Three days after escaping the Bowl Arena, Paedyn hides in her childhood home in Loot, badly wounded in body and spirit. While searching the floorboards for hidden weapons, she relives the king’s final cruelty: he revealed that Kai was involved in her father’s death, turning her grief and love into a deeper sense of betrayal. Paedyn arms herself with a dagger, a bow, arrows, and throwing knives, but she is painfully aware of her injuries and of the scar branding her as Ordinary.

As Paedyn prepares to flee Ilya before a Sight’s testimony can expose her to the entire kingdom, she uncovers a second secret compartment. Inside is her father’s journal, which she quickly packs away without reading because she has already stayed too long. Her plan is to slip through Loot and cross the Scorches to Dor, where Elites do not exist and Ordinary people are the norm.

At the door, Paedyn realizes the street outside is unnaturally quiet, and moments later someone smashes into the house. Recognizing the force as a Brawny’s work, she scrambles into the chimney just before five Imperials enter. When Paedyn hears Kai’s voice giving orders as the Enforcer, she understands that he has come to hunt her down.

From the chimney, Paedyn listens as Kai directs the Imperials to search the hidden passage behind the study bookcase, proving that Resistance secrets have been exposed. While the soldiers search below, Kai remains in the room and speaks aloud as if to Paedyn, though his words reveal he does not know for certain that she is there. His taunting questions about whether she thinks of him and whether he haunts her dreams mix command with lingering intimacy, confirming to Paedyn that his feelings remain tangled with his duty.

Trapped in the cramped chimney, Paedyn battles panic, the smell of blood, and memories of her father and Adena dying. The Imperials return and report that they did not find her, and Kai dismisses them in frustration. Left alone, Kai says softly that it is a good thing Paedyn is not there because he still has not found his courage, and then Paedyn’s home suddenly bursts into flames.