of drunken rebels who accuse her of being a spy, Addie attempts to pass as a common man, shouting their rallying cry. When they demand her sword and hat, the firelight exposes her features, and Addie draws her blade, knowing she is outnumbered and that violence would likely trap her before she could escape and be forgotten.

The men suddenly go slack and motionless as Luc appears behind Addie, mocking humans’ inability to handle peace. He touches Addie’s sword with intimate ease and makes the metal begin to rust, reminding Addie of his power while noting her “good memory” as a burden. Disturbed by nearby cannon fire, Luc takes Addie by the wrist and pulls her sideways into a wall of shadow.

Addie is plunged through a violent, whispering darkness—like falling through living night—before the world reforms. They emerge on a bridge in an unfamiliar city, and Luc reveals they are in Florence. Addie demands to return to Paris, but Luc refuses, teasing that she is always in a hurry despite having endless time.

In a flower-scented plaza, Luc compels an Italian man to hand over a bottle of wine, conjuring glasses to drink as he talks. He rejects Addie’s assumption that he is a god of chaos, calling himself a god of promise and claiming wars are “terrible patrons.” Luc warns Addie not to confuse his intervention for kindness—he simply wants to be the one who breaks her—and then, when Addie looks back, Luc has vanished again.