After Hunt emerges from the Oracle's temple, he shares what he learned with Bryce and Ruhn as they walk through a quiet residential block. The three discuss the implications: if someone has learned to repair Luna's Horn, they could open the Northern Rift and unleash Hel's demon princes. They speculate the murdered temple acolyte may have been killed either as a warning or to silence her, since she was the only one on duty the night the Horn was stolen. Bryce raises the possibility that the rebel group Ophion—or its extremist Keres sect—seeks the Horn to forge an alliance with the demon princes against the Asteri, and that Danika may have discovered this plan and been killed for it. Hunt suggests a Vanir or witch could have helped summon the kristallos demon, though Ruhn dismisses witch involvement given their millennia of loyalty to the Asteri. Ruhn notes that only a Starborn Fae can use the Horn, but admits his own starlight power is weak compared to Prince Pelias's. He volunteers to consult medwitches about repairing the Horn, referencing the cryptic prophecy that it can only be fixed by "light that is not light, magic that is not magic."

Back at the gallery library, Hunt has been watching Bryce with a strange expression all afternoon. When confronted, he reveals the Oracle warned him to stay away from Bryce and threatened to reveal her vision. Bryce explains her history: at nearly thirteen, her mother arranged for her to visit the Oracle as part of Fae tradition. During the same trip, she first met the Autumn King and Ruhn in FiRo. When the Oracle looked into the smoke for Bryce's future, she screamed and clawed at her own eyes, going blind for a week. Bryce's biological father called her a "worthless disgrace," abandoned her at the temple, and left her bags on the curb. Ruhn tried to help but was bound by the Autumn King's orders; he managed only to shove fare money into Bryce's hand before she took a cab and train home.

Turning back to the case, Hunt shows Bryce a fifteen-thousand-year-old terra-cotta vase depicting a kristallos demon being killed by a warrior with a sword through its head—no magic involved, just brute force. Bryce is skeptical, pointing out the demon killed the Pack of Devils and even knocked Micah down. The image triggers painful memories of finding her friends' remains, and she struggles to contain her emotions. The vase is noted as originally from Parthos, a supposedly mythical pre-Asteri human civilization, which Bryce seems to believe existed while Hunt is skeptical.

Bryce shares her analysis of Danika's location data: the key outlier is that Danika was assigned sentry duty specifically at Luna's Temple days before her death—unusual for her—and was present the night the Horn was stolen, as was the murdered acolyte. Hunt then receives a message that Philip Briggs has been transferred from Adrestia prison and they can interrogate him in a holding cell beneath the Comitium in an hour. When Hunt pushes Bryce on whether she can handle facing Briggs, she lashes out and tells him to leave. He agrees to wait outside.

Alone, Bryce sinks to the floor, overwhelmed by grief for Danika and the Pack of Devils. Lehabah and Syrinx comfort her. The sprite urges Bryce to let Hunt and Ruhn become friends, noting Bryce seems sad again like she was two winters ago. Bryce rebuffs her, and Lehabah calls her "cold as a Reaper" before flying off. Bryce gives herself twenty minutes to pull herself together before the Briggs interrogation.