Alone in her freezing cell after the first trial, Feyre’s shattered arm festers and her fever climbs. She cannot eat, watches for signs of infection, and tries to stay awake as the pain and heat muddle her senses. Panic grows that no one—Lucien included—will come to help.

Rhysand emerges from shadow in her cell, taunting Feyre and examining the protruding bone with morbid amusement. He offers to heal her if she agrees to live at the Night Court for two weeks each month after the trials. Feyre refuses, keeping her injury hidden and her defiance intact.

Rhysand then undercuts her hopes: Lucien has been punished—twenty lashes delivered by Tamlin at Amarantha’s order—and is laying low; Tamlin is watched and cannot intervene. Framing her choices as certainty versus chance, he insists she is dying. To force the issue, he twists the exposed bone, leaving Feyre screaming, and moves to withdraw his offer.

Facing death and believing Lucien may not arrive in time, Feyre calls Rhysand back for Tamlin’s sake. She negotiates his demand down from two weeks to one week per month. They seal the bargain; magic surges, she blacks out, and when she wakes the fever is gone, her arm fully healed, and the grime washed away.

Feyre discovers a permanent black tattoo covering her left hand and forearm, an eye inked into her palm—Rhysand’s court’s custom for bargains. He mocks her outrage and hints he will reveal the mark to Tamlin at the most damaging moment. Leaving Feyre alive but indebted, Rhysand dissolves into shadow and departs.