Disguised by a silver bangle as a palace servant named Ayda, Raeve climbs through Arithia’s freezing imperial palace to find Elluin Raeve Neván’s old diary. An encounter with another maid reveals that Ayda is expected in King Tyroth’s chambers, which is exactly where Raeve needs to go. Raeve continues upward, recognizes the suite where Elluin died, and forces herself inside despite the memories and dread the place stirs in her.

Inside the doorway, Raeve is confronted by Tyroth, who believes she is Ayda. He rebukes her for being late and makes it clear that Ayda is pregnant with his child, but that he values her only as long as she remains useful. A parchment lark arrives from Kaan, but because the message is written in invisible ink, Tyroth sees it as blank, tears off the lark’s wings, and leaves Raeve in the room with orders to keep polishing until he returns.

Once Tyroth is gone, Raeve nearly gives in to her urge to kill him, but stops herself because doing so now would start a war before Kaan is ready and would deny her the direct confrontation she wants. She enters the chamber fully and first searches behind a mirror, expecting to find the diary there, but finds nothing. That failure makes her think she has crossed all this distance for nothing.

Then Raeve reconsiders Elluin’s final days. Remembering that Elluin was too weak to move far and would have wanted a view of Haedeon’s moon from her bed, Raeve checks beneath the pallet instead. There she finds the hidden leather-bound diary, marked with an image of Kaan’s málmr, and begins turning through its pages before jumping to the final entries.

Elluin’s words reveal the truth Raeve came for. Elluin was wasting away while carrying a child Tyroth believed was his, but she knew the bloodline would point north to Kaan if the baby was tested. She had conceived before returning, lied to protect Kaan and the baby, and expected to die after giving birth. Raeve realizes with horror that Kyzari was Kaan’s daughter, not Tyroth’s, and understands that the diary contains a revelation powerful enough to tear the world apart.