During her lunch break in the Aux training center, Bryce practices her new teleportation with Hunt, Ruhn, Declan, Tharion, and Cormac watching. After briefly discussing Apollion’s claim that Hel once allied with Theia, Bryce lets Hunt strike her with lightning so she can charge up her power. The method works: Bryce blinks around the room in short jumps, startling Hunt, Ruhn, and Declan, but she quickly begins to slow and lose strength. Tharion even catches her lagging long enough to steal a kiss, which turns the exercise into a joke until Cormac forces everyone back to focus.

As Bryce tires out, Declan and Cormac analyze how her magic works. Declan concludes that Bryce functions like a living Gate: Bryce can absorb certain forms of pure energy, especially Hunt’s lightning, and use that power to activate abilities such as teleportation, but Bryce cannot store that energy for long. The group realizes this makes Bryce both powerful and vulnerable, especially because the Horn scar might be another point through which power could be forced into her. Bryce refuses to test that possibility, and Cormac redirects her to a taped obstacle course meant to build control and endurance.

The training turns tense when Cormac reveals he is still angry that Bryce broke their engagement without warning and then decides Bryce is hiding another secret. Cormac teleports behind Bryce and holds a knife to her throat, demanding the truth. To stop Hunt and Ruhn from turning the confrontation into a bloodbath, Bryce gives Cormac a partial lie: Bryce says she found Emile at the Viper Queen’s warehouse, that the Viper Queen moved him somewhere safe, and that Emile has no thunderbird powers because Sofie lied. Ruhn realizes Bryce is concealing the real location, but Cormac accepts that Emile should remain hidden, apologizes for threatening Bryce, and backs down. Bryce resumes training, while Hunt’s pride shows that he values how Bryce defused the situation without violence.

The chapter then shifts when Ithan and Hypaxia arrive at the gym looking filthy, shaken, and exhausted. Hypaxia explains that when she and Ithan tried to summon Connor, Connor never appeared; the Under-King answered instead. The Under-King trapped Hypaxia and Ithan inside a warded olive grove, set hounds on them for his own amusement, and only released them after Hypaxia found a way through the wards. Ithan delivers the message that matters most: the Under-King wants Bryce at Urd’s Temple within an hour, and if Bryce refuses, Connor and the rest of the Pack of Devils will be thrown through the Gate and turned into secondlight.