Kai watches Paedyn disappear into the rain and is horrified by his own hesitation. Instead of acting as the Enforcer he was trained to be, Kai let the woman who killed the king escape, and that failure immediately becomes tied to his shaken sense of identity.

Looking down at the bloodied dagger in his hand, Kai confronts the reality that it is stained with his father’s blood. He kneels beside the king’s corpse, closes his father’s eyes, and feels numbed by shock, betrayal, and grief rather than tears.

As Kai thinks back over recent events, he finally understands what he missed: Paedyn was always untouchable to Silencers, unharmed by the Resistance, and impossible for him to read because she is an Ordinary and one of the Resistance. That realization makes her deceptions feel personal, but his thoughts keep returning to her instead of staying on the dead king.

By the end of the chapter, Kai forces himself back into his role. The weight of being Enforcer feels heavier than ever, yet he decides he must find Paedyn, and he tells himself that when he does, he will finally find the courage to do what he failed to do here.