After Presentation, Meryn scrubs blood from her skin in the baths, haunted by the death of the Kryptos boy and the revelation that her lover Lee is Crown Prince Killian. She returns to the bunk room to find it nearly empty, then discovers the Rawbond common lounge has turned into a hedonistic party. Rawbonds from all packs are drinking emberwine, coupling off, and engaging in open sexual encounters. Izabel explains that direwolves sometimes have mates, and that riders having sex can help their wolves identify mate bonds, so the Trials become an occasion for this. Disgusted, Meryn retreats to the Strategos anteroom, where she finds Nevah staring into the fire, grieving a partner who died on the Ascent. The encounter softens Meryn's judgment, reminding her that everyone copes with loss differently.

Unable to sleep, Meryn slips out at midnight to meet Killian in the east garden—a heated greenhouse with a glass ceiling, moonlit rosebushes, and a grand marble fountain. Killian approaches her, calling her "kitten," and tries to explain himself. He says he hid his identity so Meryn could know the real him without the weight of the crown, and that he never expected her to bond a direwolf and come to the castle. Meryn accuses him of taking away her choice and demands to know why he hasn't stopped the Nabbers who took Saela, since he witnessed commoner life firsthand. Killian reveals he has had guards hunting the Nabbers since Meryn first mentioned them, accepts responsibility for not doing enough, and vows to continue searching for Saela. He declares his love and says he would abdicate for her. Meryn, torn between love and fury, insists she is only at the castle for Saela. Killian asks not for forgiveness but for understanding, then leaves.

On her way back to the Rawbond quarters, Meryn is attacked in a dark corridor by a man who grabs her by the hair and drags her. Rather than scream for help, she draws a hidden knife, slashes off her own hair to free herself, and pins the attacker—a Daemos Rawbond associated with Jonah. In a surge of cold, brutal rage, Meryn severs his hand at the wrist and forces it into his mouth, choking him to death. During the violence, the mental wall between her and Anassa briefly opens, and Meryn feels her wolf's bloodthirsty approval before slamming the connection shut. Afterward, Meryn feels only an unsettling calm rather than horror. She realizes something monstrous has been unlocked inside her and fears what she is becoming, wondering whether Saela will even recognize her when they reunite.