Emily wakes Wendell early after he spends the night on her couch for protection under hospitality laws. Though still headachy, Wendell is recovering, and Emily insists they leave Cambridge quickly because Wendell’s stepmother has started sending assassins. Emily, Wendell, and Shadow go to Wendell’s office to plan, expecting privacy but finding students nearby and Professor Walters awake in her office.

Ariadne arrives with luggage and croissants, excited to join their “expedition.” Emily explains the cover story she gave the vice chancellor about seeking a faerie artefact to appease a Welsh court so that Cambridge will let them depart. Then Emily bluntly tells Ariadne the truth: Wendell is Folk, the displaced monarch of the Irish court Silva Lupi, overthrown by his stepmother, who is now trying to have him killed.

Emily presses Wendell on why the assassination attempts have started only now, but Wendell evades the question. When Ariadne returns with coffee and drops the tray, Wendell unnervingly rewinds time to restore everything, proving he can manipulate time in the mortal realm. Emily then produces the mummified faerie foot, explaining it came from one of Danielle de Grey’s traps for “tree fauns.”

Emily lays out her theory: sightings of the same tree-faun species occur in Ireland, Austria, and two Russian locations, suggesting a nexus faerie door that connects multiple places. If the nexus opens near St. Liesl in Austria, it could be an unguarded back way into Wendell’s realm, unknown to Wendell’s stepmother, and also a clue to de Grey’s disappearance. Emily plans to use the foot as a tracking charm to lead them to the fauns and then to the door, despite Wendell warning that tree fauns are dangerous and that this may be how de Grey died.

Farris Rose appears, having overheard everything, and insists Ariadne should not go; instead, Rose demands to join the expedition, offering to drop his accusations about falsified papers in exchange. Wendell, amused and pragmatic, accepts Rose’s presence (and his coffee), and they prepare to depart. Outside Wendell’s building, Emily reassures a worried Ariadne, who reveals Wendell gave her a protective silk scarf and considered enchanting her to stay behind. In Wendell’s apartments, Emily thanks him for caring about Ariadne, then impulsively kisses him; flustered and conflicted, Emily pulls away and hurries them out so they do not miss the train.