After her emotional phone call with her mother, Bryce retreats to her bedroom, still angry at Hunt for revealing her leg wound. Hunt knocks and offers to accompany her to a medwitch appointment. Bryce refuses, finally explaining her real reason: she clings to the scar and its pain because they are her last tangible connection to Danika and the Pack of Devils. She fears that healing the wound would erase them from her life, reducing their memory to something fleeting and dreamlike.

Hunt sits beside her on the bed and gently tells her that healing herself won't erase Danika or the pack. He explains that her mother literally cannot bear the thought of Bryce suffering, and admits that neither can he. Bryce deflects, saying he barely knows her, but Hunt offers friendship. Bryce accepts with warmth, referencing the Jelly Jubilee incident, and the two share a genuine, lighthearted moment. Hunt takes a photo of her, and Bryce thanks him for being kind to her mother.

Bryce then shares the story of her parents. Her mother, Ember, fled Bryce's biological Fae father before he learned she was pregnant and took refuge in a temple to Cthona in Korinth. For three years, Ember raised Bryce behind temple walls, doing laundry to survive. When the biological father sent Fae warriors to retrieve the child, priestesses helped Ember flee toward the House of Earth and Blood headquarters in Hilene for asylum. They stopped at Solas's Temple in Oia to pick up an escort—Randall, a legendary human sharpshooter and war veteran who had become an acolyte to Solas seeking atonement. The High Priest chose Randall because a human male would be less threatening to Ember than a Vanir one.

Near Hilene, the biological father's warriors caught up with them, expecting a helpless woman. Instead, they found Randall and Ember, who defeated them—fatally, it is implied. The House of Earth and Blood declared Ember a vessel of Cthona and Randall a vessel of Solas, granting them an official order of protection that Bryce's biological father couldn't challenge. Randall brought Ember and Bryce home, proposed within the year, and they have been deeply in love since. Bryce asks Hunt to keep the story secret, as no questions were ever asked about the Fae who never returned to Crescent City.

Afterward, the mood shifts as Bryce becomes acutely aware of sharing her bed with Hunt. She deflects the tension by suggesting they watch Fangs and Bangs together. Hunt, clearly aware of the charged atmosphere, agrees with a flirtatious wink. As they watch TV and banter, Hunt privately reflects that "friends" doesn't remotely cover what exists between them, but he lets himself settle into the comfort of her company—acknowledging to himself that this ease might be the most dangerous thing he's ever done.