Killian arranges an elaborate funeral for Meryn's mother at the Garden of Eternal Rest, a lavish cemetery in the wealthy Northern Quarter tended by devotees of the Faceless Goddess. Despite Meryn's protests, he insists on covering all expenses, citing her status as future queen. The plot sits on a grassy hill beneath a moonbloom tree, with a white marble headstone and mahogany casket adorned with white roses. Friends and neighbors from the Eastern Quarter attend alongside Meryn's Bonded companions—Izabel, Venna, Tomison, and Nevah. Anassa waits outside the gates with the other wolves, still quietly displeased about Meryn's engagement but present in support.

Just before the ceremony begins, the Strategos Rawbonds arrive, led by Gamma Daegan, who explains that Stark told them about the funeral. Stark himself appears at the top of the hill. Meryn is moved that he arranged their attendance, though she has deliberately locked him out of her thoughts since their encounter in the tent, especially now that she is engaged to Killian. Meryn delivers a heartfelt eulogy praising her mother's resilience, kindness, and love despite her illness. The priestess performs burial rites, and Meryn silently prays for Saela's safety.

Afterward, Meryn and Killian go to her mother's house to sort through belongings. The house feels dark and empty. While Killian speaks with the landlord, Meryn cries in her mother's bedroom and begins collecting keepsakes: a scarf from her father, polished heels, and a bottle of perfume. Beneath a hidden floorboard, she discovers a stack of leather-bound journals filled with her mother's writings and extraordinarily detailed drawings, primarily of a crown depicting two wolves leaping over a jeweled circlet. Scattered notes reference "Lumina," "Nocturn," and "Astreon"—names her mother muttered during her episodes.

Anassa urgently orders Meryn to hide the journals just before Killian enters the room. Meryn complies, concealing them in her bag while showing Killian only the scarf, shoes, and perfume. Killian offers to have the castle perfumer replicate the scent, a gesture that moves Meryn deeply. Later, Meryn confronts Anassa about why she demanded the journals be hidden and what she knows about their contents. Anassa refuses to give direct answers, only saying "Perhaps it's time for you to do some searching of your own." Meryn connects this to Anassa's earlier encouragement to use Stark's library and resolves to seek answers there, noting the mystery that her mother grew lucid when Meryn became Bonded while Meryn herself began having nightmares and hallucinations.