On the library's restricted fourth floor, Sciona gathers books she thinks she may need for the plan she is preparing against the Magistry. Renthorn intercepts her between the shelves, correctly guesses that Sciona has discovered the truth of the Otherrealm, and presses her to explain how she succeeded where other mages failed. He first frames the encounter as a professional bargain, arguing that Sciona needs his spellweb work and that their partnership is inevitable, but his desperation quickly shows that he wants more than academic credit.

When Sciona tries to leave, Renthorn physically restrains her. In the middle of his coercion, Renthorn reveals that he already knows magic feeds on human life because his father told him years earlier and ordered him to stay silent. Unlike Sciona, Renthorn is not horrified by that knowledge; he is fascinated by it. He speaks of magic as conquest, admires the thrill of taking life at a distance, and insists that Sciona must show him the power she has witnessed because he wants to experience it for himself.

Renthorn's confession turns into outright assault. He presses himself against Sciona, bites her ear, says true conquerors take instead of ask, and forces a kiss on her while also trying to seize her spellwork. Sciona reaches for a conduit and fires blindly to get him off, but Renthorn bats it aside and the blast destroys books instead of stopping him. He overpowers her and pins her on a reading table, but Thomil arrives before Renthorn can go further and knocks Renthorn unconscious with a single punch.

Sciona, shaken and panicked, collapses into Thomil's arms and admits that the Magistry is full of devils. Their brief moment of safety ends when other highmages rush in and immediately suspect Thomil of attacking Renthorn. Realizing that Thomil could be killed on the spot for laying hands on a mage, Sciona invents a cover story: she claims Thomil mishandled her unfinished self-defense conduits, causing an accidental blast that injured Renthorn. To make the lie believable and to push suspicion away from him, Sciona publicly fires Thomil and lets the guards drag him out.

Afterward, Tanrel's patronizing concern and unwanted touch push Sciona past restraint, and she viciously tears into Tanrel's and Halaros's scholarly pretensions before storming out. Sick with shock and disgust, she vomits on the stair landing, then decides she cannot afford any delay. Sciona doubles back to the janitorial office, asks Mr. Dermek about her broken spellograph, and recovers its pieces from the scrap bin. While Dermek helps her, Sciona asks about his vanished Mersyn tribe and then tests whether he would risk himself to protect any surviving Kwen from Blight. When Dermek says he would, Sciona asks for his keys, showing that she is moving immediately toward a dangerous next step.