Back at Cahlish, Saeris sits beside Kingfisher at the dining table as the group regathers through his shadow gate. Danya immediately sneers at Saeris for taking the seat reserved for the “lady of the house,” escalating the tension by pointing out that everyone knows Saeris and Kingfisher have slept together. Ren defends Saeris’s worth and power, while Kingfisher shuts the discussion down, refusing to make his personal life public.

Danya’s anger abruptly collapses into weakness; she faints from blood loss after her earlier injury. At Kingfisher’s quiet request, Lorreth catches her, and Kingfisher orders Danya taken to the healer. Before leaving, Kingfisher tells Saeris to go to the forge and make as many relic rings as possible, convinced they will need them soon.

In the forge, Saeris struggles to bargain with the sentient quicksilver, refusing Carrion’s suggestion that she force it to obey. The quicksilver finally offers terms: it will change if Saeris tells it a secret. Saeris confesses she no longer wants to return to Zilvaren for good; she wants to retrieve Hayden and Elroy and bring them to Yyvelia, partly because she has found people she cares about here, including Kingfisher.

The quicksilver reacts urgently, insisting Saeris must “save” Kingfisher, the gates, and Yyvelia, then demands blood to seal the relic. Saeris pricks her finger and lets her blood fall onto the ring in the crucible, completing it. When Saeris impulsively slips the finished ring on, the forge plunges into darkness and a thunderous chant—“ANNORATH MOR”—slams through her, leaving her shaken and unwilling to repeat the mistake.

Te Léna arrives to check for injuries, and Saeris becomes fixated on the runes tattooed on Te Léna’s hands. Te Léna explains such marks are a fifth-anniversary custom chosen and inked by spouses, not something that appears spontaneously. She adds that true mating bonds no longer exist since the gods left Yyvelia, and that “God Bindings” (script-like markings) are only tragic storybook legends where lovers suffer and one dies. Alarmed by what that implies about her own marks, Saeris asks where Kingfisher is and heads to speak with him in his room.