Ruhn Danaan, heavily drunk and high on mirthroot during one of his house parties, is interrupted in his bedroom while he is hooking up with a faun. In the middle of the encounter, Ruhn briefly thinks about his political betrothal to Hypaxia Enador, Queen of the Valbaran Witches. Ruhn knows sleeping around crosses a line, but because the arrangement was imposed on him and no vows have yet been made, he clings to these remaining scraps of personal freedom.

Tristan Flynn bursts into the room with urgent news and tells Ruhn to come downstairs armed. Flynn explains that Dec’s new security system has detected a strange magical anomaly circling the house. Dec believes the presence is not a drunk partygoer using magic for fun, but something deliberately surveilling the property, which immediately changes the mood from reckless celebration to possible attack.

Ruhn follows Flynn and takes up the Starsword, though he is frustrated by how intoxicated he still feels. As he moves through the house, he notes that the party continues below for a moment, but he searches for Bryce among the crowds, worried about where she is as the threat closes in. Flynn and Ruhn prepare to confront whatever is outside.

Before Ruhn can reach the foyer, the open front doors fill with darkness in a way that reminds him of demonic invasions through the Gates. The music cuts out, the lights dim, and the whole party falls silent. Bryce and Hunt Athalar appear ready for trouble, Hunt already armed, while Flynn and Dec move into position beside Ruhn as he draws the Starsword and gathers his shadows.

As a figure steps from the darkness, Ruhn realizes the doorway is not a portal to Hel but a mass of familiar shadows. At the same time, Bryce’s star-shaped scar begins blazing beneath her shirt, signaling a powerful reaction to whoever has arrived. The chapter ends with a familiar golden-haired Fae male emerging into the foyer, making Ruhn understand that the night has just become far more complicated.