Meryn is jolted awake by a horn blast, already behind the other Rawbonds who have bathed, dressed, and prepared with practiced efficiency. Izabel urges her to hurry, and Meryn barely manages to get into her uniform before being half-dragged to the common lounge for breakfast. There she meets Tomison Thorne, a confident, charismatic redhead from a Bonded family who declares himself the future Alpha of Strategos. The lavish breakfast again unsettles Meryn, whose stomach churns from the rich food. She also takes a contraceptive draught provided to all Rawbonds to prevent pregnancy during the Trials.

Egith Hartsfeld arrives and leads the Strategos Rawbonds on an orientation tour of the castle facilities. Meryn carefully studies routes and landmarks, noting narrow servant passages as potential escape paths. They pass the massive arena where future Trials will take place, and Meryn is alarmed to learn there are multiple remaining Trials. She glimpses each pack's distinct training areas—Kryptos's obstacle course, Daemos's weapons and magic-scarred yard, Phylax's pendulum devices, and Strategos's strategy tables and maps. Through the windows of the Strategos area, Meryn spots the wolf terraces on the mountainside and sees Anassa lounging far from the other wolves. When their eyes meet, Anassa immediately looks away, deepening Meryn's resentment toward her unwanted bond.

The tour concludes in an auditorium where all packs assemble. Leader Aldrich Gnosis, the elderly former Strategos Alpha, explains that training lasts four months—two months of Forging (including the Voice Trial and the lethal Purge Trial, followed by a Forging Ball) and two months of Proving (culminating in the Unity Trial and graduation). Izabel eagerly recites the details from memory. Meryn is horrified that the packs will kill their own members to cull the weak, and realizes four months is far too long to wait to rescue Saela.

Alpha Stark Therion of Daemos takes the stage accompanied by his black direwolf and delivers a menacing speech about survival of the fittest, repeatedly fixing his glare on Meryn. He emphasizes that hesitation, cowardice, and weakness will result in death, and pointedly references how Rawbonds' ancestors walked these halls—a remark Meryn interprets as contempt for her common blood. Despite her fear, Meryn feels a surge of rebellion and a desire to prove him wrong. The other instructors are introduced: Beta Egith Hartsfeld for strategy, Gamma Samson Whyte for communication and concealment, and Gamma Elinoor Gardner for history and pack dynamics.

After the assembly, Meryn pursues Egith to her private quarters and confesses that she doesn't belong, explaining that her sister Saela was taken by Nabbers—Siphon kidnappers targeting commoner children—and that she needs to leave. Egith is disturbed to learn about the Nabbers but firmly tells Meryn there is no leaving. She also warns Meryn to hide the fact that Anassa isn't communicating with her, because other Rawbonds would see it as fatal weakness and find a way to eliminate her. Egith promises to look into the Nabbers issue but reveals her main motivation for keeping Meryn alive is a betting pool among instructors on which pack loses the fewest recruits. Meryn leaves, resolved to find her own way out.