Unable to sleep because of Carrion’s snoring, Saeris moves to a formal living room and wakes after dawn to find Kingfisher sitting nearby, staring at Omnamerrin’s peak. Saeris tries to leave without speaking, but Kingfisher catches Saeris’s hand and briefly leans into the contact, looking worn and sleepless.

Saeris turns back, dropping the duvet and returning to comfort Kingfisher. Kingfisher rests against Saeris’s stomach while Saeris holds him and rubs his back, both of them strained by anger, fear, and exhaustion. After a long, quiet moment, Kingfisher pulls himself together, signals that he is “okay,” and Saeris leaves him to it.

In the library, the group argues about how to save Everlayne. Lorreth insists the Balquhidder witches have been gone for generations, but Ren and Te Léna explain that only a witch’s blood magic can break Malcolm’s enthrallment and hold Everlayne stable while Te Léna draws out the vampire venom—an agonizing process that could take weeks or months, with catastrophic damage unless a formidable witch can maintain stasis. Kingfisher proposes traveling to Faulton’s Gap to find half-witches without alerting Belikon; Ren agrees to go, and Danya pushes to join despite everyone’s objections.

Hours pass with no breakthroughs in the books. Ren returns furious and muddied, reporting that they found witches willing to help until Danya insulted them for abandoning Yvelia, sparking a fight. Ren says Kingfisher took Danya back to Irrìn and then went alone to Faulton’s Gap to repair the damage; one witch there seemed strong enough to help, though hostile.

Kingfisher returns to Cahlish with Iseabail, granddaughter of Balquhidder High Witch Malina. Iseabail agrees to break Everlayne’s enthrallment once Everlayne is brought back the next night, but doubts the team’s plan and numbers. Kingfisher says the humans will stay behind, but Saeris and Carrion refuse, insisting they will help rescue Everlayne; Kingfisher warns them that Malcolm and his lords are merciless monsters, then reluctantly accepts their decision.