Kai wakes Paedyn in the barn at dawn and leads her to the back stalls, where he plans to steal a horse for the final stretch toward the Sanctuary of Souls. Paedyn is uneasy around the animal, but Kai forces her to approach it anyway. As they try to leave, a stable hand catches them, and Kai orders Paedyn onto the horse while he fights the man. Kai wins enough time to get them both mounted, and Paedyn helps by smashing the injured man’s face with her knee before Kai drives the horse out into Dor’s streets.

They ride hard through the ruined outskirts toward the Sanctuary. Their banter briefly returns, but Paedyn’s mood darkens as the landscape grows more desolate and she recognizes that crossing beyond Dor means the end of any real chance of rescue. As they pass graves and tombstones, Kai says they will ride until nightfall and hide from bandits after dark. Paedyn keeps thinking about Ava, Kai’s dead sister, and about her own unresolved questions about why she is Ordinary instead of a Mix.

Later, under the punishing sun, Kai falls asleep behind her from exhaustion. Seeing his hands loosen on the reins, Paedyn quietly tries to take control of the horse and turn it back toward Dor. She even steadies him by lacing her fingers through his when he stirs, but Kai wakes before she can escape and calmly stops her, showing that her opportunity was real but short-lived.

That night they camp among the graves and share bread and water while Kai explains that the Sanctuary was once meant as a royal burial place. Paedyn asks about Ava and presses Kai about why he told her such a private story. Instead of answering directly, Kai insists on a dance first. While they move together by the firelight, Paedyn challenges him about his care for her, and Kai admits that his feelings for her once defied everything he had been ordered to do.

During the dance, Kai finally explains the meaning of the thumb kiss from the ball. Ava was a weak Crawler who struggled with her ability, so as a child Kai used to kiss her fingers and especially her thumbs, pretending to give her strength. He says he never kissed anyone else’s thumb until Paedyn’s, because Paedyn’s spirit reminds him of what Ava might have become: bold, formidable, and powerful despite ability. When Paedyn says he overestimates her, Kai answers that he simply sees her.

The intimacy deepens when the chain keeps tripping Paedyn and Kai lifts her onto his boots so he can dance for both of them. Paedyn breaks down, remembering how her father used to dance with her the same way until she fell asleep. Kai recognizes that he has hurt her by reviving that tenderness, but he stays with her, swaying in silence, and promises to keep dancing until she is dreaming of her father. The chapter ends with both of them giving in to a fragile closeness even as they move nearer to Paedyn’s likely doom.