After Stark departs with Venna, Meryn waits in the dark cell before calling for the guards, putting on a convincing act of a broken, mentally unstable woman begging to see "King Killian." The guards escort her to Killian's chambers, where two servant women spend hours cleaning her, dressing her in an elaborate blue silk gown, and styling her hair and makeup. While they work, Meryn communicates with Anassa through their bond, coordinating for Stark to retrieve Anassa and remove her collar while the guards are occupied outside Killian's door.

When Killian arrives, Meryn transforms her rage into a convincing performance of vulnerability. She allows him to embrace and kiss her, severing herself from the physical experience by pouring her awareness into her bond with Anassa. She plays the role of a frightened, mentally ill woman desperate for his comfort, gradually luring him onto the bed. Once she has him pinned beneath her, she traps his arms under her legs, punches him in the throat, and draws the Diren Blæd—the ancestral Sturmfrost sword—from his hip.

With the blade at his throat, Meryn interrogates Killian. He confirms he always knew her true identity and deliberately sought her out to claim the Sturmfrost heir. He admits to arranging her mother's death so that her powers would transfer to Meryn. Then something terrifying happens: Killian's body is momentarily overtaken by a different consciousness—Alistair Brightbane, the original Siphon usurper who killed Queen Chiara five hundred years ago. Killian explains that Alistair has survived through transference magic, passing from one king to the next in the Brightbane line. Killian reveals he was turned into a Siphon on the day of the graduation ceremony, and that he drained Henrey's body after his transformation. He also confirms his father was draining children, including Saela, to sustain the transference magic.

When Meryn moves to behead Killian, he uses shadow magic to pin her to the ground. She calls desperately to Anassa and Stark through the bond. Stark bursts in with both direwolves, blasting Killian with Daemos power and freeing Meryn. He tosses her the crown, and when she puts it on, immense magical power surges through her—her Sturmfrost birthright—though she senses much of it is severed from her. Killian reveals that direwolf powers are actually derived from Sturmfrost magic, making Stark's abilities useless against him. Killian forces a kiss on Meryn, then uses shadow magic to vanish from the room.

In the aftermath, Stark stares in horror at Meryn's engagement bracelet, whose ruby is now swirling with shadows. The bracelet is enchanted with Siphon magic, channeling Meryn's power to Killian wherever he has fled. When Meryn tries to remove it, it constricts painfully around her wrist, threatening to break her bones. Anassa confirms the bracelet is magically bound to Meryn, and Meryn realizes with dread that nothing short of the Siphon magic that created it can remove it—Killian has stolen her powers and tethered himself to her permanently.