After King Ostern watches his sons and daughter depart at aurora rise, two guards clamp iron cuffs onto Elluin and force her into a plain room. Ostern crouches in front of Elluin and immediately frames the confrontation as a correction, saying Elluin’s behavior is unworthy of a future queen. He makes clear that he has noticed the intimacy between Elluin and Kaan and knows they have become lovers.

Ostern then attacks Kaan’s standing and future. He says Kaan can wield only two elemental songs, is therefore unfit to rule, and will never deserve a crown. Elluin answers with open defiance, spitting in Ostern’s face and declaring that she will choose her own king or refuse binding altogether, even if that means giving herself to the Creators.

Ostern answers Elluin’s defiance with force, crushing the air from her lungs until she feels her ribs caving in. He shifts from punishment to coercion, threatening to kill Veya if Elluin does not bind with Tyroth. He also says he will tell the twins about Kaan’s transgressions so that they, together with Ostern, can hunt Kaan down and cut off his head. Those threats finally break through Elluin’s resistance and leave her truly afraid.

Ostern escalates further by using Slátra as leverage. He promises Slátra safe passage back to Arithia only if Elluin leaves the next rise to prepare for the binding ceremony; otherwise, he will leave Slátra’s hutch unguarded and force Elluin to watch Slátra die trying to follow her. Finally, Ostern reveals that Elluin’s bleeding is late, making Elluin realize for the first time that she may be carrying Kaan’s child. Ostern insists that only a false claim that Tyroth sired the child can keep the baby alive, because otherwise Elluin and Kaan will be hunted for the dishonor they have brought on their families.

By the end of the chapter, Elluin concludes that this is the price of loving Kaan so deeply. Comparing their fate to the tragic love of Mah and Pah, she accepts that her own great love may also end in suffering because of the curse attached to her family name.