After kissing Larran on the beach, Kiela reluctantly leaves him to check on Caz and Meep, taking care that no one follows her to the hidden sea cave. Larran asks her to come back, and she promises to try, then sends him back to his merhorses.

At the cave, Kiela finds Caz and Meep have bound and gagged Radane, the supposed imperial investigator, who had snuck in. Caz reveals Radane is not an investigator: she was attempting to cast a spell from one of the spellbooks. The spell, an invisibility/stealth spell for hunters, requires a flawless ruby—precisely the pendant Radane wears around her neck, exposing her as a thief, not an official.

Caz menacingly suggests drowning Radane to protect Kiela, but Kiela refuses to allow murder. She unties Radane and demands the truth, sharing her own identity as the rogue librarian from the Great Library. Just as Radane begins to reveal her real name—Ravandil Etra—a herd of merhorses bursts into the cave, led by Larran (alerted by the mermaid Caz had sent), prepared to defend Kiela.

Amid the chaos, Radane is blocked from escape. She breaks down laughing at being caught by "a librarian, two plants, and a farmer." Composing herself, she reveals her true identity: Ravandil Etra L'sari, the emperor's heir, fleeing because she wants to be neither empress nor executed.