In the morning, Bryce calls Ember from the archives to check on Cooper, the identity Emile is now using with Bryce’s parents. Ember says Cooper is bright, likes her art, and has not been in school for more than three years, but he still will not talk about his past. Bryce is relieved that Ember and Randall are caring for him, and the conversation ends warmly with plans for a future girls’ trip.

That calm breaks when the Autumn King arrives at Bryce’s office. He confronts Bryce about mating with Hunt while still being formally tied to Cormac, then claims he arranged the match with Cormac to protect her in Avallen from the Asteri. Bryce accuses him of selfishness and past violence, but he shifts the fight by revealing that Bryce used his royal name and title in official matters. Because of that, he has already filed legal paperwork making her Bryce Adelaide Danaan, an official Fae princess, and he orders her to maintain appearances with Cormac. Before leaving, he notices the coded sequence Bryce copied from Sofie’s body, warns that the Asteri would strike Nidaros first, and says he has long been searching for the same thing Bryce is: the truth.

That evening, Juniper does not come to dance class, Madame Kyrah pointedly ignores Bryce, and the other dancers whisper about Bryce’s behavior. Already shaken, Bryce leaves early. A folder waiting for her confirms the Autumn King’s move with official documents, including a new registration and a black card marked with her royal title. Feeling trapped and unable to confide in her mother yet, Bryce reaches out to Hypaxia instead of Hunt, wanting advice from another woman who might understand.

Bryce meets Hypaxia at a casual pizza counter while Ithan guards the queen nearby. The two women thank each other for past help, especially Hypaxia’s role in freeing Hunt from the halo, and Hypaxia recognizes that Bryce and Hunt are now fully mated. When Bryce explains that her father has forced her into an official princess title, Hypaxia sympathizes and says she came to Crescent City partly because she also wanted to live normally for a while. Hypaxia cannot promise a legal escape, but she says the only power likely able to overrule the Autumn King is the Asteri, which makes Bryce realize Hunt has now effectively become a prince as well.

As they walk by the river, the conversation deepens. Hypaxia explains that she does not consider the Hind true family, recounts how Lidia was sent away at age three when her shifter gifts appeared, and reveals that her engagement to Ruhn was meant to keep her mother’s coven from gaining more influence. She says witch bloodlines have been weakening as if their magic is being siphoned away, while her mother’s coven prefers obedience to the Asteri over finding the cause. Hypaxia then reveals that her ghost tutors were from before the Asteri’s arrival and remembered Parthos. She confirms that the dead once went somewhere peaceful, that the Asteri’s death-zones are monstrous, and that she secretly spared her own mother from that fate at great personal cost. The two women bond over the loneliness of rank and power, but the moment ends in violence when a massive scaled gray beast suddenly leaps over the quay railing and crushes Ithan to the ground, closing its jaws around his throat.