Rhys reveals that the final seat at the Hewn City table was meant for Eris, shocking Feyre, Mor, and the others. Rhys explains only through the bond that Eris is there to help secure Keir’s cooperation in the coming war. Eris offers Keir a formal alliance with Autumn in exchange for Keir’s services, but Keir demands more than status or comfort: he wants freedom for his people from the mountain and access to Velaris.

Keir makes clear that he mainly wants access to something Mor loves, not true liberty, and Mor immediately objects. Rhys, however, had anticipated the demand and agrees to limited, controlled visits to the city. Keir accepts, satisfied that he has wounded Mor and won a concession. Feyre then presses for the Ouroboros mirror, and Keir confirms he has it, but says Feyre may claim it only by first looking into it. He warns that those who do so are driven mad or shattered, then departs after arranging to speak with Eris later.

Once Keir leaves, the conversation turns to Eris’s real purpose. Rhys makes clear that their arrangement depends on Eris keeping Feyre’s powers secret from Beron. Eris reveals that he anticipated Azriel would investigate him and protected his own mind against daemati interference. He says he never told Beron about Feyre because Beron would have tried to kill her instead of recognizing that she may be key to stopping Hybern. In return, Eris intends to influence Beron toward supporting their side in the war.

Mor confronts Eris over his past cruelty, especially leaving her in the woods, and Feyre accuses him over Lucien’s suffering as well. Eris refuses to fully explain himself but claims there were forces at work Mor never understood. He insists he did not participate in Jesminda’s execution, that he defied Beron for the only time, and that he secretly warned Tamlin in time to save Lucien. These revelations do not absolve him, but they suggest he has been acting under constraints and hiding parts of the truth.

Feyre finally learns the price of Eris’s alliance: when the time comes, the Night Court must support his claim to the Autumn throne. Rhys accepts the arrangement as the least messy path to turning Autumn against Hybern. Before leaving, Eris needles Mor and Azriel with pointed remarks about Mor’s past and claims that breaking their betrothal was his way of giving her freedom, though he admits he regrets what followed. The chapter ends with Mor deeply shaken, old wounds reopened, and the Night Court bound to dangerous bargains with both Keir and Eris as the High Lords’ meeting approaches.