At dusk, Feyre staggers home through the snow with a deer and a wolf pelt. She enters the shabby cottage, past fake ward-markings, and drops the doe on the table as Elain hungrily asks about cleaning it. Feyre notes Elain’s naiveté and remembers the small paints Elain once gifted that color their home.

Nesta belittles both Feyre and their father, while Feyre coolly outlines a plan to eat half the venison, dry the rest, and sell the hides. Their father, maimed and largely passive since creditors shattered his knee, quietly worries about the risk of killing a possible fae; Feyre snaps that she had no choice. Nesta refuses to chop wood and insults Feyre’s appearance; Feyre retreats to the bedroom, reflecting on the painted drawers and their faded brightness.

They dine on roasted venison, and Feyre plans the next day’s work to process the deer and prepare the hides for market. She reflects on their cold mother and the ironwood bed, and on the binding promise she made as a child to keep the family together—a law as real to her as any in their world.

Conversation turns when Nesta boasts that Tomas Mandray intends to propose. Feyre challenges the idea, citing Tomas’s poverty, the lack of a dowry, and the burden another mouth would bring. Nesta taunts Feyre about Isaac Hale and accuses her of jealousy; Elain sides with Nesta while their father remains largely disengaged.

Feyre insists the match is impractical and forbids it. After Nesta storms off, their father finally speaks, saying they need hope as much as bread and meat. The chapter ends with Feyre’s bleak reply: "There is no such thing."