Ruhn meets Bryce outside the Fae Archives and walks her home because Bryce wants to discuss Danika privately. Bryce reveals that Fury told her Danika was a bloodhound, which explains how Danika recognized Bryce and Ruhn were siblings. Bryce wonders whether Danika’s gift connects to Sofie Renast and Emile, but neither she nor Ruhn can make Sofie’s reasons for contacting Danika fully add up.

As they continue home, Ruhn warns Bryce not to involve herself in the search for Emile. He explains that Bryce is no longer an ordinary civilian because she is Starborn, bears the Horn, and has gained major power since the Drop. Because of that, any action Bryce takes could be interpreted politically by the Asteri or others as rebellion, aggression, or a bid for power, raising the danger around even seemingly small choices.

When Bryce and Ruhn enter the apartment, they find Tharion and Ithan watching television, with a white cat on Ithan’s lap. Bryce immediately senses something is wrong and identifies that the animal is not a cat. Hunt arrives as the creature reveals itself as Aidas, the Prince of the Chasm, and the room erupts into alarm before Bryce calmly addresses him.

Aidas questions why Bryce does not know how to use her true powers and says her light is the same as the last Starborn Queen, Theia’s. He then reveals a radically different version of Starborn history: Theia was killed by Pelias, who stole her sword, forced her daughter Helena into marriage, and falsely established himself as the first Starborn Prince. Aidas claims the Starsword should belong to Theia’s female heir and that the accepted history has been shaped by Asteri lies.

Aidas broadens the revelation by arguing that Hel is not Midgard’s true enemy and that the war against the Asteri has been continuing for fifteen thousand years under different names. He says the Asteri erased the truth, corrupted the historical record, and that Bryce’s old library holds remnants of that buried knowledge. Aidas insists Bryce’s power must be awakened because Hel’s armies could enter Midgard through Bryce and the Horn, and he urges her to join the coming rebellion.

Bryce refuses both the role of reluctant savior and Aidas’s attempt to recruit her, especially in front of everyone present. Aidas adds that he knows nothing about Danika’s connection to Sofie, then shocks the group further by saying Bryce already knows an Ophion rebel. When Bryce and Hunt turn, they discover Cormac standing in the doorway, his shadows fading, exposing him as the rebel Aidas meant.