Valentina helps Luzia dress for the third trial in black velvet, thrilled at the thought of meeting the king, while Luzia privately feels the last chance of Hualit’s offered escape slipping away. Outside La Casilla, the party departs by coach and horseback; Luzia notes Víctor de Paredes keeping distance, Fortún Donadei and Doña Beatriz together, and worries when Santángel is absent. The coaches head west to Las Mulas, an old hunting ground, and arrive at a calm lake where a grand dais and benches have been erected for elite guests.

Among the crowd, Luzia spots Antonio Pérez, who acknowledges her coolly, and then Santángel appears from the woods with a black horse. He claims Víctor drugged him with poison to keep him out of Víctor’s “private business,” and Luzia admits Víctor visited her the night before to warn her not to fail. When Víctor approaches, he abruptly separates them, insisting Luzia manage alone and ordering Santángel to remain at his side.

As courtiers gossip—including about a provocative lady playwright and Quiteria Escárcega—the expected royal arrival is disrupted: Mateo Vázquez de Leca, the king’s secretary and Pérez’s rival, arrives instead of the king and takes the place of honor, publicly diminishing Pérez. Víctor, furious but controlled, tells Luzia the stakes are unchanged and demands an astonishing performance that forces Vázquez to bring her before the king; he explicitly threatens Luzia, Hualit, and Santángel’s future if she fails, then coldly instructs Santángel to drown Luzia in the lake if she does.

Santángel pulls Luzia aside and presses her to share Víctor’s warning against him. He dismisses fears about children by stating he cannot father them, then admits Víctor once sought to collect people with powers and that many ended up in Inquisition cells. Luzia demands the true ending of Santángel’s “cursed prince” story; Santángel reveals freedom requires a new bargain and, under Luzia’s accusation, confirms he has considered trading Luzia into Víctor’s service as the price.

Santángel further implies Luzia’s healing might make her effectively immortal, able to outlast time, which horrifies her; Luzia refuses to make any such bargain. She briefly imagines killing Víctor, but Santángel insists De Paredes is nearly impossible to strike and suggests that, if anything, he himself would be the easier target—then offers another path: Luzia should lose the trial so shamefully that Víctor will discard her and she can be free. With trumpets calling her to the lakeshore, Luzia rejects certainty about her next move and strides toward the water to face the trial.