The chapter opens on a rainy morning as Bryce reluctantly takes Syrinx out for a walk while Hunt watches from the apartment windows. She encounters a hoptoad lurking in the building doorway and returns soaked. Back inside, Hunt has cooked breakfast—bacon, eggs, and toast—and insists Bryce eat, noting she'd barely eaten for five days. Bryce resists, but Hunt frames it as a friend's concern rather than a male's order. He also promises not to let anyone lose Danika's clothes, which are packed in a bag by the door for analysis. Bryce relents, eats, drinks the coffee Hunt made, and playfully snaps photos of the meal and Hunt's smirking face on his phone before heading out feeling lighter than she has in a while.

Hunt delivers Danika's clothes to Viktoria at the 33rd's headquarters. Viktoria notes they already have evidence-room clothes for Danika and the other victims, but Hunt insists she run these too—partly to guard against tampered evidence and partly so Bryce feels she contributed. He also hands Viktoria a list of ancient, catastrophic demons that might be working alongside the kristallos. Viktoria pales at the names; Hunt admits he's faced two of them before and barely survived. He again warns Viktoria not to lose the clothes.

That evening, Viktoria reports the Fae's Mimir diagnostic is still running and will take time. Hunt messages Bryce, noticing she's changed her contact name in his phone to "Bryce Is a Queen." They spend the night binge-watching a reality show about young Vanir at a beach club, gradually moving from opposite ends of the couch to sitting side by side, with Hunt toying with Bryce's braid.

The next morning, as Hunt follows Bryce toward the elevator, he receives a call from Micah summoning him to his office in fifteen minutes—alone, without Bryce. Hunt redirects Bryce toward the roof so he can fly her to the gallery before heading to the Comitium.