Roman Kitt leaves the dinner where his father arranged his engagement to Elinor Little and returns to his room in distress. Overwhelmed by dread and self-recrimination, he collapses to the floor, attempting to steady his breathing as he grapples with the inevitability of the marriage and his role as his father’s heir.

Roman notices a new note from Iris Winnow: a brief question asking what he knows about Dacre and Enva. Grasping the prompt as a welcome distraction, he turns to his shelves of mythology. While searching, he discovers loose, age-worn pages in his grandfather’s handwriting containing a rarely known, incomplete myth about the two gods.

Roman types the myth for Iris. He recounts that the gods were divided into two families—the Skywards and the Underlings—who despised each other. Dacre Underling, god of vitality and healing, bored by immortality, sought to capture the most beloved Skyward, Enva. He unleashed his hounds and eithrals to find her, causing many mortal deaths when they scoured the land and skies.

Dacre finally encountered an unassuming woman in a graveyard, whose unseen beauty was revealed through harp music and song. Realizing she was Enva, he begged her to come below. Enva condemned Dacre for the needless deaths his creatures had caused—lives he could have healed—and continued singing souls into eternity before addressing him.

When Enva refused to join him, Dacre’s fury brought further devastation. As innocents suffered, Enva returned and agreed to descend into the Underling realm on two conditions: that Dacre would uphold peace and that she would be free to sing and play whenever she wished. Enchanted, Dacre accepted, unaware of the power her music would wield in the depths.

Roman finishes transcribing the half-complete myth in the early morning hours. The work steadies him, easing his panic. He folds the pages and sends the myth to Iris through their enchanted exchange before attempting to rest.